Because it’s just so damned much fun to read. h/t Kathy Shaidle.
33 Replies to “Sometimes I Link Stuff”
“you’ll be shaking like a blind lesbian at a weenie roast”
That was a fun read.
Most Townhall writers – the “old guard” – are fairly predicable, recycling the usual insights in the usual ways, and riding their usual hobby horses. Adams is refreshing, although for a while there I was afraid he was going to turn into a male clone of Ann Coulter.
Doug Giles (a hunting buddy) is also good, as is Burt Prelutsky.
Simply awesome.
‘Sounds like crimonology professor Mike Adams has a criminal in the making “in” his course, if missing the last 28 class meetings counts as being “in.”
He points out that this delinquent is one of the many in his generation who the feminists have turned into “effeminate victims who are dishonest with their professors and [are] afraid of hunting.”
This would describe a whole bunch of the kids in our school system, particularly the males. Too many of the females are skanks with mouths like stevedors but the boys take the cake: They’re lying, conniving, cowardly, wimps. They can dish it out to their teachers, with their teachers being outnumbered about 20 to one, but if the teachers try dishing anything out to them, like “I don’t accept a shrug or an ‘I don’t know’ for an answer seeing as you’re in grade eight,” they mutiny and get the principal or Mommy on the teachers’ case.
I like the idea of a hog hunt with a bunch of these guys in tow. ‘Only problem is, they’d sacrifice the teacher in a minute.
Right on, batb. The public school system sets low standards and then doesn’t even enforce those. Grooming citizens is not what’s happening. A critical mass of the grade school boys I encounter are just as batb says: manipulative “toddlers” who make one excuse after another, day in and day out, while contriving to avoid responsibility at every turn. (The educational establishment appears to oblige them at every turn.)
These brats need some serious, systemic toughening up. But it’s not going to happen: the Charter and imbecile judges will overturn any attempt to tame these young barbarians. To cramp their irresponsible tendencies would be considered an infringemant of their rights.
The “rights” of the rest of us? Forgeddaboutit!
How come the worlds biggest losers get the invites?
O/T but holy crap:
PMSH year end interview with Robertson and Fife on right now. You have to see the PM’s thoughts on Afghanistan, and it’s possible effects on his governments political fortunes. Powerful stuff and a shot right across the opposition bows.
Kate
That was a good read, although I might point out to some of the commentors that this missive was directed towards a university student.
IMO the tact and tone are entirely appropriate. That said I get the sense (and correct me if I’m wrong) that many here see the same simpering thugs and skanks in the primary system.
In my experience a large part of the problem lies in the “feminization” of the school system.
As the father of three sons and the stepfather of two I’ve had my share of dealings with the system.
The oldest is now 22 and the youngest is 9.
I have witnessed a system that has moved away from daily physical education and intramural sports programs to practically non-existant physical demands.
That coupled with the “bully” stigma and insistence on PC thought that is rife in the lefty fem teachers unions has produced the probable result.
Oh…and I might add the single Mom/weekend Dad/blended family scenario to the mix also.
What the whole ball of shit has produced is emasculated boys who have no personal voice or the “wrongsiders” who run together and do their time.
On the other hand the girls have fared no better. The feminazi teachers dote on the best and the brightest girls, looking to vicariously achieve the great victory their generation never achieved through them. The girls with either a male tendancy (they were once called “tomboys”) are treated with derision by many of their teachers.
It seems to me that in their adolescent search for affirmation they have become the “skanks”.
Of course this is only personal experience tempered by some reflection. Purely anecdotal.
What I would like to hear from is any of you out there in the 40-50 range who have had a different/similar experience.
Of course with all due respect to Kate.
Syncro
mmmmm… bacon…
Syncro
You are absolutely right. I am a public school secondary teacher but I’m old fashioned (in my early forties). Kids don’t talk back to me; they are told not to use foul language in my classroom and when they do, there are consequences (it doesn’t happen often, I must add). However, if I ever needed backing up, I wouldn’t get it. Administrators are frightened of parents and don’t want to deal with petty behaviour stuff (ie: disrespect/insubordination) – they’ve got bigger problems – drugs and prostitution! It is that bad, I’m afraid to say.
I have gone out of my way to talk to my female colleagues about the feminization of boys. It’s amazing the looks I get. When I hear a female student denegrade a male student – which is often – I will not tolerate it. I talk to my students about how we, as a society, are tolerating hatred of boys/men. I know one day I will pay some sort of price if I choose to switch schools as I’m probably viewed as some sort of trouble-maker. But I went into this profession truly believing in it, so I will stand my ground for as long as I can. Maybe some private school will have me…..
Excellent work, Kate – I always enjoy SDA. Have a Merry Christmas.
In the 60s, 70s and 80s there was a teacher, like Mike Adams, in my hometown. Because of him a couple of generations of kids grew up to be great Canadians.
There was a disruptive, big, what they would today call ADD student, in the class. Well this teacher just thought the boy needed some ‘straightening’ out once in awhile. Nothing mean, just told him how it was and how it was going to be. Now back to learming, which we all did in Donnie’s class.
Oh, and how did the so-called ADD one do ??
Did he end up in drugs ? No.
Did he do time for crime ? No.
Paid his own way all his life, thank you very much.
Actually he drove a semi for Federative Co-op most of his life. And guess what. He is approaching retirement and still has an absolutely perfect driving record. A few million miles.
Some of todays pot-heads behind the wheel need a tune-up themselves. Along with there so-called “teachers”. Sorry, but that’s what PC has done.
There are absolutely no logical consequences these kids fear. Instilling a little fear into a student is not a bad thing, but the feminazis liken it to abuse. (Boy, I’m getting sick of that overused and misused word.)
I don’t know what’s more abusive: a few fast ones on the hands from a strap–which, BTW, tends to prevent the delinquent behaviour from happening again–or 50 trips to the principal’s office (often more from kindergarten to grade eight) where the student then intones the mantra, “Yeah, I know what I did wrong and I promise not to do it again,” and then promptly does it again as soon as s/he gets back to the classroom.
This is a scenario I’ve seen played out over and over again…with absolutely no positive effect for change on the deliquent behaviour. In fact, if anything, blighters figure they can get away with pretty much anything. Teachers who hand out “tough love”–aka reasonable and fair consequences–often get it in the jugular from the administration: Now that parents are considered to be “clients” little Johnny or Janey’s sensibilities need to be treated with kid gloves. The teacher’s and the other students’ sensibilities be damned.
1966: Students needed to behave.
2006: Teachers need to behave.
A scenario right out of A Clockwork Orange. If ever there was a time when we needed the school day to begin with words from Scripture and prayer, it’s now, but that’s been outlawed too.
Has anyone else noticed the connection between the slide of Judeo-Christian values in the home and in the school and the increasingly disrespectful and unacceptable behaviour displayed by our young people?
I can remember a time when public schools had religious instruction (students who were not Christian were free to leave the class; some did and some didn’t); since that has been considered by the feminists and atheists in our midst–not, BTW, by other faith groups–as UN-multicultural (come again? Aren’t J-C values a large part of Canadian culture?) there’s been a marked rise in disruptive, often dangerous, behaviours in our classrooms.
Whatever the failures and weaknesses of Christianity, and there are many given that its proponents are human beings, its teaching on marriage and family, on servant leadership, on caring for the unloved and the stranger, on tithing a tenth of their income for the needs of the less fortunate, have been the foundational values of stable and accountable societies down through the ages.
It’s a tragedy to see these core values trashed as not diverse, tolerant, open, or multicultural enough by “da Canadian values” police.
On that note, A Blessed and Joyful Christmas to all!
Jesus Christ the Apple Tree
The tree of life my soul hath seen,
Laden with fruit, and always green
The trees of nature fruitless be
Compared to Christ the apple tree.
For happiness I long have sought,
And pleasure dearly I have bought:
I missed of all; but now I see
‘Tis found in Christ the apple tree.
