Exasperating

[Unkotare]

Some days teenagers really act like teenagers. They don't have to, they don't all, but too many do and it's disappointing. Every now and then kids get into 100% avoidable, unnecessary fights and even after they've been separated just can't let it go. Friends of friends will regroup somewhere else and start up the stupid again. Some days it moves like a wave through the school and beyond. Perhaps worse are the idiots who circle around taking videos that are posted seconds later. When I was at the alternate school where the kids permanently removed from the other schools in the district were sent, they would have those of us on staff who were capable, security personnel, and the police on station at the school take up positions outside the school when we got word kids from the school and/or from other schools/neighborhoods/cities were planning on gathering outside the school to be stupid. Nip it in the bud. This was effective in large part because the alternative school is by far the smallest in the district. At the largest school in the district, sheer numbers make logistics more complicated. When several hundreds of kids gather in the middle of busy streets intending to be stupid, a phalanx of police vehicles have to plow through the crowd to stretch out and disperse the mob. The overwhelming majority are not there for anything but watching something "interesting," but the numbers add to the problem. In other districts kids will fight in their hundreds on beaches, in empty lots, or construction sites with eventual inevitable drastic results. I was stupid when I was a teenager too, but the details have changed.

 

[DGS49]

The essence of this problem is dispute resolution. Teens are much too concerned with how they will look and too little concerned with the possible damage done.

There is no maturity pill.

It is an accomplishment to get through high school and young adulthood without doing something stupid that messes up your life for a long time, or even permanently. I remember some stupid shit I did behind the wheel of a car that could have turned out disastrously if things had gone a little differently.

 

[mudwhistle]

Some days teenagers really act like teenagers. They don't have to, they don't all, but too many do and it's disappointing. Every now and then kids get into 100% avoidable, unnecessary fights and even after they've been separated just can't let it go. Friends of friends will regroup somewhere else and start up the stupid again. Some days it moves like a wave through the school and beyond. Perhaps worse are the idiots who circle around taking videos that are posted seconds later. When I was at the alternate school where the kids permanently removed from the other schools in the district were sent, they would have those of us on staff who were capable, security personnel, and the police on station at the school take up positions outside the school when we got word kids from the school and/or from other schools/neighborhoods/cities were planning on gathering outside the school to be stupid. Nip it in the bud. This was effective in large part because the alternative school is by far the smallest in the district. At the largest school in the district, sheer numbers make logistics more complicated. When several hundreds of kids gather in the middle of busy streets intending to be stupid, a phalanx of police vehicles have to plow through the crowd to stretch out and disperse the mob. The overwhelming majority are not there for anything but watching something "interesting," but the numbers add to the problem. In other districts kids will fight in their hundreds on beaches, in empty lots, or construction sites with eventual inevitable drastic results. I was stupid when I was a teenager too, but the details have changed.

This is why organized sports is such a good thing when it comes to character building.

Work the dogshit out of them and they don't have the energy to fight or get into trouble.

 

[ozro]

I know things have changed, I am old, but back when I was in HS if we got in a fight, or a fight was brewing between some kids the principal and the gym teacher took us to the gym and put us in the boxing ring with gloves and headgear until both of us were beaten and worn down to a nub. Usually those kids were back on good terms in a few days at the most.
Why won't that work now?

 

[Unkotare]

This is why organized sports is such a good thing when it comes to character building.

Work the dogshit out of them and they don't have the energy to fight or get into trouble.

Great idea, but it doesn't exactly work that way.

 

[mudwhistle]

Great idea, but it doesn't exactly work that way.

It did for me.

 

[luiza]

Great idea, but it doesn't exactly work that way.

Yes it does .
But it needs everyone in the system committed to that type of philosophy .

 

[Unkotare]

Yes it does .
...

Nope.

 

[ScorpioRising007]

Some days teenagers really act like teenagers. They don't have to, they don't all, but too many do and it's disappointing. Every now and then kids get into 100% avoidable, unnecessary fights and even after they've been separated just can't let it go. Friends of friends will regroup somewhere else and start up the stupid again. Some days it moves like a wave through the school and beyond. Perhaps worse are the idiots who circle around taking videos that are posted seconds later. When I was at the alternate school where the kids permanently removed from the other schools in the district were sent, they would have those of us on staff who were capable, security personnel, and the police on station at the school take up positions outside the school when we got word kids from the school and/or from other schools/neighborhoods/cities were planning on gathering outside the school to be stupid. Nip it in the bud. This was effective in large part because the alternative school is by far the smallest in the district. At the largest school in the district, sheer numbers make logistics more complicated. When several hundreds of kids gather in the middle of busy streets intending to be stupid, a phalanx of police vehicles have to plow through the crowd to stretch out and disperse the mob. The overwhelming majority are not there for anything but watching something "interesting," but the numbers add to the problem. In other districts kids will fight in their hundreds on beaches, in empty lots, or construction sites with eventual inevitable drastic results. I was stupid when I was a teenager too, but the details have changed.

