rt115+Citizenship+Credits

Dear Mr. Swan,
==Bedminster School is considering to apply the "Citizenship Credits" to the school. This is when students will write a report when other kids are doing something bad, send the report to the principal, and then get extra points for their grade. The students are like mini spies for the principal. The teachers think that this policy will help reduce the bullying and violence at the school. They also think it will suppress inappropriate behavior, rule breakers, and use of inappropriate language. Many other schools have done this. Some agreed and some didn't. I believe that the Citizenship Credits is not a good thing for Bedminster School.==

==If we adopt this policy, kids will blow off learning. School is all about learning! Adding this wouldn't be too good. Even if a student needs a point or two to stay in an after-school activity, kids will start to take learning lightly. A student will be able to get the chance to skip their homework because the student knows that they can get an extra point for writing someone down. "Uh, that guy looked at my shirt really weird. I'm gonna report them." If a kid is failing a class, that kid can just make up a "bunch of noodles," and then can walk out of a class with an unsatisfactory A+. Kids won't have to pay attention in class and they will just pretend to listen and write down people who are misbehaving.==

==The "Citizenship Credits" will lead to rumors and lies. All the kids have to do is make up a lie or rumor. Then, they can just report someone for saying them just so that they can get extra points on a grade. Even though this would help bullies to be more well behaved, this policy will enforce the reason to lie. Kids will start to get in the habit of snitching on people, even if that person didn't do anything wrong. That's not a good thing to be teaching kids. If a student doesn't like a certain kid, they can make up a lie about them and get them reported.==

==Some students will think that misconceptions might be that a person did that on purpose. Even if that person did it purposely, it would unbalance the students. Bullies help kids to be leaders if someone's getting picked on, or students who want to help others around them. If a student throws a candy bar wrapper, but misses the garbage can, "mini detectives" will think that they are littering and report them, even though it was a simple mistake. Now if you don't know what a misconception is, a misconception is a mistaken thought, or a misunderstanding. If a kid looks at another person's computer one day, and thinks that they are off task, they can just report them. But what happens if that person was ordered by the teacher to do something else because he already finished the assignment that had to be done? Well, too bad.==

==Huh, so maybe "Citizenship Credits" isn't really that good. This policy has a lot of good points to it, but it those good points would turn bad like this. *SNAP.* This policy is like teaching how to be a tattle-tale detective. Schools are supposed to teach kids about other languages, math, home education, social studies, science, and reading and language arts. These subjects will help them become great people, not the "How to become a Tattle-tale Detective" subject. The "Citizenship Credits" are only preventing that. I declare that the policy "Citizenship Credits" is... Guilty! *BANG!*==