Amazement

I am in utter amazement of the lack of education and lack of consideration of kids today. I see all ages throughout my day and it makes me wonder where have we gone wrong? Each day on the bus and in school a new problem arises and each day it makes me wish we were back in the 80's and early 90's....when I was their age. Things were so different back then. Kids actually had to behave. Kids didn't speak out of turn in class, didn't curse on the school bus, didn't just sit and let everyone else give them all the answers in class. I actually asked one of my classes today what they planned on doing when they grew up. They sat there and wouldn't even try to learn what I was teaching them. They just wanted the answers so they could move onto the next problem. Since when did everything get handed to kids on a platter? And how do they expect to live in the real world without the answers, when they are expected to come up with them on their own? These are 7th graders I'm talking about. One kid told everyone else that if you are on an IEP (Individual Education Plan--Lillie is on one for speech therapy) you will graduate no matter how bad you do in school. You need not even pass the Ohio Graduation Tests in High School...you'll just graduate like everyone else because you've been given a free pass. If this is true (I haven't researched it yet) this really really pisses me off. I know for a fact that kids on an IEP are treated differently, I have been told to do so. Kids on an IEP can only fail a grade one time. Once that happens, they are pushed through the system no matter what they do, when they show up, or how they act. Some of the kids actually NEED the IEP, others are just floating along, putting on a show so they don't have to participate or behave, because after all they have a label that seperates them from everyone else, making them untouchable. It makes me wonder what the world will be like in 30 years when these kids are running it.

What really gets me is "back in my day," which again, wasn't that long ago, my parents had control over what I did. My teachers had control over what I did. And by goodness, I did what I was asked to do, whether I liked it or not. Today, kids walk into class late, no excuse, and are allowed to do so. WHY? Why aren't we serving more discipline to these kids? And why aren't they getting it at home? I'll tell you why. We live in a society where everything is to be made easy for us, or just plain be done for us. That includes raising our children. We don't want to do it, so we are just going to leave it up to TV, video games, and the neighborhood rascals to do so for us. There is no reason that a parent shouldn't have control over their child, especially one in elementary school or middle school. For crying out loud, YOU ARE THE PARENT! You don't need to be their friend right now! I find it completely unacceptable that a child in elementary school has been KICKED OUT of public school and is bussed a few towns over to an "alternative" school. These kids curse, fight, have most likely seen the inside of juvie and we are giving them chance after chance after chance. What they need is a good ass-whooping and to be told who's boss. They certainly aren'tthe boss....until they are old enough to make it on their own, parents are the bosses, and that means work. I'm sorry, you had them, you raise them.

We are going to live in a world of liars, cheaters, and fighters if we don't turn this country around. And it's going to be sad that I will be expecting these kids to change my bedpan when I'm in the nursing home...most of them won't even be intelligent enough to do that! Instead of automating everything from your household to your parenting, you need to step in, think about the world without cell phones, computers, handheld video games, and start running your family and their lives again. Take interest in your kids, help them with their homework (it's so much nicer than letting Google do it), know where they are and how they are acting, and by goodness, discipline them and teach them to be good citizens both in school and out of school. PLEASE!