I would ask why? In the past, Suzy sat in the front row because she is short, to see the board. If we find out that she is having a problem can we mover her to the front. The teacher will probably respond by saying who she reserves the front row for. Ask, the parents, if they know why their kid was moved? Yes, I would ask.

Not OP, but put the situation in reverse--all of the white kids are in the front and all of the minority kids are in the bag. Would you be making something of it? What?

No one has answered this question. Would you all be so nonchalant if the situation was reversed or would you jump to some nefarious conclusion?

I taught in the classroom for 12 years. Sometimes I had rows, sometimes, I didn't. It depended on the class and the configuration of the classroom. We moved things around from time to time.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish my son's 3rd grade teacher would sit them in rows. She says the kids talk a lot. Um, yeah, they are going to talk when they are all facing each other. But that's what the admins want to see so....

This is one of my biggest beefs with classroom setup: why are kids grouped together like this? Of course they're going to talk and get distracted when they're right on top of one another. Why aren't they seated in rows, like they used to be? Where's the common sense these days?

Rows are great if the classroom format is: the teacher stands in front of the class and talks, and the students sit and listen. This format is uncommon in third-grade classrooms these days. Which is fine with me.

(For what it's worth, when I was in third grade in 1975, our seats were not in rows.)