I’m weary with my former toil,
Here I will sit and rest awhile;
Under the shadow I will be,
Of Jesus Christ the apple tree.
This fruit doth make my soul to thrive,
It keeps my dying faith alive;
Which makes my soul in haste to be
With Jesus Christ the apple tree.
Syncro, batb, Ingrid, B. Hoax, and I seem to be on the same page re the dismantling of the no-nonsense education system in which most of us grew up and where society helped teach most of our boys to grow up.
The adults were adults and the kids were kids. We all knew where the line was drawn. When a kid overstepped, all the adults linked arms. There was a consequence. Kids learned that overstepping was not a good idea.
The adults are now scattered–in more ways than one. (Actually, a lot of school offices are not inhabited by adults at all, but toddlers who only look like adults!) Like Ingrid, most teachers keep their problems to themselves. (I mentor a couple of new teachers who are relieved to be able to admit the demeaning working conditions in which we labour–we all agree that our much discussed, no consequences new behavior code’s a laugh–and are glad to get some tips on how to stand their ground. But we stay below the radar: discuss this at staff meetings? I’ve opened the discussion. No one makes a peep. “Next item . . . ?”) Help from administration for discipline? Usually not. As I’ve posted before, admin’s job is more and more to deny problems and, if they must be admitted, the agenda becomes, “What did the teacher do to mismanage the situation and what MORE can the teacher do to ‘fix’ the problem.” In general, in the gulag-like political culture in which we work, teachers almost never discuss these problems, which seem to be entirely off the union’s radar: at least they don’t mention student misbehaviour or administrative complicity. A crock all round.
I’ve been around a long time: with my growing number of “incorrigibles”, I’ve asked administration to discontinue the use of the words “fix” or “solution”. Their idea seems to be that if I do enough–on top of the more than yeoman’s service I’ve already done–these kids can be “repaired”. Nix on that. In the consequence-free, rights-saturated culture–fully aided and abetted by the feminized educational establishment–in which the miscreants and their often disrespectful and incompetent parents live this is not going to happen.
I actually have a genuine soft spot for each of my five–out of eight–students whose serious lack of boundaries and self-control make teaching them a huge challenge. Despite the many drawbacks beyond my control, I’ve made a very significant difference in their lives–for the better–but I’m altogether exhausted trying to do it: my job’s now 150% of what it used to be, while, due to the educational culture these days, the positive results are diminishing. This sad state of affiars is going to have a sorry impact on all of us.
Ingrid, hang in if you can: we need all the common sense, principled teachers like you we can get! But, you’re right, such teachers are often labelled trouble makers. It’s enough to make a grown person cry!
So, thanks to Mike Adams for the laughs!
Thanks, Kate, and many blessings for providing this valuable forum for us. Merry Christmas, everyone!
Wasn’t there quite a few effeminate victims contesting the recent Liberal leadership? Certainly Dion, Dryden, Brison and Rae qualify.
While I agree that our K-12 system appears to have deteriorated over a long period, I’m quite surprised to see the word “feminization” used so often in the posts. I’d be interested in hearing a more precise cause/effect relationship proposed by those posters, particularly the teachers.
Amen, batb.
Yes, I’ve definitely noticed that the slide into barbarism has exactly paralleled both the deep freeze on Christianity and acknowledging our society’s huge debt to the Judeo-Christian dispensation for the rule of law and respect for the individual we’ve all enjoyed in Canada. The most precipitous decline has happened since 1982–the year of the Charter: this document has everything to do with the unravelling–make that destruction–of the moral fabric of Canadian society.
Unfortunately, being run by lefties, the public school boards are like the proverbial frog in the soup pot: they don’t see anything amiss as the heat ratchets up. By the time they notice there’s really a problem, it’ll be–it nearly is–too late. And, as the foundation of the public school system is based on sand–multi-culti pap: the kids entirely ignore the hodge-podge of daily readings over the PA (Advent, Ash Wednesday, and Holy Week are missing from the board’s book)–there is neither the wisdom to discern nor the will to do what needs to be done. And, if, by some miracle, a board happened on the right solution, the Charter would disallow it. Bad, sad news.
One of my all time favourite carol verses is from “In the Bleak Midwinter”. In the midst of our ME-ME-ME culture, these sublime words, written by Christina G. Rossetti, particularly stand out. (I think if I sang this verse to my students they’d be altogether perplexed: quite abandoned by too many immature, self-serving adults in their own sad, diminished lives, altruism is a concept entirely off their radar.)
“What can I give Him,
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd,
I would bring a lamb.
If I were a wise man,
I would do my part.
Yet what I can I give Him —
Give my heart.”
At this holy season, may God bless us, every one!
Hate to be a humbug at xmas, but the excellent teacher in my hometown and his excellent way of handling all kids, good and trouble-some, had nothing to do with religion. In anyway. Even back in the 60s, when it was more common place.
Re-introducing Judeo-Christian rites to the school system is not necessarily a panacea; I’d be satisfied if we brought back reading, writin, and rithmetic.
glasnost, I’ve just read your post. I think my latest might fit your bill.
Further: in general, as the new crop of administration is now all from the ME generation, the calibre of character, e.g., principled, intelligent vision, with backbone, appears to have declined drastically. This is an equal opportunity syndrome: it includes the men as well as the women. The only problem is, the women–and velvet slippered, steel toed feminism–far outnumber the men. (In my school, the ratio is about 7:1.)
The combination of “soft heart, soft head”, which female administrators tend to have in greater proportion to the men, is a lethal combination. (BTW, as things begin to unravel in the school, as they tend to do under inadequate leadership, the soft heart does not apply to the teachers, who usually get a thorough trouncing by these incompetents.)
The combination that works is “hard head [ever so non PC!], soft heart”, but very few administrators possess these comlementary attributes. And, as the ministries, boards, and too many parents frown on anything but “nice”, the competent, hard headed administrator’s going to find it very tough going: lots of support from staff, but a pain for the supervisors–nearly all politically driven women (it’s not nice to be in the same room with them)–and passed over for promotions.
And, if a hard headed type should ever precipitate litigation–the boards are TERRIFIED about that–the Charter doesn’t allow “not nice”.
What a mess!
B. Hoax, I’m flummoxed by your statement, “Hate to be a humbug at xmas, but the excellent teacher in my hometown and his excellent way of handling all kids, good and trouble-some, had nothing to do with religion.”
That’s utter humbug! (Besides it being only one example, things are not always what they appear to be.)
Durham Cathedral has stood majestically, for over 1000 years, on pure rock that one cannot see. If somehow sand replaced the rock, the cathedral might look the same–until it very quickly collapsed into rubble.
Please read my post above. Plus . . . What religion appears to provide is the backbone and character to build something solid–our public school systems: NOT!–and to resist the flow. This is below the surface, but gives the teacher a firm foundation. E.g., G. K. Chesterton wrote, “If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.” Teachers without a firm moral grounding are hostage to the PC crap all around them and appear quite helpless to withstand it. Believe me, I’ve seen this with my own eyes. (BTW, the PC crap is a direct result of the rampant secularism in our midst. I’ll bet the teacher you’re talking about didn’t grow up in such a climate. There were lots of non-religious teachers in the “old days”, but the system, based on Judeo-Christian principles, both accorded teachers due respect, now often denied them, and backed them up when they were dealing with disrespectful bullies.)
In the public system, teachers who take their theistic faith seriously never mention it–some freedom, eh!–while they adroitly navigate the shoals of the present day classroom full of bullies. But the foundation helps them to hold their kids to account while withstanding the subsequent bullying meted out to them by disgruntled students, parents, and administrators, and sometimes gives them the courage to question the emperor’s clothing.
This description obviously doesn’t fit all situations, but I believe it’s a fair representation of a lot of the unfortunate things going on in public education. From my front row position in the trenches, I believe that the decline of religion has created a system with a counterfeit moral foundation. “Equity” actually pits everyone against everyone else. Like “no fault” (sic) divorce, the miscreant is unfairly given all the benefits of the system, usually at the expense of the party who’s behaving responsibly.
