SCHOOL............then & now....

[vadasz1]

SCHOOL -- 1957 vs. 2007

Scenario: Johnny and Mark get into a fistfight after school.
1957 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up buddies.
2007 - Police called, SWAT team arrives, arrests Johnny and Mark. Charge> them with assault, both expelled even though Johnny started it.

Scenario: Jeffrey won't be still in class, disrupts other students.
1957 - Jeffrey sent to office and given a good paddling by the Principal.
Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.
2007 - Jeffrey given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. Tested for ADD. School gets extra money from state because Jeffrey has a disability.

Scenario: Billy breaks a window in his neighbor's car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.
1957 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman.
2007 - Billy's dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy removed to foster care and joins a gang. State psychologist tells Billy's sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison. Billy's Mom has affair with psychologist.

Scenario: Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.
1957 - Mark shares aspirin with Principal out on the smoking dock.
2007 - Police called, Mark expelled from school for drug violations. Car searched for drugs and weapons.

Scenario: Pedro fails high school English.
1957 - Pedro goes to summer school, passes English, goes to college.
2007 - Pedro's cause is taken up by state. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit against state school system and Pedro's English teacher. English banned from core curriculum. Pedro given diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.

Scenario: Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from 4th of July, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle, blows up a red ant bed.
1957 - Ants die.
2007 - BATF, Homeland Security, FBI called. Johnny charged with domestic terrorism, FBI investigates parents, siblings removed from home, computers confiscated, Johnny's Dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.

Scenario: Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Mary. Mary hugs him to comfort him.
1957 - In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing.
2007 - Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces 3 years in State Prison. Johnny undergoes 5 years of therapy.

:o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'(

[Brian Moffet]

Jan 23, 1957: Ku Klux Klan members force truck driver Willie Edwards to jump off a bridge into the Alabama River - he drowns as a result.

August 28: United States Senator Strom Thurmond (D-SC) set the record for the longest filibuster with his 24-hour, 18-minute speech railing against a civil rights bill.

Sept 4: Orville Faubus, governor of Arkansas, calls out the US National Guard to prevent African-American students from enrolling in Central High School in Little Rock.

October 10 - the finance minister of Ghana, Komla Agbeli Gbdemah,  was refused service in a Dover, Delaware restaurant.

[YellowJacket!]

November 2007 YJ's sons best friend brings nail clippers to school and is expelled for carrying a "bladed weapon" of school property.  :o

David

[kiawrench]

yup,, i remember ol' strom-- man only had one goal his entire life- become the longest sitting elected state official in us history-- and he succeeded, right after he fathered another child in his mid 70s.

  oh, and he did manage to keep the majority of south carolina 40 years behind the rest of the nation.
(that is why a dump truck owner pays 13.00 road use tax, and a motorcycle owner can pay as much as 200.00 per year road use tax)

[kwells]

that settles it...I'm getting a dump truck

[Rick G]

I wonder if I could put a box on the back of my bike and tell them its a 2 wheel dump truck? ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D.