Sumi, a student teacher, was working at a private early childhood center part-time while student teaching. The center was located near a shopping mall. In addition to regularly enrolled students, it allowed children on a drop-in basis. Sumi had worked at the center a short while and had some serious concerns over some of the head teacher's practices. What troubled her most was that the center rules had gotten out o f control and that many rules were picky and overly precise. For example, at line-up time children were expected to stand up straight and put both hands on top of their heads. This was difficult for some children because it was hard for them to hold this arm position for an extended period. At first, she thought perhaps the teacher was teaching body part vocabulary this way, but no other requests asked children to put their hands on another body part during the line-up. Then there was the rule about children drinking all their milk at snack time before selecting a cracker from a basket. When she asked the head teacher abut the rules, the head teacher explained it was done so drop-in parents could readily see she had control over the children, and the "milk first" rule was necessary because drop-in parents paid an additional fee for any food served to their children.
Choose and answer one of the questions below; respond to two of your peers. Responses in each forum must be a minimum of five sentences.
1. If Sumi consulted her college professor concerning practices at her workplace, how might her professor respond?
2. If Sumi were to discuss her concerns about the line-up and snack time again with her head teacher at her place of employment, what woul you suggest her first statement should be?
3. Because this center was not her student teaching placement classroom, should Sumi just forget about her concerns? If yes, explain your reasoning.