WHAT ON EARTH? Some Very Good Questions

What on Earth has become of our Country, our Continent and our whole world?  What’s the matter with kids today?  What has come over adults to believe that they are powerful enough to control the forces of nature of our living, breathing planet?  Who and what can we blame for this global warming (not that it hasn’t happened before)?   And, what’s going on with our corrupt leaders, our corrupt nations and the people who pretend to care?  What the hell is this business of being politically correct?  Why won’t our Federal Government protect our borders from allowing the drug cartels from all over the world to come in?  Surely the drug cartels do not fall among the “...Your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…”  

I have become one of those old fogies that ask these questions…one of those old people (babyboomers) that the present administration is trying to squeeze out of the “economy”.

What’s going on with people that they don’t own up to responsibility for themselves and their families?  How has it come to the point here in the United States of America, where the American Dream is to be able to work hard and make a good life, that the harder you work and the more you make, the more our government will take away from you?

 

Why do so many people think that our government owes them a living, stripped from people who have worked hard for their money and livelihood; though these “entitled people” don’t opt to support themselves?  Why do so many people who have worked hard for the money they make and the life they have worked hard for, owe it to our government to give it to those who don’t /won’t work, and won’t own up the responsibility of themselves and their families.  Why does our government think it has to have a hand in everything?

Could it be that our Government has become such a chronic consumer, spending away our funds, and trying to make up for the debts owed that they are taxing us all into poverty?  Another question would be….Doesn’t our government know that if you find yourself in a hole, you should stop digging?   I guess not.

Well, I can’t believe I just asked all those questions…the same questions asked by our parents, their parents and their parents before them.  These are valid questions and deserve an answer; though I don’t even pretend to have an answer to any one of these questions myself.  The answers lie in our hearts and the reality of the persons who squint their eyes and then open them wide...wide enough to see the whole spectrum of how things have come to the point that they are now.  Sorry.  I guess I just got carried away once again.

Well, I guess my mind just got on a track of questions starting with, how on Earth are we going to protect our children from hot dogs and candy canes?  That’s been on my mind since a middle school boys choir group called the Christmas Sweater Club, got in trouble for bringing 2” candy canes to school to pass out to all of their school mates.  They were given detention for passing out “potential weapons”.  And further more they were made to pick up all the wrappers from said “potential weapons” because they caused a horrible litter problem.  It seems that their parents, knowing that those candy canes could be sucked on until a sharp point was established, allowed them to be brought to school; therefore providing a weapon that could possibly disrupt the entire school.

 

Actually, the teachers were probably afraid of them, and the students had not even considered that they could be used to stab anyone.  If this rule is passed, then all pencils and pens should be taken up immediately, and jail time for anyone harboring any of these “potential weapons”.

And while I’m on the subject of punishment for infractions in school, I heard someone say that their son got detention for skipping school.  The teen, obviously more clever than the person issuing the detention said, “You’re giving me detention for skipping school.  What makes you think I’ll show up to do detention?”  Now, that is a very, very good question.

My question would be on the above school related incidences, Why are these kids not coming to school?  Granted, skipping school is as old as time itself, but more and more, there is less attraction to school.  Could it be that teachers aren’t allowed to teach?  They aren’t allowed to fail any student.  The students know this, so they just skip school.  Teachers are not allowed to discipline.  Teachers are afraid of the students, because the students know teachers aren’t allowed to discipline students (outside of detention).  They (teacher) are Union, so they don’t have to try hard?  Teachers only have to teach for a short time, and then, they are given full benefits regardless of how they exit teaching.  Children are learning from school that they don’t have to do anything to graduate. 

So, they aren’t learning anything practical to help them in the real, grown-up world.   I agree that technology is the future, but it shouldn’t interfere with education.  In fact, it should be helping education, but as long as these communication devices are allowed in school, it will only hinder education.

Why are cell phones, iPods, Blackberries and other means of communications allowed in school AT ALL?  No wonder our students are not learning anything.  They can’t spell, but they can text faster than a minnow can swim a dipper.  If a kid needs to call Mommy, then they can go to the office and use the phone, or the school office can contact your mom at a moments’ notice.  It’s highly unlikely they are calling or texting “mommy”.  Again, why are these devices even allowed in school?  These devices are loaded with information, as well as the ability to contact another student for the answers to a test.  It’s called C-H-E-A-T-I-N-G.  And, again, teachers don’t have to do much.  Are there any students or teachers, for that matter, that can spell?  Or, are all teachers just equipped with blinders upon getting their teaching assignments? Key words here are, They are not allowed. 

And, here is one other observation.  A friend of ours got a substitute teaching assignment.  He took his laptop to class.  His only comment was that it was a piece of cake.  Paid hourly, all he had to do, basically, was to babysit.  Why even have anyone there, except for the illusion an authority figure?

Before the “Candy Cane Conspiracy”, there was the “Hotdog Dilemma”.  Some hysterical person decided that the shape of hotdogs needed to be changed because young children could choke on them.  They probably didn’t even consider the alternatives available:  A) Cut said hotdog up in tinier pieces for the baby/toddler. B)  Don’t give your baby/toddler a hotdog if you are afraid they could choke on them.   Don’t even bring up changing the shape of bananas.  You will be considered a moron for suggesting that we find a way to change the shape of a banana.  Whatever happened to common sense?

The above two examples go with other hysteria, like banning of certain games or practices.  One practice was to let the students “choose sides”.  This was banned because “It might hurt some students’ feelings if they aren’t picked”.   I will interject here, that I was one who was not chosen on the favored team in my elementary school.  Much to the chagrin of the favored team, I hit a softball so hard into right field, that I broke a second story window in our school building.  AND, I didn’t even get in trouble for it.  No one called to report it to Mom and Dad.

Several games have been banned, like dodge ball.  Someone could get hurt.  Whatever happened to common sense and logic?  We used to play swinging statue, red rover and crack the whip all of which would be outlawed today, because someone might get hurt.  You cannot ride a bicycle today without full gear.  Can kids still jump-rope, or is the rope a potential noose?  Someone might get hurt.  The point is that parents have become so controlling and so over bearing that they are unwilling to allow their little darlings to suffer as much as a scraped knee.  This, in itself, is very detrimental, in that the child will never learn what is to fail and recover.  They will never learn these important lessons that people/children have always been allowed to learn from the beginning of civilization…the beginning of mankind.

Okay….I’m stepping off the dais for the time being.  Please comment on this..Pro and Con.  I want to hear it.  I promise a rebuttal! 

Respectfully,

Mena/Melissa/Mom