The Color Purple.

[RICHARD]

I was listening to the radio the other morning when I heard that a school district was going to get rid of red pens and replace them with purple pens???

Why??

Getting a paper back that was graded in red pen was deterimental to a child's well being and self worth...

------------------------------------------

We are raising a generation of wussies.....

The talk show host went on about how we do not keep score at kids sporting events, everyone gets a trophy, there are no losers!!

We don't hold kids responsible for mistakes, bad grades or even let them lose anymore.

WHEN I WAS GROWING UP (lol, it hasn't happened YET....)
you were expected to fall and skin your knees.....get an "F" somewhere along the line......Go AWOL......or just screw up!!!!

Now we have no measure of what a kid does......Pass or Fail.

No 'tweeners.....

Poor Johnny,

We don't want to hurt his feelings!!!!

-----------------------------------------

And then you wonder about the 'straight A' kid who gets a "B" in
"Early North American TV and the impact on the Videots who
Watch IT".... they finally get a taste of failure, go out and drink themselves into a stupor and then kill everyone in the frat house.....


Sheesh.

[CagneyDog]

Oh boy.

If THAT is true, and it is "deterimental" to the child then soon enough they will associate the puprle pen with the same feeling ? It's not the color that is bad, no one sees red and gets upset?!


If you get 50% on a test who cares whether it is marked in purple or red?! Either way you have 50%.

[RICHARD]

lol,
You can see that I didn't do that well in school myself...I didn't spell detrimental correctly....

I suck!!!

[slick]

LOLOLOLOLOLOL
Well, I still didn't get my test results back from last Thursday.....
Rather than mark it in red or purple just give me a DOTD and I'll be happy.

When I was a kid I used to scrapbook and I have an album full of tests from school. All of them are marked in red pen whether they were a pass or a fail. Does that mean I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't??

[moosmom]

Getting a paper back that was graded in red pen was deterimental to a child's well being and self worth...

Oh PUHLEEEEEZE!!!!!! That is such horse$hit!!! A "D" is a "D" regardless of WHAT color ink it is! Who the hell came up with THAT revelation anyway??? Why not mark the papers in disappearing ink???

Oh, and another thing...what happens if the kid is color blind???

[RICHARD]

Moment of rage

Teen kills teen with baseball bat after game


By Charles F. Bostwick and Karen Maeshiro, Staff Writers

PALMDALE - A moment of explosive rage after a youth baseball game cost a teenager his life and left this Antelope Valley community in grief and shock Wednesday.
Hundreds of people turned out at twilight Wednesday for a candlelight vigil at the Palmdale PONY League field to mourn the death of 15-year-old Jeremy Rourke. Authorities said he was killed the night before when he was hit twice with a baseball bat after a squabble in the snack bar line.

A 13-year-old pitcher was arrested on suspicion of murder in the death. Witnesses and authorities said he was upset at his undefeated team losing the season's final game and was being teased when he suddenly took the bat and hit Jeremy - first in the knee, then in the head.

Tony Trevino, the coach of the 13-year-old, wondered aloud a day later how such a thing could happen.

"There were adults and other kids around," he said. "What happened? Why was there a breakdown? Who wasn't watching out for our kids?"

Mourners, many in tears, packed a patio outside the snack bar for the memorial despite a bitter wind. Friends spoke about Jeremy, and a family friend read a statement.

Jeremy's family thanked by name his best friends and people who had helped him, noting his love for baseball.

"Keep a close eye on the ones you love and tell them every day you love them."

The family's message said the boy who hit Jeremy "is not a monster. He's a good boy who made a bad mistake."

Officials said Jeremy, a Highland High School freshman and junior umpire, had been watching the game for 13- and 14-year-olds with his father, Brian.

After the game, about 8:30 p.m., he and the 13-year-old got in an altercation in the snack bar line. Sheriff's homicide detectives have not said what the argument was about, but coaches and friends said Jeremy may have cut in front of or been teasing the younger boy.

"What happened was two boys were giving each other the business. There was some teasing going on. One boy lost his composure, got his bat and hit the boy two times, once in the knee, once in the head," Trevino said.

"The boys have known each other for years. That's what so shocking about it."

Jeremy was taken from the field, located next to Palmdale High School, to Antelope Valley Hospital. He was pronounced dead about two hours later.

Jeremy's family spent much of the day secluded at their west Palmdale home where they were interviewed by homicide detectives. They declined to speak to reporters.

Speaking to news media outside the field, PONY League officials declined to discuss specifics of the attack but said all league games will be postponed until at least Friday.

Grief counselors and local pastors were called in Wednesday night before the vigil to talk with youngsters who witnessed the attack.

The 13-year-old, a student at Cactus Intermediate School, is being detained on suspicion of murder at a juvenile facility, sheriff's Sgt. Don Manumaleuna said. Homicide investigators spent spent the day going to the homes of youngsters to talk with them about what they saw.

Manumaleuna said detectives are expected to present their evidence today to prosecutors, who will decide what charges to file.

Under state law, 13-year-olds cannot be tried as adults. The maximum penalty for a minor whose petition of charges is sustained for murder - the equivalent of being found guilty in adult court - is commitment to the California Youth Authority until age 25, Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said.

At Highland High, counselors were sent to talk with students, dozens of whom went home early. Scores more talked to counselors. A health class released helium balloons in a tribute to Jeremy.

Teachers were also affected.

"They were all very upset, devastated, overwhelmed by the tragedy," said Principal Stacy Bryant.