Yeah I think it varies greatly where you teach. When I worked as a sub and paraprofessional I would see a big difference depending on the area I was teaching at. School out in the middle of farm land and a bunch of farm boys, the kid act like saints and call me Mr. School more in a high crime rate area in a bigger city area, I see Latin Kings grafitti all over the place etched into the students desks. Police get called. I see police bringing in German Shepherds and sniffing student lockers. Students greet you in the morning by saying f* you sub and throwing their desks. Students threatening their Sub teacher they will do something to them after school. Or I have an empty class and no one bothers to show up. Having to put Behavior Disability students in therapeutic restraints/holds who start fights with teachers and kids. Getting bit, punched, my blood drawn as a paraprofessional and a sub teacher all for only $50 day paycheck. I remember seeing a student break a principal's leg and knock him out at one school. It took an army of staff just to restrain the 6'9" student.

 

[Unkotare]

.... School out in the middle of farm land and a bunch of farm boys, the kid act like saints and call me Mr. School more in a high crime rate area in a bigger city area, I see ... grafitti [sic] all over the place etched into the students desks. Police get called. I see police bringing in German Shepherds and sniffing student lockers. ...

I'm about as inner city as it gets, and I get all of that; farm-like stuff and city-like stuff.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

It did for me.

You are from the past, not the present.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

Yes it does .
But it needs everyone in the system committed to that type of philosophy .

That alone makes it impossible.

 

[EvilEyeFleegle]

I know things have changed, I am old, but back when I was in HS if we got in a fight, or a fight was brewing between some kids the principal and the gym teacher took us to the gym and put us in the boxing ring with gloves and headgear until both of us were beaten and worn down to a nub. Usually those kids were back on good terms in a few days at the most.
Why won't that work now?

Lawsuits...simple as that. The school would be seen as facilitating violence.

Not to mention that many physical confrontations are bullying--and putting a small, weak freshman up against a 200lb senior solves nothing.

 

[Unkotare]

I know things have changed, I am old, but back when I was in HS if we got in a fight, or a fight was brewing between some kids the principal and the gym teacher took us to the gym and put us in the boxing ring with gloves and headgear until both of us were beaten and worn down to a nub. Usually those kids were back on good terms in a few days at the most.
Why won't that work now?

Almost NO schools have boxing rings now. How old are you?

 

[mudwhistle]

You are from the past, not the present.

So you're saying kids today are better than the kids in the 60s and 70s?

I've been thru plenty of tough military schools, and I've played on a couple of football teams in high school and college, and I know what works and what doesn't work.

When I was on a team that was easy on their players we won 1 game.

When I was on a team that was tough and had a mean head coach we went undefeated.

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

If you kiss your kids asses they're going to be brats.

If you teach kids to be dependent on someone else they're going to fail as soon as they're on their own.

 

[mudwhistle]

Lawsuits...simple as that. The school would be seen as facilitating violence.

Not to mention that many physical confrontations are bullying--and putting a small, weak freshman up against a 200lb senior solves nothing.

I remember when I was playing football in H.S. this other player kept talking shit about me for a couple of weeks, so I met him after school and we fought it out.

I was slapping him hard in the face and he said "Why don't you throw a punch".

I knew that if you punch somebody in the wrong place you can screw your hand up. This was before I learned how to throw a body shot that cracked ribs.

Anyway....he broke his hand and was walking around in a cast for a couple of months. He was off the team and I finished the season on the team.

Strangely we were friends from then on.
Mutual respect.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

So you're saying kids today are better than the kids in the 60s and 70s?

I've been thru plenty of tough military schools, and I've played on a couple of football teams in high school and college, and I know what works and what doesn't work.

When I was on a team that was easy on their players we won 1 game.

When I was on a team that was tough and had a mean head coach we went undefeated.

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

If you kiss your kids asses they're going to be brats.

If you teach kids to be dependent on someone else they're going to fail as soon as they're on their own.

No. Your methods will not work today.

 

[mudwhistle]

No. Your methods will not work today.

 

[Unkotare]

I remember when I was playing football in H.S. this other player kept talking shit about me for a couple of weeks, so I met him after school and we fought it out.

I was slapping him hard in the face and he said "Why don't you throw a punch".

I knew that if you punch somebody in the wrong place you can screw your hand up. This was before I learned how to throw a body shot that cracked ribs.

Anyway....he broke his hand and was walking around in a cast for a couple of months. He was off the team and I finished the season on the team.

Strangely we were friends from then on.
Mutual respect.

Did you hit him with your purse?

 

[mudwhistle]

Did you hit him with your purse?

Nah.....that would be murder. I usually keep a brick in it.