Religion–actually, its absence–has everything to do with it. The vacuum caused by the Cinderella-like status of traditional religion has been filled with moral relativism, “equity” (which is based on blaming someone else, and is always at the expense of those outside the favoured groups), and ME-ME-ME. And where’s that taking us?
Bah, humbug, indeed!
Merry Christmas too!
…i’ll throw my two cents in about education.
I teach at various Colleges throughout Alberta and see all kinds of students and teachers.
Kids need a guide. Period. If you can live by example and not get offended or challenged by their antics, you will have a friend for life who will often come up to you after class and either apologize or ask for help.
That to me is the greatest thing a teacher can be, a help.
I too have had ADD (probably truth be known, I was one of them) in my class and treat them with respect. Sure once in awhile you have to “lay down the law” or have a fact of life talk, but in the end they, you and the class are not threatened and actually everyone learns, including me.
Where I have the biggest trouble is “adult kids” who like having a peeing contest for some strange reason.
I too also suffered a bit of the “trouble maker” when I spoke about a “distinguished speaker” in a ‘train the teacher” course being off topic and too humanistic in their approaches. I didn’t disturb the class, but wrote in the evaluation and talked with other teachers where this lady was wrong.
Like turning around and “think happy thoughts” when a student confronts you.
This is being taught to teachers in a higher education arena.
Another lettered lady spoke of colours and finding your colour to relate to. This in turn helps relates to the kids.
Right.
Needless to say, strangely I haven’t received any more contract offers from the College…
I am really lucky as my grandkids are going to a private Christian school. The parents have sacrificed alot to keep them there. No second car, no new home with all the latest fixtures.A minivan that is constantly breaking down from the miles they have to drive the kids to school and back. One of them did not do well in the school and is now going to the Calgary Arts Academy, a charter school. He is happy and loves school now. In the Chrisitian school they were taught respect, and charcater. No talking back to the teachers and respect for all people. I have never witnessed in ten years a child screaming at a teacher or screaming in the hallways. The teachers that teach at the school love it and they are paid much lower than through the public system. Take our Judeo- Christian heritage out of the schools and they disintegrate into chaos.Isn’t it funny that Islam,Wicans and
smudges are allowed in our system but don’t you dare speak of Christ. If Christianity is not allowed in the school system then take all signs of any religion out of school and teach what they are supposed to, the three Rs.
BTW it makes a huge difference if the parents are paying monthly from their own pockets as to what is being taught in the school. When the government pays they get to set the agenda.The only way that changes is to take the spending power away from the government. He who pays the piper gets to name the tune.
Have a very Merry Christmas everyone.
Ingrid:
I respect your approach to teaching…and it’s all about respect isn’t it?
To denigrate half of the population and the unique perspective they bring is to lose half of our collective vision.
I encourage you to carry on.
B.hoax aware:
You might want to add the myth of A.D.D. to your list of hoaxs’.
I reccommend (Smart Moves: why learning is not all in your head and The dominence Factor by Carla Hannaford)
Batb:
The dismantling of Judeo Christian values within our school system and our society as a whole has had a negative effect. Institutions like the education system seem to focus on rights at the expense of responsibilities. How do we change that? I’m not sure…
Lookout:
So true.
The scattering of our adults…Hell the none existence of adults in my generation will have consequences. I empathize with the plight of all you teachers out there, who want to make a difference. There may be light at the end of the tunnel… I just hope it’s not a train.
Glasnost:
I have been an adult educator so I will not speak for the K-12er’s.
The feminization of our education system is all about the lack of consequences. The old school male role as provider and arbitor of discipline as apposed to the female role as nurutor and homemaker…with females being responsible for the comfort and care for the children. Basically, Good-Cop..Bad-Cop.
I’ll give you two anictodal example about how the confusion in these roles has played out in my experience with the education system.
One of my sons was involved in a scrap on the schoolyard. I was called and attended the office to sort things out. As it turned out, one boy pulled out a pocket knife and threatened the other. My boy was standing by and without hesitation, he attacked the boy whom held the knife… kicked his ass and tooked the knife away.
The principle (female) chastised me on the attitude expressed by my son (he didn’t think he’d done anything wrong.) I was then lectured on the importance of harmony and the need for kids to take these conflicts to the teachers or the principle. I sat there in utter amazement…and called bullshit.
I explained that had i taught my son, that in times of danger, you act first, go hard, and go fast.
He was only doing what I had told him. Needless to say the principle and I disagreeed, but this occured in front of my son…and was handled like adults.
THe next year, the same son was going on a field trip to the mountains, to collect bugs and such. I signed on to be a parent-volunteer, the teacher gave me the responsibility for three boys, my son, and two others, including the knife wielder from the year before. The teacher warned me that this one young fella’ was a hand-full.
When we arrvied in Kananaskis country, the kids fled the school bus and Boy X (we’ll call him) immediately sprinted towards a cliff. I caught up to him and dragged him by the scruff of the neck back to the bus. I then knelt down, looked him in the eye, and explained to him that if he was unwilling to behave, he, I, and my other two charges would spend the duration of the field trip sitting in the bus. I also explained, that if me and bus driver decided to go for a smoke, and the other two boys, kicked the shit out of him for screwing up their field trip, so be it…
That’s what I mean by the feminization, of the school system.
Little boys and youmg men need role models and need to be taken in hand once in awhile. They need to know that somebody cares. The same goes for our young girls and women.
Sadly I have no girls, but If I had I would have looked to Mom to provide the model of behaviour in there latter years.
My long winded point. We are all teachers and if we exert the passion, common sense and care that many of the above commentors have expressed we can make a difference.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good fight!
Syncro
B. Hoax Aware: lookout does a good job at explaining the fallacy of your assumption “what’s religion got to do with it?”
Your teacher obviously didn’t talk about faith or religion–and neither did any of my teachers in the ’50s and ’60s; the school brought in a priest to “do” the religion part of the curriculum.
The values widely shared, however, by home, school, and church in those days encouraged an environment in which teachers were not in any way intimidated about asserting their natural and legitmate authority, as the adults and the professionals in the situation, and the vast majority of students accepted this authority and their reciprocal obligation to respect, listen to, and follow the instructions of their teachers, without “benefit” of bribes, which is a regular occurrence in many classrooms today: from candy, to points, to field trips.
I liked lookout’s example of Durham Cathedral. You can’t see the rock, but it’s there, holding the whole edifice up. You can’t see my underwear, but believe me, without its support, I wouldn’t look anywhere near as presentable as I usually do!
In Canada, our foundational values, founded largely on Judeo-Christian principles, are crumbling at an amazingly fast rate. As I’ve mentioned many times before–mea culpa for having to mention it again–Canada wouldn’t have public schools, universities, hospitals, or our judicial system without the courage, generosity, foresight, and vision of numerous Christian people. (Let’s face it, most Canadians in the 1800s were Christians; the vast majority went to church on a regular basis and, frankly, couldn’t imagine, I don’t think, a day when this would not be the case.)
Just as an example: In Toronto, The Hospital for Sick Children was founded by Presbyterian missionaries, The Toronto Western Hospital began as a much smaller hospital on Major Street under the auspices of Anglican nuns, and St. Michael’s Hospital was founded by Catholics, etc., etc. All of these institutions were opened for ALL people, whatever their race, creed, or social standing, and still are.
If you check out the histories of university colleges and public schools, you will find a similar pattern: Christians founding and opening public institutions, and offering services to every member of society, not just those who shared their beliefs. They were putting into action Jesus’ exhortation to “Love your neighbour as yourself.”
It’s a sad reality that most Canadians have no idea about the foundations which undergird most of the institutions they enjoy and benefit from. Further, these foundations are being ridiculed, mocked, and disregarded as “outdated” and UN-multicultural, UN-open, UN-diverse, and IN-tolerant.