At Cactus Intermediate, counseling and psychological services were provided to students.

"There are all sorts of rumors that follow an event like that. We want kids to know what factually happened as much as we know and to counsel kids who have trouble," Palmdale School District Superintendent Jack Gyves said.

"It seemed to be just an altercation between two kids that escalated beyond reason," Gyves said. "It's a very unfortunate episode and we can only commiserate with the family of the young man who was killed, and as well the young man who lost his temper."

Neighbors described Jeremy as a good baseball player who, with his younger brother, rode skateboards off their home's roof. But he also was a boy who got in fights with neighborhood youngsters.

"It's sad. It shouldn't have happened," former baby sitter Debbie Lopez said of Jeremy's death.

"He loved baseball," Rick Scheid, an ex-coach and family friend, said of Jeremy, whom he coached on a team four years ago. "He was a good ballplayer."

Youth baseball participants said the Palmdale PONY League had a good reputation for avoiding trouble among players and parents. Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford said the field was there when his family moved to Palmdale in the 1960s and he never heard of trouble there.

"It's obviously a tragedy that nobody would anticipate something like that occurring," the mayor said. He added: "Our society certainly has changed since I was a boy.

"For something like this to occur was unanticipated and a shock to the community," Ledford said.

Harry Edwards - who ignited the "Revolt of the Black Athlete" at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City - said the killing can be seen as an example of Americans becoming desensitized to violence and other behavior that was formerly unacceptable.

"We are developing an insensitivity to incivility, that increasingly recognizes no bounds as to what we feel we can do if provoked," said Edwards - a consultant to the San Francisco 49ers for the past 20 years, a sociology professor at the University of California at Berkeley for 31 years, and the most noted sports sociologist in recent years.

"You see it in road rage. You see it happening in schools," Edwards said. "You most certainly see it in athletics, both in the stands and on the field."

"If you feel you are sufficiently provoked and you're a basketball player, you go up into the stands. If you are a baseball player ... you throw a chair into the stands," Edwards said.


--------------------------------------------

Two things here....


First, This little twerp never lost a game.....blame his state of mind on the parents and coaches.......Winning isn't everything, It's the only thing..

Second, Just like in the Columbine case....You have some kid who HAS to tease and make fun of someone until the unthinkable happens.....He was a nice kid, loved baseball and talked a load of smack...instead of keeping his mouth shut and winning gracefully-he had to rub the kids nose in it...



Boys will be boys....

[lady_zana]

Originally posted by CagneyDog
Oh boy.

If THAT is true, and it is "deterimental" to the child then soon enough they will associate the puprle pen with the same feeling ? It's not the color that is bad, no one sees red and gets upset?!


If you get 50% on a test who cares whether it is marked in purple or red?! Either way you have 50%.

At the university that I go to, the ed department instructs the future teachers to vary the colors of the pens used to mark papers so no one color is associated with bad grades. They do that because of what you said, if you change the color of the pen, the kids will only start to see purple as as bad color.

[gemini9961]

I think our education system here is on a downward spiral...kids now a days are so babied at school it's not funny. They can't be disciplined at all..remember getting your name on the board?? Well now that's taboo it seems. My sis-in-law is a 1st grade teacher and she can't even put stickers on the kids paper/tests who did good because it might upset the other kids who didn't do as well to merit them getting a sticker...give me a break. If a kid does a good job let them know...don't fault or not recognize the kid who did a good job so as to not hurt the other's feelings. Also, parents today don't seem to have as much to do with their children and they are quick to blame others for their kids wrong doings. If your kid isn't doing well at school, then the parents need to work with him/her at home...don't just push the problems off to the teachers to fix. Some parents seem to busy to help their children or even care. If this sounds harsh or wrong, I'm sorry, but this is my experience. A child that does well should always be recognized. A red pen mark should not dictate the kids well-being or self-worth. A red pen is merely saying "look here" whether the mark is a good one or not.

[RICHARD]

Originally posted by gemini9961
My sis-in-law is a 1st grade teacher and she can't even put stickers on the kids paper/tests who did good because it might upset the other kids who didn't do as well to merit them getting a sticker...give me a break.

What horsecrap.

Instead of challengeing kids to "be all that they can be" we mollycoddle them and protect their feelings...

Kinda like the dad that pushes his non swimming kid into the deep end of the pool.

The kid may swim or the kid may sink.

But the parent is there to make sure that he doesn't die.

Maybe that's the wrong ezample to use......

But I'd rather be known as a tough parent of a successful kid,
than a parent who is friends with his homicidal, degenerate,
unsocial kid.....

[Pit Chick]

God forbid a teacher's blue or purple pen runs out of ink and they have to write with red. They'll have a class full of 7 year old suicidle maniacs.

[cali]

good greif I am only in grade 12 but I would have hated it if we were babied like that, we had stars on our desks, when we did well we got a sticker when the star card was full we went to the princables office and we got some candys, fill up 3 cards and you got a fudruckers coupon for a free meal, if you did not fill up the card, well too bad for you lol I remeber happy faces when we did good and sad faces when we did bad etc.. lol even now in high school, I go to a privet school, the teachers can teach as they please lol my math teacher takes of marks for the stupidest things, 1 girl go 2 marks taken off her exam for drawing a little triangle in the cornor to help her out. I lost a mark on my math exam for a "typo" I missed the "e" in height, and lost a whole mark for that, now that was beyond stupid lol its math not spelling sheesh lol