School: 1967 vs. 2007

[Dubird]

And people wonder why our schools are failing the kids. ><

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Scenario: Jack goes quail hunting before school, pulls into school parking lot with shotgun in gun rack.


1967 - Vice principal comes over to look at Jack's shotgun. He goes to his car and gets his shotgun to show Jack.

2007 - School goes into lockdown, and FBI is called. Jack is hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers.


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Scenario: Johnny and Mark get into a fistfight after school.


1967 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up best friends. Nobody goes to jail; nobody is arrested; nobody is expelled.

2007 - Police called. SWAT team arrives. Johnny and Mark are arrested and charged with assault. Both are expelled even though Johnny started it.


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Scenario: Jeffrey won't be still in class, disrupts other students.


1967 - Jeffrey sent to office and given a good paddling by the principal. He returns to class, sits still, and does not disrupt class again.

2007 - Jeffrey is diagnosed with ADD and given huge doses of ritalin. Becomes a zombie. School gets extra money from state because Jeffrey has a learning disability.


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Scenario: Billy breaks a window in his neighbor's car and his dad gives him a whipping with his belt.


1967 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman.

2007 - Billy's dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy is placed in foster care and joins a gang. State psychologist tells Billy's sister that she remembers being abused herself, and their dad goes to prison. Billy's mom has affair with psychologist.



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Scenario: Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.


1967 - Mark shares aspirin with principal out on the smoking dock.

2007 - Police called. Mark is expelled from school for drug violations. Car is searched for drugs and weapons.


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Scenario: Pedro fails high school English.


1967 - Pedro goes to summer school, passes English, goes to college.

2007 - Pedro's cause is taken up by state. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit against state school system and Pedro's English teacher. English banned from core curriculum. Pedro is given a diploma anyway, but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.


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Scenario: Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from 4th of July, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle, and blows up a red ant bed.


1967 - Ants die.

2007 - Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Homeland Security, and FBI called. Johnny is charged with domestic terrorism. The FBI investigates parents; siblings are removed from home; computers confiscated. Johnny's dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.


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Scenario: Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Heather. Heather hugs him to comfort him.


1967 - In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing.

2007 - Heather is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces three years in state prison. Johnny undergoes five years of therapy.

[Ladywriter]

4 real!

[CabbitGirl]

indeed. sad part is, the fighting happened a few times this year.

[Eppy]

yeah fuckwads in the system these days...everyone is a terriost bah....only terrorists is our own government *FBI comes to house and hauls me off*

[Kite]

i couldnt find one that wasnt 100% true,

a lot of london primary schools dont offer pork no more at lunch ;p (guess why)

[Godgrave]

OOuuuu educational ^_^

[Vincent]

i feel like i've read all of these in the paper at some point @_@;;

[Wolflord]

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Scenario: Billy breaks a window in his neighbor's car and his dad gives him a whipping with his belt.


1967 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman.

2007 - Billy's dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy is placed in foster care and joins a gang. State psychologist tells Billy's sister that she remembers being abused herself, and their dad goes to prison. Billy's mom has affair with psychologist.



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That's so ridiculously unbelievable... Maybe things are different in the states but that's not how things happen up in Canada.

[Dubird]

Well, this isn't Canada. Granted a lot of those are on the extreme end, but yeah. Spanking your kid, even the kind of spankings I recieved as a kid, can get you arrested for child abuse. So, another generation grows up with no discipline and very little sense of self control.

[HKofsesshoumaru]

The DV (Domestic Violence) laws in Arizona are insane. A man beats his wife. Cops are called. Woman is arrested for disturbing the peace. Woman goes to jail, pays fine and has to go to 26 weeks of Anger Management. Man? A night in jail. Maybe 8 weeks of DV classes...maybe. There were 5 women in my DV class that were all the victims of DV and they were the ones who were beat.

[Gundam-Ranger-X]

It's things like this that make me proud to be Canadian... cause, no offense, the alternative sucks.

