Jack Kingston: “So much of the discipline picture, though, has got to get back to the home and the parents. We had Charles Ellis…”

“So much of the discipline picture, though, has got to get back to the home and the parents. We had Charles Ellis Montessori School in Savannah, GA, an excellent school putting out a great product in the students that it educates. The principal, though, told me they have 94 percent parent involvement. If you get the parents involved, it makes a big difference. I will tell my colleagues another personal story and convince them that I have horrible discipline around the house. I have got to tell you about Jim, my 6-year-old. I love Jim. I am excited. We are going home tomorrow, and I am going to go play with Jim. Jim is very, very independent, a little blond-headed boy, solid as a rock, not an ounce of fat on him, all muscle. Ninety-nine percent go. All the time. He does not have a slow gear. He started kindergarten last year. He did not like it. He liked summertime, he liked independence. He did not like sitting in the classroom. The teacher tried to include him in on the program, Ms. Stafford, but Jim resisted. It got worse and worse. Ms. Stafford took him to see the principal. Jim did not like the principal at all and kicked the principal. The teacher was horrified. The principal was horrified. She called me up and I was horrified because, as you know, particularly during the 1960's when the three of us went through the school system, principals were like God. They had the final word on everything, and no kicking. But Jim did not know the rules.”