My parents had it easy

[Smokin' Chopper]

I attended a sort of parent/teacher conference tonight and came to quite a realization. In short I was just wondering if any other parents thought the same way.

Tonight there was an 8th grade conference for my younger son who will be going into 9th next season so basically it was just kind of an introduction, what classes he should take for what goals he'd like to accomplish and such.

No complaints at all, he's a great kid, as is my oldest (going into 12th next year), pretty decent grades, respectful, most everything a parent could hope for I suppose.

While I'm at the school with him, I see other parents and what I'd consider their freakish children. Yeah I know, I shouldn't stereotype, but its just amazing to see the differences. The parents look all clean cut and kids look like, well not. I'm of course a tattooed, biker in my dirty work clothes (you know, heathen scum looking) and my kids' clothes aren't baggy, not odd looking, no cosmetics or eye liner like some of these other kids. Strange how that works I guess.

I was surprised to see the number of openly gay teens (Emo I guess is the PC term these days) in the school. It amazed and impressed me about how tolerant the other kids seemed toward this. And of course all of this got me thinking back to when I attended the very same school.

There was a guy everyone suspected was gay and he was picked on. I personally didn't give a shit about his preference, let alone his existence but that's best left for another discussion sometime. I started thinking about these other parents and what their home lives must be like. These days it seems the PC police are just everywhere. In my youth, if I'd played around with a light socket... I'd have only done it once. These days they have those little plastic things you put over them.

In my day, if my parents took me to the hospital to mend a broken limb or get some stitches or something they weren't asked to leave the room so I could be questioned on "How I really got those wounds", cops wouldn't have been brought in to take photographs, my parents wouldn't have been questioned about it... it was just cut and dry. I did something (probably stupid) and got injured as a result. My parents went through the same thing at my age and no one would have questioned them either.

These days, if your oldest son is having an asthma attack the school officials are convinced he's on somekind of drugs and demand all kinds of tests only to discover........ asthma just like was initially mentioned.

These days due to shootings and such, a pair of fingernail clippers are considered a "deadly weapon" and the student is subject to expulsion. In my day we had rifles in the rear windows of our trucks in the High School parking lot. If we had a dispute, we kicked the shit out of each other, we didn't think of wasting our valuable ammo on some asshole that merely needed a pounding.

Things have really changed for parents and it makes me wonder where the hell all this PC crap came from. Imagine, Mr. CleanCut doctor/lawyer/scientist/whatever can't raise his kids to save his life, but those of us that enjoy a little smoke now and then, actually perform physical labor (working on motorcycles), dirty clothes and gruff attitudes seem to be able to raise really decent kids. Funny how that works I guess.

Anyway, sorry this is so long, just gives you something to toke and ponder.

SC

 

[Guest]

im 25 and im so scared to have kids...i cant even imagine whats going to go on in Highschools in 10-15 years!!!! good read!

 

[Guest]

Things in public schools have gone downhill since I was a kid. A "thata boy", Smokin' for being involved in your kids education.

 

[LeoNardoDaVinci]

Wow that is all I can say. You have some real muddled up opinions my friend.

 

[marx2k]

Things have really changed for parents and it makes me wonder where the hell all this PC crap came from. Imagine, Mr. CleanCut doctor/lawyer/scientist/whatever can't raise his kids to save his life, but those of us that enjoy a little smoke now and then, actually perform physical labor (working on motorcycles), dirty clothes and gruff attitudes seem to be able to raise really decent kids. Funny how that works I guess.

Anyway, sorry this is so long, just gives you something to toke and ponder.

Well, I guess that the first lesson this teaches you would be not to stereotype (clean cut/doctor/lawyer/scientist or biker/blue collar, etc)

But I would say the reason you are seeing this situation is overprotective parents who raise their kids on xanax and playdates and shuttling them to the mall, to soccer practice, to their tutoring lessons.

Shit, when I was a kid, my parents didn't drive me anywhere. I biked or took the bus. I didn't have playdates, I hung out with my friends and played tag in the streets or rode my bike around the neighborhood. My parents weren't worried I was going to get kidnapped. My parents weren't worried I was going to break something. My parents didn't give me money, drive me to the mall and turn me loose to terrorize the food court patrons with my Spencer Gifts wardrobe and pseudo-angstsy attitude. Nintendo and TV wasnt my babysitter and my parents didn't raise me in a bubble.

