Assault Puddle

I graduated with a graduate degree in History and went into the teaching field. I got out - quick. The BS there is unbelievable.

I am sure that there are some fine teachers out there, but believe me, the education profession as a whole is about the lowest common denominator. They are the bottom of the barrel of the 'educated' class - generally speaking. It is a shame that our kids are being taught by the likes of most of them.

[This message has been edited by CassidyGT (edited December 12, 1999).]
 
I agree that jail is an extreme penalty, but it is a form of detention. Here in Austin there were 3 kids who went into a Blockbuster video store, 2 age 12, 1 age 11, each walked down a different aisle with their arms outstretched and knocked all the tapes onto the floor, then ran outside. This is considered 'criminal mischief' in Texas. I walked in, found out what happened, and I informed the manager since I had seen where the kids went. I told the manager his options. He called the police, I followed the kids. The police picked them up, but rather than take them to jail took them back to the store, called their parents, and had the kids clean up the mess. The parents were told come get your kid NOW or they could pick them up at juvenille detention. Two of the kids were picked up by one parent. Those kids were cousins, and the kids were scared to death when dad showed up. We could tell that they would be in a lot of trouble when they got home. The little girl was picked up by mom and acted like the store had done something wrong by inconvienencing her. Since mom had an attitude that her little princess can do what she likes, the family had their account revoked and was isssued a criminal trespass notice so if any family member shows up at any Blockbuster in town they will be arrested for criminal trespass. Parents like that mother is a big reason why many kids do the things they do. They are not being parented at home and end up getting in trouble. Hopefully the kids that get caught figure out from society or police, since they sure aren't getting it from their parents, that there is a price to pay for bad behaviour. At least before they end up like a 15 year old in Dallas back in Feb 1997 who was shot repeatedly with an AR at 04:00 for stealing some expensive wire hubcaps. Where was the parent who should have taught a kid long before he turned 15 that stealing was wrong and that he has no business being out at his age at 04:00?
 
Jeff, I think you, Blockbuster and the police handled that situation perfectly - great job. And, it was certainly good for each of those kids - bad behavior without prompt 'negative reinforcement' is the cause of a lot of the crap we see, IMHO. Too bad the girl has a twit for a mother.

I'm sorry, but I notice you're not an LEO at this time (per your profile), but I thought you had been? Anyway, jail may be simply 'detention', but for a lot of civilians, like me, it is a big deal. I've never been handcuffed, never locked in a cell, and never forced into the back of a police car. Being held against my will would be a very big deal. I can only imagine how big a deal it would be for a 12 year old kid. For serious criminal actions, I could see it. But most of us are just tired of seeing adolescent behavior problems overblown. And, these exaggerated punishments do trivialize more serious crimes, IMHO.

Take care.
 
Putting a 12 year old kid in Jail for splashing?
Thats indeed a major load of BS. Thats what parents are for.
OC Sprying a kid for splashing? That may be wrong... I aint defending the kid. But the fact a TFL member here has the lack of restraint and tolerance and understanding of the Use Of Force ladder... That just makes me shake my head.
Somebody sprays my kid with OC - I would be all over them like Rosie on a Twinkie. Oh - and cdf can confirm this - I used to put OC on my Tacos and use it as a breath freshener; So if you try it on me - you'll still end up like the puddle that got you soaked in the first place.

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"A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded sexual and emotional maturity." - Sigmund Freud
We, the people, are tired of being taxed, penalized, supervised, harassed,
and subjugated by a federal government which exceeds the powers
enumerated in the U.S. Constitution.
 
My wife will be happy to hear about this. This means that 98% of the kids in her classroom will be thrown in jail. It's much easier to teach 3 kids insted of 27. **Really though, this kind of crap needs to end, starting with the persons job that thought it necessary to throw a child in jail for stomping in a puddle.
 
Getting kids to act like human beings has become a quagmire. Law suits are not the answer-- indeed, school discipline has been neutered because of lawsuits for imagined parental grievances. School systems are terrified of litigation if they enforce disciplinary standards. Kids talk to teachers with the kind of disrespect they learned at home, and got away with, because it was too much work for the parents to teach them civility and respect. Maybe getting a Go To Jail card was a bit severe for the kid who stomped in the mud puddle, but Jeff was perfectly right: the kid was warned to follow the rules, and 12 is old enough to know better (6 year olds can stomp in mud puddles; 12 year olds who do it are pxxxxs). We have raised yet another generation that lacks respect for authority or institutions, and we marvel at the lack of civility they show toward teachers and the rest of us, in their language, their expectations and their accomplishments. In the end we cannot have it both ways: either we will introduce a new degree of institutional discipline in schools which will sometimes be egregiously unfair and ridiculously overzealous, but which will restore order and academic standards, or we will have continued collapse of standards in pursuit of individual expression.
 
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