HIGH SCHOOL -- 1980 vs. 2011

[Jagermeister]

You should know that by today's standards none of us was supposed to ever make it.

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..
1980 - Vice Principal comes over, looks at Jack's shotgun, goes to his car and gets his shotgun to show Jack.
2011 - 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:
Johnny and Mark get into a fist fight after school.
1980 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up buddies.
2011 - Police called and SWAT team arrives -- they arrest both Johnny and Mark. They are both charged with assault and both expelled even though Johnny started it.


Scenario 3:
Jeffrey will not be still in class, he disrupts other students.
1980 - 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.
2011 - 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.
1980 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college and becomes a successful businessman..
2011 - 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.
1980 - Mark shares his aspirin with the Principal out on the smoking dock..
2011 - 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.
1980 - Pedro goes to summer school, passes English and goes to college.
2011 - Pedro's cause is taken up by state. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement forgraduation 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.
1980 - Ants die.
2011 - 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 hugs him to comfort him.
1980 ? In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing.
2011 - 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.

[ELVIS]

That's awesome!

[Nitro Express]

Pretty much the truth. Our high school had a skeet shooting team. We would bring our shotguns to school and the principal would keep them in his office. After school we would walk down the main hall of the school with shotguns going to our cars. Nobody cared. In grade school we all had pocket knives and would play various throwing games with them at recess and waiting for the school bus. Nobody cared. You did have to keep your knife in your pocket during class or the teacher would take it away. You usually got it back after school.

The government has and is doing a good job basically making anything illegal. They have that big corporate owned prison system to fill up. Follow the money.

[Kristy]

No that's sad. Ever since Columbine happened therapy for high schoolers has become one profitable business. And now it has more sway than ever before. As for psychritist fucking their clients there was an article that reported in the state of Texas alone back on 2007 (I can't seem to find it) where over 70 cases were reported and less than 10 actually went to trial or resulted removal of license.

[sadaist]

South Park did an episode where all the kids were diagnosed with ADD. Some doctor Chef had found had a genius way to cure it. As they hopped & jumped around in their desks, he walked up, smacked em upside the head and yelled ...SIT DOWN AND STUDY!!!

Worked better than the Ritalin.

[ZahZoo]

Last weekend my oldest daughter (24) was visiting... the subject of school violence came up. She said she wished every school had metal detectors and high security. She then asks me... you grew up in California did they have metal detectors at your high school?

Had to laugh... no, I'm not sure metal detectors were invented yet (72-76)... plus kids didn't go killing people at school back then. Times have changed...

[private parts]

Last weekend my oldest daughter (24) was visiting... the subject of school violence came up. She said she wished every school had metal detectors and high security. She then asks me... you grew up in California did they have metal detectors at your high school?

Had to laugh... no, I'm not sure metal detectors were invented yet (72-76)... plus kids didn't go killing people at school back then. Times have changed...

Speaking of that. My son told me that one of his 15 year old friends said that Eddie VH is overrated after he told him he was going to the Van Halen concert.

Should I:
a. Go against my parenting judgement and tell him to kick the kids ass. or
b. Wait in the parking lot after school and do it myself.

[Nitro Express]

It's easy to blame the kids but I have found behind every crazy assed kid lies some crazy assed parenting. Too many parents think it's someone else' responsibility to raise their kids for them. They usually bring children into a marriage situation that has either failed or is on the brink. We have totally lost the "I'm an adult and you are a kid so respect me" by not stomping these little assholes when needed and giving them big heads bullshiting too much about how special they are. Then the lack of real punishment enables these cocky kids to know exactly what they can get away with. When I was a kid I feared the teacher, my parents, and adults in general. The respect was there and it was yes sir and yes maam. Mouthing off had serious consequences.

If a bully picked a fight with you, you were expected to stand up to his bullying. Fights usually resulted in some punches being thrown and maybe some wrestling. Kicking was for sissies and using a weapon was out of the question. That was pure psycho and nobody wanted to go there. Bullies getting their asses kicked taught a valuable lesson and wimps learned to stand up for themselves. It was wonderful. It was better to get your ass whipped as a man than to cower and get ass fucked and then you came back later and kicked their asses. This is the mentality that brought kids into the local karate schools and dojos.

