What's something that seems crazy now about school?

You are arguing in bad faith which is disappointing. By discipline I mean appropriate consequences for deliberate misbehaviour. Not disciplining a child for asking to go to the toilet. You know that’s not what I meant and you’re being intentionally disingenuous. The ‘traumatic’ remark is fictitious hyperbole designed to make me appear extreme and unreasonable so you can dismiss, rather than counter, my points. Regarding diagnosing students, I’m not in the slightest suggesting teachers/schools diagnose anyone and again, you fully know that. Nor am I suggesting they refer or assess them. I am saying they have a duty to *identify* a child who *may* be struggling and *raise* that appropriately. This was standard when I was a child - I had hearing, sight, and reading tests because I had selective mutism/autism and couldn’t/wouldn’t read out loud. My teacher thought I couldn’t read so I was sent for tests on the back of her concerns. This is also how dyslexia was identified in my class mate. So unless things have drastically changed, it’s still a teacher’s duty to raise any concerns they have about a child. Regarding your quoted comment: “teachers should never make children ask to use the toilet, it’s inhumane” Whether or not others have expressed this in other conversations with you, I don’t know, but I have not so it is irrelevant. I do not hold this view and it is disingenuous for you to insinuate such by quoting it in the context of this discussion as if to again align me with an unreasonable view. Regarding the pairing with a calmer child, I addressed your *exact* points in my first reply and acknowledged that this approach can be very difficult to implement successfully. Bare in mind difficult doesn’t mean impossible. Again, you have not actually countered my point. You have merely parroted the limitations I already acknowledged myself. You have added nothing here. Regarding rewards, I said at the end of the *lesson*. Not end of the day. Counter what I said, not what you wish I’d said. Again, this suggestion was based on what I saw work well. Regarding the teacher’s asssitant, you’ve cherry picked one suggestion and conveniently ignored the other. I gave two options - only one included the child leaving the class, and despite your incredulousness, I did see this successfully used with kids who liked to wander. Success with this depends entirely on *why* they are wandering which is *why* my point about teachers raising concerns they pick on is so important. If teachers are unwilling to think laterally regarding difficult students, they simply compound the problem and pass them off on to next year’s teacher. All children deserve a good education - not just the ones who are easy to deal with and failing to address potential hidden needs is depriving children of said education. I speak from experience as a person who left school at *14* due to teachers demonstrating similar inflexibility as yourself when I had difficulties due to mental health issues and autism. However, if leaving class isn’t appropriate, and I agree it might not be for all children in all circumstances, then there are other, in-class tasks I suggested you can give a child to keep them from distraction/misbehaviour. Again, I saw this work very well for kids in my class - including myself. You have chosen to dismiss all my suggestions while offering none in return and have been disingenuous throughout. You have shown rigidity of thinking and unwillingness to offer flexibility in your approach to children who have clear struggles in the schooling environment. I maintain that if you cannot find a solution for a *7* year old child from wandering the corridors for 30 minutes, then the problem is the teacher/school, not the child and to be honest, it’s time we stop blaming *children* for being unable to meet society’s demands and expectations when society offers them no leniency or flexibility to cope if they’re struggling. You do a very difficult job and I don’t envy you, and I’m acutely aware, despite how passionate I am about this topic, that it’s difficult to implement change, but equally I’m disappointed in the rigidity and unwillingness to even consider alternative suggestions and the refusal to engage with this discussion with sincerity. Anyway, I’ve said what I feel and I doubt any further replies by myself will lead to anything constructive as we’re clearly both very adamant in our views, so I’ll leave it here. Have a good weekend.