This comment is not intended as a knock towards The Wicomico Board of Education or any educator in the County.
A student said "he was proud and cool" that he had been arrested. He referred to high school boys, who also have had been arrested and are "thugs" as his "uncles" A sign of respect and acceptance as a part of a group for those nefarious culprits in their circle. His comments came after the class was disciplined for not following simple directions and blatant disrespect. A stern lecture came from an amazing educator, who previously worked in the prison system, to the class about where they were going and what would happen if they did not straighten up. It was to the point, true, and hopefully a shock into their conscience. Sadly it did not look like it got to him too much.
The worst part, he is in third grade.
Major problems arise when this mentality is developed and chosen by these kids. It is starting earlier and earlier whether it is substances, sex, or crime. Cognitional development just develops a little more each year as they mature, but when it is crucial in their early years, they do not have the reasoning skills or the capacity to rationally put things together in a intelligible way.
Kids take in what is immediate to them. When their world consists of the antitheses of strong moral value, a world infused with things that they ought not see and experience at their age, and a loss of a tradition of doing what is expected of you within society adds up to a dangerous outcome. It is so hard for them to see that there is more than their world; there is another path other than being a delinquent; there is more to life, the very possibility and hope of something outside of their corrupt world.
What is the bottoming out point when more and more of our youth are going down this path? The World War II generation fought a war so that their families would not be subject to such an evil and that the generations would never have to do what they had to do. As a community and society we must ask ourselves "what are we willing to do to prevent our future generations from dealing with excessive crime and un-productive generation?" The real question is "how do we reach them?"
It has gotten worse and it is scary to be hearing more youth turning out this way. Schools can only do so much and again it starts at home/outside of school. Think how things will be 10 years down the line when they are physically matured and have brought more into this cycle? Just some food for thought.
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
Your question was " How do we reach them?"
ReplyDeleteNo quick answers here.
Few adults feel like dealing with it. Leadership requires being there and often being harsh.
Fathers are absent through abandonment or divorce.
Any desire to demand accountability is met with obstacles and censure.(Remember the local drill academy? Remember spanking?)
What about church? Many small town churches that flourished 40 years ago struggle somewhat today. Why did we stop going and taking the kids?
Here is a story I heard about a father who took his son on a short missionary trip to Nicaragua.
Upon returning to the states the father asked his son to comment on the obvious comparisons on who had it better.
The son said, "I see many differences. Down there the people help their neighbors, and our neighbors don't. And I see you 15 minutes a day, and down there the father and son work together in fields all day."
bob p.
GIVE THE TEACHERS THE RIGHT TO DISCIPLINE THESE PUNKS.
ReplyDeleteIt will get even worst until the City and County recognizes the problems and start correcting them. The Government Agencies want to run the Families instead of letting the Parents. Even though in some cases the Agencies do need to interven. The other problem is the severe gang problem on the Lower Shore that no one wants to acknowledge, which is taking over.
ReplyDeleteJust look at you jackasses!
ReplyDeleteWhere were you when Hunter Nelms needed support in the Drill Academy?
You can't dicipline them at home, you swear the Teachers should do it, but can't. Then when you finally get a place like the Drill Academy and they deliver some tough love, you don't show support and the place closes down. Sorry Folks but this is exactly why we're seeing YOUNG MURDERERS, just like we recently saw in Berlin and they'll go into the big system and probably never change.
Amen, brother. Amen. You've hit right in my personal soapbox.
ReplyDeleteOur standards have declined dramatically from the time I was a kid, and those standards continue to decline at at an increasingly rapid pace. Things that were only whispered about when I was growing up are accepted today as being pertfectly okay. Unwed mothers were scandalous then; now if you haven't had a baby by the time you're 14 o 15, you're uncool. That is the biggest contributor towards the state of today's youth; children are having children. They've been raised with these lowered standards and have no clue how to properly raise a child, so they just keep on, well, being kids themselves. Then their kids have babies, and society spirals ever downward.
The biggets contributor towards the kids having kids thing, IMHO, is the media. I grew up watching wholesome shows like "Father Knoews best" and "Leave It To Beaver" and "I love Lucy." Back then, we were modest enough as a society to show married couples on these shows sleeping in twin beds; it was a major scandal when Lucy appeared on her show while obviously pregnant. Now, our prime time TV features numerous sex and drug references, language once considered unsuitable on TV, and out-and-out nudity. Open any magazine---heck just look at the covers---and you're bombarded by sexually suggestive images. Throw in all the movies that glorify violence, the nightly news where we show combat, armed forces recruiting ads that make it look like fun to become killing machines, and video games that offer the opportunity to take a baseball bat and beat an old lady to death. Add children having children to the mix, and Presto! You have the major disconnect that leads us to where we are as a society.