[Strider Hiryu]

Wolflord, even giving a kid the wrong look can get you arrested in the states. All they need to do is cry foul on you and you'll be thrown into jail. I fear for this country's future with the lack of discipline there is these days.

Oddly enough my schools were never that bad. Then again I'm from North Dakota where they're roughly 20 years behind current law trends (hell my high school had no cameras and crap in it like they all do now). Hell you could get into a fight and the teachers would be out there watching also, rooting for their pick. Yea, I liked my high school.

[Godgrave]

Sounds like a pretty brootal school you went to Strider o_0

[Strider Hiryu]

Eh, we were all pretty well behaved so not many fights broke out. When they did though they could get brutal (like that one time I got into a fight in the boys locker room back in Middle School but we won't get into that).

[Godgrave]

Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu whathappenedwhatwasitaboutwhathappeneddidanyoneget hurtwhathappenedwhathappenedwhathappenedwasitcos someonestoleyourclotheswhathappenedwhathappenedwha thappened?!!?! X'D *notices Strider throwing a can of toxic gas towards his window ... where's my mask?!*

[gokuDX7]

ya it's pretty bad now. That's like back in the old days when parents used to take baths with their kids or help scrub them. Now if the kid even mentions such a thing in public, the parent(s) get investigated and news is spread that they molest their kids...etc lol.

Same goes for when a father is out walking with his little girl or boy. People look and automatically associate it with a pedophile.

Our society has gotten pretty bad. People believe words more now then proof. It's really sad how even parents have also gotten worse. They go sue happy over the littlest things, it's nuts. A kid gets a bad grade and it's all over the news that the school is doing a horrible job or that the teacher has been selectively giving the kid bad grades, when in reality the kid doesn't pay attention at all and skips classes. But since his parents don't know the whole story they automatically believe their kid and so does the rest of the town reading the newspaper.

[Strider Hiryu]

Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu whathappenedwhatwasitaboutwhathappeneddidanyoneget hurtwhathappenedwhathappenedwhathappenedwasitcos someonestoleyourclotheswhathappenedwhathappenedwha thappened?!!?! X'D *notices Strider throwing a can of toxic gas towards his window ... where's my mask?!*

X'D *smacks GG* Chill pill man, chill pill. The short of it is someone decided it was funny to see how far they could push me by mocking and belittling me in front of everyone. I snapped, through a few punches beating the kid down, and earned the respect and fear of all the boys in my grade. Lets just say no one ever messed with me again.

I now return you back to your regularly scheduled topic. Please ignore the blatant off topic posts by myself and GG.

[Godgrave]

Bullying sucks, and our lil discussion proves it, by giving your cool example :happy: ... not off topic at all!

[Vincent]

fuck all y'all i'm whoopin my kids lol. Then when they ask me why I'll show them how well behaved and how good they do in school compared to the ones that run buck wild doing crack off a toilet seat.

[Ladywriter]

I don't make a habit of beatin on my kids but if and when i do its cuz there is a pretty damn good reason- like they desperately need to be put the fuck in check.
I'm not scared of jail. I couldn't be kept there for more then a few anyway cuz of all my meds, I'd end up in the psy ward- which is also no big deal. 3 hots and a cot? Shit man that be a vacation for me >.<

[Zepling]

ADD and ADHD are not Learning Disabilities.

[Vincent]

it's a learning disability when the teacher/the system doesn't know how to deal with it

[Dubird]

They're classified as learning disabilites because they interfer with a child's ability to concentrate and learn. Of course, it's way over diagnosed and many doctors just say 'diagnose' it because the parents want some medicine to make their kid behave instead of working with them and helping them. There is a much better solution, it's called 'Sit down and shut up!' as demonstratred by South Park one time. XD

[Zepling]

I've seen that episode. As always, South Park is hilarious. ADD and ADHD, from what I've been told by my local community college's Learning Center, are biological/chemical imbalances in the brain, not processing deficits or wiring problems. They are not under the same umbrella as Learning Disabilities. I was just 'diagnosed' with a Learning Disability (they don't require medicine or anything, thankfully). But yes, ADD/ADHD is overly diagnosed. My little brother was diagnosed with ADHD when he was little, but we're just finding out now that what he has is actually a Learning Disability. Doctors need to stop being so friggen quick to give meds and should get to know the kid a little more.

