Maken wij ons zorgen over hoofdoekjes? Kijk eens in USA!

[Cees Binkhorst]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

De olie in de Golf van Mexico heeft onvermoede gevolgen.
Kunnen de Amerikanen deze olie voorlopig niet kwijt, dan zullen ze de
producten zoveel mogelijk verbannen?
Of zou het drillen van de jeugd aan het mislukken zijn in het 'land of
the Free?'

Groet / Cees

Banning specific items from classrooms in other schools?
I am guessing that something like this is exactly the kind of thing
that does NOT happen at SVS?

The Bandz are now contraband. Schools in several states, including New
York, Texas, Florida and Massachusetts, have blacklisted Silly Bandz,
those stretchy, colorful bracelets that are creeping up the forearms of
school kids across the U.S.
And starting this week, all 800-some kids at my son's elementary
school in Raleigh, N.C., were commanded to leave at home their
collections of rubber band–like bracelets, which retail for about $5 per
pack of 24. What could possibly be so insidious about a cheap silicone
bracelet?

"It's a distraction," says Jill Wolborsky, a fourth-grade teacher at my
son's school, who banned them from her classroom before the principal
implemented a schoolwide ban. One student stole some confiscated Bandz
from her desk, choosing them over the cash in her drawer.

It seems to me that this is a prime example of something that would
not be discouraged at SVS. That students would have the opportunity to
learn something from the activity of trading and playing with these
bands if they so choose. Is that right?

Silly Bandz Banned — What's a Schoolkid to Do?
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1991797,00.html

The Bandz are now contraband. Schools in several states, including New
York, Texas, Florida and Massachusetts, have blacklisted Silly Bandz,
those stretchy, colorful bracelets that are creeping up the forearms of
school kids across the U.S. And starting this week, all 800-some kids at
my son's elementary school in Raleigh, N.C., were commanded to leave at
home their collections of rubber band–like bracelets, which retail for
about $5 per pack of 24. What could possibly be so insidious about a
cheap silicone bracelet?

"It's a distraction," says Jill Wolborsky, a fourth-grade teacher at my
son's school, who banned them from her classroom before the principal
implemented a schoolwide ban. One student stole some confiscated Bandz
from her desk, choosing them over the cash in her drawer. (See pictures
of teens in America.)

Students fiddle with them during class and arrange swaps — trading, say,
a bracelet with a mermaid for one with a dragon — when they should be
concentrating on schoolwork, teachers say. Sometimes a trade goes bad —
kids get buyer's remorse too — and hard feelings, maybe even scuffles,
ensue.

That's what prompted Karen White, principal of Snow Rogers Elementary
School in Gardendale, Ala., in October to become one of the first
administrators to forbid students their Bandz. "We try not to limit
their freedom of expression and what they wear, but when this became a
problem, I knew we had to nip it in the bud pretty quickly," says White,
who has since extended an olive branch in the form of monthly Silly
Bandz days. (See pictures of a public boarding school in Washington, D.C.)

Silly Bandz are the latest in a long list of kid-centric fads — in the
tradition of Cabbage Patch Kids, Beanie Babies, Pokémon cards and Crocs.
BCP Imports LLC, the small business in Toledo, Ohio, that's behind the
bracelets, was not prepared for the frenzy. It's increased its workforce
from 20 employees to 200 in the past year and just this week added 22
phone lines to keep up with inquiries. The company sells millions of
packs a month, and Robert Croak, the president, can still hardly believe
it. (He took my call after hanging up with Macy's, which is interested
in creating a Silly Bandz float for its storied Thanksgiving Day parade.)

Croak got inspired about three years ago at a product show in China,
where a Japanese artist had devised a rubber band cute enough to escape
the trash bin. Though Silly Bandz have been out for two years, they
began catching on a year ago — Alabama was an early adopter, as were New
Jersey and Tennessee. They're just now gaining traction in California
and Texas. (See where jewelry is fitting into green designs for 2010.)

"They're getting banned because kids play with them so much," says
Croak, who maintains they're the right product at the right time, a
cost-conscious trinket in tough economic times that can even be a
learning tool for little ones, kind of like flexible flash cards.

His company receives about 500 fan letters a week. One, signed by a
10-year-old named Logan Librett in New Rochelle, N.Y., and a few of his
friends suggested a way to circumvent all the bothersome Silly Bandz
restrictions: "Some schools in New York have banned them, but we have
ideas that might change that ... clear silly bands that teachers can't
see and only glow in the dark."

Just in case the company bites, Librett offered his address. He's still
waiting.

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