Ya, teaching is easy.
What the hell is going on at our schools?
These shootings and bomb plots in WI are not happening at the schools that you would "think" they would happen at.
It is so funny how little most people know about how school is today.
Friday, September 29, 2006
Gunman shoots principal at Weston School
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15 comments:
Damn, you beat me to it this time --
There's an update.
Folkbum identifies you as a fellow MPS teacher. My children are in 6th grade and kindergarten. Other than one troubled child who likes to pick on others, the school seems fairly in touch with what is happening.
Do you have thoughts on why these things are happening?
Well, that is an interesting question and I appreciate your calm and respectful tone...not many from that site show very much respect.
I honestly think that we bring up our kids in such a sheltered way, they can't handle things when they get into too much of an uncontrolled environment.
Meaning, we worry so much about boosting self esteem, not letting them feel bad about themselves, never yelling at them, always telling them they are doing a good job. These are all good things sometimes...but we have gone too far.
Kids can't handle ridicule or disappointment...they can't handle the emotions they feel when they fail, or when they can't fit in...
It’s the taking away of competition, no more dodge ball...ect...
So, when they hit HS, and they get made fun of, or can't fit in, or fail in school, they don't know what to do.
So you get what happens...
Agree?
Scorpion says---
Game-EXCELLENT points made,as is usually the case,yet,the fact that the idea of actually having punishments that fit the crime,AND,
consistently handing these punishments out rather than OK-let it slide-which usually happens,
makes it really tough for today's
kids to accept that they really have to face the reality of discipline.
Game--
Shouldn't we be asking why people are being ridiculed and physically harmed in places of learning? You seem to want kids to respect the institution, but do not demand that students respect each other. The stuff that students do to each other in our schools usually does not happen in real life, pace teachers who think they live in the real world.
Face it. It is much easier for teachers to blame the victim than to expel troublemakers from a school.
I agree with Game's "Mommy & Daddy didn't bust their butts enough" assessment. Kids run wild these days, to get away with murder and even worse, with no consequences, no remorse, and lack of competition gives them no incentive to keep doing better than they do.
It's time to kick the PC world to the curb.
Game: We've had our run-ins before. I just thought in the wake of this tragedy, sober thinking was required.
I don't disagree with you. Not the same as agreeing, though. I think (and these are only observations, I'm no expert) that the violence shown on TV and in our movies has left an indelible mark on our youngsters.
I was picked on mercilessly throughout elementary and high school and often harbored thoughts of getting revenge. But, I never imagined using a weapon of any sort to accomplish this ... especially guns. It was always along the lines of beating up the bully who had been picking on me.
About your other comments, I really couldn't say. My son hates it when he loses to me in games. I always applaud him for the effort. But, I always try to make it a learning experience, too, for him, by pointing out the places where he might have done better ... as in chess.
He also gets picked on in school. He is very small for his age and slight of build. He is learning to walk away from bullies, thereby defusing their attempts at intimidation. However, I have also said that he is allowed to protect himself if pushed around and that I will back him up.
Now, my wife and I pay very close attention to our son and to our younger daughter. You make an excellent point about absentee parenting and the lack of discipline. In the case of the incident in Green Bay, how in the world were the parent unaware of what their children were doing?
It boggles the mind.
I could write more, but I do appreciate your side since you teach and see children outside of the home on a regular basis. I'm curious what Jay thinks. I'll e-mail him.
of course, this topic and answers could go on and on and on...I did my best to give you my number one problem...
And like I said...there is nothing wrong with what you said about teaching lessons and talking about trying your best...and it is good you do competative things with your son...the taking away of any competition is one problem...like, everyone gets a trophy, everyone makes the playoffs....no championship, no dodgeball...
See my point???
There are hundreds of things you could throw into the mix, and your examples might be right...I'm just going with what I see as the main shift in society that might have caused these increases in violence..
Parental involvement and guidance is always the main indicator. How much of it there is is directly related to the character of the child. Kids can be influenced in a number of ways and as they go out into the world (school), the various influences pull at them in different directions. If the parents are doing their jobs, their influence has a greater impact on the child's decision making process. As a kid, I was exposed to quite a bit of TV violence (the Stooges were condidered harmful for kids by some) with the difference being how realistic it was compared with today. I wasn't picked on that much, but was fearful of it. I didn't like to see it happening to others and so my thoughts ran towards defending the abused. But, I did have rules of conduct by which I was to abide and penalties for infractions. Overall, I didn't act in a violent manner due to my upbringing as well as the parochial school I attended and the morals taught there.
Guidance and parental involvement. It was in vogue where I grew up. Even the worst kids had limits to what they'd do. Things changed when prayer was removed from schools and self-esteem was put above all else. Nothing really replaced religious influence and how one perceives oneself was no longer tied to accomplishment, or more specifically, the effort to accomplish.
If self-esteem was really an important facet to child raising, then how could bullying so greatly impact the self-esteem of the bullied? It seems in these cases that there are two that are doing wrong, the bully and the bullied. Neither has been properly guided by their parents. If there had been good guidance, there wouldn't have been any bullying, and the bullied wouldn't have brought a gun to school.
I didn't have a particular religious upbringing, other than a private Christian school for a couple of years in elementary school, and still have self-esteem problems.
I also wasn't raised with the proper discipline that I gave my kids through research, etc.
I also was not an abused child (not right off, anyway).
Even I knew that even touching a gun was wrong as a child, much less taking one to school. I knew that we don't fight, we respect our elders, and we respect others, even if we don't like them.
WTF is up with these kids??? It was taught and assumed in my day in general, what was right and wrong.
*shakes head*
I just don't see where these kids today think they're going to go in life with what they do.
Self-esteem is the excuse to let kids do WTF they want. It's not a major factor, as Marshall says, to the upbringing of children. If someone with the worst self-esteem through childhood and adulthood both can land in pretty good shape, then so can they. There's nothing different now to raising kids. It's just that society has brought us to believe there is.
self esteem is important, but not SE in replacement of reality and life lessons.
Good point about religion and right/wrong being taken out of schools...
But shouldn't being taught right from wrong be occurring first at home? Schools have limited power and time to deal with all the children as needed. They do their best. Game, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.
The issue, I think (along with wrong messages on TV, games and such), is absentee parenting. Children need parents to be there for them, guiding them. But in today's society, where it is increasingly difficult to make ends meet, thus requiring both parent to work often, time for children is reduced.
Consequently, frustrated parents wind up expecting more of schools.
My two cents ... thanks Game.
That's what I'm talking about, parenting. Parents are not allowed any more to raise children with proper discipline, love, etc.
People like social services & the PC crowd come in and interfere, stating that we can't discipline our children the way they should be, because it would "destroy their self-esteem". It's BULLSHIT.
So, the schools can't (and don't think they can) enact and enforce what would be "normal rules" for themselves, and end up with bullshit like this.
My mother was a single parent; worked her ass off throughout her life, and I'm very glad she did, even at the expense of time with her. She taught me how to work hard in life, and how to act right nonetheless. "Time" with children is not the excuse, and shouldn't be. It's what parents do with the time they have that's wrong (i.e. babies who let their babies go out and get away with murder and worse, rather than strictly disciplining and keeping track of their child).
Pisses me off.
And, allowing kids who don't have any knowledge of what's good and proper in life to have kids, like those who are so rampant these days, should NOT be happening. These kids should required to be put on birth control until they have learned that there are consequences to actions, what those consequences are, and that they affect more than just their own selfish worlds.
Yes, I'm harsh, and I stand my ground on this. No way I move from where I'm at on it. Ever.
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