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Nautikos
More symptoms of our ailing society. Too often I see weak parents caving in to their children's tantrums. I suspect these kids are the future "now means now" generation of princesses and fauntleroys.
posted by
Lensman
on April 7, 2006 at 1:12 PM
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kingmi,
thanks for your concern. No, I'm not ill, just busy,
, although much of what is going on these days I'm sure is making a lot of people ill, and possibly sick to their stomachs. Luckily I have a pretty strong constitution. Talking about constitutions, I heard on Lou Dobbs tonight that in some schools in the South-West people are not permitted to show the American flag, and in a few cases the American flag was replaced by the Mexican. I saw one picture of the Mexican flag being flown above the American one, with the Stars and Stripes upside down!
posted by
Nautikos
on April 4, 2006 at 7:49 PM
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Nautikus, lLet us hear from you. I hope you
Are not ill!
posted by
kingmi
on April 4, 2006 at 9:07 AM
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Naut, i was only kidding! LOL
posted by
kingmi
on April 2, 2006 at 4:55 PM
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Nautikos this is sad. I don't think it is only the children but
their parents, teachers and politicians all have become so different. This is the sad death of civility that I miss so much. I have a cousin who had not planned to retire for five more years, loves teaching but said it was simply too stressful to see the waste. Thank you for the post.
posted by
Justi
on April 2, 2006 at 4:46 PM
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kingmi,
I would say it depends on the situation. Sometimes it helps, sometimes it might not. Some years ago I taught an off-campus university course at one of our federal penitentiaries (Stoney Mountain, near Winnipeg, Manitoba, and yes, the Feds were paying for a free university education for killers), and believe me, humor helped with some
very tense situations!
posted by
Nautikos
on April 2, 2006 at 4:45 PM
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Nautikos, I'm not sure about using humor to diffuse difficult situationsLOL
http://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Accounts/BlogSource.aspx?blog=kingmi9449
posted by
kingmi
on April 2, 2006 at 12:37 PM
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Nickie,
thanks for the comment. I'm sure that good sense, patience and humor can still achieve a lot!
posted by
Nautikos
on April 2, 2006 at 11:57 AM
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Kids have changed in the course of time, but teacher have changed too, I think (I'm one myself). Up to two years ago, I was teaching youngsters aged 16-18 or more in a comprehensive school. And not the best classes either, but the ones who were in the BSO (where they learn a job). Considered difficult classes, with difficult students. Yet I've never had disrespect from one of my students. I guess it's how you treat them. I never raised my voice. I let them talk for a couple of minutes, until they were ready to cooperate. I used a lot of humour in difficult situations. Once one of the guys was threatening to jump out of the window (he'd taken some drugs). He asked what I was going to do? I just laughed and told him I was not going to ruin my already bad back by grabbing for him. The others burst out in a fit of laughter, and the guy returned to his seat. Or when some student complained of sickness after a weekend of partying on extacy, I asked him why he could not take one more pill to feel better in class? That attitude worked, and I still get messages from those guys.
posted by
Nickie-Fleming
on April 2, 2006 at 11:44 AM
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