School 1967 vs 2007

[Richard Moore]

A nostalgia piece for us older farts...

SCHOOL 1967 vs. 2007

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

1967 - Vice Principal comes over, looks at Jacks shotgun, goes to his car and gets his shotgun to show Jack.

2007 - 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: Johnny and Mark get into a fistfight after school.

1967 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up buddies.

2007 - Police called, SWAT team arrives, arrests Johnny and Mark. Charge them with assault, both expelled even though Johnny started it.

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

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

2007 - Jeffrey given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. Tested for ADD. School gets extra money from state because Jeffrey has a disability.

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 removed to 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.

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 expelled from school for drug violations. Car searched for drugs and weapons.

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 given diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.

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

1967 - Ants die.

2007 - BATF, Homeland Security, FBI called. Johnny charged with domestic terrorism, FBI investigates parents, siblings removed from home, computers confiscated, Johnny's Dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.

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

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

2007 - 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.

[kurt]

That sounds about right.

Slight drift..... my dad went on a pheasant hunting excursion in about 1960 out in Iowa somewhere. He and his buddies flew on an "airliner", back when one walked across the tarmac and went up an open rolling stair to get in the plane.

I remember helping him carry his shotguns & ammo up the stairs, where the stewardess, er flight attendant, took the guns and ammo & placed them in the compartment near the door where they were clearly visible to anyone on the plane.

No one thought anything was strange at all.

[Terence McCann]

Funny stuff Richard - sad but funny.

[Phillip]

Its the truth. Back in my high school days it was common to see guns in the gun rack during hunting season.

Just about every boy had a knife in his pocket.

In the seven grade I got my but busted at least once a week.

[hausdok]

Heh,

When my company took off for the middle east in 1990, we flew out on a chartered 747 with some obscure company name I'd never heard of. We were cramming small arms, M60's, AT-4's, ammo boxes full of ammunition, grenades, and what have you into the overheads on a 747. Being MP's, we were wearing our sidearms and wearing M9 bayonets. The only thing that went into the hold were our duffle bags, 'cuz we had to keep our eyes on every single weapon. Anyone who would have tried to hijack that plane would have been sliced and diced 185 ways before the plane had landed at Daharan, S.A.

Every time I fly now and have to go through the security where I have to take my shoes I think back to that flight and all of the security screening seems so surreal.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[SonOfSwamp]

Not to be a party pooper, but it was never a good idea to whip a kid with a belt, or smack a kid with a paddle. Anybody with a thimbleful of brains ought to be able to figure out that arm-yankings and ass-whippings are counterproductive.

Also, some kids really do need to take drugs for ADD, ADHD, etc. It's a disease. And, there are good reasons aplenty for schools to tightly control what drugs come into the schoolhouse. One little mistake, like kids getting trading meds, or getting their meds mixed up, and very bad things can happen. Weird as it may seem, it's a very bad idea to let kids carry meds -- even aspirin -- around with them at school.

Now, if your kid heads off to school one day wearing a trench coat, go ahead and sound the alarm.

WJ

[davidlord]

I don't consider spanking my kid a party but a good whack on my boys butt with a ping pong paddle every now and then is quite productive. In fact the threat alone often does the trick. My girl on the other hand is crushed with a stern word.

I'm no expert (merely a little more than a thimbleful) but there are probably a number of kids with behavioral problems due to a lack of discipline.

[Jim Morrison]

I’ll just say this: It's 2008, and any adult who can’t get their kids to behave within the normal range of societal acceptance at whatever age they’re at, without hitting or threatening them ought to surf on over to Amazon.com and get themselves a book on puppy training. It's not exactly a step by step recipe for raising Nobel Prize winners, but adhering to those basic principles will get you a lot further than using your (temporary) physical dominance over them. We can all do better than "whacking" and "crushing" kids.

[davidlord]

You raise them your way and I'll raise them mine. For those "it takes a village crowd" surf on over to a King James or NIV or whatever translation you prefer. You can get those in Mass right?

[kurt]

I always pretty much act on the idea that if I can't outsmart my teenager and get them steered in the direction I'd like , I need a little remedial recollection of what it was like to be a teenager.

S'funny thing how that works. I live urban, and last summer, I drove down my alley on my way home, and found about 2 dozen young brothers playing ball on my garage hoop. How many of you would stop your car, wade out into a gang of brothers giving you distasteful stares, and with a few well selected comments have them smoothed out & acting like decent kids?