So... that and the media making believe that rare instances of kidnappings and murders is now the norm is why parents raise their kids like they do and why you have kids that look absurd in their convoluted form of rebellion. You'll also see this more kids of middle to upper middle class parents who both work and send their kid off to daycare or throw nannies and 'mood stabilizers' at them.

Personally, I don't really feel like having kids. Exponential population explosion raping limited resources and all that, but that's another subject altogether.

 

[Liam]

So I saw this bullshit from an 'adult' perspective firsthand, as I matured quickly and really haven't changed since I was 12 (now 24).

Now before that this one event happended, in grade 2 I had joked sarcastically with my friends that "I'm lucky because I sleep on a luxury water bed!" when discussing our rooms... my friends KNEW that it was still in a boxes, and had been for ages, and I did indeed sleep on them, but one would always fill in the punchline with that fact. Now my teacher heard this and in his mind it must have been 'kid lying about his bed... because he sleeps on boxes... omg his parents must be monsters!' Well long story short, I was given special attention and the teacher asked me about this covertly, I saw through his attempt and assured him there was nothing wrong. Apparently I didn't convince him, my parents suddenly got around to setting it up, and frankly, I hated the damn thing!! Surprise surprise, the guy went on to become a lawyer and then a judge, now I actually have an otherwise fond view of him, and It'd be my guess hes against prohibition... but on the other hand Mormons are awfully nice, but that don't make them smart.

The situation is this in regards to public schools, the people that become k1-12 teachers are the lowest denomination of college graduates, I know, I met them. They are in general; religious, ignorant, whiny, self-righteous, and pompous. I will NEVER send my kids to public education (I plan to adopt btw, enough mouths too feed out there already), home schooling is a pain, but its WAYYY better... the only area that you have to struggle with is making sure they are not socially awkward, but sending em to public school doesn't guarantee that either, just being smart I had to struggle to avoid being cast into the nerd caste!

BTW, police in my area are now interrogating elementary kids showing them drugs and asking them if their parents have these, little rug rats are naive so they pipe up and tell-all... and this is happening in CANADA.

 

[DickAnubis]

Smoking- Very good point you're making. I've always found that bikers make very committed and attentive parents. And I think that's the difference. Many parent today think their kids are, well, not kids. They're so worried not to alienate their kids that they neglect the fact that you have to raise them. My folks ,like you and yours, took the time to raise and teach us and didn't worry if we got mad at them once in a while. Now between being told that their lives are too busy and they should be AFRAID of just about everything parents have lost control. Some never had it, maybe some never wanted it.

In the '70s I went to a high school that had riot gates come down whenever a fight broke out. There were weapons and drugs and genuinely evil kids and some evil adults as well. You know the creepy janitor type. But most of us were taught how to stay out of the way when we could and how to use our fists if we had too. It teaches balance and a kind of wisdom.

You sound like your kids have good parents.
PEACE Bro
Da
O MANI PADME OM

 

[Dan42nepa]

my school had a rifle team and we would practice in the underground falliout shelter area and compete against other schools. It was on .22 caliber but nothing bad ever happened. This was a public high school also.

 

[Guest]

You have some real muddled up opinions my friend.

Agreed.

-They don't ask your kid "what really happened" unless they have suspicion of some sort.
-Emo doesn't mean gay.
-They don't think you're on drugs if you have an asthma attack.

That's how it is...for at least the vast majority of the time, in the vast majority of schools.

...and damn those PC police, trying to make education possible without harassment for gay people! Damn them to hell!

I've always found that bikers make very committed and attentive parents.

I've always found stereotypes don't really work

 

[treble]

interesting post. I don't have kids but know a lot of people that do.. they are pretty common it seems....these kids....I know some families where the kids pretty much dictate to the parents and act as they please. Then there are others where the family is more traditional if you like and there is respect for parents.

the closer ones are usually younger children in early school. The more disruptive are older children in their teens. mostly

From my perspective its hard to tell whether it is a lack of discipline being applied or if it is the workload of being a modern parent. I see families of 3 children all with different interests and the effort required to keep up with that is enormous on top of working. I also remember that its pretty hard to discipline a teenager any time.

I see families go from being scattered and everyone crossing paths to suddenly become very close knit. Respect is the big thing. where there is respect for parents and respect for children you will find a family. Sounds like what you have.

As for the world of doctor/lawyer/scientists its a very unreal place. Every layer has its own smearing of shit that goes with it. I survive just underneath it all. There's not much sunlight and everyone looks pastey and ill. Like some kind of slug creatures. Sometimes I think how ugly the human form might be to an alien spiecies, big brain bulb stuck up on a stalk... I so want to be out of there.