After school time was full of sports, music lessons, homework, and doing a long list of chores mom had waiting for you. Saturdays were fun. We did stuff and made stuff. We played in the streets. We didn't sit on our fat asses playing computer games killing digital people with digital weapons becoming desensatized to killing and blowing people away. If we killed something it was for real. I once blew the leg off a frog with my BB gun. I saw the white shiney bone of the frog's leg as it made this horrible whimpering noise and plunged back into the murky pond. I almost cried it was so horrible. I never did that ever again and it was a lesson learned. I wasn't blowing away little digital frogs on the computer thinking it was fun being separated from the reality of it.

One problem is, these kids don't live in reality. They live in a virtual world produced by media companies and even the military sponsors the games they play hoping to produce future killers. Guess who will be flying those drones in the sky a few years from now? The corporations want to dehumanize us and look at these kids. So many live in a fog. They aren't normal kids anymore. Their parents ignore then and they become mind fucked by the corporate junk they swim in. Mom and dad have become replaced by corporations. Now you know why the kids are fucked.

[fourthcoming]

Shit, I remember taking a cap gun to school when I was still in Elementary school. Problem was, it was the day after President Reagan was shot by Hinkley. I had no idea, all I knew was someone was stealing magic markers out of my desk. These were the days when the teacher led the class down the hall in pairs to the lunchroom. So, I waited around in the classroom because the teacher was careless enough to not account for all of her students with my buddy and hid behind some desks. When we heard people coming into the room I stood up and yelled freeze! It turned out to be two other teachers coming into my classroom for something. The principal flipped out because it was the day after the President was shot. Mom was called, came to school, took me and the cap gun home. Punishment ensued. This day and age, I would have been put on a terror watch list and news cameras would have been everywhere. Probably would have had a long session with the school psychologist and been started a steady diet of God knows what type of drugs that they are casually feeding to kids these days rather than doing some parenting. Then again, if you try to do some parenting ala 1980 style, you'll probably end up in a jail cell and cps will be called.

[Nitro Express]

If your kid is curious, full of energy, and wants you to constantly play with them to where it wears you down, the pharmaceutical companies have the answer to keep those anoying energy filled kids from acting like kids.

[private parts]

Some kids aren't that bad. I posted this in another thread yesterday.. seems appropriate here.

For some reason this DOESN'T make me cringe. This tells me there is still some hope for this generation.
a tribute without being a tribute band. Just pretend its your kids playing and it kind of makes you proud.
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[fourthcoming]

Not all kids are bad.....not all people are bad. Unfortunately however, most people approximately 25 and under today seem to feel some sort of entitlement. They can't seem to grasp the fact that hard work and responsibility is essential to success. They are too dissillusioned by talentless pukes like the Kardashians or the Paris Hilton's of the world who are famous for absolutely nothing. Follow your dreams, go for it....try to be what you want to be....but someone somewhere needs to be the voice of reason to the American Idol Generation. When there are 40,000 strong showing up for auditions in every city and it's so damn obvious that 39,990 of them are talentless, that should be a red flag. Someone needs to tell these people....um, you might want to try to pursue a more tangible career path.

[private parts]

Not all kids are bad.....not all people are bad. Unfortunately however, most people approximately 25 and under today seem to feel some sort of entitlement. They can't seem to grasp the fact that hard work and responsibility is essential to success. They are too dissillusioned by talentless pukes like the Kardashians or the Paris Hilton's of the world who are famous for absolutely nothing. Follow your dreams, go for it....try to be what you want to be....but someone somewhere needs to be the voice of reason to the American Idol Generation. When there are 40,000 strong showing up for auditions in every city and it's so damn obvious that 39,990 of them are talentless, that should be a red flag. Someone needs to tell these people....um, you might want to try to pursue a more tangible career path.

I'll drink to that

[BenJammin]

We used to smoke weed at the cigarette bench, outside the band room, inside the welding booths and inside cars during shop & auto mechanics. We also used to share a bottle of wine between 2-3 people before school a lot of times, plus a variety of other substances. We also used to partake in the time honored tradition of destroying mailboxes with bats while hanging out of moving cars and other typical acting out of teenage angst and boredom. BUT... most of my teachers liked me, I was on the honor roll several times, successfully graduated without incident, and have stayed gainfully employed 99% of my career and now I own a home in SoCal and have a job making pretty decent money. Probably not as far along as some in my age group, but I'm not a homeless burnout either.

