Mulitiple choice question - fill in the blanks as they pertain to elementary school.

Rules are _____.
1) necessary to promote safety and order.
2) meant to be broken.
3) written to give the people at the top reason to control everyone beneath his/her level.

Kids _____.
1) need rules to protect themselves and others from harm, physically and socially.
2) need to learn from their own experiences and grow from them.
3) are harmed when there are too many rules.

As a parent, it's apparent that rules are a necessary element of elementary school culture. When there are hundreds of kids on one single campus under the care of, at the most, 50 overworked adults, rules must exist to keep some sense of order. Recently, though, our principal has put demands on the elementary school kids (that's ages 6 - 11) that border stupidity and take away from their most basic need - socialization and playtime. Thankfully she hasn't taken these rights of childhood away, but she's given "guidelines" on how the kids can spend their out-of-classroom time.

At lunchtime, students must sit at tables assigned to their classroom. They cannot sit with friends if they are in a different room. The reason for this? She says that in case a parent is trying to locate their child at lunchtime (which happens at least 3 to 4 times a day - NOT) prearranged seating makes it easier for the adults in charge to locate him or her. Additionally, it is easier for the adults to account for all of the children if they are in a predesignated area, making for a safer lunch time experience.

Secondly, use of the playground will be rotated on a daily basis for the primary grades, 1 through 3. A morning announcement is made, detailing which students are allowed use of the play structures for that particular day. In all fairness, this was started because of on-site construction for safety reasons. However, the construction has been completed and she refuses to do away with this policy. How this is enforced I cannot imagine. I envision a row of police-teachers lined up around the tanbark box, kinda like security at the World Series. "Sorry kid - this area is designated for 2nd graders only."

Now that I'm not on the school campus that often, and especially since I now have kids at three different schools, it's difficult to keep up to date on what is going on. I caught wind of this because a friend decided to include me on an email chain that started with, of all people, a PTA volunteer (gosh I miss that motley group!) Does anyone recognize this as the legalization of taking away basic rights? Come on - any school administrator who feels that controlling kids' free time is the best way to keep children safe should not be in that position. Kids need to be kids during their free time so that they can expend their boundless amounts of energy outside of the classroom. Without this free time, this freedom, chaos in the classroom is bound to ensue.

So the true reason for my ranting is this. Move this thought into the bigger world - our adult world. A world that is wrought with endless rules and regulations. Wear your seatbelt - it's for your own safety. Don't forget to wear a helmet when you ride your bike - it's for your own safety. I do those things anyway, but do we really need a law to tell us what is good for our own safety?!

With election day being a week away, think about what liberties we are losing and at what cost when you mark your ballot. Don't legalize the taking away of our rights as humans. Keep the government out of our bedrooms and our private lives. No on 8 - let people love who they want, how they want. No on 4 - instead put into place programs that help teens deal with this extremely difficult decision. Enforcing a law that makes medical professionals act as narcs will bring more harm than good.

Vote with your conscience. I'll quote something my sister said. The Constitution was written to give us liberties, not to take them away.