I tried to explain why I don't want him in that school, but I don't think they really understand. I tried to explain that he likes to argue about things and ask too many questions and I think this would drive a teacher crazy. It isn't really that he argues, it is that he points out things that are not in the book. Most teachers seem to like to teach from the book. For example, when he was reading in a book that playing in a treehouse is healthier than playing video games he pointed out that wouldn't necessarily be so, if the wood was treated with arsenic and the video game was on the Wii which reqires physical activity, the Wii game would be healthier. He likes to get into discussions about things. He asks questions that aren't easily answered. I know he got on the Vacation Bible School teacher's nerves.
My DS is just like this. He points out whenever I mispronounce a word, or if I've accidentally made a pun, or if what I say can be made into a pun, or if what I say could be wrong. And he's fearless about pointing stuff out to other adults (the other day he politely asked some young adults to kindly refrain from using the F-word!).
Like you, I feared that this attitude would not be appreciated in school or that he would learn not to question things. I remember last year when i was helping out in DS's classroom, I found out that he and the teacher pretty much kept up a running conversation the whole day. She would put a spelling word in a sentence for the class and DS would critique the sentence, or revise it, or come up with one that was funnier. She seemed to take it in stride, but I was ready to crawl under the table I was so embarrassed. I asked her during recess if DS was always like that and she said he was. I wondered if that was OK and she said she loved it. She liked having kids who understood her sense of humor and she felt that his chatting helped other kids realize that it was OK to ask questions, share ideas, and just generally participate. Over the last 6 years, I would say that he has had 2 teachers that were able to tolerate him admirably and 4 that thought he was a fabulous addition to the classroom, which I think is amazingly good luck. I do pre-screen teachers and choose people that would be a good fit.
This year he got sent to the principal's office once for talking back (and he was right the text book was wrong, but he just would not let it go after being asked to). But that was with a substitute and we had a talk about how you have to be nicer to sub's because they have a lot more that they are having to keep track of. and he really seemed to understand that sometimes he had to turn his mouth off, which is not a bad lesson to learn!
