Consequences - or lack thereof

I have grave concerns about how the current generation of children are going to turn out once they reach adulthood. First there are the jumpless jump ropes so that uncoordinated kids don't get their feelings hurt. Then, of course, there are the trophies that every kid gets for participating in a sport. There is no such thing as MVP or Best Hitter or Highest Scorer anymore. They're all special. But this post isn't about coddling kids and being politically correct. This rant is about the lack of consequences.

Lincoln and I are fairly strict disciplinarians. If the kids do something wrong, they get in trouble. It's as simple as that. And if Hannah forgets her homework we tell her she has to live with the consequences.

And that's the problem.

There are no consequences.

Last Monday Hannah stayed home sick. Every Friday she has a spelling test. That gave her Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday to study but she forgot to bring the list home every single day that week. Thursday night I asked her about it and she said she still hadn't brought home her list so I told her she'd have to take the test on Friday and deal with the consequences. She's pretty good at spelling so even having not studied she probably would have scored pretty high on the test but it was the principal of the matter and the idea that she'd have to take the test even if she wasn't ready.

Me: Hannah, how did your test go today?

Hannah: I didn't have to take it.

Me: What?

Hannah: The teacher said I didn't have to take it because I was out on Monday.

Me: Yeah, but you were there on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

Hannah: I know. I told her I was ready to take it but she said I didn't have to and didn't give me the test paper.

What the hell?!?!

I happened to be chatting with a friend of mine right after Hannah and I had this discussion and I was telling her about it. She said that another friend of hers had a son who hadn't been turning in the weekly assignments all year. The teacher never called or emailed the mother about it until after the mother contacted the teacher after overhearing another student in the class talk about the assignment. The teacher just didn't make him turn them in but admitted to the mother when asked that it had been, in fact, a weekly assignment ever since the beginning of the year.

What are these kids going to grow up thinking? That life has no consequences? That everyone is special and will get awards just for breathing.

I'm sorry but that's bull shit. It's bad parenting. It's bad coaching. It's bad teaching. It's just overall bad news. We are going to be one seriously fucked up society when these kids are in charge.

More political incorrectness

There is a lot of stuff going on in town right now about the budget cuts to our regional school district. I know that many schools are going through budget cuts but I guess ours is more drastic than most of the other districts in this state (at least according to the newspaper). Additionally we're already one of the lowest districts when it comes to money spent per pupil so basically we're getting really screwed here.

Of course the typical discussions are going on around town about cutting teachers and programs. They are trying to re-open discussions with the teachers' union in order to get some relief on salaries and there is talk that high school sports will become completely self-funding. In other words, parents will have to pay $500 per sport per child if they want to participate in any sport. Additionally stuff like Yearbook will be cut because they can't pay the teacher's a stipend to act as an advisor. That of course is one that is near and dear to my heart but oh well. Maybe a parent will step up and volunteer. After all, that's what I do for the elementary school.

But I digress.

There are two major things that bug me about this whole process and this is where I get into the "politically incorrect" part of my rant.

1) Spanish Immersion class. Right now we have one class per grade level that is a "Spanish immersion" class meaning that they teach everything in Spanish and the kids - who are all English speaking students - will learn to speak Spanish fluently. There is discussion that this program may be cut to save money and I have to say, I full agree with that, although if I stated it publicly around town I'd probably be tarred and feathered. I think instead of putting a ton of money into teaching 25 kids from each grade how to speak Spanish fluently they should instead have ALL the kids in English speaking classes and have ALL the kids taught Spanish as a separate class like gym, music, art, and technology. All our kids are going to need to speak Spanish at some point so why don't we teach all of them now? And if the kids rotated through the classroom like they do with music, art, etc. we'd only have to supply one room in the school with Spanish materials, text books, etc. instead of five. Oh look, I just saved money and now ALL the kids will be able to talk to over 50% of the population that I can't talk to because I never learned Spanish.

2) Special Education. No, I am not saying that we should get rid of Special Education. I think it's very important for the kids who legitimately need it. I think what is equally important is a Talented & Gifted program. But while the school district is legally obligated to spend millions and millions and millions of dollars on the SpEd program it's not required to spend a single dime on helping those kids that need help on the other end of the spectrum to fulfill their potential as well. Something else I think needs to be addressed is that it seems like every third kid these days is in SpEd. Seriously. And this is a gripe I have against society as a whole and not just our school district. You can go into any classroom at any grade level and probably half of the class is on an IEP (Individualized Education Plan) which means they require additional, personalized help to learn because they're considered to be struggling or disadvantaged in one way or another. Once again, my talented and gifted daughter doesn't get any individualized attention but that's not the point this time. Just like in my rant against ropeless jump ropes last week, I think it's ridiculous that we coddle children so much these days. Yes, I firmly believe that there are children out there with certain learning disabilities that should definitely receive special assistance. I just don't think that society has that many learning disabled children out there. And if we do, maybe we should look into what's in the water because something is seriously wrong.

Maybe every generation says this of the generation coming up behind them, but these kids are being raised to be a bunch of whiny, entitled, self-indulgent babies and God help this country once they're in charge. That is, if they can achieve anything without their Mommies and Daddies to do their work for them.

And now I'll step down off my soap box.

Thank you for listening to the latest episode of "Diane's Politically Incorrect Tirades" presented to you by the Ropeless Jump Ropers of America.

Bus Stops.....and stops....and stops.....and stops

When did kids get so lazy? Or more importantly, when did parents get so obsessive about their children not having to walk to the bus stop? The other day I was behind a bus while I headed over to Hannah's school. The bus would stop at one house, roll 100 feet to the next house and then stop again to pick up kids, and then again to pick up more kids. Seriously? They couldn't all congregate in one person's driveway? When we were kids the lower part of our neighborhood was a big loop. There were three stops on that loop and you had better be at one of them or you missed the bus. If you missed one of those three you could high tail it to the back part of the neighborhood and hopefully catch one of the buses that picked up in that area. I think it's just ridiculous.

The other thing that amazed me a few years ago was when I was at someone's house and she was telling me her daughter took the bus to school. Let me explain why this was so shocking. If you walked to the end of her driveway and looked right YOU COULD SEE THE SCHOOL!!!!!

When I was in 6th thru 9th grade out in Seattle I walked to school almost every day. The elementary school was the farthest away and to get to both the elementary and middle schools you had to cross a very busy road. I don't think anyone ever thought twice about it.

I think it's just insane. What is happening to our society?