My point? All the stupid shit that people do when they are young doesn't necessarily have to be put under the microscope, analyzed, and 'treated' to try and prevent the slightest possibility any further delinquent behavior in a misguided attempt to make a perfect little squeaky clean citizen out of everyone. It happens a lot and most of us realize the errors of our ways, adjust, and go on with life. Putting everything on full display for everyone around you to pass judgement on you as if you have no internal guide of your own can, imo, be counterproductive for certain individuals such as myself. My internal guide has been wrong a lot of times, but it has also been right a lot of times too.

If someone had singled me out for 'having a problem' and either expelled me or made my life more difficult in some way, it probably would have resulted in something other than THEIR desired effect. Instead it probably would have made me feel violated then ashamed then angry and ultimately more rebellious.

[fourthcoming]

We used to smoke weed at the cigarette bench, outside the band room, inside the welding booths and inside cars during shop & auto mechanics. We also used to share a bottle of wine between 2-3 people before school a lot of times, plus a variety of other substances. We also used to partake in the time honored tradition of destroying mailboxes with bats while hanging out of moving cars and other typical acting out of teenage angst and boredom. BUT... most of my teachers liked me, I was on the honor roll several times, successfully graduated without incident, and have stayed gainfully employed 99% of my career and now I own a home in SoCal and have a job making pretty decent money. Probably not as far along as some in my age group, but I'm not a homeless burnout either.

My point? All the stupid shit that people do when they are young doesn't necessarily have to be put under the microscope, analyzed, and 'treated' to try and prevent the slightest possibility any further delinquent behavior in a misguided attempt to make a perfect little squeaky clean citizen out of everyone. It happens a lot and most of us realize the errors of our ways, adjust, and go on with life. Putting everything on full display for everyone around you to pass judgement on you as if you have no internal guide of your own can, imo, be counterproductive for certain individuals such as myself. My internal guide has been wrong a lot of times, but it has also been right a lot of times too.

If someone had singled me out for 'having a problem' and either expelled me or made my life more difficult in some way, it probably would have resulted in something other than THEIR desired effect. Instead it probably would have made me feel violated then ashamed then angry and ultimately more rebellious.

Couldn't agree with you more. Myself and the guys I used to run with were derelicts. We partied and we did alot of damage....mailbox and garbage cans that is...we weren't douche bag tough guys out looking for fights every night. Fuck it, your a young kid with tons of angst....it has to come out somehow. Is it the healthiest way to do things, probably not. That's what being young is....The one thing my friends and I always did was work. We always had jobs....no matter how degrading or how difficult they were. We wanted to go out and party and have our own cars and buy our weed, beers and other party favors. We never looked for hand outs or just flat out EXPECTED things from other people. I think that's the one difference with some kids today. They don't realize how much more rewarding that joint is gonna taste when they get off at 8:30 at night after a full day of busting their ass landscaping or stocking shelves. Alot of kids today seem to think jobs like these, or anything involving manual labor is beneath them. The last part of your statement is completely accurate in my opinion. It's a self fulfilling prophecy. People don't realize when you immediately label kids or tell them they aren't doing things in life correctly, and completely bringing a stigma or negative attention to them, they are only going to live up to their label and act out. It's like telling your daughter she can't see her boyfriend anymore because you don't approve of him....she's gonna run away to be with him. Why the fuck am I babbling so much today?....someone please tell me to shut the hell up, I sound like an old fart.

[private parts]

Yep. Did that, did that, did that, mailboxes..did that. Last night I saw an on the street (beach) interview with college kids on spring break. Interviewer asked them various questions regarding current events.
One question was what is the national unemployment in the U.S. Girl looked puzzled, the said, "Oh I know! 99%!!" I laughed my ass off. Then I wondered what I knew about current events when I was a freshman in college:

-There's too many dudes at this bar.

-We're playing Kentucky in basketball Saturday.

-It's 2 for 1 drinks at the Last Lap Saloon on Mondays.

[DONNIEP]

Just so everybody knows - destroying mailboxes ain't fucking cool! Sitting on the hood of a car and shooting at the traffic lights on the private road that leads to the local community college - perfectly acceptable I don't even remember which one of us thought that was a good idea at the time...

[Zing!]

Shit, I remember taking a cap gun to school when I was still in Elementary school. Problem was, it was the day after President Reagan was shot by Hinkley. I had no idea, all I knew was someone was stealing magic markers out of my desk. These were the days when the teacher led the class down the hall in pairs to the lunchroom. So, I waited around in the classroom because the teacher was careless enough to not account for all of her students with my buddy and hid behind some desks. When we heard people coming into the room I stood up and yelled freeze!