Our moral standards have been steadily declining to the point that when I tried to explain my point of view to a young (21) friend of mine, she had no clue what I was talking about.
Finally, as a woman it pains me to say this, but the women's liberation movement of the 60's and 70's didn't help. We were much more stable as a society when dad went to work to suppot the family while Mom stayed home to take care of the family. It was unheard of for Mom to go to work while Dad stayed home, but that would be okay with me. If children had at least one full-time parent at home to raise them properly, we would be much better off. Of course, that opens up another whole can of worms, because no one can afford to have just one parent working to support a family because of our messed up economy.
I think we're screwed.
Drill Academy? Discipline in schools?
ReplyDeleteThe drill academy concept is a failed concept in a liberal world.
Discipline in school will never work withour reinforcement at home.
The fact of the matter is that the very foundation of proper behavior is established at HOME. It starts at a young age. When kids are old enough to get into things they shouldn't, we should start the discipline process. They touch things they aren't supposed to, they get their little hands smacked. As they get a little older, they get their buts spanked. I mean spanked.
Discipline can never be established in school. But that's what society is coming to expect. It can never be established at some "boot camp". Discipline in school is some institution at which society can point its finger and dump it's money under some false hope that we presume is the key that will save our youth.
The govt. can't raise our kids, liberals - we have to do it. And we have to do it right. When our kids do bad things, they own the behavior and so do we as parents. NOT the govt.
We are now living with the results a mindset born of a college educated few who fell into the misconception that children just want to be heard or are misunderstood, they don't need to be spanked. A generation who have forgotten along the line that if you spare the rod you spoil the child.
the society that capitalistic corporate america has created , in fact created this attitude. when the family could no longer survive from dads paycheck mom had to leave the home and obtain a job to make ends meet. this left the childred unattended only to learn and grow from which they hear and see. all of these things are created by corporate america for their own greed and consumption of wealth. the attitude is spawned by a realization at a very young age that there is two social classes in the great america, those who will and those who wont, once again controlled by corporate america. with the recession/depression striking the nation in the past few years, mom and dads are being pushed to their mental breaking points, this means less quality time spent with children. at some point the burden of succeeding in capitalistic corporate america turns some to alcohol and drug abuse, be it over or under the table. once again corporate america gets richer. we used to be citizens of a great nation called america, now were all prisoners to corporate capitalistic america and our kids are paying the price with their present as well as their future.
ReplyDeleteAnon 11:34,
ReplyDeleteBullsh*t! How can "Capitalist Corporate America" force individuals to work two jobs or force both parents to work. That's about the biggest crock of sh*t I've heard in recent memory. In your point of view, there is no personal responsibility for individual behavior. Tell me how the Amish have been negatively affected by the evil corporate America. They take pride in the fact that their religious convictions forbid them from keeping up with the Jones's. They reap what they sow.....and so does everyone else. No one is to blame but the person in the mirror. No one forces someone to become an alcoholic or drug addict. They choose to drink alcohol and use drugs. Perhaps their parents didn't effectively drive the message home that there are inherent dangers invloved with the consumption of either but in no way is it the fault of corporations OR the govt. Until people start taking responsibility for their own actions and quit blaming everyone else but their miserable selves, the downward spiral of America will continue.
I'm not attacking you personally, so please don't take it that way. I just get fired up when I hear this type of crybaby, always someone elses fault, non-sense. If we changed things and all began to follow the way of thinking you have portrayed, we'd be um.....Socialists. I can't go for that.
Amen Grand Dad and Bob P.
ReplyDeleteAnon 11:34 -
ReplyDeletePlease put your crack pipe down and enter the real world.
It isn't Corporate America. It's Welfare America. More kids, more money, no work. Why should kids work in school when they know they don't have to work as adults?
ReplyDeleteWise up old people. A new generation is taking over. Forget your cute manners and fake smiles.Get real. WE young people are not going to work ourselves to death so others can live the rich life style we all shall have. We will take your social security checks away, charge you pleny to do your dirty work in your old age like fix your plumbing, repair your roof, etc.The youth are voting for Obama who promises us change. We will drive the luxury cars and eat in the fancy restaurants and maybe have you as our waiter or waitress.
ReplyDeleteThe German youth put Adolf Hitler in power. The economy was bad and the Fuhrer promised positive changes for the good of the fatherland. Barrack Obama has made that same promise. Everyone can feel the vibes and experience the excitement when he speaks. Hail Obama, for he will lead us out of war and resurrect our economy.Our savior for America and the world has arrived. Raise your hands and show your support anytime he is present in person, his photo shown or his voice piercing the darkness that will soon light up the nation.The great enlightment is coming.