At the rate we’re going, we’ll have very few of these public institutions operating at any kind of functional level and even if we were then to awaken to what we’ve done as a society, it might well be too late.
Use it or lose it.
‘Saw off the branch you’re sitting on, and you’ll go crashing to the ground.
We do have a choice and my sense is, that it’s not such a good idea to write off the religious foundations of our up-to-now highly functional democracy, fast careening down the slippery slope into the swamp.
And so to church tonight to celebrate the first Christ-Mass of the year A.D. 2006!
Merry Christmas!
I blame all problems in the school systems on TEACHERS UNIONS, and their idea of what should and should not be done in the classroom (teaching comes to mind), how many hours they work etc.
Parents are also to blame, for deciding their little angle can not learn the multiplication tables as it is too much repetativeness. But, they have no problem taking their angle, at very early hours, to hockey, piano, gymnastics etc, where they do repetitave stuff. What we need are a few parents and teachers to say NO to all the stupid ideas put forth by so called experts.
Sorry, but it’s way out of line. First, he errs by assuming the student is lying. Send, he assumes the student is somehow afraid of hunting, when, quite possibly, the student skipped off at the shank of the hunting season to shoot wild boar. Third, he’s way out of line publishing the student’s e-mail. It should be confidential.
For a guy who’s supposed to be a criminology prof, he makes a lot of assumptions that might well be wrong. He also makes some annoying writing errors.
‘Just a thought, Mark Bourrie, when the student pleads three reasons why he wasn’t at class and then it turns out that he has missed TWENTY-EIGHT classes, I don’t think that the prof. is way out of line in assuming that he hasn’t told the complete truth about his absences.
Then, add to that, the work that he has handed in is totally substandard, and I don’t think you can blame the teacher for grilling the guy.
Teachers deal with far too many of these delinquent nincompoops: You kind of get a feel for who’s authentic and who’s just giving you a bunch of BS.
I’m on the prof’s side in this one, BIG-TIME.
What’s wrong with the way things are going, Mark, is a lot about apologists like you, who are quick to take the students’ side and not bother to call them in any way to account.
That’s the last thing students and society need. Wait till they’re taking care of you in an old folks’ home. You’ll wish they’d been made to be more responsible and accountable.
Syncro and batb: right on! Mary T: I hear you but it’s far more then the unions, though they’re a large part of the problem. Actually, the ministries and boards do more than their fair share of mischief. All three are reading from the same, thoroughly secular, vacuous agenda.
BTW, when the foundation’s secure, the three Rs are valued and taught: despite the ministries and public boards’ loud support for literacy, no such thing really happens. They’re so enamoured of every new fad–eco schools, “equality” issues etc.–that the timetables are filled with non essentials, while the essentials get what little time is left over. (The teachers and kids’ heads are spinning.) No one outside the classroom, e.g., administrators, wants to hear this or do anything about it.
A surprise? With the moral foundation of our society (that would be the Judeo-Christian underpinnings) effectively banished from Canada’s public square–we’ve pretty well spent all our moral capital–the public school system’s collapsing in on itself.
In my view religion has little to do with providing a foundation of values for today’s students or why there is a breakdown in our society. My family was not particularly religious but we learned all the basic social rules that enabled our civilization to prosper over the ages. The main one being respect, respect that is earned not given. We watched our parents and other adults and emulated them. If we caused problems at school we got worse at home. If religion had any relevance the Catholic School system would be a better disciplined one, it isn’t.
Our whole society seems to take no responsibility for anything. It is never my fault always someone elses. This is why the schools are struggling, the teachers get little support from the administration or the parents so they keep their heads down. I remember hurrying to class in high school and the principal, Mr Joyce, stopped me by pinching the flesh on my side and whispered, “No running in halls”. Could you imagine that happening today, lawyers everywhere.
It is not, for the most part, new immigrants causing this breakdown, it is the hordes of leftist liberals, like the judge in Toronto moving the Christmas tree, chipping away at our society’s underpinnings, weakening the laws and rules like zero tolerance in the schools. If there is no consequence for breaking rules whether in school or on the street or in our parliament then we are truly in serious trouble.
As a professor in a large Canadian university
to me the most striking thing in this story was
that ONLY ONE student complained about their final grade.
Merry Christmas, David!
I altogether agree with much of your analysis, but believe your dismissal of the Judeo-Christian heritage, as a “first things” which starts feet on the right track, is incorrect. A parallel to your viewpoint, IMO, is someone who admits that the world’s a brighter place when the sun, moon, and stars are shining, but won’t make the logical step to conclude that these sources of light are the reason for ours.
When the churches, homes, and schools all agreed to submit to a higher authority–God for a lot of them, but not all–and accepted hierarchy and order as goods in themselves, the chaotic moral and, therefore, social scene you well describe had not engulfed us.
Re the breakdown of the family unit–which has everything to do with what I’m talking about–with the catastrophic fallout for our children and society as a whole, two things:
1) In the “old”, “religious”–whether one was actually a believer–dispensation, there were far fewer angry and abandoned (including emotionally) children than I see today. There were for more marriages that both FORMED and remained intact. Far more kids lived with their own moms and dads, statistically, a positive state of affairs for both our kids and society. (Statistics Canada has confirmed that the intact, married family is by far the safest place for both women and children, who are about four times LESS likely to suffer abuse than those living in other, less committed, impermanent arrangements.) BTW, the two-parent, married family is also much more prevalent among committed Christians and other religious adherents than it is in the general population. (And, just in case one might wish to accuse me of exclusivity, I am the child of a broken marriage and am married to a divorced man. I know all about the tragedy of family dissolution and am very grateful that my children have not experienced it. Close friends and family members who have experienced marriage breakdown receive my loving support.)
2) Another example: Quebec, the least religious of the provinces, has the highest abortion, marriage lack of formation and marriage breakdown, and suicide rates in the country. Quebecers also give by far the least to charity. To deny any causality here seems disingenuous, to say the least.
The Judeo-Christian heritage, which is the foundation of the rule of law and democracy in this country should be honoured in the public square, as it used to be, not unceremoniously shoved aside. After all, why have the massive waves of immigrants over the last century been almost exclusively TO countries formed on the Judeo-Christian principles of justice and the worth of each individual?
On this Christmas day, words from the Gospel of John: ” . . . the light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness overcame it not . . . And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us . . . full of grace and truth.” This is the good news of Christmas for all of us. Amen. Alleluia!
I just think it’s silly to automatically peg the student as some kind of lefty/candy ass. I missed a lot of one semester of university when my parents broke up and my grandfather’s house burned down. I was the only one around to look after things. I went on to get my BA, Masters, a grad diploma in public administration, and have just about finished my PhD. I’ve also taught university students for five years. I don’t know why this prof brought up the issue of abortion, as though that has anything to do with this guy missing class. I would have called the student in, found out the real reason for the truancy, and probably would not have changed the mark. Where I teach, if you miss too many classes, you can’t write the final, and you fail. It’s so automatic that we wouldn’t have this problem. And I cedrtainly wouldn’t post the student’s e-mail, gone on about wild boars, etc.
Now, we do have many problems. Literacy skills range from excellent to none. Students don’t know basic current events. Many first-year students say they’ve never heard about modern events like the Cold War, have no grasp of how government works, and rely far too much in the Internet.
Today’s 18-year-old was 10 years old when Reagan left office. People like Pierre Trudeau, Gorbechev, Mao, even Brian Mulroney, are people from history, not anyone tghey can remember. Most come from houses without books, where the TV set holds the place of honour, and where “research” and “Wikipedia” mean the same thing. Still, there are brilliant students who can write beautifully, know their way around research libraries, and can handle anything you assign them. They are kids who come from families that value education and don’t hate students. Most of the rest should go to college, learn a trade, make lots of money and do something useful. The second-raters end up pushing papers in government offices.
“you’ll be shaking like a blind lesbian at a weenie roast”
That was a fun read.
