Again!?

What the hell is going on!!?? When did school become a war zone!? The Columbine tragedy was bad enough as an isolated incident but we've had, what, four similar incidents already this year? Now, there's been a stabbing at a bus stop on school property. The incident aparently started as a verbal altercation.

Yes, there were fights when I was in school. But when they occurred, they were quickly ended by teachers who weren't paralyzed by fear of retribution from the student, administration, parents and/or the courts. I went to a High School reunion last summer and was saddened to learn that, these days, teachers aren't allowed to care. At least, they're not allowed to show it. After so many incidents and so much litigation, school administrations are too afraid that actions of teachers beyond the scope of knowledge transfer within the classroom might be misinterpreted as pedophelia (that's a whole other rant!), abuse, discrimination or a myriad of other actionable situations.

Would you like to guess what one of the trends was at my High School? Lock-blade knives. That's right, we carried knives out in the open in leather pouches on our belts. None of us ever dreamed of using them as weapons, they were only seen as tools. We had teachers and parents especially who cared enough to instill enough morals into us that all we could see was a tool.

I have a friend who home schools his children. I'm beginning to think that if I ever have kids, that might be a good idea. At least I know that if they mess up, I can apply the necessary discipline without worrying about losing my job.