I think this idea stinks. Make the parents pay if their kids cannot? How many would be able to? I would be out the $ now for what Zach said. But I do not tthink it would really stop him from doing it. I bet they cannot really enforce it legally!
HARTFORD, Conn. (Dec. 1) - Bad words are costing Hartford Public and Bulkeley high schoolers $103 each.
Police officers assigned to the schools have fined about two dozen students for cursing in a new program to curtail unruly behavior. The joint effort by school and police officials targets students who swear while defying teachers and administrators.
"We're sending a message to the parents and to the teachers," said Sandy Cruz-Serrano, senior adviser to Superintendent of Schools Robert Henry. "We are trying to bring back order to the schools."
Parents are required to pay the fines if the students cannot.
"Our heads are spinning with that," said Sam Saylor, president of the district Parent Teacher Organization. "The kids are really indecent with their swearing and they're swearing at teachers. This is their way of curtailing it - making the parents pay."
Keila Ayala, 17, a Hartford Public sophomore, said she was ticketed for shouting an expletive in an officer's face while handcuffed for taking a swing at him.
"It'll stop me from swearing," she said. "Well, it won't stop me from swearing, but I won't cuss at the teachers."
George Sugai, who teaches school discipline at UConn's Neag School of Education, is skeptical of the effort. "Research says that punishing kids doesn't teach them the right way to act," he said.
But Hartford Police Officer Roger Pearl said the program is working.
"Before, the kids were swearing all the time. It went from many incidents to almost nothing," he said. "It's quiet in the halls."
I think it's a ********* stupid Idea, the kids will still say ******* and ******** not to mention ******** but it will just cost the parents loads of ********* money!
I agree! They'll learn more if they are directly affected. But if they're swearing that much in the first place, their parents aren't teaching them discipline, so charging them and making the parents pay really won't do anything.
I like CP's idea, but then these same parents would probably sue the school disctrict. I'd say hit them where it directly affects them: Every time they curse, make them eat the 'free' school lunch in a room alone, no kid wants to do that!!!
