School in 1977 and 2007 - spot the difference

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Admittedly a bit overblown but there’s a ring of truth in all of these - I found them particularly amusing since I work in the Department for Education. :smiley:

This says it all …
School 1977 vs. School 2007
Scenario: Johnny and Mark get into a fistfight after school.

1977 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up mates.

2007 - Police are called, Armed Response Unit arrives and arrests Johnny and Mark. Mobiles with video of fight confiscated as evidence. They are charged with assault, ASBOs are taken out and both are suspended even though Johnny started it. Diversionary conferences and parent meetings conducted. Video shown on 6 internet sites.
Scenario: Jeffrey won’t sit still in class, disrupts other students.

1977 - Jeffrey is sent to the principal’s office and given 6 of the best. Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.

2007 - Jeffrey is given huge doses of Ritalin. Counselled to death. Becomes a zombie. Tested for ADD. School gets extra funding because Jeffrey has a disability. Drops out of school.
Scenario: Billy breaks a window in his neighbour’s car and his Dad gives him the slipper.

1977 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman.

2007 - Billy’s dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy is removed to foster care and joins a gang. Psychologist tells Billy’s sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison. Billy’s mum has an affair with the psychologist. Psychologist gets a promotion.
Scenario: Mark, a college student, brings cigarettes to school .

1977 - Mark shares a smoke with the school principal out on the smoking area.

2007 - Police are called and Mark is expelled from School for drug possession. His car is searched for drugs and weapons.
Scenario: Mohammed fails high school English.

1977 - Mohammed retakes his exam, passes and goes to college.

2007 - Mohammed’s cause is taken up by local human rights group. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that making English a requirement for graduation is racist. Civil Liberties Association files class action lawsuit against state school system and his English teacher. English is banned from core curriculum. Mohammed is given his qualification anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.
Scenario: Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers, puts them in a model plane paint bottle and blows up an anthill.

1977 - Ants die.

2007 - MI5 and police are called and Johnny is charged with perpetrating acts of terrorism. Teams investigate parents, siblings are removed from the home, computers are confiscated, and Johnny’s dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.
Scenario: Johnny falls during break and scrapes his knee. His teacher, Mary, finds him crying, and gives him a hug to comfort him.

1977 - Johnny soon feels better and goes back to playing.

2007 - Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces three years in prison. Johnny undergoes five years of therapy. Becomes gay.

2

Okay, definitely a bit overblown, and I swear I don’t want to become one of those old codgers who says everything was better in the old days … but … yeah, there is definitely some truth to it.

When my son was in kindergarten, I found out (by accident, since the school didn’t bother to tell me) that my son had been put into a special counseling group for “conflict resolution” run by the (totally incompetent, I later realized) school counselor.

My initial panic was somewhat mitigated when I discovered that there were 7 boys in my son’s KG class, and SIX of them had been sent to the special counseling.

In other words, 6 out of 7 boys have such severe problems that they need to be yanked out of class for special counseling services. :rolleyes:

3

Very overblown. However, there’s one that I think would go more like:

1977 - Mohammed gets the crap kicked out of him by a bunch of skinheads, ends up in a wheelchair, then is deported to Pakistan where his parents were born because he’s a burden on the state.

4

A little overblown? Isn’t that like saying that the ocean is a tad salty?

A caveat, when I was in elementary school (interestingly enough, in 1977) the teachers were as likely to be abusers as were the other students. So the cheerful, happy, so-called normal outcome from 1977 rings about as true to me as a $5 gold ring.

I was going to start hitting the various specific 2007 instances with some facts, but it’s not worth it.

Let’s just say that while I don’t approve all that goes on with schools today, I’m not about to sign off on the idea that things worked all that well in 1977, either.

5

My daughter’s kindergarten class had to work with the counselor - all the little girls - or rather, all the parents of the little girls were offered the opportunity to pull the girls for “friendship classes.” It was an unusual group, my daughter only had four boys in a class of twenty some kids, and the bitchy girl behavior started early. Plus, there was one little girl in the room who does have some mental health issues - and her behavior can pull the whole class into a vortex.

I prefer to think of it as “lets nip this in the bud and maybe we can prevent a horrid middle school experience for these girls” instead of “they all had such problems that they had to get to counseling.” Maybe a little time up front will keep middle school from becoming three years of learning nothng because of all the drama.

6

Hugely overblown. I was with it right up until the bit where it implied that ritalin turns kids into zombies. It was at that point that I knew I was in for a barrage of bullshit.

7

Now this one does not ring true. In reality, Jeffrey would continue to disrupt class, would be regularly caned, would be identified by the teachers as a disruptive influence and as a failure, and would eventually be expelled or drop out of school.

Back in the early 60s, I got the cane a few times at school – but on the whole I was a good student, and did well in exams: my main failing was not doing homework as required by some teachers. So, getting the cane didn’t hurt me, but I don’t think it was particularly effective either in enforcing the rules, and could easily alienate the students who didn’t want to be in school.

8

1977 - Mark and Matt fall in love, are beaten to death and hung from burning crosses on the town lawn.

2007 - Mark and Matt fall in love, register at Crate and Barrel and hire a Doper’s wife to surrogate their child.

9

I wasn’t even born in 1977, but that sounds like yet another pile of “kids today are spoiled” garbage. The two that were pro-spanking/beating were particularly cringe-inducing.

