October 1, 2010
Criminalization of the Modern Day Student


It is truly a sad day when many have become so grossly complacent and gleeful when it comes to getting unjustly flogged. Students in these times do not seem to mind having many of their fundamental rights taken away, and only seem casually concerned about being treated as if they were pedophiles locked up in a maximum security prison. After all, this is what the modern high school has turned into; a super high security prison with education added on as an extra-special bonus.

The aim of this piece is more focused, however, on the recent decision by the school to stick its nose in activities students engage in outside of school. This school now has the power to penalize a student for doing something outside of school, whether it is in their home, at the local hang out, or what have you, which could result in the barring of a student from school activities and clubs. To an even greater extent, the Board of Education extended the rule to not only ban students from participation in various sports and activities, but also to impose a long term suspension on a student who is thought to be engaged in drug-related activities on or off school grounds. So it seems that the trap is perfectly set and students must now walk carefully or the mousetrap will swiftly catch them. Nowadays, the student is seen as the criminal, while the Board of Education acts as the Gestapo prepared to take care of any one who gets out of line.

The logic of such rules regarding participation in extracurricular activities is flawed in ways that ought to truly depress anyone who cares about their child. Perhaps the best way to illustrate my point is to present a scenario and information about the average high school student. Take the hypothetical situation of a student attending a party, which involves the consumption of alcohol by minors—a scene that has been an integral part of the high school experience since time immemorial. Let’s use the name “Jeremiah” to further develop this hypothetical situation; Jeremiah attends this party, unaware of the illegal acts going on, and some of his friends, lacking foresight, decide to take incriminating photos and post them on the social network facebook. While Jeremiah did not actually partake in any of these illegal acts, he does end up appearing in a number of photos with people who are. A few weeks later, the administration gets a hold of some of these pictures, one way or another, and sees that Jeremiah, typically thought to be a “good boy”, next to a crowd of people drinking alcoholic beverages. He is called into a meeting with the principal, the images are shown, and he is then barred from participating in the sports and activities which define his life. Such a situation is not far fetched, and one could make the assertion that many good-natured students could end up being unjustly penalized for an offense they never actually committed.

Now is that crucial time when parents and students need to wake up from their cozy slumber. It’s time to decriminalize the modern day student and treat the children of this generation with a bit more respect. Criminalization only leads to lunacy and major developmental problems that could potentially jeopardize a child’s future. None of the information presented in this piece should have made the reader feel warm and fuzzy inside. After reading this, it is my sincere hope that you are now out of the comatose state, which you have been in while this mess has unfolded. Join together and turn the focus of our schools back to proper education and development, not flagellation of innocent students.

—Steven P. Rodriguez

 

8:42pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZHD6ay1904S5
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Filed under: children constitution education high school school teaching stevenprodriguez 
January 18, 2010
Your Kid Sucks

Your Kid Sucks

Sometimes you reach this point in your life where you have so much work, and so much to get done, that you sometimes feel like just giving up. It used to be the case that  this sort of feeling only  affected college students and entrepreneur types, but more and more it seems as if high school students are being bitten by this bug. It sort of amazes me how strenuous and focused modern education has become. I think of all the baby boomers, and the children of the 60’s, who grew up during a time when school was lax. Sure, teachers were evil and wicked, they hit you with things, but school was still a place where you mostly just goofed around. College was something that only a few chosen rich kids got to go to. The rest, well, they had other things on their mind. In the 60’s it was loud music and mind-altering drugs, for the Baby Boomers it was avoiding war.

Then came the 1990’s. At this point, the world had changed drastically, old traditions were long gone, and parenting became a full-time profession. A new sense of entitlement seemed to emerge ; self-righteous parents started to believe that their children were capable of anything. It was the generation that told children “Practice makes perfect” and that they could be anything the wanted to be. The industry around this also flourished. Soon there were countless educational programs aimed at teaching toddlers, and radical new teaching methods entered the schoolhouse. With all of this, parents thought that their children were destined to become the next Albert Einstein, or the next Beethoven. And anyone who challenged those ideals were labeled an uneducated, old-fashioned fiend.

So I guess I’m one of those.

What I have discovered, as being someone not brought up with this new 90’s era parenting style, is that all of this sense of entitlement, and this self-righteousness is all phony. I do understand that no parent wants to hear that their child is stupid, or that their child is terrible at softball, but at some point we must learn to live with these facts of life. The worst thing that can possibly done is to make a child believe he or she is good at something when they are actually not. I’ve experienced this many times and it is quite sad because it is not the child’s fault, but their parent who indoctrinates them with this bullshit. Let’s face it, we all suck at some things. Heck, a lot of us suck at many things. But each of us is uniquely good at something. That’s what parents should make their kids strive for, their innate talent, not some contrived mediocrity.

What I am proposing is that we take a moment out of our busy lives to think back to our ancestors. For many of us, these were relatives who emigrated from Europe with very little money. Yet, they were incredibly attracted to America, a shinning beacon of liberty, that allowed all cultures, and races, to share the ideals set forth in the United States Constitution. These were the relative who had nothing. Absolutely nothing. They made an enormous gamble hoping that things would turn out well for their family, who were their most valuable asset. And it was these relatives who worked 18 hour days in very poor working conditions. They knew that they were entitled to nothing, no one owed them anything, and they just watched out for themselves and their family.

What’s happened?

Now we are at a point where parents are supporting their children well into their 20’s, and everyone feels entitled to whatever they want.  Where did that humbleness go? So quickly we have forgotten the struggles of out ancestors.

11:22am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZHD6ayKL2t3
Filed under: education makelimeade 
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