KMS… A Learning Enviroment? I think Not!

Submitted by Michele Tucker – 6/05/00

Hi,

I would like to contribute my two cents about Toronto schools, specifically KMS: There is a big problem there that needs to be addressed but probably never will. It is the vicious way the children treat one another, especially the girls.

My child attends Edison now, ever since she was beaten up at school. Her head was banged against lockers and the concrete floor. She came home with so much hair pulled out that she had a bald spot. It didn’t stop there. There were ongoing threats, harassment, etc. She had gotten 2 D’s and an F on her last report card at KMS, because it was not a learning environment.

This behavior of beating one another up (and thinking it is cool), malicious slander, gossip and lies is not tolerated at Edison. Sarah is now back on the honor roll, a cheerleader, and doing very well. I just wonder how many parents have pulled their children out of Toronto schools in the last couple years and placed them elsewhere…. I know there are quite a few children in Toronto attending Edison…hmmm…

The parents are worse than the children. Many of the families attend church regularly, and this issue needs to be addressed there, as well. I don’t know what they are learning in Sunday School, but maybe if some of the pastors knew what went on in school they would want to remind us of the many teachings of Jesus about how to treat others….”Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” (I John 4.7-8)

Anyway, what the people in Toronto do and do not teach their children is none of my business, but I am very proud of my daughter and the values I have taught her, like the fact that she does not prejudge anyone without giving the person a chance. These kids are people, with feelings, and at crossroads in their lives. They need their self-esteem built up, not torn down, so they do not end up like the 15-year-old Toronto child in a coma in Trinity West who just OD’d on pills Saturday nite.

My daughter was a cheerleader for one year. She gave it up because of the snobby way girls treated one another (which I believe they learn from their parents). Sarah was told that if she didn’t “drop” so-and-so and quit hanging around with so-and-so she couldn’t associate with them. I am very proud of the choice she made, to drop cheerleading. She is lightyears ahead of some of these girls in maturity, and when it comes time for her to go to college or work, the real world, she will be aquainted with people of all walks of life.

So, PEOPLE-IN-TORONTO-WHO-DO-NOT-MIND-YOUR-OWN-BUSINESS, be careful about judging one another. It might be your child who is someday walking down the street pregnant, with AIDS, gay, on drugs or anything else you or your children accuse my child or anybody else’s of. What goes around comes around, or, in other words, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Mt. 7.1-2)

Sarah has plenty of real friends. She is not allowed to associate with snobby little backstabbing, gossiping, violent and malicious girls who spread rumors and talk about her behind her back, and we no longer really care what they or their parents say about either of us, because it is not for us to judge.

I would just like to say, WHY DON’T YOU PEOPLE (you know who you are) MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS AND GET A LIFE?

Michele Tucker