[quote=“Battery9”]…Could it be the lack of crime? Back home in South-Africa, there are streetkids and bums all around, trying to steal your wallet or cellphone, or attack you. So most of us know exactly what is going on around us, who is walking behind you etc.
Here people stop in the middle of a shop entrance and stare at clouds, or just turn right into a street without even noticing that there are 44938 scooters about to crash into them and their helmetless kids (the grownups usually wear helmets).
Even I (after almost 5 yrs here) have relaxed in that sense a bit.
Could this be one of the reasons why people don’t scan busses or immediate areas?[/quote]
Anyways, to contribute to the original question asked here: I think it is an interesting point. Different mentality for a different kind of environment (much like animals who live in mountains as opposed to those who live in deserts) who have differnet priorities and influences which frame the basis of their fundamental level of awareness, abilities, physique, and to which sorts of phenomenons they will more likely turn their attention to…
Personally, I have found that sometimes I catch myself being swept up in the stream of life here. I really have always thought of myself as acutely aware of my surroundings; but being in another environment, requires a different mentality in order to exist with fluid harmony. I’ll admit that at times I have cut some corners I normally stand against doing, while other times my awareness has become even more so acute and interesting.
I suppose there are many factors contributing to each specific behaviour and its consequences.
[quote=“PoSTMoDeRNFuNK”] Here is where you are correct in that some teachers land crappy schools: An ex co-worker of mine got fired for trying excctly that approach, while several others received warnings.[/quote]
As opposed to all the other crap I have been spewing?
So practically, say a kid does get stuck in a car, what can a school do to ensure a kid can get out of a situation like that. Will an alarm work? It will have to be a button that is really easy to press, attached to something really loud.
Any other ideas?
[quote=“twonavels”][quote=“PoSTMoDeRNFuNK”] Here is where you are correct in that some teachers land crappy schools: An ex co-worker of mine got fired for trying excctly that approach, while several others received warnings.[/quote]
As opposed to all the other crap I have been spewing?[/quote]
No, nooooooo, not at all what I implied. Perhaps I should have been more clear. It was my way of segueing into a personally long debated topic of mine… ie: “Ach sigh… .here we go again!” Nothing more.
I like the alarm button idea. Also finding a way to make it mandatory to do a last minute check to ensure that the bus driver is indeed, the last one off the bus… Whether that be special licensing, training, harsher ensuring techniques from the schools, I am not sure, because I don’t know what the requirements are for that here.
Maybe they can put a kind of clipboard that the police have here for their rounds at the back of the bus and the uncle has to get in and sign that he has checked. While he’s busy with that, though, some aimlessly wandering kid outside will probably get himself run over by a fire truck.
Read “A map of the world” by Jane Hamilton. Accidents can happen in the blink of an eye. One of my kids’ cousins were kidnapped from Elementary school and murdered, by the closest family friend. Somebody that the teachers knew and that the child trusted. Life can be a vile, horrid, disgusting thing. And also amazingly cool. Dig it.
My thoughts exactly as I was typing up that last post. I was thinking that in those cases there should be another teacher simply greeting them, to ensure constant supervision.
My sentiments exactly. People always think I am nuts for wanting to live forever if I could. I would rather ‘suffer’ for centuries for a prolonged experience in life, than to live in bliss for a few short years. I’m too curious to see what life has in store for humanity.
Unfortunately, so many people want to jump on the English school money-making bandwagon that quality and safety are often the first thing to go. Many of these illegal fly-by-night schools are run by people who don’t have the first clue about how to run and manage a school, let alone handle the responsibility for the 50-100 young lives they take in for 6 hours a day.
I seriously doubt that these schools would be allowed to operate if they ran their schools this way in North America. For instance, how many schools have staff members trained on performing CPR on young children? Know how to operate a fire extinguisher? Preschools and day care centers in the US have been shut down for less. And for far less than fatal negligence as in this case.
I can’t imagine what might have happened last year when my school had a fire in a classroom if we hadn’t been practicing emergency procedures all year and had a well-trained staff and a principal with a good head on her shoulders. As for the fire department who took their sweet time in showing up, however…
Can you imagine evacuating 100 children from the third floor of a building without knowing what to do. That just sounds scary.
Sometimes I think I agree with the government on their stance on preschool buxibans. That unless they can be run by competent staff, they should not be opened. I’d rather know some children were in established, but overflowing classrooms than dying on a school bus on their way to a brand-new school opened by someone who wanted to make some lucrative income.
I generally agree that many Chinese people don’t care much about safety of children…
However, in this case, I don’t really know who to blame. I think it’s pretty obvious that the kid was hiding himself under a seat or something - I don’t think it’s possible not to notice a kid ON the seat in a small school van. I guess he just didn’t want to go to school but didn’t think that he could end up locked in the hot van. I wouldn’t blame the bus driver for not crawling under the seats looking for children who might think it’s a good day for skipping the school.
As for teacher not calling the parents when the child didn’t show up at school. Do they do that anywhere in the world? There are 20 kids in kindergarten classes and up to 40 in elementary school. And there are ALWAYS kids that are absent - at least 2, sometimes 5 - you can’t call all of them, it’s nonsense. When I have a kid absent from the class, I think he’s probably ill and couldn’t come to school; it wouldn’t cross my mind that the kid could be locked up in a hot school van not able to get out.
This is a good issue that should be discussed publicly. Most teachers have seen at least a few cases of negligence cum accidents waiting to happen. I worked at a Hogwan (buxiban) in Korea that actually had bare electrical wires sticking out of the wall in the KINDERGARTEN PLAY AREA! I’m not joking. They didn’t even try to hide it. Parents didn’t seem to care at all. Of course the foreign teachers did. We complained and were given “Yes, yes” answers a lot but nothing was ever done. I suppose the wires weren’t actually live, but that hardly matters when teaching the implicit idea that bare wires are normal in a playpen. Some Korean teaching staff suggested that no kids would be dumb enough to touch them anyway. (hah!) Finally, I think they were covered up by a new faceplate after months of us protesting and nagging. Those pesky Westerners!
