Time Out for Clarification

One Step at a Time

By Robert Ringer

I thought this would be a good time to pause and clarify a few points. It is important to take this topic one step at a time. As the e-mails about this series of articles continue to pour in, I am trying my best to read each and every one of them, and I continue to be amazed at the excellent insights readers have been sharing with me.

Of course, not every e-mail is in agreement with my point of view — but even where there is disagreement, I'm impressed with the depth and sincerity of the writers' words. That said, a number of issues have been raised that I believe need to be addressed before moving on.

Item: Many readers have expressed a strong belief that the so-called public-school system should be abolished.

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The only answer to our failed and pathetic government indoctrination center called the public school system is to abolish it entirely and replace it with a marketplace-based system. Those who don't want to go to school can be janitors and lawn mowing people. You can't force a child to learn. It must be something they want. - R.H.

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Though I, like R.H. and a large percentage of other Voice of Sanity readers, would like to see an end to government involvement in education and the closing down of all public schools, I stated early on that I did not want to get sidetracked with that issue. I believe that it may ultimately happen, but, if it does, it will take many years. In the meantime, it's important not to take our eye off the ball and to continue to focus on other Cho-producing factors.

The objective is to save lives, and I'm not just talking about students and educators who die at the hands of a Cho. I'm also referring to the millions of bullied kids who don't use violence to vent their feelings of humiliation and despair - and, instead, are expected to dutifully suffer in silence.

Item: A number of readers strongly object to the teaching of morals in school.

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I don't think teachers can teach that which they themselves don't have. Teachers are the problem. Who is going to teach them compassion, kindness or anything [else] needed to improve the system? Is it going to come from the teachers' union? I personally don't think so. - W.T.

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W.T. is absolutely right. Most teachers today are not qualified to teach kids to be kind and compassionate. Being bullies of the worst kind themselves, not only can they not teach goodness, they should be prevented from being anywhere near children. But we'll be getting to that issue in some detail down the road. Let's take things one step at a time.

Item: Who shall decide who is the bully and who is the victim? Who shall decide whether a student was just "kidding around?" Who shall decide what constitutes compassionate actions?

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Who decides the classroom curricula for "goodness"? Who determines who will teach "goodness"? What of the thousands of teachers in our schools now? Are they to be sacked en masse, or re-educated? Who … determines which current teachers are qualified to teach goodness? - P.F.

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P.F. raises a question that is common to many of life's greatest dilemmas: Who shall decide? Who has the omnipotence, let alone the moral right, to decide anything for anyone else?

Previous - Part XI, Preparing the Playing Field: Playground Games

Next - Part XIII, Time Out for Clarification (cont.): School Bullying

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