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Student aide = unpaid labor
My daughter Abby runs errands, charts school bus arrivals and cleans graffiti off lockers at her middle school in Boca Raton.
She is a "Student Aide," a middle school elective that I allowed because the rest of her schedule is extremely challenging. But as she tells me what she does each day, I am starting to see this elective as a way for the school system to get free labor, which they used to pay adult aides to do.
She is assigned to one of the assistant principals, who is in charge of discipline and bus problems, among other things. Among her tasks is filling in bus arrival times each morning so the AP can see which buses are consistently late.
She runs around the school a lot to find kids the AP needs to talk to, usually about a fight on the bus or on campus. She also listens to the attendance hot-line and writes down who will be absent that day and what their excuse was.
She likes this elective and will get a grade in it. She is definitely learning about the inner workings of her school. But she also is doing work formerly done by grown-ups whom we no longer have the tax money to pay.
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Comments
So what is your point? Would you rather have higher taxes to hire someone else to do the work? Go back to playing tennis and eating bon bons or whatever it is that bored, stay at home moms do.
Posted by: so what? | September 11, 2007 10:17 AM
Wow, such hostility. I am a working mom, although I do enjoy the occasional bonbon.
Posted by: Lois | September 11, 2007 11:42 AM
Lois,
I think this is a great activity for middle school. Think what your daughter is learning from doing office work, and the confidence she can gain from having this level of responsibility.
My middle-school daughter takes a similar elective, peer counseling, which teaches them mediation and conflict resolution, but also provides teacher-helpers and office helpers for the school. She goes across the street two or three times a week to help in elementary classrooms and works with teachers at the middle school the other days. It's really the most positive thing that happens to her at school, at least to her mind.
Vicki
Posted by: Vicki Brennan | September 11, 2007 12:32 PM
Vicki: You make an excellent point. I usually want my kids to take only traditional academic courses, but as you point out, school is about more than classroom learning.
Posted by: Lois | September 11, 2007 2:05 PM
What's up with the hostility "so what"? I'm a stay at home, homeschooling mom who happens to also love the occasional bon bon - are you trying to say the two are mutually exclusive? I also love chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, could there be a trend towards more junk food eating in stay at home moms?????!!!!! Sorry, shouldn't have indulged in so much sarcasm...I agree with Vicki's comments Lois. My kids aren't at the middle school age yet, but it seems like a wonderful learning opportunity for your daughter. School should definitely be more than just classroom learning. I mean, they're not going to be in a classroom for the rest of their lives. They're going to be doing this thing called life, hopefully for many years to come! No time like the present to start preparing them in small, tangible ways.
Posted by: Becky | September 11, 2007 4:04 PM
I have to say that your posting was confusing. Do you like this or not? If you don't like it is it only because tax money being cut from school budgets? It sounded at first like your were whining about the jobs she was doing. Seriously, give your kid some room to breath. It sounds like she is a great student. Is helping keep her school clean, being cooperative, and responsible issues to be concerned about? It's important to be involved but you need to pick the battles you need to worry about. And if this is your biggest concern WOW are you a lucky mom. Enjoy it!
Posted by: laura | September 12, 2007 4:20 PM
I do have mixed feelings about it, so you read me right! She is a good kid and I am definitely learning to pick my battles.
Posted by: Lois | September 13, 2007 7:54 PM