2007-02-06

Raising A Generation Of Wimps

Can someone please explain to me what's going on with these ridiculous cold weather school closings? What kind of a precedent is this to set? Where's the bar set now? When do they cancel school? 10 degrees above? 5? Zero? 2 below?

What a joke.

So what is it? Is it that the schools don't trust parents enough to make sure their kids are bundled up properly for a bit of slightly sub-zero weather? Are they afraid of being sued by parents whose kids got frostbite because their parents didn't dress them properly? Are the teachers just looking for an excuse for a day off? How long is this going to go on? It's supposed to be cold the rest of the week. What about working parents?

I went to Catholic school for 9 years. Our school had (don't know if they still do or not) it's own bus fleet at the time. We were lucky if we got an occasional snow day. I recall many times where my public school friends would have a day off because of snow, but our buses would still be running. A "cold weather" day would've been unheard of. I can remember many times standing, waiting for the bus in weather much colder than this.

This has got to be the most asinine thing I've ever heard of. We really are raising a generation of wimps.

Funny isn't it? One day you've got people telling you the world is ending and we'll be dead soon from global warming and the next day many of those same people are telling you you can't send your kids to school because it's too damn cold!

5 comments:

Nadir said...

When I was a kid, we used to walk to school (or the bus stop) in the snow (though it was in Kentucky and Tennessee, so it wasn't as cold) up hill both ways! These parents and schools officials are wimps!

So the kids in South Lyon protested today because they had to go to school. Meanwhile, channel 7 showed kids in Detroit (who missed several days of school because of a teachers' strike, and who are having a bunch of schools close) riding their bicycles, enjoying their day off.

This state is in big trouble...

Paul Hue said...

OK, we're altogether on this one. I have been telling people the same thing the past two days. I've been here in Detroit from the deep south now for nearly 10 years, the first five or so before global warming picked up (due to manmade, natural, or a mixture of causes). I never heard of anybody canceling anything due to "too cold". In fact, I remember being much colder than I have been these past few days.

The only explanation I can imagine: the school systems has already planned for a few snow days, and they want to get them in under any excuse before winter ends.

I reckon that Six's childhood nuns and fathers may have simply had a more efficient system than the sprawling and unavoidably stupid government politburo-run school system. Thus the smaller, leaner catholic system could more effectively and intelligently respond to snow; perhaps with more "decision-makers" operating closer to the students, they were more concerned about getting in another few pages of Thomas Aquinas than in giving their fellow employees a day off, and saving utility dollars and protecting against liability?

uptownseteve said...

Face it guys, we're just getting old.

I remember my parents and grandparents telling me and my siblings that we were soft and spoiled.

Different generations, different standards.

My father made me pay him for my first car, which was a 1974 Ambassador which had been sitting in the garage for over 2 years.

I was 17.

His reasoning was that he didn't have his own car till he was 25 and nobody gave it to him.

It was a big deal when I had a TV in my bedroom at 16.

Now, my 10 year old son has a 38" TV with built in DVD player in his room, numerous computer games and a cell phone.

I gave my older son our 1999 Toyota Camry when he was a senior in high school.

The idea is to make sure your children live better than you did, isn't it?

Maybe they'll take care of us when we get old.

Nadir said...

"The idea is to make sure your children live better than you did, isn't it?"

Right, Steve. But if we pamper and baby them, will they really live better? Or will they get used to statying home when it's cold or playing video games all day, and not learn the value of a hard day's work?

Paul Hue said...

When Tom and I were "coming up" in Austin's "East Side" in the 1970s, we never got driven to the swimming pool or sports practices. We walked, rode bikes, or caught a bus. My 12-year-old instead has a live-in taxi service, as do every one of her school mates.

I wonder if this might help explain how it is that at her age I had already read Manchild in the Promised Land, for which she gave up after about 4 pages.