My friends DD was told by a teacher to clean the toilets at school!

[roliepolieoliefan]

My friends live in a rural area a couple hours outside of the city. She sent her DD to a private school. DD is 12. She's been going to this school for a couple years now. Just recently, her DD came home from school and told her mom, she had to clean the toilets. My friend asked first, if she was being punished. Friends DD told her no, everyone gets a turn. So my friend went to the school, the teacher told my friend, they were short of help so every child had to take a turn cleaning the toilets. Of course she was ticked. Talked to a few people above the principal, and nothing was done. So my friend pulled her DD out and put her in the public school(thats why at the beginning, I say sent to private school). Can you believe this? Then to boot, my friend asked her DD, well did you at least wear gloves? She said, they would only let us wear one, because they didn't want to waste them.

 

[Pooh67_68]

 

[gymnasticsmom68]

That would be the day!!

 

[tiggersmom2]

I would definitely have a problem with the school having my child do janitorial work! If the school is short staffed and needs help they should ask the PARENTS to help, not the kids IMHO.

 

[Maleficent2]

YUK! and not to mention UNSAFE! Children should not be asked to clean toilets(although we had to do it at Girl Scout Camp when I was young-eons ago)today it is just not safe!




Mal

 

[Stepharoonie!]

!!!!!!

 

[stinkerbelle]

you mean no one here has a child that age (12) clean a toilet at home?

I honestly DON'T see a problem with it.

wait until college...when she's woken up at 3am to clean the communal bathroom with the rest of the girls on her floor - you want nasty? THAT'S nasty!

 

[Hillbeans]

If this is part of the "curriculum" and you're aware of it then it wouldn't be the worst thing i've ever heard, but to do it with no parents knowledge is very wrong.

Kids should know how to do chores, but if they're using chemicals and bleach and things like that, you should know to at least send along "work clothes". They should also be given gloves.

That being said, i'd be very upset to hear my DS was made to clean toilets without knowing about it first.

 

[missypie]

People get this idea that private schools are universally better than public schools.

I have a friend who was raised Catholic and went to all Catholic schools. Naturally, she put her daughters in Catholic schools. Then she started noticing the class size...the state limit for public schools of that age group was 22 and one of her daughters' class had 35, with more being accepted...the priest explained that they needed the tuition money. (She has since switched over to public schools, also.)

 

[jimmiej]

Public schools would never get away with this!

 

[BrerMom]

"All Japanese students help keep their classrooms, hallways, and school clean. Sometime during the school day, a bell rings and music begins playing through the intercom. All students stop what they are doing and begin to clean. You will often find the teachers cleaning along side the students. There are custodians in the school but their jobs are to repair and maintain the school building." http://www.kent.wednet.edu/staff/phawthor/japan/cleaning.html



"After the two afternoon classes the students clean the school for about 15 minutes. This is called Sougi in Japanese. Every student has a job to do during this period. The students clean the toilets, their classrooms, the hallways, the gym, the school yard and even weed the grounds." http://www.yutaka-machi.com/japanese_schools.htm

This entire article is wonderful! Here's the part that deals with this discussion:
"At the end of the academic day, all students participate in o shoji, the cleaning of the school. They sweep the classrooms and the hallways, empty trash cans, clean restrooms, clean chalkboards and chalk erasers, and pick up trash from the school grounds. After o shoji, school is dismissed and most students disperse to different parts of the school for club meetings." http://www.indiana.edu/~japan/digest9.html

I'm convinced that if we were able to have the students help clean the school, the students would have more pride in the school itself and wouldn't trash it so badly. You should see what the kids do to the restrooms here! If I catch a student writing on a desk and want him/her to clean either that desk or a set of desks, I have to call home first to get permission from the parents. I usually get an OK about half the time.

 

[dumboiu]

We do not live in Japan.......and we don't impose their academic schedule on our students.

When spending the kind of money one does sending a child to private school, I would not want my child cleaning the school's toilets..........it is NOT the same as cleaning the familiy bathroom.

 

[CajunDixie]

Better keep your kids out of scouts if you don't want them learning responsibility. Every year we go to resident camp its up to the scouts to keep their own latrine clean. They also set up dinner each night (family style) and after every meal they clean the dining hall. Those kids have quite a bit of respect for these places since they know they have to clean them.

Seems strange the daughter didn't mention cleaning the restroom when the other kids had to do it. Must not have been that big of a deal to her.

 

[gymnasticsmom68]

Originally posted by stinkerbelle
you mean no one here has a child that age (12) clean a toilet at home?

I honestly DON'T see a problem with it.

wait until college...when she's woken up at 3am to clean the communal bathroom with the rest of the girls on her floor - you want nasty? THAT'S nasty!

There's a big difference there.

 

[momof3disneyholics]

Originally posted by dumboiu
We do not live in Japan.......and we don't impose their academic schedule on our students.

When spending the kind of money one does sending a child to private school, I would not want my child cleaning the school's toilets..........it is NOT the same as cleaning the familiy bathroom.

 

[gymnasticsmom68]

Better keep your kids out of scouts if you don't want them learning responsibility. Every year we go to resident camp its up to the scouts to keep their own latrine clean.

And you sign on knowing that in advance. I wouldn't spend a small fortume for my kids to go to school and clean up toilets that the other kids are using. That is just disgusting!!!!

 

[SpecialK]

I'm surprised that a private school would condone this, especially without prior notification of parents and parental permission. There are huge liability issues involved here for both private and public institutions.

 

[Keli]

You know, I wouldn't want this sprung on me as a surprise but I would have no problem with it if I was aware of the situation ahead of time. I think it would help teach my child responsiblity. Of course I may look at these things differently since my family and I cleaned our church every week for years when I was growing up (toilets too!).

 

[phillybeth]

Teachers can't even clean up vomit anymore without using special biohazard containers, but they allow kids to clean toilets that possibly hundreds of other kids have used? Without letting the parents know? Feces and urine are biohazards and can carry Hepatitis as well as other nasty things. I would be livid. It is one thing to let the parents know ahead of time and give them the option to opt out, but doing it without parental permission is just plain wrong IMO.

 

[Toby'sFriend]

My kids are required to take their turn sweeping the floor and wiping down tables in the lunchroom. I don't have a problem with that. I don't think I'd want them cleaning toilets however because those can be some pretty harsh chemicals.


I don't see how this can be a Public vs Private Debate. I could be wrong but I think *any* school in the US asking the students to clean toilets is an oddity and not common practice.