freecounterpoint: the reason

Thursday, July 13, 2006

the reason

9 comments:

Tecumseh said...: Yeah, yeah, yeah -- excuses, excuses. Try doing that on a random street in the US (or France, for that matter), and see whether the cops (or the judge) will buy it.; 7/13/2006 1:58 PM
The Darkroom said...: a french judge would probably buy it (assuming the allegations were true). americans do not have the sense of respect of elders that the rest of the world does so you are probably right.; 7/13/2006 2:52 PM
My Frontier Thesis said...: Pepe said: ...americans do not have the sense of respect of elders that the rest of the world does

Get the hell out of the way you old farts.

(but seriously)

Yes, after decades of training educators to be mindful of a child's self-esteem, the American child has decided that adults are not to be feared. In fact, adults aren't even to be treated with decency or respect.

(for example, on an Istanbul-to-Tashkent flight, two children -- either Uzbek or Turkish -- were raising hell in front of me and disturbing my personal peace. The Turkish flight attendant recognized the problem and asked if they, the children, were bothering me. I politely said, "No," but was asked again. I said, "Well, yes." The flight attendent immediatley whispered one or two sentences to the children, and they immediately buckled in their seats and that was the end of that. I've yet to witness that type of response from American kids).

The reasons are manifold, and I regularly get into arguments with others about whether school uniforms at the K-12 level would get more American students to focus on what is supposed to matter. They say the cloths an individual wears isn't supposed to matter, so that's why students should be able to dress how they want. I agree with them, telling them exactly that, that cloths don't matter, but that's why it would be beneficial to have school uniforms.

Any thoughts on the matter?; 7/13/2006 5:00 PM
Tecumseh said...: Good story about the Tashkent flight, MFT. And yes, kids are trained from day one to show little if any respect to their elders here in the U. S. of A. I mean, even if they were left completely to their own devices, I still think they would show more deference. The training is really the other way, and goes against nature, if you ask me (compare with how animals in the wild behave).; 7/13/2006 6:36 PM
Tecumseh said...: Counterpoint from Materazzi's agent. He got a point, methinks.; 7/13/2006 6:37 PM
My Frontier Thesis said...: "Equal Rights" for one and all! That was the chant, and it sounded great for adults: why not extend it to children!?! There's a reason one needs to be at least 35 years old before allowed to be voted into the highest position in the land.

As I ascend the ladder of age, I notice that there's more effective ways of trying to get the Youth to understand where the geriatrics (eg., JJ, AI, Pepe, AA -- well, not so much Pepe -- kidding, kidding, kidding) are coming from. For example, the "When I was your age, I had to walk uphill both ways when I went to and from school, in the snow, with no shoes" is pretty ineffective. I suppose a better way to influence is indirectly: do good work in whatever it is you do, and be as humble about it as possible. I know: it's a bit vague, but nobody (or rarely anyone) likes arrogant dicks.

If American kids take longer to "grow up" than they used to 230 years ago, we might want to consider amending the Constitution so that one needs to be 40 or 45 to be elected to the White House. I guess we do have checks and balances even if the People vote in a loose canon (this stands in contrast to Iran and North Korea).; 7/15/2006 3:01 PM
My Frontier Thesis said...: Hey AI,

When I click on the blue Counterpoint link, it just takes me to the page we're staring at now. Is there a glich somewhere? Could you try reposting?

mft; 7/15/2006 8:26 PM
Tecumseh said...: Clicking on things works for me. Maybe because I used to walk to school in the snow every day, even in summer?; 7/16/2006 12:11 AM
My Frontier Thesis said...: ai, don't forget: your shoes were made of cardboard, it was uphill both ways, and nobody complained ever.; 7/16/2006 11:49 AM

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