Today that story would be called 'Going Viral.' You would be trending on Yahoo! as Crazy Cap Gun Kid. Instant fame, instant notoriety. Instant press at your door. Instant guilt over embarrassing your family and ending up being seen as a psycho by the whole online world. Doctor prescribes Xanex. You become Crazy Real Gun Kid. Sad, isn't it. We used to do dumb stuff like that all the time - it would end with a whupping, sometimes with 'The Belt' if it was deserving. Guess what... we seldom did that dumb shit again.

[fourthcoming]

Aint that the truth bro

[Sensible Shoes]

Not all kids are bad.....not all people are bad. Unfortunately however, most people approximately 25 and under today seem to feel some sort of entitlement. They can't seem to grasp the fact that hard work and responsibility is essential to success. They are too dissillusioned by talentless pukes like the Kardashians or the Paris Hilton's of the world who are famous for absolutely nothing. Follow your dreams, go for it....try to be what you want to be....but someone somewhere needs to be the voice of reason to the American Idol Generation. When there are 40,000 strong showing up for auditions in every city and it's so damn obvious that 39,990 of them are talentless, that should be a red flag. Someone needs to tell these people....um, you might want to try to pursue a more tangible career path.

Hee hee. I remember my parents saying the same things about long haired hippie freaks, Alice Cooper, THE BEATLES.....insert Laugh-in for American Idol. STUPID TALENTLESS PEOPLE>...... and the racism - oh my God the racism. I don't dare repeat any of it.

Yes, we're getting old alright.

[DONNIEP]

Scenario 2:
Johnny and Mark get into a fist fight after school.
1980 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up buddies.

Man, those days are long gone...

And kids today just don't have the freedom I did when I was a teenager. I remember being gone from home for DAYS without checking in with my mom. I'd pack a bag and be gone up to my buddy's lake house for the weekend. Sixteen, no supervision, no adults. Just me and my buddies, some girls and beer and some weed. Nobody died, nobody ever got into trouble - mainly 'cause there were no parents around to go apeshit over what we were doing.

[Zing!]

Man, those days are long gone...

And kids today just don't have the freedom I did when I was a teenager. I remember being gone from home for DAYS without checking in with my mom. I'd pack a bag and be gone up to my buddy's lake house for the weekend. Sixteen, no supervision, no adults. Just me and my buddies, some girls and beer and some weed. Nobody died, nobody ever got into trouble - mainly 'cause there were no parents around to go apeshit over what we were doing.

My story was the opposite - strict, religious family with curfews and whatnot - but my brothers and I still managed to raise hell and have fun, doing crazy shit that makes me feel grateful to even by alive and typing this right now. Growing up in the late '70's early '80's... there will never be another time like that. Watch the Richard Linklater movie 'Dazed & Confused,' that's pretty much what I remember my youth being like. Good times - damn good times.

[SunisinuS]

Man, those days are long gone...

And kids today just don't have the freedom I did when I was a teenager. I remember being gone from home for DAYS without checking in with my mom. I'd pack a bag and be gone up to my buddy's lake house for the weekend. Sixteen, no supervision, no adults. Just me and my buddies, some girls and beer and some weed. Nobody died, nobody ever got into trouble - mainly 'cause there were no parents around to go apeshit over what we were doing.

You sound like old people.

If I was in highschool I would still be doing the same fucking thing I always did....I looked out for knives and I calmed matters down...the world keeps on turning and kids will still be ok. If there was a gun, I would have already thrown it on the roof. Elbow can blow his fake guns off all he wants....I would throw him up on the roof after them. Least I knew how to provide for him if I did, he shuts his yap he can have a hit also. I grew up in LA. You think people have never grown up in a ghetto and survived? Ask the Poles.

Don't sweat the small stuff.....and it is all small stuff. Even a gun at your back.

[Yount]

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So is it wrong to be turned on by this lead singer?

BTW who is she??

[BenJammin]

Wow, I haven't had a 'crush' on anyone in awhile but she looks and sounds totally cool.

[ZahZoo]

So is it wrong to be turned on by this lead singer?

BTW who is she??

To each his own... when you got kids that age and older, it's just too creepy to view em as anything other than talented youngsters.

[Yount]

It's a little gay to admit that I like her more because she's singing like Dave. I love those screams, very cool.