"Fair question."
Have to strongly disagree with you this time. Good parenting settles what is a "fair question" at a very young age....usually at two or three years of age.
This whole discussion reminds me of an incident 30+ years ago when a neighbor and I were having coffee & cookies and one of my "babies" made a rude comment about her weight. After being made to apologize, he was sent to his room and later we discussed how what he said made someone feel sad (easier for him to understand sad than uncomfortable)
Good manners and class are the ability to make others feel comfortable, no matter what the circumstances. This teenages should have learned this long before his teens....but then I'm an old foggy!
I'm sure he learned it. It'd be pretty difficult not to. Some people, though, are just a-holes, and like to put others on the spot.
"....but then I'm an old foggy!"
Me too, and I have not forgotten that, other than girls, I remember the kind of stuff that was on my mind in Junior High.
We had a geography teacher who had been shot down in Europe. He had an inert .50 cal. round on his desk that he allowed the students to pass around during class. He also talked about the injuries he had sustained as he was pulled out of a burning a/c.