Postmodern Influenza

Michael Savage says that liberalism is a mental illness. In the public school system, it seems to be a pandemic disease. The last few days are prime examples of the seemingly insurmountable obstacles clear thinking people who believe in the integrity of teaching, not preaching, have to overcome.

As a tutor, I've been a firsthand witness to the decline of our society, as seen in student-teacher relations and the decay of classical curriculum. There is a tremendous discrepancy between the behavior and expectations of the students enrolled in Catholic/Private schools and those enrolled in public schools (spare a few).

One of my students, who was enrolled in a Catholic school through junior high, is now a student in a public high school. He's a very eager student whose parents have high expectations of him, but he's found that not to be anywhere near the norm at his new school.

Yesterday, he related just two examples of how horrible things have become. He said it's not unusual to see students in his Algebra class wearing headphones and falling asleep in class. In fact, most of the students behave in such a manner. His teacher has actually pulled him aside to say he's one of only seven students passing and that she appreciates his participation in class.

When I asked him if his teacher does anything to punish or rouse the sleeping beauties, he replied, "Well, she tries but they just look at her and put their heads back down." To which I replied, "Oh, heck no." (I was an assistant teacher in several classrooms while completing my undergrad degree, and under no circumstances were students allowed to misbehave, fall asleep or use profanity. I was well versed in course talk in several languages by that time, so I was able to "bust" kids trying to get away with swearing in Spanish and Armenian, much to their chagrin.)

After being horrified simply by the fact that students could be so pathetic in their conduct, he said that was just the tip of the iceberg. After class, one of his fellow students asked the teacher if she could help him with something. She told him she was unable to at the time, and he replied, "F--- you, B--ch." I gasped (I'm not naive; I'm a very strict teacher is all) and asked, "Did she do anything then?" He replied, "They never do."

I'm currently working on a response to the lack of discipline in our public school system, among a plethora of other problems there as well. Of course, not all public schools are that way. My brothers went to a very strict public school, and my youngest (Peter, or "Portia's other, other brother") informed me that cursing at a teacher was enough to get a student suspended, no questions asked.

What kind of lessons are we teaching these students if we not only allow for them to sleep through their education but to so blatantly disrespect authority? This does not bode well for our future. It won't be long from now before most of these kids are old enough to vote. Of course, the liberals already know that (see last five posts).