>Since the Ridgewood blog often get grief for not supporting educators enough ,here is a case where we support the Principal whole heartily . Next time the staff suggests ; make the kids and their parents clean up the mess, make each individual write an apology and cancel the whole graduation all together .
the Staff of the Ridgewood blog
The Record: Taking a stand
Thursday, June 24, 2010
The Record
https://www.northjersey.com/news/opinions/97045164_Taking_a_stand.html
MIDDLE SCHOOL is not high school. It certainly is not college. The tradition – and it’s quite the norm – that students moving up from middle school to high school, or even kindergarten to elementary school, is a momentous occasion requiring an elaborate ceremony is highly debatable. There should be no debate that a food fight is not an acceptable graduation tradition.
On Monday, eighth-grade graduates of West Brook Middle School had a commencement ceremony without music and speeches. Principal Oscar Diaz canceled the “fun parts” of graduation after a massive food fight in the cafeteria by many members of the graduating class the previous week had left him, and the cafeteria, covered in condiments. The students thought it a joke. Diaz didn’t laugh.
It is incomprehensible that the mere sight of a such an imposing figure – and Diaz is imposing – would not instantly stop the ruckus. But that was not the case at the Paramus middle school. Diaz was further disgusted by the lack of student remorse after the fact.
He decided to punish the entire class, although not all students participated. There was no “Pomp and Circumstance,” no speeches, no bagel breakfast. Good. Students must learn that actions have consequences. In the real world, there are times when the whole pays the price for the few. Maybe that is inconsistent with our culture’s acceptance of personal entitlement. But it is a real-life lesson that all students need to learn.
https://www.northjersey.com/news/opinions/97045164_Taking_a_stand.html
