# Piss off, random parents/teachers and Google. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 12, 2009, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piss-off-random-parents-teachers-and-google/496138 "2009-05-12T05:09:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piss-off-random-parents-teachers-and-google/496138/61 "2009-05-15T22:53:11Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > The only one that looks suspect to me at all is the Region 7 Friendship one. I can’t quite articulate what it is that bugs me, but the outline of the continents is, I think, part of it. But then what is that big green thing in the middle of the Atlantic? Greenland? (Pun unintentional!) ---
**Author:** ![Aankh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@Aankh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aankh)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2009, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piss-off-random-parents-teachers-and-google/496138/62 "2009-05-16T02:45:20Z")
Yeah, these entries are going to be high-quality simply because they’re the cream of the crop. Yeah, kids absorb the weirdest things and regurgitate them. Nonetheless, there are entries on in that list that a kid had very little to do with - kid may have copied it out, but the idea, the development, the composition and the description are an adult’s. Not entirely sure what a Pinewood Derby is. A (very) cursory Google shows it’s some kind of popular homemade-car race? > [@RickJay](#): > > Never. Jesus, what sort of people would do that? Go read that post you quoted again. Read that bit where I clarified exactly what I meant when I said ‘helped’. Read the bit where I’m specifically referring to competitions. Go on, it’s a very short post. Shouldn’t take you long. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2009, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piss-off-random-parents-teachers-and-google/496138/63 "2009-05-17T01:28:10Z")
I just looked through them again, with a friend, and nah - apart from region 7, those drawings are either kids’ own work or the parents were exceptionally good at drawing like kids (which is not that easy). The (fairly simple) concepts definitely aren’t beyond children; did you read the one about breast cancer? Her grandmother had survived it recently. You’re underestimating kids if you think those concepts are beyond them. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2009, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piss-off-random-parents-teachers-and-google/496138/64 "2009-05-17T01:33:46Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > I did my own artwork as a kid - the difference being that back in the early '70s, it was acceptable by teachers and parents alike for kids to doodle stuff that was of interest to kids - like Nazi soldiers being blown up by tanks. 😃 > > These days, the school psychiatrist would be all over that action. Mine were always sci fi tanks and my behavior issues got me attention from the counselors for other reasons. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2009, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piss-off-random-parents-teachers-and-google/496138/65 "2009-05-17T01:43:12Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > That and it’s also just fuckin’ lame to plagiarise the Coexist bumper sticker. Real originality there, ace. > > About the grafitti, well, if they want to make some huge public park with cement walls where people can go and do grafitti on those walls, and only on those walls, that’s OK with me. But 99 percent of grafitti is just property crime in my opinion. Someone worked hard to own that store or building, pay the rent on it, etc, and then some asshole just comes up and fucks up the wall with his “art.” Yeah I’ve seen a lot of elaborate grafitti art, some of it pretty impressive from an artistic standpoint, but it’s still grafitti. I mean, where do you draw the line? For every elaborate graf. piece there’s also a lot of “spitting” or shitty, rudimentary squiggles and scribbles of peoples’ tags or gang tags…are those “art” also? As far as I’m concerned that grafitti Google logo is just a stupid attempt to placate the “inner city” culture, while disregarding that it’s promoting crime. You live in the past. Graffiti style is mainstream now. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2009, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piss-off-random-parents-teachers-and-google/496138/66 "2009-05-17T01:44:36Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > A friend of mine teaches at a magnet elementary school for Arts. Third graders with portfolio pieces I couldn’t pull off. And I know their parents aren’t doing the work for them as the work is happening in her classroom. > > Kids also parrot back the most astounding phrases…my daughter learned about inherent worth in Sunday school - six months later in school they had a workshop about respecting everyone - even the kids who are ‘different’ - and my daughter goes spouting off on inherent worth (earning me a call from the principal to say ‘whatever you are teaching your daughter outside of school, keep doing it - that was amazing’). The thoughts were not original (few thoughts are), nor were her choice of words. Agreed, my friend’s daughter is six and her artwork is already starting to have perspective. Of course her Mother is an illustrator by trade. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piss-off-random-parents-teachers-and-google/496138/67 "2009-05-18T19:12:18Z")
The Pinewood Derby is a competition devised by the Boy Scouts of America where the scouts buy a car kit and build their own custom race car. They then compete these cars on a ramped track. The idea is that the kids build their own cars using the same kits following the same rules. The kit contains a precut block of wood, 4 plastic wheels, 4 nails to serve as axles, and maybe a few other bits (been forever since I did it). The rules define the size and weight. Lead weight is added to put the car in the correct range. The kids compete in age groups so that each is, in theory, competing at a fair level. However, different kids have different access to tools, and some fathers take a more involved role in helping their kid make the best car. For example, the plastic wheels are generic pre-formed pieces. If you have access to a lathe, you can turn the wheels to make sure they are smooth and true. Similarly, mouting the wheels with the nails is tricky to ensure they are true. Then there is applying graphite to the wheels/axles to make them spin really smooth. Apparently there are other tricks that can improve performance. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piss-off-random-parents-teachers-and-google/496138/68 "2009-05-18T19:33:48Z")
When my son was a Cub Scout, he competed in several Pinewood Derbys. IIRC, it was okay for parents to help, but of course all the cars had to be the same weight. There was an offical ‘weigh-in’ the night before, and then left at the site for the races the following day. So, no last-minute tampering at home. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piss-off-random-parents-teachers-and-google/496138/69 "2009-05-18T20:06:52Z")
> [@BiblioCat](#): > > When my son was a Cub Scout, he competed in several Pinewood Derbys. IIRC, it was okay for parents to help, but of course all the cars had to be the same weight. There was an offical ‘weigh-in’ the night before, and then left at the site for the races the following day. So, no last-minute tampering at home. No inserting anti-matter either! ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piss-off-random-parents-teachers-and-google/496138/70 "2009-05-19T00:25:41Z")
OK, another [example](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2277/3543638505_a9c9ea8fa9.jpg?v=0) of a painting my daughter did when she was 3, with no help other than washing the brushes for her and sitting next to her doing my own painting at the same time. There’s a good deal of perspective there. She’s a talented artist, but I know kids her age (at the aforementioned drawing school - she’s now ten) whose work you probably would be amazed to find out was by a kid - but I know for certain that it is. Saying that those drawings (except perhaps region 7) couldn’t have been done by kids that age is like saying that nobody could possibly run a mile in five minutes because you can’t. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2009, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piss-off-random-parents-teachers-and-google/496138/71 "2009-05-21T20:13:47Z")
The national winner’s up. Makes me wonder if the OP is boycotting google on principle. Anyway, I really like it. (Incidentally, why does FireFox’s spell check thing that google is wrong without the capital g? A google is a word, yes?) ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2009, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piss-off-random-parents-teachers-and-google/496138/72 "2009-05-21T20:41:57Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > The national winner’s up. Makes me wonder if the OP is boycotting google on principle. Anyway, I really like it. (Incidentally, why does FireFox’s spell check thing that google is wrong without the capital g? A google is a word, yes?) You’re thinking of googol (1 with a hundred zeros after it). ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2009, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piss-off-random-parents-teachers-and-google/496138/73 "2009-05-21T20:45:13Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > You’re thinking of googol (1 with a hundred zeros after it). Oops, didn’t know they were spelled differently. Thanks! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piss-off-random-parents-teachers-and-google/496138.md?page=3)