High School 1957 vs 2012

[AmerikinWmn]

You should know that by today's standards none of us were ever supposed to make it. HIGH SCHOOL 1957 vs. 2012

Scenario 1: Jack goes quail hunting before school and then pulls into the school parking lot with his shotgun in his truck's gun rack. 1957 - Vice Principal comes over, looks at Jack's shotgun, goes to his car and gets his shotgun to show Jack. 2010 - School goes into lock down, FBI called, Jack hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers.

Scenario 2: Johnny and Mark get into a fist fight after school. 1957 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up buddies. 2010 - Police called and SWAT team arrives -- they arrest both Johnny and Mark. They are both charged with assault and both expelled even though Johnny started it.

Scenario 3: Jeffrey will not be still in class, he disrupts other students. 1957 - Jeffrey sent to the Principal's office and given a good paddling by the Principal. He then returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again. 2010 - Jeffrey is given huge doses of Ritalin. He becomes a zombie. He is then tested for ADD. The family gets extra money (SSI) from the government because Jeffrey has a disability.

Scenario 4: Billy breaks a window in his neighbor's car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt. 1957 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college and becomes a successful businessman. 2010 - Billy's dad is arrested for child abuse; Billy is removed to foster care and joins a gang. The state psychologist is told by Billy's sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison. Billy's Mom has an affair with the psychologist.

Scenario 5: Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school. 1957 - Mark shares his aspirin with the Principal out on the smoking dock. 2010 - The police are called and Mark is expelled from school for drug violations. His car is then searched for drugs and weapons.

Scenario 6: Pedro fails high school English. 1957 - Pedro goes to summer school, passes English and goes to college. 2010 - 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 the state school system and Pedro's English teacher. English is then banned from core curriculum. Pedro is given his diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.

Scenario 7: Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from the Fourth of July, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle and blows up a red ant bed. 1957 - Ants die. 2010 - ATF, Homeland Security and the FBI are all called. Johnny is charged with domestic terrorism. The FBI investigates his parents - and all siblings are removed from their home and all computers are confiscated. Johnny's dad is placed on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.

Scenario 8: Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Mary. Mary hugs him to comfort him. 1957 - In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing. 2010 - Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces 3 years in State Prison. Johnny undergoes 5 years of therapy. 

This pretty much shows how stupid we've become...

[frenchy]

yeah .. we sure have taken some things way past the level of plain common sense haven't we ?? 

[Lifesighs]

For the last 10 years or so reading about little kids being kicked out of school for having a plastic knife in his lunch for peanut butter and apples has made me wonder WTF.

Like taking a plastic knife away from a 6 year old was going to stop school violence.

There are real answers to problems but no one wants to take the steps necessary to solve the problems. It is stupid.

[blithe spirit]

I am a teacher in a middle school but it has only been in the last 10 years. I was quite surprised when I started teaching at all of the things schools are responsible for besides teaching. I often wonder at what moment or what event from 25 years or so ago started creating this "nanny state...the idea that we are incompetent to raise our children and make grownup decisions for ourselves. We are the generation who have allowed this to happen...have we been asleep at the wheel?

We keep saying we are more educated then the next generation...so how did we get so stupid?

[crestofwaves]

I may have told this story on some forum somewhere.  Back in the early 90s, I banished a senior  to the back of the room because he could not control his need for attention sitting in the front of the room.  At the end of the day as I checked desks to see who had written what where, I saw a pencil drawing of me with the end of my nose cut off, drops of blood coming out of it, and an arrow through my head.  The next day, I pulled him into the hall and confronted  him.  He said, waaaaah you moved me and I was mad, yada yada yada. 

I made him come in afterschool and clean all the desks and wash the boards as his punishment. And that was the end of that.  Years later, he came to visit me.  He was in college studying to be a history teacher.

If such an incident happened now, the police would be involved and the kid would be in therapy for the rest of his life.

[blithe spirit]

I am wondering also if maybe we look at the headlines and then generalize that this is happening everywhere...and thus the "we're all going to hell in a handbasket."

I am only in one school district but we have what we call before school work details. As part of an overall discipline plan, parents must deliver students two hours before school lets in to participate in "work detail." Under teacher supervision, they do some type of manual labor...such as weeding flower beds, picking up trash, scraping gum from desks, and sidewalks and other type of beautification chores at school. In high school they must do a Saturday work detail...same idea.
Most of the issues I have with students revolve around lack of parental support...both parents working or only one parent in the household and no extended family support. Families are so scattered... it really does take a village and sometimes families don't have that kind of support.

A story from a single mom years ago...Her husband ran off and she had three sons under age 7 and she had to work. So she worked at the local canning plant at night and her children would sleep in the car on a pallet in the back of her station wagon while she worked. And the women she worked with would time their breaks so that each of them could go and check the kids every couple of hours all through the night. Do you think people nowdays would care enough to do something like that? Hard to say...maybe in some areas.

I think in some places people have become more isolated and wary of reaching out...and maybe thats why the govt and laws try to fill the void.... where churches and families and friends used to. Just thinking.

[AmerikinWmn]

That type of discipline sounds like a good idea but I know they have nothing like that in our schools. What we do have is a large number of parents with "perfect"  children who would never allow something that makes so much sense.

[Lifesighs]

I wonder also why these poor mothers don't move to a small town somewhere where there would be more support available although that might be a thing of the past. When I was a single mother I couldn't rely on my mother or aunts to help with child care even in emergencies I found neighbors who were more supportive and willing to help out, I did pay them. I think people started getting a little selfish along the way, my dad would always help however I didn't want to take advantage of him because my brother was always using him as a babysitter for his daughter. I had to have emergency funds to make sure I could pay a sitter for those times I had to work when my son was sick. I hated to leave him but had no choice, I didn't want to be fired either.

[ProblemAgain]

they have to be able to afford to move. some people these days are barely scraping thru especially if there is only one income. a flat tire can be the difference between meeting the bills or not for those folks. the idea of having to move and find work? they can't afford to. if they miss a day of work, they miss paying a bill....

[flippr 2.0]

i wasn't born til '58

[flippr 2.0]

they tell me i'm one of the younger ones here,but I seen some folks younger than me.

[ProblemAgain]

oh and by the way...you do realize this is a pretty bogus forwarded email don't you?

[ProblemAgain]

but this kind of makes me smile....

EMC Insurance Companies, the liability insurance provider for about 90 percent of Kansas school districts, has sent a letter to its agents saying that schools permitting employees to carry concealed handguns would be declined coverage.

“We are making this underwriting decision simply to protect the financial security of our company,” the letter said.

statistics must tell them the odds of innocent people being killed and injured with the resultant lawsuits make the companies willing to forgo those delectable premiums in order to avoid the even larger payouts as part of the responsibility....