Here’s my comment to Melanie’s Hell in a Handbasket post, about the Georgia third-graders who made an elaborate plan to attack their teacher:
I don’t know if it is better or not that some of the kids might have thought that they could duct tape and stab their teacher and then she would be able to stand up and “be all better.”
When Sally was almost four, she colored baby Susan’s eyelids with a ballpoint pen to “make her beautiful” like the princess in the movie (one more reason to boycott make-up). I said, “But you could have poked her eye out!” No problem, Sally said, “You could’ve stuck it back in.”
So you almost expect that kind of reasoning from a 4 year old. But from 8 and 9 year olds? My church considers the age of accountability to be 8. I hope by the time my kids are 8 they’ll a) know this kind of behavior is wrong and b) be aware that actions have consequences that are, sometimes, horribly permanent.
Hell in a handbasket, indeed.
Tags: parenting, school violence
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actually i live in georgia and i can see why kids would like to duct tape and stab their teacher here. i would like to duct tape and stab the georgia school system. to kids it’s all the teachers fault…
sylwia
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sylwia,
You CRACK me up. You and I have had issues before over what we are and are not joking about. So, I will just believe that you are mostly kidding (esp. about that last sentence). Otherwise, I would have to point out that Jesus said to turn the other cheek.
But I must admit that my third grade teacher (tomato-red face scrunched up in a permanent scream) in armpit-like 29 Palms probably did deserve duct-taping.
Stabbing, however, might be a little harsh.
[Reply]
i actually wasnt joking. i feel really bad for the kids who go to school here. frustration often turns to violence, that’s just how it goes. i dont think violence is the way to go, but i can see the temptation. i have three boys. at school they cant talk in class, they cant talk in the hall, they cant talk at lunch. they get recess once every two months for ten minutes. they sit in a desk for 7 hours straight doing worksheets. they get in trouble for everything. but hey, they can talk at recess…every two months.. wow those teachers are sure generous…
i can see why the kids want to stab the teachers!
sylwia
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