Maybe different Learning Specialists and doctors don't see eye-to-eye on LDs and ADD/ADHD classify them differently since it is a controversial subject.

^_^:

[Vincent]

i say it's not really a disability but only something different that doesn't work with the current trend of "one size fits all" education. the easisest way as a teacher to teach children is if they all sat down and shut up. but when a student comes in that is unable to fit into that mold they require special attention--which is difficult when you're one teacher in a class of 30-40 students.

[slippers]

Scenario: Pedro fails high school English.

1967 - Pedro goes to summer school, passes English, goes to college.

2007 - Pedro's cause is taken up by state. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit against state school system and Pedro's English teacher. English banned from core curriculum. Pedro is given a diploma anyway, but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.

That does not sound very plausible scenario.

You can't learn language in a few months, even if Spanish word order is a lot closer to English than let's say Finnish. What chance does Pedro have if he couldn't manage to do it in a year--assuming he started his American education in his senior year of HS? If he only needed summer school to "master" it, then you would have seen his gradual improvements during his regular English class. And why was he in regular English class, instead of ESL class, if he couldn't speak English? Taking English out of core curriculum? That's fantastic. Neither HS English classes teach you grammar nor prepare you for college English classes, at least from my experience. It is a waste of time, unless you were planning to become a "newspaper editor".

[Godgrave]

*waves* Hi Slippers!

[Dubird]

That does not sound very plausible scenario.

You can't learn language in a few months, even if Spanish word order is a lot closer to English than let's say Finnish. What chance does Pedro have if he couldn't manage to do it in a year--assuming he started his American education in his senior year of HS? If he only needed summer school to "master" it, then you would have seen his gradual improvements during his regular English class. And why was he in regular English class, instead of ESL class, if he couldn't speak English? Taking English out of core curriculum? That's fantastic. Neither HS English classes teach you grammar nor prepare you for college English classes, at least from my experience. It is a waste of time, unless you were planning to become a "newspaper editor".


Actually, you'd be surprised. Granted, this is an extreme scenario, but there are lots of kids that graduate high school now that can barely speak English because of the No Child Left Behind programs. They won't be able to really compete in college because they can't speak English very well, so they end up going on to manual labor for the rest of their lives. Now, the children that are brought over very young end up learning English quite well, but what about the ones that come over here and are 15, 16, 17? A lot of them have trouble learning English because it's a pain in the ass language, and so only graduate because they have translators that help them all through it and they really don't learn English well enough to function in an English-speaking society.

[slippers]

I think it all comes down to a person's motivation, apart from personal issues and circumstances. If Pedro only wanted HS diploma, then I don't think he would care, or should complain, whether he mows the lawn or flips a burger for living. For those who want to better themselves by seeking higher education, they probably won't accept such a free pass. Their local community college should offer at least ten different level of ESL classes, so they, foreign exchange students and people like Pedro, really don't have a good excuse to say they never had an opportunity to learn English and failed to survive college because their English wasn't sufficient enough. But, of course, it'll take them twice the work than average native English speakers would, in college or society.

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hey gg. *waves back* :D

[Dubird]

Yeah, but you notice it didn't say that Pedro complained. If he wants to do landscaping the rest of his life, more power to him. He can come mow my lawn. ^_^;; The problem is that so many agencies think they're doing good and kinda run over everyone in their path, weither they're needed or not. Sometimes, they are needed. But so many times they stick their noses into a situation and blow it way out of proportion and everyone gets upset and the media has a field day and other agencies are called and pretty soon the child in question is getting his life planned out for him and getting a free ride, even if they don't need it.