ReplyDeletein reponse to you grand dad, the generation you grew up in still holds onto all the crap we were taught as youngsters, honesty,hardwork, will be enough. if you still believe that then your a fool. capitalistic america caused all of us to have to work more to have less. capitalistic america cares only about money, and it would have each of our families destroyed if it made them money. when you put a person in a game they cant win they will sometimes turn to alcohol and drugs to escape, if this same person hadnt been put in a situation of depravity maybe they wouldnt of had anything to escaoe from. you come at me with the amish, what are they 1000 of half a percent of the population at best, if you seriously think that is logic your and idot.tell the man whos job was taken over seas, tell the man who lost his company because of illegal aliens stealing the work,tell the woman whos baby is sick and cant get health care,telltell the seniors that herded into nursing homes like cattle for profit,tell the soldier who dies in an unjust war,your philosophies were probably accurate back in the day, but there usless in the 21 century. this america is shit and the crookedest son of a bitch wins. thats corporate capitalism pop-pop, so you hang onto yesterdays belief my mirror of life shows me what the real reality of capitalistic corporate america is and i hate it with a passion. i will fight it as long as i am alive. go back to yesterday and stay in denial if you choose. when i see the shape our great republic is in yes i cry"crybaby" the question is why dont you?
ReplyDeletein reponse to you grand dad, the generation you grew up in still holds onto all the crap we were taught as youngsters, honesty,hardwork, will be enough. if you still believe that then your a fool. capitalistic america caused all of us to have to work more to have less. capitalistic america cares only about money, and it would have each of our families destroyed if it made them money. when you put a person in a game they cant win they will sometimes turn to alcohol and drugs to escape, if this same person hadnt been put in a situation of depravity maybe they wouldnt of had anything to escaoe from. you come at me with the amish, what are they 1000 of half a percent of the population at best, if you seriously think that is logic your and idot.tell the man whos job was taken over seas, tell the man who lost his company because of illegal aliens stealing the work,tell the woman whos baby is sick and cant get health care,telltell the seniors that herded into nursing homes like cattle for profit,tell the soldier who dies in an unjust war,your philosophies were probably accurate back in the day, but there usless in the 21 century. this america is shit and the crookedest son of a bitch wins. thats corporate capitalism pop-pop, so you hang onto yesterdays belief my mirror of life shows me what the real reality of capitalistic corporate america is and i hate it with a passion. i will fight it as long as i am alive. go back to yesterday and stay in denial if you choose. when i see the shape our great republic is in yes i cry"crybaby" the question is why dont you?
ReplyDeleteHOlY CRAP ON TOAST!!!!
ReplyDeleteI keep telling everyone Obama sounds alot like the "anti-christ" but noone is listening. Adolf Hitler similarities seal the deal for me....RON PAUL FOR PRESIDENT!!!!
countrygirl@heart
Doug Wilkerson
ReplyDeleteYou missed the point completely. I couldn't care less if the percentage of Amish in the entire population was 1,000,000th of 1 percent. The point is that they are living in the same world as all of these alcoholics you want to blame on capitalism, but they made different choices. Now they reap the result of those choices....just as the alcoholics reap the results of their own.
Yes....I grew up in a time when we lived by the theory that hard work always paid off....and it has for me. I've made bad choices and I've paid the price. I've made good choices and have reaped the rewards. But they were my choices. No capitalist form of govt. EVER forced me to become an alcoholic or a drug addict. Thats a bunch of liberal horse shit.
I do believe that our govt. is becoming increasingly overbearing and the resulting encroachment on individual liberties is taking a high toll.
Tell me one business that closed because illegal aliens came in and took all the work. Perhaps the man of whom you speak was charging to much for his services and was skunked by the competition. That was his choice.
You refer to me as an idiot (I think that's what you were trying to say when you called me "and idot") Yet you live in some friggin' fantasy land where it's acceptable to blame society and everyone else because some abuses drugs or alcohol. Seems to me that you're the idiot.
Regardless of when you grew up you seemed to miss the painfully obvious fact that we are all responsible for our own actions.
Also...if you don't like America....go to Canada. They have a lot of liberals up there.
grand dad, i think what this has taught me is with as many problems as this great nation has, "we still have the freedom to agree to disagree", seems we do, bit that is good. i apologize for the idiot comment. my imaturity slips out sometimes. i am anything but a liberal though, thats funny.you be sure to have a good day sir.
ReplyDelete