In light of the Texas church massacre I want to head off the gun control debate with a few facts.

[Ray From Cleveland]

If you go to any successful suburban school, trade all the students to one of those inner-city schools you speak of, you probably wouldn't notice any reduction of learning. Conversely, take those inner-city kids and put them in that now vacant suburban school, they wouldn't learn anything more and probably destroy the school on top of it. You can lead a horse to water.........

It's not the buildings and it's not the teachers, its the students. Most of my elementary education was in a private Catholic school. Not many college educated nuns there. Mostly just women who joined the religion. Back then, I would have challenged any public school against our class.

We had one classroom. No lunch room, no school busses, no gymnasium, no air conditioning. Our class was 45 people, but the nuns didn't complain because they could teach 45 as well as 5. Of course they didn't belong to a union where the more teachers, the stronger the union which is the only reason union teachers complain about class size.

Sounds like a very different time. We have too many parents now working multiple jobs. Home is very important in education.

I couldn't agree more. The real problem with education is home and not the schools. I used to see it here all the time. My neighbor bought a portable basketball hoop. Before you knew it, all the neighborhood kids were here. If I didn't stop them, they'd be playing basketball until midnight. A few times I had to call the cops to stop them.

So how is it that kids can stay out that late playing games all night long and no parent intrusion? When I was a kid, you were home before dark no if's and's or but's about it; especially during the school year. Then when these kids grow up dumb as Fk, they blame the schools and society.

Oh man good for you! You called the cops on kids playing basketball...

For ****'s sake they could be out doing drugs and breaking the law, and you thought it was more important to call the cops to stop them from playing basketball.

You ******* loser.

Uhhh, yeah. I have to get up at 5:00 am, and I don't need to be losing sleep so lowlife kids can play basketball 20 feet from my bedroom window at 11:00 pm when they should be home with their parent. We put up with it all afternoon and early evening. They least they can do is stop it so the rest of us can enjoy the late evening for an hour or two........loser.

Then be a man... go out and ask the kids to stop because you have to sleep. Instead you called the cops. ******* stupid.

When you called the cops you then gave those kids a negative view of the cops as an enemy... when instead you could have take the opportunity to actually be a ******* neighbor and teach them the responsibility o being an adult.

Too bad you can't be consistent in your argument.

Who said I didn't tell them to stop first? Wanna know what one little bastard said to me? He said "This isn't your property so you can't tell us what to do!" I told him I didn't realize we had little lawyers playing basketball next door. Then I called the cops.

The cops came out and told them to cut it out and no more playing after dark. He told the punks he'd give them a break on the curfew violation, and the little rugrat started to bounce the ball again right in front of the cop. The cop told him "You bounce that ball one more time I'm bouncing your ass into that police car!!!"

Now tell me, why did this never happen to us as kids? That's right, because we had responsible parents who made sure our asses were home well before dark getting ready for school. They taught us to respect our elders and especially authority, not mouth off to them.

 

[Lewdog]

Sounds like a very different time. We have too many parents now working multiple jobs. Home is very important in education.

I couldn't agree more. The real problem with education is home and not the schools. I used to see it here all the time. My neighbor bought a portable basketball hoop. Before you knew it, all the neighborhood kids were here. If I didn't stop them, they'd be playing basketball until midnight. A few times I had to call the cops to stop them.

So how is it that kids can stay out that late playing games all night long and no parent intrusion? When I was a kid, you were home before dark no if's and's or but's about it; especially during the school year. Then when these kids grow up dumb as Fk, they blame the schools and society.

Oh man good for you! You called the cops on kids playing basketball...

For ****'s sake they could be out doing drugs and breaking the law, and you thought it was more important to call the cops to stop them from playing basketball.

You ******* loser.

Uhhh, yeah. I have to get up at 5:00 am, and I don't need to be losing sleep so lowlife kids can play basketball 20 feet from my bedroom window at 11:00 pm when they should be home with their parent. We put up with it all afternoon and early evening. They least they can do is stop it so the rest of us can enjoy the late evening for an hour or two........loser.

