None of the fights that happened when I was in school, and I was in school in 1977, did not end up with the fighters shaking hands and being friends. They were just flare ups in long running feuds.
I believe those fights only happened on Leave it to Beaver and The Andy Griffith Show…
Whoa there! “Right wing propaganda”? I was sharing a JOKE email, surely you don’t think I’m saying these are accurate case studies of modern UK school system? See the big smilie at the end of my comment?
As for my comment that I couldn’t imagine such a thing happening in the UK - that is based on my own experiences of the education system, including having friends who are gay teachers. I don’t deny that it could happen, just it’s not something I’ve ever heard of. Also I said I couldn’t imagine it happening, not “this couldn’t happen in the UK, no way jose”. I don’t claim to be an authority on this (and looking at my previous comments I don’t think that was even implied), I was simply stating my view.
So could you possibly get off my case?
I’ve had this kicking around in my computer for a while. Seems like an appropriate time to post it. Not sure who wrote it. I’m in my 50’s, so I actually remember all this stuff growing up in the 50’s and 60’s.
According to today’s regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the 40’s, 50’s, 60’s, 70’s or even the early 80’s, probably shouldn’t have survived.
Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paint. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets, and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets. Not to mention the risks we took hitchhiking.
As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was always a special treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. Horrors! We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were always outside playing.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, and no one actually died from this.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then rode down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the street lights came on.
No one was able to reach us all day. No cell phones. Unthinkable!
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X-Boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, video tape movies, surround sound, personal cell phones, personal computers, or Internet chat rooms. We had friends! We went outside and found them.
We played dodge ball, and sometimes, the ball would really hurt.
We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones and teeth, and there were no lawsuits from these accidents. They were accidents. No one was to blame but us. Remember accidents?
We had fights and punched each other and got black and blue and learned to get over it.
We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms, and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes, nor did the worms live inside us forever.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend’s home and knocked on the door, or rang the bell or just walked in and talked to them.
Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn’t had to learn to deal with disappointment. Some students weren’t as smart as others, so they failed a grade and were held back to repeat the same grade. Horrors! Tests were not adjusted for any reason.
Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law. Imagine that!
This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and problem solvers and inventors, ever.
The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.
And you’re one of them! Congratulations.
Presumably, some of you didn’t. Hence the regulations, unnecessary as some of them are.
We also weren’t run to the emergency room over every little thing. If you had a cold, you went to bed for a couple of days. Scrapped knee? Wash it with soap and water and put a bandaid on it. Runny nose? Wipe it on your sleeve. Fall down? Get back up and wipe off the blood. We walked in the rain, dark, and snow. Walking a mile or two to school was the norm.
Actually quite timely, a piece by one of my fave commentators Johann Hari was in the Independent today on the subject of over-parenting. I’ve never heard the term helicopter parents before and then I encounter it twice in one day.
Uphill, both ways.
Bingo! Let’s see, what do we call this stuff on the Internet that harks back to a Time That Never Was? Oh, yeah, “glurge.” Good name for it – sounds like drowning.
I will only pick nit with the first one – back in 1966, when I got in a locker-room fracas, I served a week of after-school detention, had to write a damned essay on conflict resolution, and apologize to (and accept an apology from) the bully who ambushed me. The only real difference between then and now was that the principal agreed the only reason I was punished was because I kicked the kid’s ass instead of letting him beat me up.
The rest are equally ridiculous, however.
Meaning they haven’t been implemented in my area, that I’m aware of.
1977 - Students are forced to walk to and from school in the snow, uphill…both ways!
2007 - Students are shuttled to class in luxiorous velvet-interiored limos where they have at their disposal a plethora of fruits, candies, and drinks, not to mention X-Boxes and iPhones that are dispensed much like tissues.
Whilst having oral sex performed on them by high class escorts.
What a load of crap.
Justin Bailey, class of 1999.
+1.
Class of 2002. I hate bullshit boomer nostalgia.
I grew up when smoking was permitted everywhere. Adults smoked. That’s what they did. There was no such thing as “secondhand smoke.” Even pregnant people smoked.
Get off my lawn!
I can’t…I’ve fallen out of your tree and broken my leg.
Expect a lawsuit in 4 to 6 weeks.
