As I gear up for a return to school in a few weeks time, I remembered this bit in Colin Prentice's book (When People Matter Most):
In the first assembly of the year I would lay out the school rules to the whole school and say: Look, here's the line, put your big toe on the line and you're fine. Put your big toe over the line and you're telling me that you're looking for a fight. I won't disappoint you. Moreover, I'll win, because the Board of Governors has agreed with these rules and the way we run it here. So it's not worth fighting.
These rules he speaks of, at Macleans College, were more guidelines to protect and maintain order, generate freedom from oppression, bullying, and offensive social behaviour.
As he said: the rights of the child to a peaceful, orderly, and productive education have to be preserved.
As I work on my guidelines for my classes I always keep this in mind.
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