"Al" wrote Time out, sports fans.

Don't blame the schools.

Where are the parents????
Want to see the biggest problem in America's education system? Look in
the mirror.

Get involved with your kids. Get involved with your schools. Be part of
the solution. It's easy to stand on the sidelines and be a Monday morning
quarterback.

-end rant-
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Thanks Al

Truer words never spoken. You said it much more eloquently than I can. I
_am_ personally involved, and see all that you mentioned every day, and
more. It makes me angry, nearly every day. Sometimes I can't help but to
get a little over-revved.

Just a couple more things I'll mention that you didn't.

Want to see racism? Look at the parents. I am floored by some of the
attitudes I see, and then I meet the parents. The nut doesn't fall far from
the tree.

I would never dream of that type of behavior, or talk. I really didn't know
there were really people still like that, until I started teaching.

Another one.

How about destruction of other people's property? Kids try to break
something, just to see if they can "tear it up." Even very sturdy things
that are built to take a good bit of abuse, like professional grade power
tools, costing hundreds of dollars. (I teach construction, or carpentry;
what ever you want to call it) They do usually figure out a way to break
them, after a while.

They know it is wrong, because they are sneaky and do it while you are not
looking. Then they laugh about it, thinking it is hilarious. That is how I
usually know they have done something destructive, and start investigating
until I figure out what they were up to. How did this get started? Ever
see "Jackass TV?" The title says it all; kids acting like jackasses.
There are many shows on like that now. Tapes are made of stuff getting
broken, just for fun.

It is not limited to property, but to other people, also. Look on U-tube.

I was looking at something on U-tube the other day, and drift got me to
where kids were doing stuff to hurt other kids, just for fun. I saw one,
where a kid chased one of his buddies through a door that you could not see
through, and someone was on the other side of the door waiting for him.
They had removed the back of a swivel type desk chair, you know - a hard
back with padding on it for the small of your back and up a little, with a
steel flat bar to connect it to the seat portion. The kid swung that at the
other persons FACE as hard as he could. It was so hard that it knocked the
other one backwards off his feet. A very bloody nose resulted, and I would
be VERY surprised if his nose was not broken. Funny stuff, huh?

I put much of the blame on TV shows and tapes like that for this type of
destructive and abusive behavior. They sit around thinking about ways to
top what they saw. Again, they usually succeed.

Where are the parents to teach values about respect for other people, and
respect for other people's property? Teachers can not teach all of that at
school; it has to happen at home. On the whole it is, but there are way too
many examples of kids that are not getting the values, somehow, and it is
obvious.

If someone did something like that at school and got caught, (probably
wouldn't - planning and lookouts would prevent that - this tape I mentioned
with the bloody nose looked like it might have been at school, by the way)
he would get a few days vacation. Oh, I meant suspension. Same thing, to
the kid.

Where is the punishment that would mean something, like a severely bruised
ass. I guarantee, when I was a kid, that would have happened, and I would
have gotten double when I got home. That was my parent's policy. Guess
what? I never tested that policy.

Again, I would never have dreamed of doing of things like that. Values
taught at home, not at school. Such behaviors are now an almost daily
occurrence.

There is more, but you did get what you mentioned, dead on. Exactly right.

Again, thanks.

People, listen to him, not to me, if you wish. He said it like it is.
--
Jim in NC