School 1957 vs. 2007

[sandrakae]

SCHOOL - 1957 vs. 2007


Scenario: Jack goes quail hunting before school, pulls into school parking lot with shotgun in gun rack.
1957 - Vice Principal comes over, looks at Jack's shotgun, goes to his car and gets his shotgun to show Jack.
2007 - School goes into lock down, FBI called, Jack hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers.

Scenario: Johnny and Mark get into a fist fight after school.
1957 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up buddies.
2007 - Police called, SWAT team arrives, arrests Johnny and Mark. Charge them with assault, both expelled even though Johnny started it.

Scenario: Jeffrey won't be still in class, disrupts other students.
1957 - Jeffrey sent to office and given a good paddling by the Principal. Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.
2007 - Jeffrey given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. Tested for ADD. School gets extra money from state because Jeffrey has a disability.

Scenario: Billy breaks a window in his neighbor's car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.
1957 - 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 removed to foster care and joins a gang. State psychologist tells Billy's sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison. Billy's mom has affair with psychologist.

Scenario: Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.
1957 - Mark shares aspirin with Principal out on the smoking dock.
2007 - Police called, Mark expelled from school for drug violations. Car searched for drugs and weapons.

Scenario: Pedro fails high school English.
1957 - Pedro goes to summer school, passes English, goes to college.
2007 - Pedro's cause is taken up by state. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit against state school system and Pedro's English teacher. English banned from core curriculum. Pedro given diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.

Scenario: Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from 4th of July, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle, blows up a red ant bed.
1957 - Ants die.
2007 - BATF, Homeland Security, FBI called. Johnny charged with domestic terrorism, FBI investigates parents, siblings removed from home, computers confiscated, Johnny's Dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.

Scenario: Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Mary. Mary hugs him to comfort him.
1957 - In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing.
2007 - Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces 3 years in State Prison. Johnny undergoes 5 years of therapy.

[MonkeyFunk]

1. Yeah

things were so much better back then. That is, if you were a white male. Without polio.

[dsc]

2. Here are some of mine

1957 Mark, who is black, tries to go to Central High in Little Rock he gets spat on and beaten up.

2007 Mark gets accepted at school.

1957 Jeff, a gay kid, drops out of school due to constant abuse.

2007 Jeff, a gay kid, joins the GSA at his school, goes to college, and cures cancer.

1957 Susie gets pregnant and has to live with her aunt for 9 months. gives up kid but never makes it out of high school.

2007 Susie gets pregnant and graduates school.

[noamnety]

6. Good post

I drove a van of an interracial mix of my students cross country last spring, and we shared in an old army tent doing relief work down south. I would have been fired, and maybe arrested for that in 1957.

Today I drove one of the kids to the mall where he catches the bus to detroit, and I would not have been able to do that in 1957.

Today was also the transgendered day of remembrance, the students in the GSA wore armbands, which they would not have been able to do in 1957.

We've had pregnant students who have been comfortable bringing their babies in to school during maternity leave, and they've come back and graduated, instead of being forced to drop out, like one of my friends did when I was in high school.

I don't like the zero tolerance policies, everything isn't perfect, but I think it's foolish and cruel to pretend that everything was fine in 1957, because for a great many people it wasn't fine at all.

[dsc]

8. My school isn't as forward as yours

no GSA for example, but I work in a racially integrated school which didn't exist in 1957. I am close to being out which I couldn't be in 1957. I have seen my gay students treated fairly well which wouldn't happen in 1957.

[theredpen]

16. "1957 Jeff, a gay kid, drops out of school due to constant abuse."

More like drops out of circulation and is found beaten to death in the woods.

Dang, that could be 1997.

Here's mine:

1957 Avraham, a Jewish kid, is chased out of the school by death threats
2007 Ibrahim, a Muslim kid, is chased out of the school by death threats

[dsc]

18. sadly you have a good point

things haven't become perfect by any means.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

3. Yes, everything was better when you were young

and naive.

[zabet]

4. Times sure have changed.

I can think of many more examples of what
was accepted then and is a crime now.

We knew better than to act up in public or
we would get our 'tail tore up'. Discipline
your child in public like spanking them and
you get reported to social services

[VP505]

5. So what happened

between 57 and 07 to completely eliminate "common sense" and rational solutions to very minor child behavior problems?

[RaleighNCDUer]

Well, here's a start:

Example 1:
1958 - student stabs another student in the cafeteria.
1959 - student shoots another student in the parking lot
1960 - two students shoot each other in the parking lot
1961 - student shoots a teacher in the parking lot
jump to
1995 - columbine

Policies change because of events. It doesn't come out of the blue.

[FiveGoodMen]

12. Talk radio

[ulysses]

7. one in a series of wingnut talking points?

[Dr Fate]

9. The 1957 version sounds about right. The 2007 versions are exaggerated.

The author could have made the same general points and still been accurate-making things up solves nothing.

[mudesi]

10. And who runs the government in 2007? THOSE CHILDREN

Maybe they weren't brought up as well as we may think.

[MichiganVote]

11. Scenario: Little Anthony spit on his teacher, bit a kid and slapped the bus driver

1957 - Sent home, Principal talks to parents, parents get after kid, kid returns to school and is improved. Can't ride the bus for a month, parents to transport to school

2007 - Parents charge Principal with abuse, demand a special education evaluation for a disability, school DOES NOT get additional money for disability, kid gets a small classroom with aide and all frills education and parents sue the district for more. Say they're rights are being violated. Kid gets special education transportation which costs much more money than regular busing. Reimbursement from the Feds? Nothing, district and area residents foot the bill.

Ridiculous? Just happened in a district in my area.

[Matariki]

13. I HATE these spammed BS lists extolling the virtues of whipping children

and I never understand why people repost them here.

1957 - alcoholic father returns from bar at 2am, drags son out of bed to beat the living crap out of him as punishment for catching the kid sneaking a drink. After two weeks of this abuse kid runs away from home. Police find kid and send him to juvenile detention for a night and then back home for more beatings.

2007 - state agency steps in to protect the kid.


1957 - creepy uncle rapes niece. mom covers it up rather than bring 'embarrassment' to the family and 'shame' the the daughter.

2007 - state agency steps in to protect the kid.

[dysfunctional press]

14. Jeffrey sent to office and given a good paddling by the Principal...

in what world would someone still think that that is a good idea...?

[Berry Cool]

20. Yeah, don't you just love it when people reminisce about the "good old days"

when all you had to do was give a kid a good spanking and he would be immediately rendered quiet and obedient?

Yeah, as if that always worked. Yeah, as if it was always a good thing when it did.

You wonder sometimes what it is with these people that they yearn for a return to unfettered rights to spank. At least I do. Like, if there's some greater reason behind it.

[madrchsod]

15. our school system is spending about 200,000 dollars

on new security system. one of the schools that is receiving a large percentage of the funds-the Ronald Reagan Middle School. the school is in Ronny`s home town..ironic is`t it.

[Sabriel]

17. 1957: Students of color are segregated into poorly funded, decrepit schools

2007: Damn! I got myself on that one.

[OzarkDem]

19. I always delete these GOP spam emails

my fil sends them and I promptly delete. They aren't very creative, its usually the same old talking points rehashed in a different format.