Most Townhall writers – the “old guard” – are fairly predicable, recycling the usual insights in the usual ways, and riding their usual hobby horses. Adams is refreshing, although for a while there I was afraid he was going to turn into a male clone of Ann Coulter.
Doug Giles (a hunting buddy) is also good, as is Burt Prelutsky.
Simply awesome.
‘Sounds like crimonology professor Mike Adams has a criminal in the making “in” his course, if missing the last 28 class meetings counts as being “in.”
He points out that this delinquent is one of the many in his generation who the feminists have turned into “effeminate victims who are dishonest with their professors and [are] afraid of hunting.”
This would describe a whole bunch of the kids in our school system, particularly the males. Too many of the females are skanks with mouths like stevedors but the boys take the cake: They’re lying, conniving, cowardly, wimps. They can dish it out to their teachers, with their teachers being outnumbered about 20 to one, but if the teachers try dishing anything out to them, like “I don’t accept a shrug or an ‘I don’t know’ for an answer seeing as you’re in grade eight,” they mutiny and get the principal or Mommy on the teachers’ case.
I like the idea of a hog hunt with a bunch of these guys in tow. ‘Only problem is, they’d sacrifice the teacher in a minute.
Right on, batb. The public school system sets low standards and then doesn’t even enforce those. Grooming citizens is not what’s happening. A critical mass of the grade school boys I encounter are just as batb says: manipulative “toddlers” who make one excuse after another, day in and day out, while contriving to avoid responsibility at every turn. (The educational establishment appears to oblige them at every turn.)
These brats need some serious, systemic toughening up. But it’s not going to happen: the Charter and imbecile judges will overturn any attempt to tame these young barbarians. To cramp their irresponsible tendencies would be considered an infringemant of their rights.
The “rights” of the rest of us? Forgeddaboutit!
How come the worlds biggest losers get the invites?
O/T but holy crap:
PMSH year end interview with Robertson and Fife on right now. You have to see the PM’s thoughts on Afghanistan, and it’s possible effects on his governments political fortunes. Powerful stuff and a shot right across the opposition bows.
Kate
That was a good read, although I might point out to some of the commentors that this missive was directed towards a university student.
IMO the tact and tone are entirely appropriate. That said I get the sense (and correct me if I’m wrong) that many here see the same simpering thugs and skanks in the primary system.
In my experience a large part of the problem lies in the “feminization” of the school system.
As the father of three sons and the stepfather of two I’ve had my share of dealings with the system.
The oldest is now 22 and the youngest is 9.
I have witnessed a system that has moved away from daily physical education and intramural sports programs to practically non-existant physical demands.
That coupled with the “bully” stigma and insistence on PC thought that is rife in the lefty fem teachers unions has produced the probable result.
Oh…and I might add the single Mom/weekend Dad/blended family scenario to the mix also.
What the whole ball of shit has produced is emasculated boys who have no personal voice or the “wrongsiders” who run together and do their time.
On the other hand the girls have fared no better. The feminazi teachers dote on the best and the brightest girls, looking to vicariously achieve the great victory their generation never achieved through them. The girls with either a male tendancy (they were once called “tomboys”) are treated with derision by many of their teachers.
It seems to me that in their adolescent search for affirmation they have become the “skanks”.
Of course this is only personal experience tempered by some reflection. Purely anecdotal.
What I would like to hear from is any of you out there in the 40-50 range who have had a different/similar experience.
Of course with all due respect to Kate.
Syncro
mmmmm… bacon…
Syncro
You are absolutely right. I am a public school secondary teacher but I’m old fashioned (in my early forties). Kids don’t talk back to me; they are told not to use foul language in my classroom and when they do, there are consequences (it doesn’t happen often, I must add). However, if I ever needed backing up, I wouldn’t get it. Administrators are frightened of parents and don’t want to deal with petty behaviour stuff (ie: disrespect/insubordination) – they’ve got bigger problems – drugs and prostitution! It is that bad, I’m afraid to say.
I have gone out of my way to talk to my female colleagues about the feminization of boys. It’s amazing the looks I get. When I hear a female student denegrade a male student – which is often – I will not tolerate it. I talk to my students about how we, as a society, are tolerating hatred of boys/men. I know one day I will pay some sort of price if I choose to switch schools as I’m probably viewed as some sort of trouble-maker. But I went into this profession truly believing in it, so I will stand my ground for as long as I can. Maybe some private school will have me…..
Excellent work, Kate – I always enjoy SDA. Have a Merry Christmas.
Speaking of integrity……..Read Peter Worthingtons comments on CBC war Coverage….priceless.
http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Worthington_Peter/2006/12/21/pf-2913140.html
Peter (I love the Liberals Party) Mansbridge should look up integrity in the dictionary…..he might learn a thing or two.
In the 60s, 70s and 80s there was a teacher, like Mike Adams, in my hometown. Because of him a couple of generations of kids grew up to be great Canadians.
There was a disruptive, big, what they would today call ADD student, in the class. Well this teacher just thought the boy needed some ‘straightening’ out once in awhile. Nothing mean, just told him how it was and how it was going to be. Now back to learming, which we all did in Donnie’s class.
Oh, and how did the so-called ADD one do ??
Did he end up in drugs ? No.
Did he do time for crime ? No.
Paid his own way all his life, thank you very much.
Actually he drove a semi for Federative Co-op most of his life. And guess what. He is approaching retirement and still has an absolutely perfect driving record. A few million miles.
Some of todays pot-heads behind the wheel need a tune-up themselves. Along with there so-called “teachers”. Sorry, but that’s what PC has done.
There are absolutely no logical consequences these kids fear. Instilling a little fear into a student is not a bad thing, but the feminazis liken it to abuse. (Boy, I’m getting sick of that overused and misused word.)
I don’t know what’s more abusive: a few fast ones on the hands from a strap–which, BTW, tends to prevent the delinquent behaviour from happening again–or 50 trips to the principal’s office (often more from kindergarten to grade eight) where the student then intones the mantra, “Yeah, I know what I did wrong and I promise not to do it again,” and then promptly does it again as soon as s/he gets back to the classroom.
This is a scenario I’ve seen played out over and over again…with absolutely no positive effect for change on the deliquent behaviour. In fact, if anything, blighters figure they can get away with pretty much anything. Teachers who hand out “tough love”–aka reasonable and fair consequences–often get it in the jugular from the administration: Now that parents are considered to be “clients” little Johnny or Janey’s sensibilities need to be treated with kid gloves. The teacher’s and the other students’ sensibilities be damned.
1966: Students needed to behave.
2006: Teachers need to behave.
A scenario right out of A Clockwork Orange. If ever there was a time when we needed the school day to begin with words from Scripture and prayer, it’s now, but that’s been outlawed too.
Has anyone else noticed the connection between the slide of Judeo-Christian values in the home and in the school and the increasingly disrespectful and unacceptable behaviour displayed by our young people?
I can remember a time when public schools had religious instruction (students who were not Christian were free to leave the class; some did and some didn’t); since that has been considered by the feminists and atheists in our midst–not, BTW, by other faith groups–as UN-multicultural (come again? Aren’t J-C values a large part of Canadian culture?) there’s been a marked rise in disruptive, often dangerous, behaviours in our classrooms.
Whatever the failures and weaknesses of Christianity, and there are many given that its proponents are human beings, its teaching on marriage and family, on servant leadership, on caring for the unloved and the stranger, on tithing a tenth of their income for the needs of the less fortunate, have been the foundational values of stable and accountable societies down through the ages.
It’s a tragedy to see these core values trashed as not diverse, tolerant, open, or multicultural enough by “da Canadian values” police.
On that note, A Blessed and Joyful Christmas to all!
Jesus Christ the Apple Tree
The tree of life my soul hath seen,
Laden with fruit, and always green
The trees of nature fruitless be
Compared to Christ the apple tree.
