Non Mopar rant! High school politics.

You asked a good question. I read my own reply, and I kinda asked myself the same......what am I trying to say?

Zero tolerance sounds good. It makes a nice sound byte. I don't think it works so good in practice. As far as weapons and packing guns at school........not something I want to do. No strong opinions there from me. I would not be opposed to a trained individual having one. No problem at all if someone wants to pack at work......

I guess it comes down to this. We have a culture that is ailing in my opinion, and the problems that we face are far larger than just "kicking butt a little harder". Been there, and it did work awhile ago. You may think that I am a left leaning weenie, far from it. Consequences work undoubtedly. However, what do you do with a student who does not care? What do you do when the parent actively fights against rules and regs? What about when the teacher lies to save her skin? It is not a cut and dried world unfortunately. The easy answer is this, just get rid of the kid who does not do what he has been asked. Then where do they go? Think about that for a second. Alternative schools work for some. Get rid of the teachers and schools that stink? Maybe, it has happened.

My school is small, rural and very poor. We struggle. Many of my students are essentially raising themselves. Many of their role models are TV or other entertainment based figures, not other adults in the community or family members.

The answer in my opinion is for all of us, myself included, to do the best we can to engage young people. To work with them, guide them, help them and pay attention to them. They need that more now than ever. If we don't do this, we will lose an entire generation I am afraid.

The real change has to come at the heart level and only after some serious introspection and acceptance of personal responsibility. Each American needs to do that and teachers should be doing that daily......several times a day!

We all need to buck the tide of "wussification" and the "whatever" culture that we live in, which is difficult to do in a school setting for both students and staff.

It is challenging to be a Clint Eastwood in a Bravo TV world.

ROB