Archive for April 1st, 2008
What Are We Doing to Our Children?
April 1st, 2008
I was shocked, angered and dismayed when I read the story of eleven third-graders plotting to kill their teacher.
They had it planned right down to assigning of the conspirators to clean up the blood!
These are eight and nine year old children—right about the same age as three of my grandchildren.
Parents allow televisions to be babysitters and don’t pay attention to what their children are watching. Or they encourage their children to “fight back” in school if someone does something to them instead of going to the teacher or principal to report that grievous act.
When I was doing some reading tutoring while my older granddaughter was in third grade I had a girl from her class who was definitely not interested in learning. She would lay her head and upper body on the reading table while she was supposed to be reading and I had to keep reminding her to sit up so she could concentrate.
She would mispronounce words and I would tell her the correct pronunciation over and over again to no avail.
When she finished reading a book (a chore in and of itself) she was to take a test to see how much she retained.
I would drill her on the book and what the theme was, who the characters were, what they did etc. She was shaky on the facts and didn’t seem upset but was determined to take the computerized test.
When she took the test she failed it everytime but once.
She caused disruption in the classroom to the point the teacher had to seat her by herself a lot. I was there for a Christmas decoration project where the children were to paint a plaster of paris object and saw her disruptive actions in the group we both happened to be in.
It was then that I heard another boy mention the show “Southpark” and this girl lit up like a Christmas tree and recited all her favorite episodes along with other shows that were not age-appropriate for her.
When asked if she was encouraged to do her homework at home the answer was no.
This was not a deprived child as far as where she lived, the clothing she had etc., but it was obvious her parents didn’t take the responsibility of making sure their child was sociable and educated.
Leave it up to the teachers. If the kids don’t like the teacher then they can form a gang and plot to kill the teacher, right down to planning who cleans up the blood.
What have a segment of our parents done to make our children this violent?
Something has to be done to stop it, but I don’t have the answers. I’m too flabbergasted by what I just read.
Posted in 
Tuesday Tid-Bits
April 1st, 2008
~o)It looks as though the Marines in Berkeley recently received some well deserved support:
On March 22, 2008, a coalition of patriotic and veterans’ groups held a large rally in front of Berkeley’s “U.S. Marine Corps Officer Selection Office” (better known as the Marines recruiting office) in support of American troops and their missions.
This rally — with at least 400 participants at any one time and probably well over 500 grand total — was much larger than any of the previous anti-troop protests at the office organized by Code Pink or World Can’t Wait, which usually range from less than ten people to perhaps 50 at most on a few rare occasions.
Great pictures at the link!
~o)From Michael Yon:
Desert Battles are unfolding in hidden and faraway places. Bullets snapp through air, then splap through flesh and men fall. Bodies crumple onto the desert, a fly lands on the lip of an open mouth, fingers twitch as the flesh dies and the winds kick up and dust settles on unblinking eyes. The dry earth drinks their sticky blood and they are forgotten. Their families do not know they are dead. They came to kill Americans and innocent Iraqis. Instead, they were killed themselves. In a desert landscape, sometimes the color of a war can bleed out into black and white.
Four pages laden with excellent photograhs make “Color of War” another of Michael’s must reads.
~o)Color me shocked. Governor Rendell praises Fox News:
The surprises just keep coming in this campaign season!
~o)Rich Galen has penned a piece which warms the heart:
September 6, 1995 I flew to Austin, Texas to watch a baseball game on TV with The Lad who was then an undergrad at the University of Texas. The occasion was Cal Ripken’s 2,131st consecutive Major League baseball game, breaking Lou Gehrig’s record.
Baseball has been a bond between us.
When the Lad played Little League I rarely missed a game. In McLean, Virginia it was not at all noteworthy to see national leaders – Administration and Congressional, Democrat and Republican – working in the snack bar or helping prepare one of the fields.
It was not unusual to be watching a game, leaning on the centerfield fence with the head of the President’s Domestic Policy Council on one side and a US Senator on the other, discussing the most important issue of the day: Shouldn’t the shortstop (who was about 11-years-old) be playing a couple of steps toward second base with a left-handed batter up?
Ah, how wonderful, those things we call memories.