For happiness I long have sought,
And pleasure dearly I have bought:
I missed of all; but now I see
‘Tis found in Christ the apple tree.
I’m weary with my former toil,
Here I will sit and rest awhile;
Under the shadow I will be,
Of Jesus Christ the apple tree.
This fruit doth make my soul to thrive,
It keeps my dying faith alive;
Which makes my soul in haste to be
With Jesus Christ the apple tree.
Syncro, batb, Ingrid, B. Hoax, and I seem to be on the same page re the dismantling of the no-nonsense education system in which most of us grew up and where society helped teach most of our boys to grow up.
The adults were adults and the kids were kids. We all knew where the line was drawn. When a kid overstepped, all the adults linked arms. There was a consequence. Kids learned that overstepping was not a good idea.
The adults are now scattered–in more ways than one. (Actually, a lot of school offices are not inhabited by adults at all, but toddlers who only look like adults!) Like Ingrid, most teachers keep their problems to themselves. (I mentor a couple of new teachers who are relieved to be able to admit the demeaning working conditions in which we labour–we all agree that our much discussed, no consequences new behavior code’s a laugh–and are glad to get some tips on how to stand their ground. But we stay below the radar: discuss this at staff meetings? I’ve opened the discussion. No one makes a peep. “Next item . . . ?”) Help from administration for discipline? Usually not. As I’ve posted before, admin’s job is more and more to deny problems and, if they must be admitted, the agenda becomes, “What did the teacher do to mismanage the situation and what MORE can the teacher do to ‘fix’ the problem.” In general, in the gulag-like political culture in which we work, teachers almost never discuss these problems, which seem to be entirely off the union’s radar: at least they don’t mention student misbehaviour or administrative complicity. A crock all round.
I’ve been around a long time: with my growing number of “incorrigibles”, I’ve asked administration to discontinue the use of the words “fix” or “solution”. Their idea seems to be that if I do enough–on top of the more than yeoman’s service I’ve already done–these kids can be “repaired”. Nix on that. In the consequence-free, rights-saturated culture–fully aided and abetted by the feminized educational establishment–in which the miscreants and their often disrespectful and incompetent parents live this is not going to happen.
I actually have a genuine soft spot for each of my five–out of eight–students whose serious lack of boundaries and self-control make teaching them a huge challenge. Despite the many drawbacks beyond my control, I’ve made a very significant difference in their lives–for the better–but I’m altogether exhausted trying to do it: my job’s now 150% of what it used to be, while, due to the educational culture these days, the positive results are diminishing. This sad state of affiars is going to have a sorry impact on all of us.
Ingrid, hang in if you can: we need all the common sense, principled teachers like you we can get! But, you’re right, such teachers are often labelled trouble makers. It’s enough to make a grown person cry!
So, thanks to Mike Adams for the laughs!
Thanks, Kate, and many blessings for providing this valuable forum for us. Merry Christmas, everyone!
Wasn’t there quite a few effeminate victims contesting the recent Liberal leadership? Certainly Dion, Dryden, Brison and Rae qualify.
While I agree that our K-12 system appears to have deteriorated over a long period, I’m quite surprised to see the word “feminization” used so often in the posts. I’d be interested in hearing a more precise cause/effect relationship proposed by those posters, particularly the teachers.
Amen, batb.
Yes, I’ve definitely noticed that the slide into barbarism has exactly paralleled both the deep freeze on Christianity and acknowledging our society’s huge debt to the Judeo-Christian dispensation for the rule of law and respect for the individual we’ve all enjoyed in Canada. The most precipitous decline has happened since 1982–the year of the Charter: this document has everything to do with the unravelling–make that destruction–of the moral fabric of Canadian society.
Unfortunately, being run by lefties, the public school boards are like the proverbial frog in the soup pot: they don’t see anything amiss as the heat ratchets up. By the time they notice there’s really a problem, it’ll be–it nearly is–too late. And, as the foundation of the public school system is based on sand–multi-culti pap: the kids entirely ignore the hodge-podge of daily readings over the PA (Advent, Ash Wednesday, and Holy Week are missing from the board’s book)–there is neither the wisdom to discern nor the will to do what needs to be done. And, if, by some miracle, a board happened on the right solution, the Charter would disallow it. Bad, sad news.
One of my all time favourite carol verses is from “In the Bleak Midwinter”. In the midst of our ME-ME-ME culture, these sublime words, written by Christina G. Rossetti, particularly stand out. (I think if I sang this verse to my students they’d be altogether perplexed: quite abandoned by too many immature, self-serving adults in their own sad, diminished lives, altruism is a concept entirely off their radar.)
“What can I give Him,
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd,
I would bring a lamb.
If I were a wise man,
I would do my part.
Yet what I can I give Him —
Give my heart.”
At this holy season, may God bless us, every one!
Hate to be a humbug at xmas, but the excellent teacher in my hometown and his excellent way of handling all kids, good and trouble-some, had nothing to do with religion. In anyway. Even back in the 60s, when it was more common place.
Re-introducing Judeo-Christian rites to the school system is not necessarily a panacea; I’d be satisfied if we brought back reading, writin, and rithmetic.
glasnost, I’ve just read your post. I think my latest might fit your bill.
Further: in general, as the new crop of administration is now all from the ME generation, the calibre of character, e.g., principled, intelligent vision, with backbone, appears to have declined drastically. This is an equal opportunity syndrome: it includes the men as well as the women. The only problem is, the women–and velvet slippered, steel toed feminism–far outnumber the men. (In my school, the ratio is about 7:1.)
The combination of “soft heart, soft head”, which female administrators tend to have in greater proportion to the men, is a lethal combination. (BTW, as things begin to unravel in the school, as they tend to do under inadequate leadership, the soft heart does not apply to the teachers, who usually get a thorough trouncing by these incompetents.)
The combination that works is “hard head [ever so non PC!], soft heart”, but very few administrators possess these comlementary attributes. And, as the ministries, boards, and too many parents frown on anything but “nice”, the competent, hard headed administrator’s going to find it very tough going: lots of support from staff, but a pain for the supervisors–nearly all politically driven women (it’s not nice to be in the same room with them)–and passed over for promotions.
And, if a hard headed type should ever precipitate litigation–the boards are TERRIFIED about that–the Charter doesn’t allow “not nice”.
What a mess!
B. Hoax, I’m flummoxed by your statement, “Hate to be a humbug at xmas, but the excellent teacher in my hometown and his excellent way of handling all kids, good and trouble-some, had nothing to do with religion.”
That’s utter humbug! (Besides it being only one example, things are not always what they appear to be.)
Durham Cathedral has stood majestically, for over 1000 years, on pure rock that one cannot see. If somehow sand replaced the rock, the cathedral might look the same–until it very quickly collapsed into rubble.
Please read my post above. Plus . . . What religion appears to provide is the backbone and character to build something solid–our public school systems: NOT!–and to resist the flow. This is below the surface, but gives the teacher a firm foundation. E.g., G. K. Chesterton wrote, “If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.” Teachers without a firm moral grounding are hostage to the PC crap all around them and appear quite helpless to withstand it. Believe me, I’ve seen this with my own eyes. (BTW, the PC crap is a direct result of the rampant secularism in our midst. I’ll bet the teacher you’re talking about didn’t grow up in such a climate. There were lots of non-religious teachers in the “old days”, but the system, based on Judeo-Christian principles, both accorded teachers due respect, now often denied them, and backed them up when they were dealing with disrespectful bullies.)
In the public system, teachers who take their theistic faith seriously never mention it–some freedom, eh!–while they adroitly navigate the shoals of the present day classroom full of bullies. But the foundation helps them to hold their kids to account while withstanding the subsequent bullying meted out to them by disgruntled students, parents, and administrators, and sometimes gives them the courage to question the emperor’s clothing.