Then be a man... go out and ask the kids to stop because you have to sleep. Instead you called the cops. ******* stupid.

When you called the cops you then gave those kids a negative view of the cops as an enemy... when instead you could have take the opportunity to actually be a ******* neighbor and teach them the responsibility o being an adult.

Too bad you can't be consistent in your argument.

Who said I didn't tell them to stop first? Wanna know what one little bastard said to me? He said "This isn't your property so you can't tell us what to do!" I told him I didn't realize we had little lawyers playing basketball next door. Then I called the cops.

The cops came out and told them to cut it out and no more playing after dark. He told the punks he'd give them a break on the curfew violation, and the little rugrat started to bounce the ball again right in front of the cop. The cop told him "You bounce that ball one more time I'm bouncing your ass into that police car!!!"

Now tell me, why did this never happen to us as kids? That's right, because we had responsible parents who made sure our asses were home well before dark getting ready for school. They taught us to respect our elders and especially authority, not mouth off to them.

Sounds to me like you can't be an adult and learn to deal with the situation. Calling the cops should be the absolute last thing you do. They have more important things to do than to deal with idiots that call them over a basketball game. So when you see in the news that one of the kids got arrested robbing someone's house or something stupid, you can pat yourself on the back...

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

I couldn't agree more. The real problem with education is home and not the schools. I used to see it here all the time. My neighbor bought a portable basketball hoop. Before you knew it, all the neighborhood kids were here. If I didn't stop them, they'd be playing basketball until midnight. A few times I had to call the cops to stop them.

So how is it that kids can stay out that late playing games all night long and no parent intrusion? When I was a kid, you were home before dark no if's and's or but's about it; especially during the school year. Then when these kids grow up dumb as Fk, they blame the schools and society.

Oh man good for you! You called the cops on kids playing basketball...

For ****'s sake they could be out doing drugs and breaking the law, and you thought it was more important to call the cops to stop them from playing basketball.

You ******* loser.

Uhhh, yeah. I have to get up at 5:00 am, and I don't need to be losing sleep so lowlife kids can play basketball 20 feet from my bedroom window at 11:00 pm when they should be home with their parent. We put up with it all afternoon and early evening. They least they can do is stop it so the rest of us can enjoy the late evening for an hour or two........loser.

Then be a man... go out and ask the kids to stop because you have to sleep. Instead you called the cops. ******* stupid.

When you called the cops you then gave those kids a negative view of the cops as an enemy... when instead you could have take the opportunity to actually be a ******* neighbor and teach them the responsibility o being an adult.

Too bad you can't be consistent in your argument.

Who said I didn't tell them to stop first? Wanna know what one little bastard said to me? He said "This isn't your property so you can't tell us what to do!" I told him I didn't realize we had little lawyers playing basketball next door. Then I called the cops.

The cops came out and told them to cut it out and no more playing after dark. He told the punks he'd give them a break on the curfew violation, and the little rugrat started to bounce the ball again right in front of the cop. The cop told him "You bounce that ball one more time I'm bouncing your ass into that police car!!!"

Now tell me, why did this never happen to us as kids? That's right, because we had responsible parents who made sure our asses were home well before dark getting ready for school. They taught us to respect our elders and especially authority, not mouth off to them.

Sounds to me like you can't be an adult and learn to deal with the situation. Calling the cops should be the absolute last thing you do. They have more important things to do than to deal with idiots that call them over a basketball game. So when you see in the news that one of the kids got arrested robbing someone's house or something stupid, you can pat yourself on the back...

Oh, I see. So if I don't let them keep me awake bouncing that ball all night long, I'm responsible for them robbing somebody's house? Now that's a stretch.......even for a liberal.

How about if I don't get the proper amount of sleep, and I run my tractor-trailer into the back of your family car, don't blame me, blame the kids????

We pay our police pretty well, in fact we just passed a renewal levy yesterday for the police payroll and equipment. The police TELL YOU not to ever handle situations on your own. Call them with any disputes so it doesn't end up violent.