6 Responses to “Are we really in this much trouble?”

1. 

   Rebecca Clayton August 16th, 2008 at 10:11 am

   Seems like a recipe for disaster to me. This year I substituted for an entire semester at our local middle school, and I was physically afraid of several eighth graders. The principal moved the most disturbed young man out of my class to keep me from quitting, but it took most of the school year and two violent assaults to get him “permanently” removed from school, even though he was on probation from a previous assault on a family member.

   I’d hate to think what would have happened if there had been a gun on the premises–he was a skilled thief, and fascinated with fire arms. (I expect he will be back in school here before long. “Everyone is entitled to a free public education” translates into a few children terrorizing the whole school.)

2. 

   Helen Losse August 16th, 2008 at 12:45 pm

   This is so very, very sad.

   But we don’t need change. No, we need more of the same. Go USA!!!

3. 

   koshembos August 16th, 2008 at 2:27 pm

   A month away from the US gets you thinking when you come back. What you encounter is airports crowded, people talking loudly and airlines who treat people like cattle. I flow Qantas 10 times during the month away. There was always a meal, always sufficient legroom, everyone was polite in heat or snow.

   In the US, we live to make a few of us very rich, others very powerful or both. We feel the pressure. The middle class treats the poor like garbage and the poor become more violent. We all are stressed, pressured, violent. Gun in classrooms is a natural progression in a violent society.

4. 

   Max August 18th, 2008 at 8:14 am

   COMMON SENSE !?
   Ever wonder what it is. Dianne Feinstein’s (common sence)definition is No Guns at all. Her comment on 60 Minutes – if I could have gotten one more vote in the senate it would have been Mr. and Mrs. Gun owners – turn them in. Stripping everyone of their guns.
   Now there are somes (common sence) that would advocate a requirement for every U.S. citizen to own a gun and know how to use it.
   Frankly I don’t see any Common Sence with either of these proposals, to me they are extreme.
   I recall a teacher here in Chesapeake attacked by a student, left her with a broken jaw and other serious injuries. Of course the court didn’t do anything about it.
   I wouldn’t want to carry a gun anywhere except to the shooting range or hunting. It is just a pain in the ass to keep up with. If a teacher bought a gun into the classroom, where would they store it?
   I think the schools use metal detectors here to stop knives or guns being brought to school. But every now and then a student has a gun in their possession in School.
   I am not against a person (teachers included) from securely storing a firearm, out of sight with proper permits in their automobile in the parking lot, just in case they want to go to the range after work. But in the classroom – my Common Sense says, not inside the school building. As the person described above, the student would probably be able to take the gun before it could be pulled. Who’d want to shoot someone just because they could? Not me! I’m like my father in that respect, I’d probably die first.
   Hummmm ! Where is that common sense?

5. 

   sherry August 18th, 2008 at 8:20 pm

   Max, your father was a good man.

   I’ve been reading lately about Ghandi and thinking what courage it must take to resist violence with nonviolence and yet not back down.

   Common sense is a term you don’t hear too often these days. I think maybe we could all use a good dose of it right now.

6. 

   sherry August 19th, 2008 at 2:13 pm

   Koshembos, Helen, and Rebecca, thank you for adding your comments about guns in the classroom. I am glad to have the texture of your remarks and Max’s. The question of guns is a difficult one. I just wish our kids weren’t caught in the middle of it, both as givers and receivers of injury.

   Koshembos, I am not one who believes in competition as the best way for the best to succeed. Once I was waiting with a friend, I to board a plane and she to say farewell, back in the days when friends could wait with you at the gate. When time came to board, my friend urged me to get up and push to the head of the line. Go on! Get on! But I had an assigned seat and I could see no reason to jab elbows to get to something that would be there if I was the last one on. My friend laughed at me but I got my seat all right and made my flight. Why shove?