The following posting is stolen from one of my student's blogs. He is a brilliant young man, and I allowed him to keep a blog instead of a physical journal. Amazing that a fifteen year old can so eloquently identify the malady of lack of accountability.
"Not my fault.
Children are being raised by not being raised.
It took me at least four or five tries to figure out how to explain my sentiments, and that is exactly what I'm trying to say. Parents always try to blame someone else for their own child's wrongdoings, because they can't accept the fact that their little angel is in fact, not quite an angel. For the most part, this is probably because having a kid who fails out of classes because they don't do a damned thing, or don't show up at all, might reflect poorly on their ability to be a parent.
Or maybe they're just trying to teach their child "independence." *Stifled laugh*
No, they're not. Teaching your child to be independent usually implies that they're learning how to succeed on their own. Getting (and keeping) a job, managing your own money, taking care of a car; these are the kinds of things that we need to learn for the real world. Saying "I let my child do what he wants so he can learn to be independent," in response to his being arrested for drug possession and underage drinking is just bad parenting. Yes all you parents of delinquent children, none of whom are reading this blog anyway, I'm calling you a BAD PARENT. If you're too lazy to raise a kid, the least you can do is not be too lazy to use protection."
Harsh sentiments that I couldn't agree with more. Accountability, or absolute refusal to take accountability, has become a huge trend in our society. While there are glaring examples of this in our government, this "plague" has permeated the everyday familial unit. In our growing enthusiasm to make everything as simple and as quick as possible, it becomes far easier to simply blame some one else for any short comings we see in ourselves or those we are responsible for. Relentless unwillingness to accept reality is another epidemic. This is what results of childrens' feelings being overly catered to in schools--not to mention sports, where now everyone gets a big trophy because everyone is a winner. The sooner kids, or I should say people in general, learn that there are "losers" and that it is possible that you--yes even though your mother tells you you are special--can become one of them if you don't take responsibility for your own actions and undestand that actions have consequences.
2 comments:
I don't remember your name. I'm Nick. Brother of Amanda. Denis's other half. Anyway... Check out www.boortz.com, fantastic article on our US "Public" (government) education.
You'll love this article I found in www.boortz.com news section...
See below.
DON'T RAISE YOUR HAND...NOT IN A GOVERNMENT SCHOOL!
Parents of government-educated school children...listen up! You already have heard many of the horror stories coming out of our government indoctrination centers. For instance, when little Cranston goes back to school in August he will have to turn in his crayon boxes and precious supplies for the good of the class. They aren't his supplies anymore, they are now government property. This first lesson in the power of government is being learned in more and more government schools every year.
Now we have something else your child needs to know on that first day ... please sit down. I don't want you to hurt yourself when you start gasping for air and fall to the floor.
Before the next school year begins --- and this only really applies to those of you who abuse your children by sending them to the government to be educated .. you might want to tell Johnny or DeShawn that they should not raise their hand in class when they know the answer to a teacher's question. They shouldn't even think about it. Well ... OK. They can think about it, but they shouldn't do it. Why? Because other kids might feel stupid. They might feel "invisible" if they, themselves, don't know the answer and can't raise their hands too. We need to be fair to all the "invisible" children—the children that are too scared or too lazy or too incompetent to participate.
No .... I'm not kidding here. OK ... this "don't raise your hands" bit is actually starting in England. But you just know some American "educators" are going to think that it's such a wonderful idea it needs to be implemented over here ASAP. Remember, no idea is too outrageous when it comes to our own hideous government schools.
The advice from the British Department of Education basically states that teachers shouldn't ask students to raise their hands to answer questions in class. The Education Secretary said, "We need to make sure that no-one is left behind at any point - from the most gifted and talented children at the top of the class, to the quiet child who is well-practiced at hiding from the teacher's gaze at the back of the class." So ... to flush out these "invisible" students the teacher should not ask kids to raise their hands, but instead should just chose a student to answer a question.
Here are the recommendations:
Teachers should pick and choose which child to call on. This way they can evenly distribute the fairness of speaking time in the classroom. Remember ... "fairness" is everything!
Children can discuss the answers in pairs (this way the government school teachers have less responsibility to actually answer the questions...which they probably don't know the answers to anyway because they, too, were educated in government schools.)
Teachers can allow for "thinking time" (this extra 30 seconds after every question allows the teachers time to contemplate their union status and decide which lucky child they are going to recommend be put on Ritalin today.)
I wonder if they have the same situation in Great Britain that they have in the teacher's schools in the U.S. I wonder if British teachers are, by and large, the dregs from the bottom of the educational pot.
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