Tuesday, May 5, 2009

These dangerous criminals belong in...the schools (?)

Check out this article from my favorite ICU patient, the Boston "Dollar" Globe:

A repeat of last week's mass student hooky that led to a stabbing, arrests, and traffic gridlock at Revere Beach could happen again, with worse consequences, if communications among public safety officials do not improve and if state funding for beach patrols dries up.
I've had more than one ignorant, sneering conservative dismiss the challenges of teaching as "breaking up spitball fights". After all, any idiot can teach these youngsters. Hey, when a number of them come together, you have at most minor problems. Anyway,

'the Blizzard of '78 paled in comparison to what descended at Revere Beach that day,' said Councilor George V. Colella, who was mayor in 1978.
That's right, these kids gathered in a group not far from the population of a large middle&high school. The results were a number of arrests, a near-fatal stabbing, and all manner of minor problems. Harmless in a school, mortal danger at the beach. These out-of-touch public safety officials ("They used MySpace!! How were we to ever find out what they were up to? For heaven's sake, they probably tweeted!") were taken aback by having to deal with what school staff face every day.

Indeed, these dangerous not-yet-adults should be safely (out of sight) at school, under the supervision of staff who likely have had little or no specific training in managing violent or borderline situations. I wouldn't mind learning that, something preferable to being force-fed the latest jargon pumped out by teacher colleges. You see, teaching is easy: all you have to do is get someone to learn who would stab and vandalize those around them if they had one day off from school.

True story: a middle school where I did some observation used to allow its eighth graders out a couple days early at the end of the year. The practice ended when the town police complained. They couldn't handle the challenge of these adolescents wandering the streets...the cops couldn't handle what us overpaid, idiot teachers do every day, it seems.

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