OK KIDS, NOW YOU'RE IN CHARGE

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, February 2, 1992                   TAG: 9202020204
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Ed Shamy
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
OK KIDS, NOW YOU'RE IN CHARGE
You're a former youngster. An ex-child.
You're one of those who grumble about kids nowadays. They're dangerous, spoiled, rude-mouthed little weasels. They don't study. They're addicted to Nintendo. They don't respect their elders. They carry .38-caliber revolvers in their lunch boxes. They'd rather steal your purse than work for a dollar and they all hate vegetables.
To probe these complaints, and to find out if kids have really undergone a fundamental change since you were there, I consulted my friends from Forest Park Elementary School.
They're in Joyce Goodwin's class. Some are fourth-graders and some are fifth. This year, while Forest Park is being renovated, their "school" is a small section downstairs at James Madison Middle School.
On Friday, I decided to fire everyone from the school. Principals, teachers, the works - they were gone.
You are now in charge, I told the spirited group of 9-, 10- and 11-year-olds.
What will you change? What will you do?
Their plans:

Tiffany: "Teach people to read and write. I want to take people outside every day and let them do anything if they're good. If they're not, they'll stay home."

Rashad: "Check every room and the kids who behave in this school and that do as I say can bring footballs and play with them at free time."

Jamie: "Give the teachers a raise. Have physical education every day. Have anything we want for lunch."

Calvin: "Run always, and talk back, and climb on the desk and cuss."

Ebony: "Make classes work their hands off until I say stop."

Maurice: "No teachers."

Amanda: "Make the school bigger. Put games in."

Walter: "Make physical education every day."

Garrett: "Have more than one pizza at lunch and no teachers. Computers on every desk. Teach me games. Football cards and basketball cards and more lockers."

Nathaniel: "Let the kids go wild."
Maybe kids have changed. But not much. Not my friends.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB