The “Break it Down” Blog

Thank god. I can remember as a kid running and jumping and playing. I’m glad to see that these schenanigans are finally going to be stopped. So to recap:

• Playing video games is bad for children
• Watching TV is bad for children
• Playing outside at recess is bad for children

I guess it’s just me, but I feel a lot safer knowing my children, when they are old enough, won’t be able to play anything, watch anything and probably not read much of anything.

I’d like to point out that this unbelievable level of retardation is our fault. The promise of getting rich quick through a lawsuit is so possible and appeals to a subset of us just enough, that we will gun for it at all costs. Then again, who gives a shit about everyone else if you now pocket $100 million dollars? Who cares that now schools are going over the top implementing instatutionalized rules because parents have turned them into exactly that through their lawsuits and complaints?

The schools are responsible for:

• What children eat
• If children get into fights
• Who they talk to
• What they do in their free time
• What they do off campus if they are ditching school
• What material they are exposed to
• Keeping kids safe from everything and anything

And an endless laundry list that more or less looks like the rules or guidelines you might agree to if you put your mom or dad in a long-term care facility… yes an old-folks home. How has school become any different, and moving forward, how could it possibly be any different? Schools can’t get sued because it destroyed their ability to function. Parents won’t stop suing because no one wants to accept the fact that their child could just maybe not be that smart or that things can happen to people.

I’m interested in seeing where our new charter school system goes as it continues to grow unanchored by unionized teachers, allowing it to grow, pay real salaries and act more like a business instead of some beurocratic wildabeast that is just trying to labor it’s way through a lake filled with mud.

I think the problem here is that most of these lawsuits against schools aren’t completely outrageous, so I can see why parents are suing and winning. If your child goes to school, and uses the lab computers to lookup porn and you sue the school, that’s a pretty sticky situation.

1. If the school removes internet access completely, they become a insufficient tool for learning
2. If they filter the internet access there are changes they block legit data and more likely chances that the children will *still* find inappropriate material

What happened to parenting of yester-year where you took your kid aside and said “Hey, knock it off. You know better than that. These computers are used for learning, don’t let me catch you doing that again or you will loose your XBox”.

I have no goddamn idea where that parenting went, but it’s gone. The response now is a flustered parent that is so disconnected from their child’s life that they have no idea what the kid was doing in the first place and they just decide to scream bloody murder in a flustered tone and throw more than willing lawyers at the school district for corrupting their child.

Hey, guess what, if he was looking up porn at school, before you sue the school for corrupting your child, you might want to have a look at his hard drive, under his matress and maybe take a look at his text or IM messages. My guess is that your child is either a curious teenager or a pervert already.

Oh wait, no that’s the wrong mindset, I need to apply the mindset I witness every day in the news: It’s not my fault.

Well Merry Christmas to me then.