Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Look How Far We've Fallen

As I watched the news tonight the clip of the story about the teenager who disrespected a judge came on the air. As I watched the story, the first thing that came to my mind is the title of this post, "look how far we've fallen." In 2013, no one is respected regardless of his/her title or anything else. This young lady did not even have the wherewithal to understand that she was standing in front of someone who had the power to literally put her in jail. She cursed at him, stuck up her middle finger also known as flipping the bird and totally disrespected him with her sarcasm and body language.

 I don't know about you, but when I was a child, we did not dare disrespect an adult let alone one with a title such as a teacher or a judge. My father and mother would have killed me if they had learned that I had disrespected an adult. As a school principal, I see this type of behavior every day as too many of our children disrespect their teachers and making matters even worse is their parents condone it with their words and actions when the child's behavior is explained to them. What type of parenting (if any) did this young lady in the video receive? Where were her parents when she was cursing and flipping the bird at the judge?

It's a sad statement to hear a parent say "That's my child and I cannot do anything with him/her." Can you imagine a parent saying that? An adult saying he/she cannot do anything with a child. I would not be sitting here today if I had even thought about doing some of the things that I see children and teens do today. We are on a continuous downward spiral of our morals and values. I could go on and on, however, I will end this post as I began with, look how far we've fallen. I welcome your commentary in the comment section of the blog and your feedback by visiting the red feedback tab to the right of your screen. I invite you to follow The Critical Thinker on Twitter @thinkcritical01.

1 comment:

Wes Hall said...

I think your insights are spot on. As an "Empowerment Coach" for Los Angeles Unified School District, I,too, see this type behavior often. One thing we are doing to correct the behavior is "Empower" students, give them a voice and help them understand the importance and responsibility that comes along with that power. By placing the responsibility back on the student and giving them real power in decision-making, we hope to lift them up and encourage them to be more "Aware" of how their actions impact outcome. Great post!