Class clown is sent down a grade

Family, Education, Health and Pets
1
My boys are in a first / second grade Swiss school and they have come home today saying that the class clown has been sent back to first grade. We asked who the class clown is, the answer was we don't know we just call him the class clown. How derogatory is that for the child. There is obviously issues but to be labelled the class clown is going to do wonders for the childs self esteam.

2
you know some kids want to be class clown?

3
I'm sure the fact that his class mates have not even bothered to learn his name isn't exactly going to help his self-esteem either.

4

Is the problem that the boy considers himself to be the clown or that your boys are derogatory calling him the clown

5
The class farter would be worse, we had one when I taught first graders languages...I knew his name at the time but I do not remember anymore...I remember the smell though, kid had some seriously gastrointestinal problems.

I am pretty sure many kids do remember his name though

6
Oh man....your post brought back a lot of good memories about my identity in school How I miss those days

7
How is class clown derogatory?

Better Class Clown than the Smelly Boy.

8
the child has been labelled by the teacher and all the children in the class. Giving the child a label means that they are going to act up to it, rather that rearlising the child has issues and trying to addess the issues. How would you feel as a parent, if the teacher called your child the class clown infront of all the pupils in the class. Nicknames are fine amongst kids, but the teacher addressing and reinforcing the label class clown is in my view the worst thing you can do for a child.

9
That's ridiculous that the teacher will label a student. Although not at all surprising for the school culture here.

Class clowning is an indicator for many possible negative and positive situations, so one can't jump to conclusions whether it's bad or good.

10
I think there is a fine line between calling him the class clown a few times to completely forgetting his name...

Otherwise I find it sadder that he got sent back one year than the fact he is the class clown, as bigblue2 said some people really work hard for that...why I have no idea

11

well if your not sporty, good looking, intelligent or rich you get a pretty hard time at school, class clown is one way to make sure you don't get beaten up "don't hit him, he's funny"

12
yes, I 'd like to know if he has been moved down only because he 's a little disruptive or because he does not have the right abilities to follow ? if he's disruptive because he can't cope academically is one thing but just because the teacher does not have to put up with discipline is another thing.

And please @ chemmie, tell me you're not right. sureley teachers label kids like that here..

and OP, can you try to get the name of that kid and share it with us please.

13

If he's been put down a year then the teacher will get him again next year anyway, so not a good plan

14
Not necessarily. In some schools the kids get the same teacher each year during primary. Which is great if the teacher is good.

15
It is a mixed Grade1 / Grade 2 class, so he just moves from the right hand side of the classroom to the left hand side or something like that! - same teacher. As far as I can ascertain he is just being attention seaking in class!

16
Sadly CH is one of the very few countries in the world where teachers have a lot of influence in the kids future. If they can't cope with a challenging situation, they simply find a way to get rid of that child. Having raised three kids (young adults now), my wife and I had many many bitter experiences with such teachers. As a result, we took our kids out of public school system and put them in international schools.

17
Not quite sure what you mean here (sorry my english is pretty bad, my past english teachers apparently didn't know how to deal with a class class clown either:P )

Essentially when I was in school in Switzerland I saw a lot of the teachers labelling and partaking in name calling at the same level as other students. To the point where I considered it teasing (almost bullying). The victims were expected to laugh it off with everyone else, but this could have proved (and probably did) detrimental to children who had to deal with self-concious issues/complexes/other mental uncertainities.

The other arguement is of course, if you learn to deal with it at an early age, you can deal with it for the rest of your life.

18
You never stated if this was like a Swiss circus school and he was simply being demoted back to cashier because his clown act was crap...?

Seriously though, check with other parents. Kids are lousy messengers, that's if they even remember to pass on the message in the first place. If the guy was a pest, it may bring calm back to the class.

19
Or maybe, just maybe, he was absolutely not able to follow the class? We have no clue if there was any causal connection with him being the class clown and being sent back a year.

During my school years, we had two very different types of class clowns:

1. Highly intelligent and completely bored out - frustrated and provoked the teacher by being a smart ass and not doing his homework will still scoring the best grades.

2. Overextended and not able to follow the class - tried to cover his own shortcomings and frustrations by being the clown...

I know we always jump to conclusions here, but this thread based on a one line report by a second grader stands out even for EF standards.

20
I am surprised that one of our boys hasn't been the class clown because of position 1. Transferring them from International school to the Swiss system has been a learning experience. I am still struggling with the fact that the teaching in local schoos are taught to the masses, so that children on either end of the spectrum, ie highly intelligent, don't get stretched and that children with learning difficulties just get left to struggle.