Yes, the new-and-improved “positive” stuff still sucks.
(Image description: A 4 panel cartoon by Autball.
1: Two figures (one red, one yellow) are in an empty classroom. Yellow is putting something we can’t see on the wall and says, “My kid saw a reference to dunce hats in a Youtube video the other day, and she asked me what they meant.”
2: Same scene. Yellow grabs a blue bin while saying, “I told her what they were about and that they actually used to be a thing in schools, and she couldn’t believe it!” Red is carrying a poster over to the wall and says, “Oh man, yeah, so cruel.”
3: Same scene. Red is putting their poster on the wall and says, “And then there was a time when they’d make kids write lines over and over on the chalkboard about what they did wrong, in front of EVERYONE.” Yellow pulls a clothespin out of the blue bin and replies, “Ugh. So embarrassing, and not even helpful!”
4: Same characters, but we can now see what they’re been working on. They stand in front of a decorated bulletin board which has: a poster of a child sitting “properly” at a desk entitled “I’m Ready to Learn!;” a poster of the classroom rules; a rewards chart with the names of all the children in the class on it; and a rainbow colored clip chart covered in clothespins with the children’s names on them. While attaching a clothespin, Yellow says, “I’m so glad we don’t use public shame and humiliation in the classroom like that anymore.” Red, finishing up with the rewards chart, says, “Totally.”)