This description obviously doesn’t fit all situations, but I believe it’s a fair representation of a lot of the unfortunate things going on in public education. From my front row position in the trenches, I believe that the decline of religion has created a system with a counterfeit moral foundation. “Equity” actually pits everyone against everyone else. Like “no fault” (sic) divorce, the miscreant is unfairly given all the benefits of the system, usually at the expense of the party who’s behaving responsibly.
Religion–actually, its absence–has everything to do with it. The vacuum caused by the Cinderella-like status of traditional religion has been filled with moral relativism, “equity” (which is based on blaming someone else, and is always at the expense of those outside the favoured groups), and ME-ME-ME. And where’s that taking us?
Bah, humbug, indeed!
Merry Christmas too!
…i’ll throw my two cents in about education.
I teach at various Colleges throughout Alberta and see all kinds of students and teachers.
Kids need a guide. Period. If you can live by example and not get offended or challenged by their antics, you will have a friend for life who will often come up to you after class and either apologize or ask for help.
That to me is the greatest thing a teacher can be, a help.
I too have had ADD (probably truth be known, I was one of them) in my class and treat them with respect. Sure once in awhile you have to “lay down the law” or have a fact of life talk, but in the end they, you and the class are not threatened and actually everyone learns, including me.
Where I have the biggest trouble is “adult kids” who like having a peeing contest for some strange reason.
I too also suffered a bit of the “trouble maker” when I spoke about a “distinguished speaker” in a ‘train the teacher” course being off topic and too humanistic in their approaches. I didn’t disturb the class, but wrote in the evaluation and talked with other teachers where this lady was wrong.
Like turning around and “think happy thoughts” when a student confronts you.
This is being taught to teachers in a higher education arena.
Another lettered lady spoke of colours and finding your colour to relate to. This in turn helps relates to the kids.
Right.
Needless to say, strangely I haven’t received any more contract offers from the College…
I am really lucky as my grandkids are going to a private Christian school. The parents have sacrificed alot to keep them there. No second car, no new home with all the latest fixtures.A minivan that is constantly breaking down from the miles they have to drive the kids to school and back. One of them did not do well in the school and is now going to the Calgary Arts Academy, a charter school. He is happy and loves school now. In the Chrisitian school they were taught respect, and charcater. No talking back to the teachers and respect for all people. I have never witnessed in ten years a child screaming at a teacher or screaming in the hallways. The teachers that teach at the school love it and they are paid much lower than through the public system. Take our Judeo- Christian heritage out of the schools and they disintegrate into chaos.Isn’t it funny that Islam,Wicans and
smudges are allowed in our system but don’t you dare speak of Christ. If Christianity is not allowed in the school system then take all signs of any religion out of school and teach what they are supposed to, the three Rs.
BTW it makes a huge difference if the parents are paying monthly from their own pockets as to what is being taught in the school. When the government pays they get to set the agenda.The only way that changes is to take the spending power away from the government. He who pays the piper gets to name the tune.
Have a very Merry Christmas everyone.
Ingrid:
I respect your approach to teaching…and it’s all about respect isn’t it?
To denigrate half of the population and the unique perspective they bring is to lose half of our collective vision.
I encourage you to carry on.
B.hoax aware:
You might want to add the myth of A.D.D. to your list of hoaxs’.
I reccommend (Smart Moves: why learning is not all in your head and The dominence Factor by Carla Hannaford)
Batb:
The dismantling of Judeo Christian values within our school system and our society as a whole has had a negative effect. Institutions like the education system seem to focus on rights at the expense of responsibilities. How do we change that? I’m not sure…
Lookout:
So true.
The scattering of our adults…Hell the none existence of adults in my generation will have consequences. I empathize with the plight of all you teachers out there, who want to make a difference. There may be light at the end of the tunnel… I just hope it’s not a train.
Glasnost:
I have been an adult educator so I will not speak for the K-12er’s.
The feminization of our education system is all about the lack of consequences. The old school male role as provider and arbitor of discipline as apposed to the female role as nurutor and homemaker…with females being responsible for the comfort and care for the children. Basically, Good-Cop..Bad-Cop.
I’ll give you two anictodal example about how the confusion in these roles has played out in my experience with the education system.
One of my sons was involved in a scrap on the schoolyard. I was called and attended the office to sort things out. As it turned out, one boy pulled out a pocket knife and threatened the other. My boy was standing by and without hesitation, he attacked the boy whom held the knife… kicked his ass and tooked the knife away.
The principle (female) chastised me on the attitude expressed by my son (he didn’t think he’d done anything wrong.) I was then lectured on the importance of harmony and the need for kids to take these conflicts to the teachers or the principle. I sat there in utter amazement…and called bullshit.
I explained that had i taught my son, that in times of danger, you act first, go hard, and go fast.
He was only doing what I had told him. Needless to say the principle and I disagreeed, but this occured in front of my son…and was handled like adults.
THe next year, the same son was going on a field trip to the mountains, to collect bugs and such. I signed on to be a parent-volunteer, the teacher gave me the responsibility for three boys, my son, and two others, including the knife wielder from the year before. The teacher warned me that this one young fella’ was a hand-full.
When we arrvied in Kananaskis country, the kids fled the school bus and Boy X (we’ll call him) immediately sprinted towards a cliff. I caught up to him and dragged him by the scruff of the neck back to the bus. I then knelt down, looked him in the eye, and explained to him that if he was unwilling to behave, he, I, and my other two charges would spend the duration of the field trip sitting in the bus. I also explained, that if me and bus driver decided to go for a smoke, and the other two boys, kicked the shit out of him for screwing up their field trip, so be it…
That’s what I mean by the feminization, of the school system.
Little boys and youmg men need role models and need to be taken in hand once in awhile. They need to know that somebody cares. The same goes for our young girls and women.
Sadly I have no girls, but If I had I would have looked to Mom to provide the model of behaviour in there latter years.
My long winded point. We are all teachers and if we exert the passion, common sense and care that many of the above commentors have expressed we can make a difference.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good fight!
Syncro
B. Hoax Aware: lookout does a good job at explaining the fallacy of your assumption “what’s religion got to do with it?”
Your teacher obviously didn’t talk about faith or religion–and neither did any of my teachers in the ’50s and ’60s; the school brought in a priest to “do” the religion part of the curriculum.
The values widely shared, however, by home, school, and church in those days encouraged an environment in which teachers were not in any way intimidated about asserting their natural and legitmate authority, as the adults and the professionals in the situation, and the vast majority of students accepted this authority and their reciprocal obligation to respect, listen to, and follow the instructions of their teachers, without “benefit” of bribes, which is a regular occurrence in many classrooms today: from candy, to points, to field trips.
I liked lookout’s example of Durham Cathedral. You can’t see the rock, but it’s there, holding the whole edifice up. You can’t see my underwear, but believe me, without its support, I wouldn’t look anywhere near as presentable as I usually do!
In Canada, our foundational values, founded largely on Judeo-Christian principles, are crumbling at an amazingly fast rate. As I’ve mentioned many times before–mea culpa for having to mention it again–Canada wouldn’t have public schools, universities, hospitals, or our judicial system without the courage, generosity, foresight, and vision of numerous Christian people. (Let’s face it, most Canadians in the 1800s were Christians; the vast majority went to church on a regular basis and, frankly, couldn’t imagine, I don’t think, a day when this would not be the case.)
Just as an example: In Toronto, The Hospital for Sick Children was founded by Presbyterian missionaries, The Toronto Western Hospital began as a much smaller hospital on Major Street under the auspices of Anglican nuns, and St. Michael’s Hospital was founded by Catholics, etc., etc. All of these institutions were opened for ALL people, whatever their race, creed, or social standing, and still are.
If you check out the histories of university colleges and public schools, you will find a similar pattern: Christians founding and opening public institutions, and offering services to every member of society, not just those who shared their beliefs. They were putting into action Jesus’ exhortation to “Love your neighbour as yourself.”
It’s a sad reality that most Canadians have no idea about the foundations which undergird most of the institutions they enjoy and benefit from. Further, these foundations are being ridiculed, mocked, and disregarded as “outdated” and UN-multicultural, UN-open, UN-diverse, and IN-tolerant.