Some people live out in the sunlight and some people dont, people like that are so wired up they have a completely different reality. Hard to explain but its there. They dont even know it. I also realized that they are just as poor as me, only difference is their poor is more expensive than mine.

treb

 

[Guest]

Great post SC - thanks...

ws

 

[Dan42nepa]

I was brought up in a rural area so my only companions were my brothers. When i moved to a more populated area I had friends close by to hang with. Socialization didnt suffer from me not being brought up in a higher populated area. I dont know what the problem is. Parents seem so busy and this play date thing seems sort of silly.
Kids seem to have no freedom and seem so protected now. I wonder if there are more predators around now than the 60's or 70's?

 

[treble]

in the old days people used to be out more which caused the criminals to hide ..and possible not even become criminals.. lots said for "community". But now its the otherway around, people hide inside and the evil dooers are hanging around out side

treb

 

[green michine]

interesting thread.

 

[marx2k]

I wonder if there are more predators around now than the 60's or 70's?

According to the media, there are. According to logic, there are not.

 

[vinivici]

im not a parent but i graduated in 2000 and i have a sister in public high school.

i was talking to her a few months ago about drugs and if her friends did any, i was speechless when i heard her answer. it went something like this.

me: "do any of your friends do drugs"

My sis: "only the usual, COKE and weed"

only a few years ago when i was in high school weed and alcohol were the only things around, it scares the shit out of me that in 5 short years coke has come up to beat weed.

 

[marx2k]

But are you sure that that's what students are doing in most high schools or just some? I imagine that in more affluent high schools, there'd be more coke being done (it may still be the whole this is easier to get than that thing) - in not-so-affluent schools, something else takes the place of coke.

I don't think that coke is what students are doing in most high schools. Weed remains a constant and I think mainly alcohol does too. Hey, maybe your sister is just into different shit than other students.

 

[Danksta]

Dont be to ignorant marx2k... more and more highschool students are using coke. I saw it when i graduated in 2004 and can only imagine its on the rise.

 

[marx2k]

I'll admit it's of my own opinion, since I graduate HS a long time ago and don't have any of my own kids. But can you site some articles confirming this as personal anectdotes hardly form a nationwide consensus.

 

[Liam]

They are in general

Bubbles, you missed that part about my comment on teachers didn't cha?

Easily 75% of teachers are as I described. I've been to many, many schools in my line of work. My mother is a teachers aid also, shes one of the religious, self righteous ones. If it was simply 1/2 the teachers, it wouldn't be so bad, but when schools across Canada are forcing dress codes on teenagers, and allowing police to interrogate students, only inviting political speakers they support to the school, and general asshattery, with NO dissent among any of the teachers, then we got a problem.

You don't see that you defending FAMILY MEMBERS of said profession makes you completely irrelevant? Your biased towards a positive opinion, and thus a positive opinion from you is thus meaningless (not that any of our opinion's have much meaning).

Do YOU think its acceptable to have teachers a part of a school sponsored religious group? Do you think its ok for counselors in schools condemning homosexuality are ok? Do you think its ok for school officials to say certain dress code is immoral? Well all of this is occurring across Canada, and only a few times does the media freak out about it enough that a teacher is dismissed with pay... and then when it blows over put back to work. Kinda like Chris Kembling of BC.

And this is just the PUBLIC schools, private religious ones are way worse, teachers still hit children, sexual abuse covered up, hatred of minorities promoted. The only religious schools the media goes after are the Islamic ones, which is good, but kids in Catholic schools are writing essays on the holocaust never happened here in Alberta STILL to this day.

So honestly, Bubbles, your opinion is wasted, I already am more informed about this than anyone else I know. Education has always been an important issue to me, because I firmly believe that peoples views change little from when they are around 13, so to change the world we have to focus on the youth.

Colleges are a different story with different problems. The problem with them is that a lot of teachers are really just researchers forced to teach by the university, so they arn't exactly up to the job. Also, thick accents don't help.

Anyhow, one little thing I love about teachers is that they all bitch about their pay, but refuse to say what they get paid, because they know you'll lose all sympathy for them. They get paid DAMN well considering they are lower class graduates, and they have 2 months off a year, and no, they are not always busy marking homework, many schools the students just pass it back or forward to be marked. My line of work has pretty much changed all the schools into multiple choice tests that takes very little effort for the teacher to mark tests.