Garilia

Yes.
*****
You know I have spent my career working with some of the toughest students in a school district: I've taught Severely Emotionally Disturbed students in center schools. I've taught in Juvenile Justice settings, and I currently teach children with autism in a self-contained setting. There are days when I feel really good about the job I do, and feel that it makes a difference. You know, the Pollyannaish, "A man never stands so tall as when he bends down to help a child" sentiment. There are other days when I come home and see something on the news or read a story like this that makes me wonder how many of these children I've been able to impact a long term change on, and how many of them I just taught to blend in and more cleverly hide their underlying personality pathologies, until they got to a point where they can't keep it bottled up and they commit suicide, or attack someone or some animal. Lately I've been feeling the negative energy more. *sigh*

tlc20010

Wow, someone actually posted that.....really?

StephenH

"Say not thou, 'What is the cause that the former days were better than these?' for thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this."- Solomon.

Kids acting up- a bummer. Something new- nope. Going to heck in a handbasket- maybe so, maybe not. There's always been good people and there's always been some criminals out there.

DX-MAN

Yup, someone did; and I can't answer it like it deserves to be answered, cuz then THIS thread will get moved to P&R, too........



Trust me when I say it, I've got a bit of an inside track here -- the biggest users of the N-word will tell you:

"...we say it with an 'A', not the 'ER', makes it OUR word, not the white man's...."

I call BS every time I hear that, and sometimes refer people to www.abolishthenword.com. (EDIT: it appears this website has evaporated, sorry.)

If you think for ONE SECOND that the word is losing its power, try using it. It's SOOOO "okay" for ghetto black folks that it's become an entitlement, but you and I will risk our lives for a two-syllable sound. (BTW -- 'cracker' *or as pronounced, CRACKA* is the term of choice now, more than *****. I guess too many people like me came up with answers -- "I'm a *****? Then come blow my horn, B****!")

I feel for your neighbor; I'd stand shoulder to shoulder with him, but it would diminish his efforts, just by my association.

DnvrFox

The kids in my neighborhood are really nice, respectful. One of the parents isn't. It cuts both ways.

Connell

I can relate to that one. I live next door to a teenager who is one of the sweetest, happiest and pleasantest kids you could ever hope to meet. Her mother and her stepfather though, they're a couple of the biggest a-holes I know. Go figure.

dahut

The best neighbors I've had in 20 years have had a large dose of melatonin in their skin.
I AM NOT making racial slurs in this post. and Im pleased to see that it hasnt degraded to that. What I am doing is pointing out a culture of ignorance that exists.
For that is what it is pure ignorance held in the highest esteem.

In the end, that is the thing that bothers me most, I suppose.

XR2

I believe it is sad to condemn so many by the actions of two. And if you believe racism is confined to the USA turn off the TV and travel a bit. Unfortunate actions by 2 youngsters but who's to say they won't grow into fine individuals for who among us can't recall something we'd like to take back?

NOS88

When I was four years old I did some pretty stupid things. At that age kids are trying different things out. I remember calling my Sunday school teacher a (well, a not to nice slang word for a part of female anatomy), not because I knew what it meant, but because I knew when people said it, others went, "Ooooo, you shouldn't say that." I would see this an a potential opportunity to change the way those particular four year olds think. It's tough to have real hate or disrespect for someone you know and who has been kind with you.

Pobble.808

+1 on this. I'd also say that while there are certainly plenty of cases where kids pick up bad attitudes and habits from their parents, there are also cases where they pick them up from other kids and the parents may not even be aware that it's happening.

Retro Grouch 

That's what I think too. There are no bad words, there is only inappropriate context.

I tell the kids on my school bus they can say whatever they want in the presence of their friends but show me the respect of editing your language on my bus. (Most of the inappropriate words they use are really stupid if you consider them literally anyway.)

xtrajack

Keep right on enjoying that fantasy. You can believe anything you want to, it doesn't have to be true.
Hell, I have a friend who believes Reagan is still president, I tell her the same thing.

dahut

Excellent point. It IS NOT these two youngsters that I am condemning. It is a the examples they have in the form of adults. That sort of behavior is usually learned from those closest, like parents, siblings and so on.
They might turn into fine adults, you are right. Im giving those odds at 50:50 right now.

dahut

Here's what I know. Had I stood in front of my house as a child and "innocently" hollered "ni**(gg)er," or "c*nt," or "f*cker" (choose your expletive) at a stranger, I wouldn't have sat down for a week. Remember, this was in their own yard, 10 feet from their front door.
I know kids do stupid things; hell I've raised 5 of my own. But they were doing it were they felt safest and secure - at home. This wasn't in a Sunday School or elsewhere. What does that tell you about the home?

NOS88

That maybe there was a babysitter there or the parents somewhere out of ear shot. I don't really know. It could have been a less than desirable situation for those kids. I do know that I've worked with adjudicated teens in some of the roughest neighborhoods in the Philadelphia area for over 15 years, and there are MANY kids worth the effort. Some, not so much, but the majority? Yeah, I think so. It's amazing how resilient kids can be.

dahut

And, of course, this leads to the greater sorrow - the fact that we do have to adjudicate so many. There have always been broken homes and distraught situations. Is it because we simply have more people that we have so many, today?

I don't think so. I, too, have worked with kids and I'm convinced that their is a genuine apathy and laggardness today that didn't exist in our recently past times. I refer to it as the "F*ck the World" mentality.
And when I say recent past, I'm talking about only a few generations here.
You are right we are asked by our culture to be participants and make the attempt to save people from themselves. But are there enough of us who are willing to do so, to go around?

Phil85207

These kids were taught to hate, envy and to be bitter. It's to bad. We just need to thank God that we didn't have those kind of parents. I say, "there but for the grace of God go I". Those kids need mentoring before they wind up in real trouble and in jail or worse.

cccorlew

Social Darwinism, or our descent to idiocracy, is partly due to smarter people having fewer children and the idiots gradually taking over.

Just sayin'.

Nothing? Nothing? Really? Not one thing? Even one small tiny thing?

B. Carfree

I wouldn't have been beaten for such behavior. I would have been forced to find the person I insulted, apologize and then offer to work for free for them for some lengthy period of time. I think I would rather take a beating.