School Says Game of Tag Is Out

Fox News ^ | Thursday, June 20, 2002 | Anita Vogel

[Jzen]

SANTA MONICA

[Jzen]

Does this suprise anyone?
Tell me this, how are kids suppose to know what they are good at and what they suck at?
Part of life is figuring out your strengths and weaknesses and capitalizing on your strengths.
Geesh

[alpowolf]

On we go, marching down the road to national wimpdom.

[Psalm 73]

THAT'S what's wrong with me, it's all of the "tag" I played as a kid
- hey, I'm a victim, too. (I'm SOMEBODY now!)

[#1CTYankee]

"it creates self-esteem issues among weaker and slower children.">p? Weaker?, I was a weak little kid but could run fast!

Geez, we sure wouldn't want these poor kids to develop low self esteem.

[Tai_Chung]

Next:
Ban tests and report cards because of self-esteem issues among stupid and lazy children

[Digger]

Liberalism is not a political choice - it is a mental disorder.

[SoDak]

Make the weakest and slowest the standard, and pull back everyone else to match them. Liberalism in motion. Stories like this don't even shock me anymore. That fact I find shocking.

[Puppage]

And what happens to their fragile self esteem when they don't get the job they applied for later in life? Is THAT when they realize the world's an unfair place?

[Hemingway's Ghost]

We are hell bent on raising the next generation to be the biggest bunch of pussies ever seen on Planet Earth. Pretty soon we'll be known as West France.

[irish guard]

>>>>>"We had some children who were not playing 'it' appropriately. How do you differentiate between those that are playing correctly and those that aren't?" <<<<<<

Sheesh, how did the U.S. ever survive this long? Not playing appropriately either means there were bullies or there were weaklings. This is pretty darn simple...punish the bullies and/or tell the weaklings that this is the way life works. This self-esteem stuff has gone overboard.

[weikel]

Tag dodgeball school is miserable enough without banning all fun.

[weikel]

LOL on the good side we'll be able to beat them up in our wheelchairs.

[Fedupwithit]

...the big earthquake cannot come soon enough to CA...

[Stevieboy]

Isn't this liberal mentality similar to the concept of a perfect race where no one is different from anyone else? So why shouldn't we be able to edit human genes and tweak things so that everyone is identical, or perfect?

If a person is never exposed to failure, why would he strive for anything?

Individuality is rare, but it rocks!

[RonF]

This isn't liberalism. I work with a lot of kids as a Scout leader. Because of that, I end up dealing with a lot of parents. My observation on this is that parental attitudes towards their precious little child is disconnected from politics or any other reality. They've just got blinders on about their kids, and what they need to go through to grow up. I've certainly seen conservative parents who feel that anything that upsets their kid is wrong as much as liberal ones.

I know that the general perception is that conservatives seem to prize personal responsibility more than liberals, but common sense tends to go out the window with some people when dealing with their children, regardless of their political philosophies.

You think having to deal with kids playing tag is tough? Try taking kids out into the woods, away from soap, water, and flush toilet facilities. Then let them work with knives, axes, saws, fires, ropes, etc. all day, have they eat their own cooking over a camp stove or wood fire, and finally have them sleep outdoors in much less comfortable circumstances than usual listening to animals they can't identify all night, and see what (forgive me, but in actual practice almost always) the mothers' reaction is when they hear the stories.

Johnny got pissed off because his self-esteem was damaged when he lost the tag game? Imagine what you run into when Johnny has got a knife in his pocket and decides he can use it to re-establish his self-esteem. Because for some reason he's been taught (and don't blame the schools, this begins at home) that he has an inalienable right to self-esteem. I spend a certain amount of time trying to teach kids a lesson that, conservative or liberal parent, no one seems to have taught them: self-esteem and respect of others is something to be earned, not automatically granted. HOO HAH! What a revelation. ESPECIALLY to the parents.

"You know, Mom, maybe the real reason why Johnny is having problems with the other kids in the Troop is because Johnny's an asshole. Maybe if he wasn't too damn good to wait his turn at the fun stuff, didn't hide or tell people to buzz off when it was time to wash the dishes, and didn't run his mouth constantly about how great he is and what dumb-asses the other kids are, the other kids would like him. Of course, this would require you to tell him to keep his mouth shut and do what he's told or you'll take away TV and video games for a month or so, which I doubt you've got the guts for."

The most delicate job I have in my unit is telling parents that their kids' problems are their kids' fault, not anyone elses. No one wants to hear it, and a lot of people fight it tooth and nail. Damn.

[mrsppmrxky]

I wonder if our new "victim status" qualifies us for some $$ to make us feel better about ourselves?

[Austin Willard Wright]

Pat Samarge should be freeped! For more info see:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-000041149jun12.story

[RonF]

"I want my child to know that he can have some freedom," Silver said. "I want my child to know he can play. I want my child to know that he can fall down and skin his knee." Good. Send him to a Scout Troop. If it's a good one (and you should make some calls and check this out before you sign him up), he'll go on, oh, say, a rock climbing campout. He'll come home filthy, with maybe a cut or two and some scratches, and maybe hungry. He'll be tired. But he'll have a big grin and tell you all about it.

Oh, yeah. We'll teach him how to belay. That means that while some other kid climbs 50 feet up the rocks, he'll hold the rope, and vice versa. So, while you kid still won't know the dictionary definitions of "Trustworthy" or "Loyal", he'll sure know what they mean.