I hope we don’t get child psychologists and new age self-help authors spring to the defense of these kids. When a group of school kids turns the 9/11 memorial into their own personal dumping ground, it is not a case of ‘kids being kids’. These kids knew what they were doing, realised how insensitive it was and yet, decided to do it anyway.
But like the bullying of a bus monitor (as I have covered in a number of posts), this isn’t about kids on a bus or kids at the 9/11 memorial site, this is about kids in general.
There is a lack of self-respect and respect for others in this generation of kids that is quite frightening. The kamikaze approach that is apparent in both recent stories is a problem that is faced in households and classrooms all over the world.
In this case, the target for their angst is going to make a lot of people extremely upset:
A group of Brooklyn students on a school trip to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum were booted from the hallowed site after they callously hurled trash into its fountains.
The vile vandals from Junior High School 292 in East New York treated the solemn memorial — its reflecting pools honoring the nearly 3,000 people killed in the terror attacks — like a garbage dump.
“They kicked us out because of littering in the water. Kids were throwing baseballs in the pond thing,” said eighth-grader Anthony Price, 14, of East New York, who insisted he wasn’t one of the troublemakers.
In addition to the baseballs, witnesses reported seeing empty plastic soda bottles and other refuse in the water on Thursday.
“They were making jokes and throwing stuff in the fountain. It didn’t seem like a big deal,” added another student on the trip who refused to give his name.
Department of Education officials have launched an investigation into the students’ shenanigans.
Tourists visiting the site Saturday said they were disgusted by the students’ filthy acts.
“That is an absolute disgrace,” said Sharon Hooks, 55, a school teacher from Hartford, Conn. “I don’t care if these children were too young to remember the events of that day. They need to be taught to be respectful.”
Tags: 9/11, 9/11 memorial, baseballs in the pond, Brooklyn students, Bus Monitor, Department of Education, empty plastic soda bottles, Fountains, Garbage, garbage dump, Junior High School 292, Karen Klein, Litter, Littering fountains, littering in the water, memorial, National September 11 Memorial & Museum, News, Parenting, reflecting pools, Rubbish, Showing respect 9/11, terror attacks, trash
Topical Teaching 
June 25, 2012 at 7:15 am |
More standardised testing should fix the problem. It’ll all be the fault of teachers for something they said, did, or didn’t say or do.
To be serious, this is a case of an absence of important aspects of education missing from schooling, crowded out of the process, because the outcomes cannot be measured in numerical terms.
When I was a student, respect for such things as shrines and memorials was woven into the fabric of our school experience, through observation of ANZAC Day, Remembrance Day, Commonwealth Day and of important events in the Christian Calendar (and this was in a NSW Public School). The Education Department published several books of Old Testament and New Testament stories, and teachers were expected to devote 30 min a week teaching these stories. There was also a place in the curriculum for teaching about people whose exemplary lives provided an ideal for students to aspire to and follow.
Following a US Supreme Court misinterpretation of the First Amendment of the Constitution and subsequent judicial legislation, a door was opened to allow God to be removed from US schools. For some inexplicable reason, whatever goes down in schools in the US and in the UK, whether good or bad, soon finds expression in Australian education systems and the process of erosion of the pillars of our culture proceeds, while at the same time giving place to elements of other cultures which accelerates that process.
This is not to say that people from other cultures are not welcome amongst us, and are not equally free to practise their own customs, it’s just that we have allowed the foundations of our own culture to be eroded to the detriment of the whole structure.
We should, therefore, not be surprised when our children act like thugs and trample over the sacred. If God is not there, then nothing is sacred. If God is not there, anything that is held to be sacred, is seen for what it is: a fabrication without meaning.
God, have mercy!
July 3, 2012 at 1:02 am |
I do NOT believe this all on the teachers! I believe it takes a village to raise a child. Respect is not just taught but learned and learned from the home. These children should have been learning this respect of self, home and land from home and school as one unit. We as country have not been doing that for a long, long time. I can say that not all young adults act in this manor – at hearing about this news my daughter (age 20) researched the news items and posted on her FB – the story and her displeasure at the actions of these students and her wish for other young people to educate themselves and act with respect for self, family and country. That is what we need to do, exemplify and positively reinforce. I also believe in making sure that the students and parents of those involved in this matter learn from thier mistakes! Thank you for listening.
July 3, 2012 at 3:58 am |
Good point. If one can’t learn from one’s mistakes what hope is there? Rabindranath Tagore (I think it was) wrote, “Anyone who never made a mistake, never made anything.”
“it takes a village to raise a child.” My first home as a child was in a village where everyone knew everyone else and half the village was related to the other half. There was nothing you could do without your parents knowing before you even got home.