At the rate we’re going, we’ll have very few of these public institutions operating at any kind of functional level and even if we were then to awaken to what we’ve done as a society, it might well be too late.
Use it or lose it.
‘Saw off the branch you’re sitting on, and you’ll go crashing to the ground.
We do have a choice and my sense is, that it’s not such a good idea to write off the religious foundations of our up-to-now highly functional democracy, fast careening down the slippery slope into the swamp.
And so to church tonight to celebrate the first Christ-Mass of the year A.D. 2006!
Merry Christmas!
I blame all problems in the school systems on TEACHERS UNIONS, and their idea of what should and should not be done in the classroom (teaching comes to mind), how many hours they work etc.
Parents are also to blame, for deciding their little angle can not learn the multiplication tables as it is too much repetativeness. But, they have no problem taking their angle, at very early hours, to hockey, piano, gymnastics etc, where they do repetitave stuff. What we need are a few parents and teachers to say NO to all the stupid ideas put forth by so called experts.
Sorry, but it’s way out of line. First, he errs by assuming the student is lying. Send, he assumes the student is somehow afraid of hunting, when, quite possibly, the student skipped off at the shank of the hunting season to shoot wild boar. Third, he’s way out of line publishing the student’s e-mail. It should be confidential.
For a guy who’s supposed to be a criminology prof, he makes a lot of assumptions that might well be wrong. He also makes some annoying writing errors.
‘Just a thought, Mark Bourrie, when the student pleads three reasons why he wasn’t at class and then it turns out that he has missed TWENTY-EIGHT classes, I don’t think that the prof. is way out of line in assuming that he hasn’t told the complete truth about his absences.
Then, add to that, the work that he has handed in is totally substandard, and I don’t think you can blame the teacher for grilling the guy.
Teachers deal with far too many of these delinquent nincompoops: You kind of get a feel for who’s authentic and who’s just giving you a bunch of BS.
I’m on the prof’s side in this one, BIG-TIME.
What’s wrong with the way things are going, Mark, is a lot about apologists like you, who are quick to take the students’ side and not bother to call them in any way to account.
That’s the last thing students and society need. Wait till they’re taking care of you in an old folks’ home. You’ll wish they’d been made to be more responsible and accountable.
Syncro and batb: right on! Mary T: I hear you but it’s far more then the unions, though they’re a large part of the problem. Actually, the ministries and boards do more than their fair share of mischief. All three are reading from the same, thoroughly secular, vacuous agenda.
BTW, when the foundation’s secure, the three Rs are valued and taught: despite the ministries and public boards’ loud support for literacy, no such thing really happens. They’re so enamoured of every new fad–eco schools, “equality” issues etc.–that the timetables are filled with non essentials, while the essentials get what little time is left over. (The teachers and kids’ heads are spinning.) No one outside the classroom, e.g., administrators, wants to hear this or do anything about it.
A surprise? With the moral foundation of our society (that would be the Judeo-Christian underpinnings) effectively banished from Canada’s public square–we’ve pretty well spent all our moral capital–the public school system’s collapsing in on itself.
In my view religion has little to do with providing a foundation of values for today’s students or why there is a breakdown in our society. My family was not particularly religious but we learned all the basic social rules that enabled our civilization to prosper over the ages. The main one being respect, respect that is earned not given. We watched our parents and other adults and emulated them. If we caused problems at school we got worse at home. If religion had any relevance the Catholic School system would be a better disciplined one, it isn’t.
Our whole society seems to take no responsibility for anything. It is never my fault always someone elses. This is why the schools are struggling, the teachers get little support from the administration or the parents so they keep their heads down. I remember hurrying to class in high school and the principal, Mr Joyce, stopped me by pinching the flesh on my side and whispered, “No running in halls”. Could you imagine that happening today, lawyers everywhere.
It is not, for the most part, new immigrants causing this breakdown, it is the hordes of leftist liberals, like the judge in Toronto moving the Christmas tree, chipping away at our society’s underpinnings, weakening the laws and rules like zero tolerance in the schools. If there is no consequence for breaking rules whether in school or on the street or in our parliament then we are truly in serious trouble.
As a professor in a large Canadian university
to me the most striking thing in this story was
that ONLY ONE student complained about their final grade.
Merry Christmas, David!
I altogether agree with much of your analysis, but believe your dismissal of the Judeo-Christian heritage, as a “first things” which starts feet on the right track, is incorrect. A parallel to your viewpoint, IMO, is someone who admits that the world’s a brighter place when the sun, moon, and stars are shining, but won’t make the logical step to conclude that these sources of light are the reason for ours.
When the churches, homes, and schools all agreed to submit to a higher authority–God for a lot of them, but not all–and accepted hierarchy and order as goods in themselves, the chaotic moral and, therefore, social scene you well describe had not engulfed us.
Re the breakdown of the family unit–which has everything to do with what I’m talking about–with the catastrophic fallout for our children and society as a whole, two things:
1) In the “old”, “religious”–whether one was actually a believer–dispensation, there were far fewer angry and abandoned (including emotionally) children than I see today. There were for more marriages that both FORMED and remained intact. Far more kids lived with their own moms and dads, statistically, a positive state of affairs for both our kids and society. (Statistics Canada has confirmed that the intact, married family is by far the safest place for both women and children, who are about four times LESS likely to suffer abuse than those living in other, less committed, impermanent arrangements.) BTW, the two-parent, married family is also much more prevalent among committed Christians and other religious adherents than it is in the general population. (And, just in case one might wish to accuse me of exclusivity, I am the child of a broken marriage and am married to a divorced man. I know all about the tragedy of family dissolution and am very grateful that my children have not experienced it. Close friends and family members who have experienced marriage breakdown receive my loving support.)
2) Another example: Quebec, the least religious of the provinces, has the highest abortion, marriage lack of formation and marriage breakdown, and suicide rates in the country. Quebecers also give by far the least to charity. To deny any causality here seems disingenuous, to say the least.
The Judeo-Christian heritage, which is the foundation of the rule of law and democracy in this country should be honoured in the public square, as it used to be, not unceremoniously shoved aside. After all, why have the massive waves of immigrants over the last century been almost exclusively TO countries formed on the Judeo-Christian principles of justice and the worth of each individual?
On this Christmas day, words from the Gospel of John: ” . . . the light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness overcame it not . . . And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us . . . full of grace and truth.” This is the good news of Christmas for all of us. Amen. Alleluia!
I just think it’s silly to automatically peg the student as some kind of lefty/candy ass. I missed a lot of one semester of university when my parents broke up and my grandfather’s house burned down. I was the only one around to look after things. I went on to get my BA, Masters, a grad diploma in public administration, and have just about finished my PhD. I’ve also taught university students for five years. I don’t know why this prof brought up the issue of abortion, as though that has anything to do with this guy missing class. I would have called the student in, found out the real reason for the truancy, and probably would not have changed the mark. Where I teach, if you miss too many classes, you can’t write the final, and you fail. It’s so automatic that we wouldn’t have this problem. And I cedrtainly wouldn’t post the student’s e-mail, gone on about wild boars, etc.
Now, we do have many problems. Literacy skills range from excellent to none. Students don’t know basic current events. Many first-year students say they’ve never heard about modern events like the Cold War, have no grasp of how government works, and rely far too much in the Internet.
Today’s 18-year-old was 10 years old when Reagan left office. People like Pierre Trudeau, Gorbechev, Mao, even Brian Mulroney, are people from history, not anyone tghey can remember. Most come from houses without books, where the TV set holds the place of honour, and where “research” and “Wikipedia” mean the same thing. Still, there are brilliant students who can write beautifully, know their way around research libraries, and can handle anything you assign them. They are kids who come from families that value education and don’t hate students. Most of the rest should go to college, learn a trade, make lots of money and do something useful. The second-raters end up pushing papers in government offices.