I don't recall saying anything that came out of King James, that's for sure. [8D]

[Brad Manor]

I can only speak as an observer as I don't yet have kids (but I'm working on it. Work, work, work....) but I have friends that discipline their kids with words, and those that discipline with their hands. The children without the welts are better behaved and better adjusted. They are also not the kids who start the fights in the playground....

-Brad

[davidlord]

I didn't say anything about walking around quoting the KJ. I personally think that biblical basics apply. Again thats my opinion and that works for me. I'm sure that those of us with children have various ways of getting them to behave.

Just for the record raising kids is nothing like raising a puppy.

If I came home and there were brothers playing on my hoop I would just call "ball in" and take them to school.

[Phillip]

Each child is different. You have to do what is best for the child. There are children out there that does need special needs. I have grandkids that are that way. But there is times a but busting is what is needed. I needed more than what I got.

To raise a puppy you teach it not to do things that you don't want it to do. You should do the same thing to a child.

[chrisprickett]

Some of the stuff that my kid's (ages 11,10,6) school district does, is a bit asinine, but most times there's some logic behind it. People scream "civil liberties" on both sides of the fence, and the poor school is stuck in the middle. Serve on a school board or PTA, and you'll see pretty quickly that it ain't no picnic. School is no place for a firearm (at least in the hands of a kid) not matter the situation.

I don't hit my kids, but (for a very short period) I tried the spanking thing with my son, after reading a Dr. Dobson book. I was wrong for doing it, and I regret it. I had the best intentions in mind (as I guess Dobson does), never spanked while angry, kissed and hugged and reassured him after, all the things the "pro-spank" book said. Bottom line: No positive results, and I felt like a turd. The Bible is a great book, but not when taken out of context and used to shore up one's wrongheaded agenda.

I read another book called "1-2-3 Magic". Changed my whole outlook on kids. The results were (and still are) amazing! I strongly suggest that to spanking, for many reasons.

People love to talk about the "good ol' days" being so much better. More euphoric recall than fact, in my opinion. Things are different, for sure, but when you look at the net sum, its never been better than today. We still have a long way to go, no doubt, but I wouldn't want my kids to have to go through the crap I saw in the '60's.

[SonOfSwamp]

Originally posted by kurt

I always pretty much act on the idea that if I can't outsmart my teenager and get them steered in the direction I'd like , I need a little remedial recollection of what it was like to be a teenager.

I second brother Kurt.

Everything I need to know about raising a kid, I learned leading rock & roll bands. Everybody gets an absolute veto. You can talk, you can threaten, you can smack 'em, you can leave 'em at the side of the road, you can dump 'em at a shelter. But those methods will fail; the kid will bow up on you and punish you for your misdeeds.

In my humble experience, if you can't get the kid on your side by way of your superior logic, empathy and inborn call to daddy duty, there'll be hell to pay.

Of course, I could be wrong,

WJ

[Richard Moore]

Oh My!

When I first read the piece I found it humorous based on what I took at the time to be a contrast between some obviously fictitious extremes. I innocently posted it here simply thinking that others might be mildly amused.

I can now see that, instead, I have inadvertently aided a subversive group of sadistic and fundamentalist child abusers by re-publishing their manifesto advocating a return to corporal punishment and the withholding of medical and psychological treatment. I should have known better as it was forwarded to me by a member of a group widely known for their evil-doings…a realtor.

Please forgive my naivety. Next time I see a child throwing a loud public tantrum while his parents stand idly by, I will go out of my way to congratulate them for allowing their offspring the opportunity to express his individuality.

Got to go. Yesterday I corrected my dog when he lunged at a cat. I fear that the sharp tug on the leash and my overly harsh “NOâ€

[chrisprickett]

Look for the shades of gray, my friend, the world is not black and white.

[Brian G]

With kids, I'm for whatever works for whoever has the responsibility of doing it; within reason, of course. Kids can be successfully raised with or without spanking. Lots of people have done it.

I only get irritated when it's obvious the adults either aren't doing squat, or whatever they are doing isn't having any effect. I've seen children throwing loud fits in public places while the parents tried in vain to talk them into behaving. I wanna slap the parents.

Brian G.

There Are No Universal Answers [8]

[Terence McCann]

Originally posted by Richard Moore

Oh My!

When I first read the piece I found it humorous based on what I took at the time to be a contrast between some obviously fictitious extremes. I innocently posted it here simply thinking that others might be mildly amused.

No good deed goes unpunished. []

[ozofprev]

Richard, it was funny. I took it as a light-hearted line of thought.

For the record, I was often the "hitee" as a child but never the hitter as an adult; I see it as evolution. If a parent spanks a kid for a bad report card, it is the parent who is failing.