On 2/16/2010 4:55 PM, Steve wrote:
And that school would have been...?
A military boarding school with a Junior ROTC program in Culver.
Years ago, when I went to high school in Indiana, we shot .22 rifles as
part of our phys ed program (indoor, steel traps). The university had a
skeet range just over the hill, and for the guys who had their own
shotguns, it was open to students as well. I don't think it ever ocurred
to anyone that these guns _could_ be used anywhere other than intended.
Ain't like that in the high school where my wife teaches today... One
young "man" told her recently that he didn't need to know English. He
would "make more money than [you'll] ever have, because [he} was dealing
drugs." She told him his life would be short.
This is an extreme instance and doesn't speak directly to the gun issue,
but it's symptomatic. Our parents expected a certain mode of behavior
from us (or at least not to embarrass them TOO terribly), and they did
not hold others accountable for our deeds.
I think that's an important part of the story - and another is that
/everyone/ found it appropriate to hold kids immediately accountable for
their deeds.
That's largely changed today -- if the kid acts up in school, it's
probably the fault of the teachers and administrators.
I don't believe it's their fault, but a lot has been done to make it
difficult for them to deal with the problems that do arise.
I had a very different experience in that, generally, problems were
dealt with by the students themselves with faculty oversight, and
disciplinary actions ranged from short-term loss of some privilege (most
common) to dismissal from the school (for a rare "honor" violation). I
think it worked as well as it did/does because the students insisted
there be /no/ daylight between "the way things should be" and "the way
things are" - and absolutely everything one might do was subject to peer
review. It took some years for me to recognize the courage that demanded
of both teachers and administrators.
As the sarge used to say on Hill Street Blues, "Be careful out there."
--
Morris Dovey
DeSoto Solar
DeSoto, Iowa USA
http://www.iedu.com/DeSoto/