Think of the Children!

This morning's romp through the Google Reader has provided two, beautiful, subjects with which to comment on.  First is this gem from Skippy.  Those of you who do not know my dear Skippy are missing out.  Right now, each and every one of you should click that link, and take a looksie.  I'll wait.

Good, you're back!  Did you like it?  I love him.  Anyway.  Skippy makes a good point.  If you are going to ban Hustler and Penthouse, you're going to have to get rid of religion.  But I'll take it a step further.  They're both promoting smut and lies. Smut, from, of course, the porn and from the pedophiles.  Lies from the beautiful thought that men could actually attain these busty fake airbrushed women and from the prevailing notion that there is an invisible man living up in the clouds watching you every single day and judging you.  The latter sounds like an acid laced bowl of pot... just might have been in them days. 

Then we have this article from WashPo about Chancellor Rhee.  Back when I was actually contemplating what school I wanted to teach at (and eventually fucking settled for Richmond), I was courted by DC.  Dee fucking Cee.  My argument then, which should have been applied to the school system that I was inevitably to run away from kicking and screaming like a crazed cat woman?  "Are you kidding?  That school system doesnt care about their teachers or their students!  They have no money!  Work for them?  Yeah... funny."  And then last year Mayor Fenty hired Michelle Rhee.  I, as an outsider, immediately saw her for the kind hearted, optomistic, and in fucking sane woman that she is.  Why insane?  Who, in their right mind, would volunteer to take control of DC Public Schools?  The journey ahead of her looked very very bad.  And for a while there, looked like she would just fade away due to DC Council's reluctance to give this woman the reins.  I rooted for her.  And she took over.  Since then, her journey has been full of narrow minded people, protests, and folks who just dont care.  A couple of months ago, she went into the school's main office, and ended up firing around 100 people who were doing nothing.  NOTHING.  The community complained, protested.  The way I see it?  Why fund someone who does nothing (like I have a right to talk) at the expense of Art, Drama, and Music?  The same thing with these school closings.  On top of this, she wants about a third of the teachers to get their permanent licenses or get out.  Oooo.  Is it just me, or shouldnt these lazy fucks have been working towards that all along?  I got my provisional license fairly easily.  No one even asked me for my college transcripts.  I was hired, therefore I got a license.  I also had 2 or 3 years to get in the coursework to get the permanent thingy.  Something like, 5 classes.  These people had been riding their provisionals for 5 years!  They, techically, arent supposed to be teaching anymore!  In my humble opinion, they should be kicked out now.  But that would put the children at a disadvantage, and of course, we all must think of the children.

Which brings me to another thing which pisses me off.  (Thats what I should rename this blog: Yet another thing that pisses me off)  Today's overcoddling and handling of children.  Why, when I was their age, if I had hit the back of the chair in front of me at a movie theather, not only would the person in front tell me off, but also my parents.  Today, if anyone says anything to a child in a reproachful manner, even if they are the child's parents, they get bad looks and assumptions of being an evil SOB.  Dont yell, hit, spank, punish or even cough on a child.  Noo.  They'll end up psychotic murders.  We must nourish their minds and keep them sterilized.  At All Times.  I used to go walking around with my dog in Belgium and when I got thirsty I would go to the fountain in the park and drink right from it.  Did I get sick?  Oh god, who knows... but I'm still alive now!  And now is what matters. 

If you look at the statistics, there are more murders and crimes being committed today than 50 years ago.  Yeah, you can attribute that to population spikes and inevitably there will be more of everything with the booms we've had.  But look at it.  In them olden days, people would rarely lock their doors or cars. Everyone trusted everyone else.  There was general happiness.  But things changed.  Today, with the exception of small towns, no one leaves their cars unlocked.  Alarm systems are par for the course in suburban apartments and homes.  And I'll tell you what.  The people today who are murdering and raping were born at the same time as when all this coddling began.  The older folks who are running today's buisnesses and companies grew up when strict punishments were common, memorization education was standard, and nun's taught school!  As a teacher I was actually encouraged to use green pens to mark up work.  Because red was too jarring to a child's psyche.  I dunno about you, but the 8 month pregnant 15 year old in my Earth Sci class isnt too worried about red ink. 

I will tell you what has changed.  Arts in school.  Not a single kid in my classes were taking arts classes.  No music, no drama (actually, there was no drama program), no painting.  If you wanted music, it was after school and you joined band.  Now, there wasnt much time that I was in public schools, let alone stateside public schools.  So I understand that my education experiences vastly differ from everyone else's.  I had music, choir, art, drama, philosophy, shakespeare, painting, photography, cermanics... you name it.  Maybe that's whats missing in today's education system.  A way to let off stress.  I had my painting class right after my AP US History class.  And lemme tell you, that was a dream.  I would be able to relax before AP Calc, and let my mind expand.  Choir was generally my last class of the day, and would be a pleasant end.  Perhaps this is what we all need to strive for. 

Well... i've run out of steam.  You all out there... remember.  The next time you sit and bitch about something the school system does, try to see it from their point to view, and examine if you are bitching for sentimental reasons, or beacause they are honestly not thinking of the children.