10

Way over the top, but the seeds of truth are there to one degree or another – schools really are vastly different now than they were 30 years ago. Some of it is indeed reactionary to the increases in violent youth crime since then, so I can understand to a degree. There still a whole lot of overreaction to what used to be pretty minor occurrences in the grand scheme of things. I blame helicopter parents.

I like WhyNot’s addition, though if we’re being honest there’s still plenty of gay bashing among kids, and I still constantly hear “gay” used as an all-purpose pejorative. (“That’s so gay…”)

11

1977: 10-year-old Sean is cornered by the history teacher and molested. Sean reports this but is told that “Mr. Goodson” is a respected teacher, married, a father, and would never do such a thing. Sean must have misunderstood, or is exaggerating or lying. Discussion is closed and nothing happens to Mr. Goodson.

2007: Same thing. Mr. Goodson is investigated, fired, and charged with child sexual abuse.

Sounds good to me!

12

[gay hijack]

My understanding (based on talking to the kids using the word) is that “gay” used as an all-purpose pejorative is not associated, in their minds, with gay meaning homosexual any more than gay meaning homosexual is associated with gay meaning happy. They’ve become homophones. My goddaughters are out bisexuals, and they still use gay as a pejorative, and don’t understand my cognitive dissonance with that.

[/gay hijack]

13

And there was a whole lot of underreaction to what should never have been written off as petty occurrences. If the star of the soccer team is using another student as a punching bag, this behavior should be punished. Esp. if it’s continual, rather than a one-time event. Not excused because the school doesn’t want to risk losing such an important player.

Or what about teachers who encourage the students in their charge, by example, to humiliate anyone who doesn’t do well in sports?

I honestly doubt that every helicopter parent is reacting to having grown up through those sorts of occurrences, but if someone has the experience that teachers cannot be counted on to maintain order, or to protect the weaker students from the stronger, it makes it pretty effing hard to not want to jump in to make sure that some sort of standards of civilized behavior are being met.

IOW, I don’t think it’s just generals that try to fight the last war.

14

1977–Spinster teachers Miss Brittany and Miss Spears share a house. Nobody thinks anything of it other to wonder why two such good looking ladies can’t find husbands.

2007–The two Ms. Brittany-Spears are fired on a trumped up charge, when everyone knows it’s because they are a couple of filthy lesbians who might corrupt the young female students by telling them it’s okay to be gay.

15

Is that the same ‘ring of truth’ with UFO’s, homeopathy and WMD’s in Iraq?

Nah - this is right-wing propaganda. :rolleyes:
I was at schoool in the 1960’s ansd have been teaching for 25 years. The foloowing are all based on my personal experience.

**1977 Crowd gathers. Johnny and his bullying mates kick the sh*t out of Mark. Teacher tells Mark to ‘stand up for himself’ and walks away.

2007 Crowd gathers. Teacher disperses crowd and calms situation.**

**1977 - Jeffrey has the wooden board rubber thrown at him, then is hit by the teacher.
He is labelled a troublemaker and ignored (apart from being regularly hit).
Drops out of school.

2007 - Jeffrey and his family have discussions with trained staff, then with child psychologist. Jeffery is diagnosed Asberger’s Syndrome, prescribed a small dose of Ritalin and goes on to Oxbridge.**

**1977 - Billy is blamed for something he didn’t do and his Dad beats the sh*t out of him.
Billy drops out of school, runs away from home, has several children by different mothers and becomes a child beater himself.

2007 - Billy’s Dad gets advice on parenting, stops hitting his son and Billy becomes a decent Dad himself.**

**1977 - Mark is laughed at by pupils who are using cannabis. He offers to put them in touch with a heroin dealer. The Principal states that “There is no drug use at ourt school and there never will be.”

2007 - Mark is asked what he is doing at School when he should be at college. He is escorted off the premises.**

**1977 - Mohammed, who has been bullied throughout his time at school, leaves school with no qualifications and opens a corner shop. It is repeatedly attacked (bricks through windows, firebombs) and he is robbed at gunpoint.

2007 - Mohammed retakes his exam, passes and goes to college.
(Despite being successful at school, he is later shot by police because he shares a name with a terrorist suspect.)**

**1977 - Johnny gets a taste for arson and burns down a factory.

2007 - Johnny is given advice at School and becomes a Health and Safety expert.**

**1977 - Johnny, who is 17, has an affair with his teacher.

2007 - Because playground safety has been improved, Johnny does not scrape his knee. He carries on playing.**

16

In America maybe, I can’t imagine that happening in the UK.

17

Anybody want to dig up the vintage version of this glurge showing how far downhill the schools of 1977 had fallen compared to the glory days of 1957?

18

1967–Rock music is banned in school as being a fad and horrible.
1997–Rap music is banned in school as being a fad and horrible. They do offer a course in rock music.

19

Unfortunately (or fortunately), the Internet hadn’t been invented in 1977, so this whole genre of glurge hadn’t been invented either. Ah, the good old days!

20

Corrected to:

1937–Jazz music is banned in school as being a fad and horrible.
1967–Rock music is banned in school as being a fad and horrible. They do offer a course in jazz music.
1997–Rap music is banned in school as being a fad and horrible. They do offer a course in rock music.