What High School Has Become - From a High School Teacher

Pertaining to the internet, reality tv, etc. portion of your concerns, It's not the Ubiquity of these things like the internet, video games, and reality tv, and other forms of technology thats the problem, the problem is that expectations for what the kids are supposed to do in life has gotten to high. For 100 years in our country, Republican historians have convoluted the facts of world history, mainly with the USSR, to demonize Socialism and interpreted it as Communism, something that hasnt even been practiced before(Stalin never cared about Socialism or Communism, he fooled everyone into thinking he did, he actually implemented a Stalinist Capitalist regime). Anyway, these revised Pseudo-facts about world history and socio-economic events were put into textbooks, which were then forced-fed into the minds of America's youth, starting with the generation of WW1 and passed down to today, generation after generation. What came infused with these pseudo-facts were these grandiose aspirations that people were programmed to want to achieve, by telling them that if they dont graduate and "be all they can be" they will always be nothing, and their existence will be trivial forever. These aspirations gave way to the state of what i like to call the "Hyper-Standardist" society we live in today. Video games, reality tv, internet, movies, music, etc, the augmentation of these technologies was always inevitable, and my generation(millenials) simply utilized them as they came along, its human nature, just as your generation took advantage of the latest forms of entertainment at my age that people older than you complained about, you are doing the same. I have about 10 friends in my social circle that do nothing but play video games, some violent even, watch reality tv, stay on the internet, and watch movies during their off time from a full time job, and they are surviving perfectly fine, paying bills, feeding themselves and their families, etc. The utilization of modern entertainment isnt part of the problem at all, Its the level of expectations from people that might not want to aspire to constantly want to augment their socio-economic status. My generation is becoming more complacent with mediocrity, true, but its more innocuous than you think. However, i do agree that the parent needs to be held far more accountable to the kids' progress than the teachers, there's no debating that. But even in doing so, the utilization of entertainment technology doesnt need to be a focus point, i think that parents need to urge their kids to learn the true facts of our history(separate from mainstream corporate texts books), if anything can remain the way it is in textbooks, it should only be grammer, math, reading, science, etc, but when people learn history, civics, economics, more complex things, schools need to offer a larger supply of actual books in their libraries, and parents need to look at the textbooks their kids are reading, and make sure the facts are just that, facts. What the kid does during off time, so long as its something within reason of human morality, that is their choice, whatever they do that older people hate are tactics that help ease their stress, which can give them the impetus and capacity to learn. Society is going to change even more technologically, morally, socially, educationally, etc, as the millennials will be the generation to take humanity to the next phase of moral existence, leaving capitalism, racism, homophobia, hyper-standardism, and other ideologies of the old ways in the dust, and the classroom is a critical tool to help them learn, so lets stop focusing on how kids stay entertained, and focus on them getting the facts about our world.

a reply to: stdscf12

I had a few teachers like you in my high school. It also received awards for being one of the best high schools in my country (Canada.) I was very fortunate. I remember one teacher expressing his frustration (in a respectable manner) before his class how the School Board was suggesting that they were paid too much, to which he'd responded that he volunteered with a lot of coaching, etc. with the kids for free. That had ended the debate.

At the same time that I respect teachers who genuinely care and make a difference, I truly hated school with every fibre of my being. I hardly ever did homework, hardly ever studied for tests, hardly ever paid attention in class and only did what work or assignments I felt necessary. Its cold, institutional design sickened me. I was an artist, a free thinker, a non-religious spiritualist who pondered the philosophical questions of life and found the idea of condensing my mind down into little math problems insulting. While I was getting poor to dismal grades in Grade 11, I went home and read my father's advanced psychology books. While getting poor marks in English class, my English teacher was raving on about how "publishable" my stories were (his encouragement was a factor in me becoming a writer.) The thing is, I was a sensitive but passionate soul, while public school is clearly intended for stern and congruous personalities. It was one of the happiest days in my life when I finally graduated and got the hell out of that nightmare!

That said, I feel most kids need school (it just doesn't work for some of us.) I believe that the education system needs a great deal more funding: more teachers, more classrooms, for better teaching (and a healthier learning environment.) I feel, and I think most would agree, that teachers like you are truly what's needed and if you had more freedom to teach more in your own way the kids would benefit so much more greatly from it.

