"Cowardice asks the question...is it safe? Expediency asks the question...is it politic? Vanity asks the question...is it popular? But conscience asks the question...is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because it is right." ~Dr. Martin Luther King

Wednesday 10 June 2015

WHEN IS ENOUGH ,ENOUGH

There's a comment today about eighteen teachers leaving a school in the Region because of mayhem in the classroom . Kids on drugs are throwing classroom furniture about. 

Last week a boy about ten was put off a school bus by the driver. It was recorded with a cell phone. and had all the elements of scandal until the school board responded with another video . It showed the driver being struck on the side of the head with a heavy school bag swung by the ten year old. 

The driver was physically stunned. 

The week before we were treated to a seventeen year old student defying authority In the matter of appropriate dress for school.

Young women in Toronto have an annual walk called " Slut  Walk"   It was started as a protest against a
Policeman's fatherly advice that girls should not dress like sluts. 

Young women everywhere were outraged that anyone would suggest they could not wear what they pleased. 

 The media give the Slut Walk prominence. No negative comments are reported. 

At no other time in life can foolish behavior be excused.   It might be argued mistakes are essential to becoming sensible. Hard lessons are  best learned as a consequence of poor judgement. 

But comes a time when lack of judgement cannot be excused. Like when one is responsible for raising 
a family  or a salary is being paid. 

A significant element of  to-day's society may be the first generation prescribed drugs to control classroom behavior. Self- discipline is not evident. Entitlement is rampant. Social conscience is conspicuous in its absence. Integrity is obsolete. 

Forty-five years ago I covered  a school board meeting where the top regional student was being recognized for academic excellence. She. was seventeen. The only child of the Regional solicitor.  

The chairman of the board anxious to express hiigh appreciation for excellence said her generation would be responsiible for correcting the mess  made by their parents.

He was speaking of the generation that grew up in a depression, fought and knew deprivation and loss of war in teen years, afterwards worked hard for modest wages and paid taxes to provide high schools universities, community colleges and hospitals. So that life would be better for their children. 

They did it without complaint. 

There were no RRSPS and  no funds  to stash away for old age. 

The only asset they had was house they lived in. 

I remember thinking at the time, I hope that girl is sensible enough to know she's listening to pure baffle-gab. 

Now according to the phsychaitrist I listened to ,more children are being diagnosed and pumped with drugs than ever before. 

I'm not sure lessons are being learned. 

I think of a  citizen delegation demanding Council go to court to compel a communication tower 
erected within all the rules  be dismantled and my doubts are compounded. 

Imagine my thoughts as I watched elected representatives prepared to go that route.

Yet another lawyer was retained to tell them they couldn't win that fight. But some still were They were not inclined to listen to the solicitor on the payroll for the purpose. 

External legal advice allowed them to make the right decision while covering their political asses. 

They were rewarded. 

Disorder In the classrooms ..  It's not hard to believe . 

I've seen enough in other unexpected places. 






18 comments:

Anonymous said...

I know people will be all over this comment if you post it...but we can thank Liberalism for this mess that this society is in right now. We need a good economic shake down to reset people's values, which will be coming. Government has done a pretty good job in keeping the few who vote happy. But time will change all that, history always repeats itself.

Anonymous said...

Neocon numbskull.

Anonymous said...


In my considered opinion our western society began to disintegrate with the advent of television around 1950. This technological "marvel" became a drug over our children and adults alike. It was entertainment, but it was also a baby-sitter; it was an alternative to parents and parenting and attention to homework and basic education - the three "R's".

Today we are besieged by mindless forms of technology, some is called virtual reality. Reality either exists or it doesn't; there is nothing virtual about it. In the stores and on the sidewalks and in the school hallways people are "tuned in" to whatever form of stupidity appeals to them, from play-off hockey to porn, from ads for bust enhancement or bust reduction. You can find anything for sale, all you need is a piece of plastic with a 16 digit number and 3 on the reverse.

But you can't find responsibility. You can't find good teachers. You can hardly find decent parents who care about their children' present welfare and their future. People don't vote, they don't express their opinions or beliefs. They exist behind little screens where they don't have to express their opinions or beliefs.

Our vaunted leader and his minions, following this week's G7 meeting and decision to end the use of fossil fuels by the year 2100, are playing down the promise as an "aspirational" target and he said it will only be reached through advances in technology. Well, how inspirational, Prime Mutt. But none of us will be around to see that day.

Anonymous said...

Our society is strange, we complain about virtual world and don't do anything about it, just because at the same time we enjoy the technology. That's is why virtual interactions are growing and not declining. And the bigger picture is that change, evolution is part of life.

Anonymous said...

All the staff leaving a rotten school will be employed by a good one. It will be interesting to see the community reaction, if there is one, to the exodus of so many from one place.. I would bet the principal and vice remain in position.

Anonymous said...

So it’s the technology that’s the evil? Technology is a tool, just like a pick and shovel. The problem is nobody knows how to use a pick and shovel and don’t want to know either. Entitlement has been society’s policy now for a few generations and growing. I do agree with 20:13. It will be forced to end, and we will be around to see it.

Anonymous said...

OMG... the comments of 21:35 sound like my grandparents when I was a kid in the '60s.

I can hardly wait for someone to chime in that it is all part of lax immigration policies.

Maybe it was Trudeau (Pierre the original not Justin the wannabe) and his offcial bilingualism?

The problem is in the home - always has been, always will be. You can blame doctors precribing medication or teachers lack of authority but it is all rooted in the family dynamic.


Hey, you kids, get offa my lawn! said...

Ha! Bang on, 11:51.

Anonymous said...

17:01 Kids out on the lawn? Where?? Please send a pic please.

Anonymous said...

My parents were Trudeau fans. It took them a while to snap to of it, but they finally got over that brain washing.

Aint no Dr Phil said...

11:51 and Evelyn you are both right.Its in the home but we are also over-medicating and labelling youth with whatever they can.under the DSM.That book is so thick and the autism spectrum gets wider and wider.Little Bobby never sees hisDad and hears Mom fight with him on.the phone.Bobby gets anxious; lets put him on Effexor or Ritilin or whatever.Its a mess and we are not coming out of it.Too much money to be made and not enough two parent families or time spent.

Anonymous said...

I get a kick out of the person, probably a guy, who blames everything on Bob Rae.
Who cares who caused the over-medication mess - we have to clean it up.

Anonymous said...

There are no consequences. A kid can create havoc in his/her class one day and then go with the class to the zoo the next.

Anonymous said...

To 9:10 Which comment points or mentionsBob Rae?

Anonymous said...

12:19
You must be new. That person usually went on about how Rae " decimated " Ontario.

Anonymous said...

You're right about that one. We went from schools administering the strap to rewarding bad behavior. Parents and schools both get an F grade.

Anonymous said...

My nephew tells me almost half his grade get extra time for their tests or school projects because they have some learning disability. That would include kids that are classified as "gifted". Unbelievable.

Anonymous said...

Communist