Manny, Thanks to you & Deepellumrocket for the kind words. Is corporal punishment even allowed in schools anymore? It seems that I heard somewhere that it wasn't.
No, it is not. This may be only marginally related to the topic, but I helped with a Junior Achievement presentation to a class of third-graders yesterday. They were a lot of fun, as they were all very eager to answer and participate and had a hard time restraining themselves to their seats. At one point, the teacher indicated to me that one of the boys "is on medication, but doesn't have any today." Apparently, about a quarter of the kids in the class are ADD/HD. I didn't see anything that would have warranted corporal punishment, but a lot of these kids did have a hard time obeying instructions to say seated.
I agree. I don't think that being successful also requires being an *******. However, it is hard to ignore the fact that many people who have become successful have done so to the detriment of many of the values we teach our children to have. The very fact that success often pits people vs. money or individuals vs. corporations would seem to suggest that, even if they aren't incompatible, they are certainly not allies. I just wish there were more people who projected a sense of those values of kindness, politeness, non-judgement, respect, peacefulness and honesty we preach to our children. I would think they would be easier to reinforce too.
My wife would echo the comments of your dad. The thing that bothers her worse is how the parents either don't care or make excuses for their kids instead of holding them accountable. When i was a kid, my parents gave the benefit of the doubt to the teacher when she said I was screwing around...the burden was on me to prove otherwise. My wife has experienced just the opposite. She literally had a mother tell her the other day that she and her husband just couldn't make time to read with their kid. That's just really hard for me and my wife to understand. She also had a mother chew her inside out the other day RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE KID!!! That kind of crap just cuts the legs right out from under any respect the kid had for the teacher...he sees mom has no respect for the teacher, so why should he? And the excuses they make for their kids' performance is amazing...instead of saying we'll work on it or something, there's always this pathetic excuse. Really sad because they're raising a new generation of whiners who will be holding their hand out for the rest of their lives. PARENTS....RAISE YOUR KIDS!!!! Don't pretend that it's up to the government to raise them for you in the public schools. YOU are responsible for teaching your kids to read and develop good habits. Don't wait for some teacher to try to do it for you.
I didn't have to deal with that burden. My mom took the teacher's word for it (of course, the teacher was right) & gave me dance lessons with a willow tree switch. Those little buggers will wrap around your legs & they whistle when they come after you. I even cut down the tree where she used to get them. So, she drove around the neighborhood & found another one, then made me get out & get her a new one. You know, I'm beginning to think my mom had a mean streak in her. I guess I turned out all right, except for this nervous twitch I get when I'm around willow trees.