Political correctness is a plague that will just keep growing. Its ideology is devoid of all thoughts, ideas, natural human reactions and passion. It's pretty silly how they push this concept of "tolerance" (as opposed to genuine compassion or understanding,) yet political correctness discriminates against the individual, thus everyone. On the surface it might sound righteous, but in reality it's a mind control tactic for the State to further dumb down and control the masses.

a reply to: LoneCloudHopper2

So if i have the belief that you shouldnt say the word Kyke, because over 6 million Jews were called that term before they were put in ovens, that is state-ran political correctness predicated on mind control? Or if i also had the belief that the N-word shouldnt be said because it offends a race that was enslaved and brutalized for hundreds of years, that also implies that i am a puppet of the government-ran undermining of freedom of speech? Wow, then i guess im a puppet then.

a reply to: KillGreed

Let me clarify my perspective to you. Enforcing a perspective on someone is by definition brainwashing, or mind control. You can enforce a perspective through law or social ridicule. When I was little I noticed that some children had different colour skin, etc., but I had no concept of race. That came about in high school for me, when taking a sociology class. Suddenly I was being informed that these kids are Natives, these kids are Blacks, etc. I never had such a concept of cultural divide before. To me, we were all one race but with different traits. Then the concept comes in of Political Correctness. I do not remember who explained it too us, but I sure do remember the tone: bold, cold, stern and forceful. Suddenly there were words you could not say (which has the adverse affect of giving them more power,) as well as certain expressions, gestures, etc., and ones you had to. What was described to me was a way of looking at and treating people as if they were not individuals, but belonged to some category which should be treated a certain way. I had a problem with the word "tolerant" the first time I heard it referred to in regards to Political Correctness, as it does not imply actual compassion or understanding, but again, implies a cold, conscious perception of which categories people belong in and how they ("they" as things in a political concept, rather than human beings) should be treated in a proper, sophisticated society.

I was never bigoted and when I was old enough to learn what the N-word meant I never used it again (when I was little I thought it was the same as 'jerk.') All these years later, I am still sensitive and respectful of people (whether as individuals or when taking a stand as any kind of group, united for a cause,) and the racists, sexists and general bigots are still the way they are too. What has changed? People in that grey area of being partially bigoted but wanting to hide it now have a special language to which they can conceal it. But more to the point, since it's always 'people of importance' who get this sort of thing into a culture (the establishment,) it's a way of tidying things up, dusting the dirt under the rug, pretending that everything is nice and sophisticated in our proud and proper society, rather than dealing with the reality (which is a lot of social DIVISION!)

I'm sorry but political correctness is absolutely absurd to me.

I had to make a new account somehow i coldnt get on despite the fact that all of my login info was correct over and over....anyway, Its KillGreed, the person you replied to.......I understand its human nature to simply notice the color of someone's skin, thats just our occipital lobe at work, fine. You level of morality is determined by what you think about that person after you notice their skin color. You said during your reply that you stopped using the N-Word as soon as you learned what it meant.....isnt that you being a politically correct robot? I despise all forms of bigotry that the media has exploited about for the past few years, but it wasnt because of that, coincidentally enough, as a human, i have always hated bigotry, even as a kid and i didnt know what bigotry was, i never factored in race, gender, religion or lack of, sexual oriantation, age, or socio-economic status into deciding who can be my friend. The media didnt have a hand in shaping my morals, well before i ever started watching the news. And there are a lot of other people like me whose morals have somehow coincided with the same morals that the "robot media" decide to "force" into people's minds. I do think there is a line that is crossed to which can be called Hyper-Sensitivity that, but it doesnt come from the media....the university of new hampshire created a whole list of terms you must use at their campus when referring to certain people....like "person of size" instead of "obese", you have to say "person of advanced age" instead of "senior cirizen", you have to say "experiencing poverty" instead of "poverty stricken", etc. To me, that is too sensitive, like that is to comedic levels, but the terms that we have "been forced" not to say anymore doesnt stop the discrimination, but at least the attempt to eradicate them from our vernacular does actually reflect how human morality is rightfully evolving. You used the word tolerance in quotes, as if the imply that surpressing racist terms isnt true compassion, thats complete BS. If political correctness has prevented some republican redneck capitalist from using a racial term toward someone they are pissed at, then that is a good thing, and if that is "brainwashing", then we need more of it. What about the countless amount of people in this planet who stopped using offensive terms even before they learned not to do it by the media, textbooks, the internet, etc, the people that were taught not to say it because their parents told them it was offensive because they knew someone else that could speak out of actual memory of past events, not any other source? I said the n word a few times as a kid, then my grandma told me not too, and i didnt, she said its offensive, and she didnt learn it from the news or a textbook, so learned it because she grew up in the 60s and witnessed the civil rights movement and the KKK's inhumanity. Now we live in a world where textbooks, the media, the internet, etc is telling us not to use discriminatory terms and instilling political correctness into us, fine, if it is creates a process that will one day eradicate discrimination one day, then isnt that a good thing? or do we need to stop being "conformists" and take about a 150 year step back. Ill tell you, the real brainwashing going on is people being told they are born to want to be rich and establish their social and economic superiorty, not people being told to eradicate offensive language, now once again, i will criticize the hyper-sensitive vocabulary that the university of new hampshire created for their students, im pretty sure we can agree on that.

And your use of George Carlin obviously exaggerates your argument. Suppressing yourself from using the N-Word, or any other racial term, or discriminatory term against race, gender, sexual orientation, etc is not the same is using the phrase "bathroom tissue" instead of "toilet paper" lol, wow, obviously i agree with carlin on that kind of stuff, that was a funny clip though.