Here in Taiwan I once requested my school director to move two glass bottles of 100% alcohol (!!!) to a safer location than under the bathroom sink where the youngest children can freely go. If I tried, I could remember more things I’m sure.
Funny how the same people are so terrified of even the safest of swimming pools.
EVERYBODY PLEASE DO READ THIS !!
Did you know one of the most dangerous things in any home or school is toothpaste. A single tablespoon of floridated toothpaste will likely kill a young child if eaten. (Why do so few people know this? I guess that’s like asking who actually voted for George Bush.) I’ve often asked my kids at school if they ever swallow toothpaste. It varies, but some say they do it all the time. I try to teach this fact to all my students.
I like the idea of buzzers in the vans. Is there a way we could suggest this to whoever regulates buxibans? I suppose they’ll think of it too, but whether they’ll do it is another question.
How about a Web site where foreigners can (semi-anonomously?) post public complaints against schools for perceived safety negligence.
That was a new piece of information for me. I googled it and it seems to be true, although 1 tablespoon is a bit exaggerated.
But thanks for the warning - I really mean it. My kid would eat a whole lot more than a spoonful if he could… He’s already addicted to kids’ Paracetamol :s
[quote=“twonavels”]
…
I can’t believe this school claimed that the kid was strangled by a necklace. Pathetic.[/quote]
can’t they ask for an autopsy/ post mortem analysis to exacly know how that poor toodler went to heaven?
A cram school I worked at before actually called every family who had absent kids or late kids. The school was quite big, 400-500 kids across three buildings. Each teacher took attendance, and within a few minutes, an office girl took a list of all the late/absent kids and promptly phoned the parents/grandparents to find out what was going on. Actually a good system.
General safety, on the other hand, was atrocious. 200 kids on the fourth and fifth floors with only one tiny staircase next to one tiny elevator. If there was ever a fire there, you’d have so many barbecued kids. Parents and teachers, however, see nothing wrong with this set up.
When foreigners brought up safety issues, we just got strange looks from the Taiwanese and the typical “you think too much”. On the other hand, if we said this was bad luck and the ghosts will come and take away your fortune, I’m sure it would be seriously dealt with.
Our school takes attendance for the kids and calls their parents if they are missing without their parents having called. One of the staff members walks around to every classroom to look in the window and take attendance to ensure everyone who is supposed to be there is there. It doesn’t take too long and it makes sure the parents become more responsible in letting us know if their child won’t be coming in rather than waiting for the phone call asking why they aren’t there.
Good point, but there was a time where many people were allowed have day care centers who had to meet simple requirements. In these cases, many were found to be abusing the children physically and other sorid things.
When kids don’t show up for my G1 class, I’m on the phone to the office to find out where they are. If the office doesn’t know, I ask them to find out. Seems like a no-brainer.
but I guess the only thing you can really say about common sense is that there is no such thing.
I am deeply shocked and confused by this incident. I ask myself “How could this happen?”
The parents must ask the same thing. So horrible.
EDIT: I guess that what I am trying to say about common sense is that we all, as individuals believe we know what common sense is. While thousands may agree on one point, one may not, making it less than common. That one might be the person who didn’t bother to physically check the school bus.
My version of common sense includes “don’t touch fire”, don’t eat from a bottle that has a skull and crossbones on it, and don’t drive drunk. Yet thousands each year die from these mishaps. Maybe I’m off base.
[quote=“canucktyuktuk”]When kids don’t show up for my G1 class, I’m on the phone to the office to find out where they are. If the office doesn’t know, I ask them to find out. Seems like a no-brainer.
but I guess the only thing you can really say about common sense is that there is no such thing.
I am deeply shocked and confused by this incident. I ask myself “How could this happen?”
The parents must ask the same thing. So horrible.[/quote]
See, I must be missing something because I still believe there is such a thing as common sense. We have it when we deal with fire. Don’t put your hand in the fire. We have it when it comes to how we treat our prized possessions. But some how it’s lacks when it comes to dealing with a human life? Sorry, but I know that people no matter where they are, know that a hot bus can have adverse results. Hence why man had the idea to make air cons for them…
[quote=“Notsu”][quote=“dearpeter”]
Did you know one of the most dangerous things in any home or school is toothpaste. A single tablespoon of floridated toothpaste will likely kill a young child if eaten. (Why do so few people know this? I guess that’s like asking who actually voted for George Bush.) I’ve often asked my kids at school if they ever swallow toothpaste. It varies, but some say they do it all the time. I try to teach this fact to all my students.
[/quote]
That was a new piece of information for me. I googled it and it seems to be true, although 1 tablespoon is a bit exaggerated. [/quote]
Golly! And just a couple of T’s of salt will kill a toddler too! :rolleyes: Or a small slurp of Drano! Or a fall from a third-floor balcony! Or a couple of shots of whiskey! Or. . . .
Nothing to do with training or culture. Simple common sense dictates that you count the kids and have a register. This is apathy, negligence, even. There are plenty of schools that do count the kids and look after them properly. Manslaughter convictions and good long prison terms might solve this problem.
BUT, I am the only teacher looking after my 8 kids. All the other classes have co-workers, but mine is an English only class. So many things can go wrong…today one mom sent a package of bubblegum to share with the class. Other moms bring marbles to school…but all I see is death.
Am I morbid or realistic? Imagine I go to jail because one of my kids choke or something…it’s an eye opener.
