What's wrong with posting links?

Did you not get chocolate on Sunday?

--Ray

Didn't teachers have a right to scare, intimidate and even spank kids back in the 60s?

--Ray

Ray and Jason,

I graduated from a California high school in 1964, and yes there was a very little spanking still done in school. I remember one HS teacher would occasionally take a boy - boys only - into his office for a few thwacks with his paddle. And once in elementary school a teacher hit my hand with a ruler as punishment.

If I recall correctly, the whole atmosphere about that was different. The teachers seemed to expect most discipline and social training to come from our families. Now there seems to be more of a "we teachers own you while you're here" attitude.

Regarding the occasional duck and cover drill, in grade school in the 50s it didn't seem serious, just a silly few moments. By high school in the 60s, it was a bit annoying cause the dusty floors mussed our dresses. Yes, girls wore skirts or dresses -- trying to wear pants would get you sent home.

About the shooting drill, the teachers were out of line for several reasons, but the worst was lying to the kids that it was not a drill. Ok, maybe they wouldn't have taken it seriously if the teachers had told the truth about it, but they would still have had a bit of practice about what to do IF. You don't ever say something is not a drill when it is a drill. That's a line you just don't cross. Lying about it means that next time the kids won't be sure whether or not it's a drill.

The whole purpose of practice is to have a set of automatic reactions to certain signals, and what they've just done is to train them to lie on the floor and cry, not do anything useful like go toward the exits.

Their action was also reprehensible because everyone has heard about school shootings and this compounded whatever fears those kids already had. Someone told me once that you can't joke about something a person actually fears, that they won't find it funny. Not that anyone meant this to be funny, but that it would magnify their preexisting fears.

Coco: Sigh. Sorry to hear you didn't get chocolate. I don't get it. The men often get chocolate on Father's Day, but those who need it most (namely mothers) always get a flower or some plant that is half dead by the time they get it. Hopefully you got lots of pieces of paper with your kids's promises to be good on them... Kinda like a jokebook, that.

--Ray

I went to a private evangelical Christain school when I was a lad and we got paddled for a variety of offenses including stealing, lying, cheating, and excessive minor infractions. I was of course a bit intimadated and in fear of the paddle but no where near as much as if I thought someone was trying to kill me. I guess common sense isn't too common among some educators.

I'm with Coco. Please post a summary or key quote when you post a link to a news story. I hate following links blindly.

I think the only way the children will suffer permanent damage is if the parents and adults around them make a big deal about the whole affair, and teach them to play the victim.

--Ray 
 

What is wrong with these teachers? This ain't no Emergency Preparedness Merit Badge test, where even there the Scouts know something is coming to test to see if they know how to respond to an emergency.

Hmmm... what's next? Let's have some Hamas version of Mickey Mouse shown in the classroom as a way to help raise awareness of cultural differences?

Great concept.  Poor execution.

I think we need to train teachers and kids on how to respond in such a situation, and then have drills to practice the response, just like we do with natural disasters.

The kids had no tools to help them deal with the situation, so it was cruel to subject them to that kind of terror.

rayb wrote:

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Were you paddled for being mormon?

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Nope, just for lying about my homework being done when it really wasn't just so I could go play.  That was in second grade.  I did get some flak for being mormon but mainly from the other students.  The teachers would just tell us that we would go to heck unless we accepted Jesus into our hearts but they told everyone that.  I thought they had a nice concept that was much simplier than the true gospel.  All I had to do was accept him into my heart and I could go around being a criminal and still be saved!!!!  Of course that made no logical sense so I never went that route.