Kid_A - I’d like to suggest that your case is possibly typical of a great deal of injuries sustained in trees belonging to others and that SOMETHING MUST BE DONE ABOUT IT (I’m thinking of the children, clearly no-one else is). Would you be interested in joining my action to take all owners of trees to the European Court to ensure they put in place proper safety measures?
How is it bullshit? I am rabid about car seats etc, but never had one as a child. Never had a bike helmet, knee pads for rollerskates or skateboards etc. Our crib was (most likely) a menace–it had cut outs of Jack and Jill, just the right size for baby’s head. There were no childproof caps (which in my experience, only children can open–I did so for my mom for years. True, very young kids can’t open them, which is the point, but they did not exist until I was about 8). Kids had accidents–they fell down, broke bones, got cuts, scrapes, bruises. Not many people sued (not like today). We DID play outside, for hours on hours, only coming home for snacks–water came out of the garden hose. TV was 4 channels, if that, with minimal kid programming (except for Saturday mornings). There was no such thing as a “playdate”. Kids’ lives weren’t overly scheduled as so many are today. And, to be fair, a whole lot of kids are NOT killed today in car accidents, bike accidents or by medicine they mistook as candy.
The purpose of this is NOT to paint the “glorious past” in sickly sentimental colors. The point is that kids ARE different now, in that they are not allowed much in the way of freedom. They have plenty of non-supervision or parents as friends, though.
I have young (4 and 6) nieces and a nephew–their mom doesn’t allow them outside because they’ll get dirty. She gets ticked when they don’t play with their toys “the right way” aka how it’s depicted on the box. She’s a trip, my SIL, but she is hardly alone. I know kids who are driven to school every day, even though they only live 5 blocks from the school. This is not a “bad” neighborhood–this is helicopter parenting in the worst way.
“It’s a different world; you can’t be too careful” is the BS: kids today are no more likely to be preyed upon by molesters etc than in previous years. It’s a risk, but a ridiculously small one. A lot parents parent today through fear–not making their kids afraid of them (an improvement), but out of fear of the most unlikely things.
I don’t parent this way, and I have taken my share of dirty looks, shocked responses and condemnation because I allowed my sons to wear pink, my daughter to get dirty, all of them to get hurt in some minor way. Some of their friends cannot believe that I let them play in the backyard–they’ve been taught to keep off the grass. Hell, they’ve been taught to fear the outdoors. Helen, an only child, once came to us for the day so that her mom could have tests at the hospital. She refused to play outside, saying that the ozone alert was in place. Helen was 7, no history of asthma or pulmonary/allergy problems. She’d been taught to fear outdoors.
I have no idea why this is so prevalent now. I don’t care. I’m sure kids have fun, but something has been lost. All I’m saying in here is that I regret that loss. No doubt all the 8 year olds of today will look back fondly on their Gameboys and muse about all the levels they won. Their first cellphones will no doubt bring a tear to their eyes. Somehow that doesn’t have the same sense of satisfaction as building forts in the woods (we built and underground one-so cool) or playing spin the bottle. YMMV.
Well you did say there was a ‘ring of truth’ to them, but OK, I apologise that I misunderstood you.
(N.B. These sort of comments are frequently made by readers of the Telegraph, Express and Mail as reasons why we should pull out of Europe and repeal all Human Rights and Safety legislation. They certainly believe all of them.)
I was somewhat sharp because:
- this is a board dedicated to fighting ignorance
- you did say that you work in education (i.e. have expertise)
- most of the board are Americans who will accept your statements about the UK
- saying “I couldn’t imagine this happening” means to me that it not only has never happened, but also won’t happen in the near future
I’ve given one case where a UK lesbian teacher was forced out. I can also quote the Thatcher legislation:
Clause 28 was introduced by Margaret Thatcher’s government after concerns that literature promoting homosexuality was being inappropriately distributed in schools.
The decision not to abolish the clause is likely to provoke a strong reaction from the UK’s homosexual community.
The clause has been a rallying point for gay and lesbian pressure groups who see it as a form of state-sponsored oppression.
And the UK certainly has a long history of violent discrimination, not just in schools:
Sodomy was a capital offence punishable by death until 1861 and homosexuality was banned until 1967.