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Friday, July 30, 2010

HOW THE TIMES HAVE CHANGED

SCENARIO 1: Jack goes quail hunting before school and then pulls into the school parking lot with his shotgun in his truck's gun rack.
1957 - Vice Principal comes over, look at Jack's shotgun, goes to his car and gets his shotgun to show Jack.
2010 - 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 2: Buster and Dale get into a fist fight after school.
1957 - Crowd gathers. Buster wins. Buster and Dale shake hands and end up buddies.
2010 - Police called and SWAT team arrives -- they arrest both Buster and Dale. They are both charged them with assault and both expelled even though Buster started it.

SCENARIO 3: Jeffrey will not be still in class, he disrupts other students.
1957 - Jeffrey sent to the Principal's office and given a good paddling by the principal. He then returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.
2010 - Jeffrey is given huge doses of Ritalin. He becomes a zombie. He is then tested for ADD. The family gets extra money (SSI) from the government because Jeffrey has a disability.

SCENARIO 4: 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.
2010 - Billy's dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy is removed to foster care and joins a gang. The state psychologist is told by Billy's sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison. Billy's mom has an affair with the psychologist.

SCENARIO 5: Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school..
1957 - Mark shares his aspirin with the Principal out on the smoking dock.
2010 - The police are called and Mark is expelled from school for drug violations. His car is then searched for drugs and weapons.

SCENARIO 6: Pedro fails high school English.
1957 - Pedro goes to summer school, passes English and goes to college.
2010 - Pedro's cause is taken by state. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit against the state school system and Pedro's English teacher. English is then banned from core curriculum. Pedro is given his diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.

SCENARIO 7: Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from the Fourth of July, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle and blows up a red ant bed.
1957 - Ants die.
2010 - ATF, Homeland Security and the FBI are all called. Johnny is charged with domestic terrorism. The FBI investigates his parents -- and all siblings are removed from their home and all computers are confiscated. Johnny's dad is placed on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.

SCENARIO 8: 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.
2010 - 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.

How times have changed.

5 comments:

  1. It was a safer world than then now. We've gotten so much worse. It's like walking on eggshells at times with all the new laws out there.

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  2. I agree with Rose. It was a safer world back then. Times have changed and the thought of how much it will change in the next fifty years scares me.

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  3. Political correctness is it all that it is cracked up to be. It may have been better in the old days, but have we gone too far and although we won’t get back to those times, can we use some of the disciplines as a way forward

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  4. thos scenarios are really extreme, and certainly not "the norm."

    as an adult who was abused as a child, now working as a child psychologist focusing on foster care, i'm really glad that there's an increased sensitivity to things like a "good paddling" and "whipping with a belt." seems to me that it was all to common in "the good ol' days" that people knew children were being abused, but never did or said anything about it beecause it would be "rude" or it was "none of my business."

    i'm glad kids aren't hanging out on smoking docks at school, that teachers aren't smoking in the classroom. i'm glad students aren't being punished for writing left handed, or for having a learning disability.

    i wholeheartedly agree that many things have gone too far. but i don't think these scenarios are a very realistic representation of what life is like for most of us presently.

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  5. my DH and I were just talking about the first one a few days ago - when I was a senior in high school, students went crazy because we could no longer park on school grounds during hunting season if the shotguns were still in our trucks. We could take off the entire deer season week too, and it was an excused absence - now there's no way that would be allowed. Not to mention a shotgun in your truck even close to a school would get you arrested! Crazy, isn't it?

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