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High school teacher tells graduating students: you’re not special

Really? That's how you view "life"? Wow...

I'll remember that when you are driving on a road someone else's child built for your child. I hardly subscribe to the theory that life is a non-stop competition therefore tearing down your neighbor is preferred to helping your neighbor.

Tearing down your neighbor is what the OWS protesters are doing, or insisting that others pay for your lifestyle. These are the people who think they are 'special'.

Helping your neighbor should be voluntary, not mandated by the government. That only serves to divide society, as we are all witnessing.
 
Tearing down your neighbor is what the OWS protesters are doing, or insisting that others pay for your lifestyle. These are the people who think they are 'special'.

Helping your neighbor should be voluntary, not mandated by the government. That only serves to divide society, as we are all witnessing.

Why must you always make invalid comparisons by bringing up talking points about some group no one has mentioned. You do this in nearly every thread. OWS is irrelevant and has nothing to do with anything mentioned. It's like watching someone at a party irritate everyone by dropping names of famous people as if they are tight friends with them all when everyone knows they are a fraud.

I replied to this quote:


Also, your children are a nuisance to me. They compete with my children for resources. That's called "life."​


That is tearing down your neighbor mentality. Stick to the topic this time... I hope.
 
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Bravo!

In this "Everybody gets a trophy" and "don't keep score" society we've been racing children in - many of which are now parents themselves - this is refreshing to hear in of all places...Massachusetts.

I'm sure being the son of David McCullough allowed this teacher the assuredness that he could get away with such a commencement message, but it is refreshing nonetheless. And I have no doubt it shocked a kid or two into reality, and sent their helicopter parents into a tizzy.

Now, can we get this guy to talk at the Democratic National Convention to tell their entitlement-addicted constituents to grow up to?


Sounds about right.


I've always felt contempt and rolled my eyes at these high-school graduation speeches where some blowhard goes on about "you are the future, the world is in your hands" and all this crap that makes the grads feel like the whole world is holding its breath, waiting for a bunch of 18 year-olds to charge out and take control of everything.


The fact is the world doesn't give a crap about you. 18yo high-school grads are NOT about to go out and take over; they're going to get mostly menial and low-paying entry level jobs (either now or in a few years when they finish college) where the supervisors and managers don't give a flying crap about their drama or what "bold new ideas" some zero-experience wet-behind-the-ears kid has.

For roughly 99.9999% of humanity, you don't change the world; the world changes you, or crushes you if you won't adapt to it or else get out of the way.

Those kind of speeches I think raise the expectations of HS grads to unreasonable levels in some cases. One of the problems we get with hiring fresh-out-of-school youngsters is they often think the world is supposed to be handed to them on a platter, RIGHT NOW, in return for just showing up and barely trying.

It ain't so. You start at the bottom and if you want to even KEEP your job you bust ass every day, even if your paycheck sucks and your boss is a jerk and you hate your job.... because you have to pay those bills. That's reality.
 
Why must you always make invalid comparisons by bringing up talking points about some group no one has mentioned.

Didn't you mention 'tearing down your neighbors"? Is there any better known group in America than OWS who is doing just that???

You do this in nearly every thread. OWS is irrelevant and has nothing to do with anything mentioned. It's like watching someone at a party irritate everyone by dropping names of famous people as if they are tight friends with them all when everyone knows they are a fraud.

In fact it would seem to me that OWS and others who don't contribute positively to society are just who this teacher had in mind.
 
This is the kind of thing that people need to hear. No one likes hearing it, but it's necessary, because it's true.
 
Oh, I disagree. I expect my first graders to be responsible for their own behavior, bathroom habits, shoe-tying, keeping their desks clean, being kind to others, doing their homework, etc. Those are "meaningful" to children because school is their "job". If they aren't responsible children, then they're going to get into trouble, get bad grades, lose important papers.... Of course children should be taught those things by responsible adults (preferably parents, but in extreme situations - teachers or other adults). I always tell my students that they're in charge of how they act. They need to learn personal responsibility at a young age so they don't grow up to be weenie, selfish and undisciplined.

Moreover, these tasks and responsibilities are age appropriate. If a child cannot or will not do these things there may be a greater problem that must be addressed. For these early years in school the educator is much more than an instructor, it is through their observation and assessment that a child can be referred for help or testing, if need be, to determine the best course of action in teaching/helping a child master these rudimentary skills. A person cannot progress if they cannot perform those basic skills necessary to meet the day and face other life challenges.
 
How true. Nature is an equal opportunity employer, you make it or you don't.


I somehow think that liberal/progressives will scoff at this notion that natural selection exists in a world where they believe that the game is rigged by whom you know, rather than what you know.


j-mac
 
Now, can we get this guy to talk at the Democratic National Convention to tell their entitlement-addicted constituents to grow up to?

Only if he can go to the Republican National Convention to tell their constituents who are addicted to subsidies, government contracts, tax credits, and tax cuts the same things.

Job producers wouldn't be anywhere if they didn't have someone doing the jobs they need to produce what's produced. And people earning money to buy the goods and services those job producers produce for consumers to consume.
 
I somehow think that liberal/progressives will scoff at this notion that natural selection exists in a world where they believe that the game is rigged by whom you know, rather than what you know.


j-mac


Got no horse in the religion race, but IMO the "let's take care of everyone, be kind and love everyone" is based on religious teaching.

If we're talking "nature, mother earth", etc., then it is survival of the strong. The weak are on their own and usually left to die or used as food. Nature isn't nice and sweet.
 
If we're talking "nature, mother earth", etc., then it is survival of the strong. The weak are on their own and usually left to die or used as food. Nature isn't nice and sweet.

Bull****.

If that was the case no animal pairing would ever take care of their young because the young are too weak to take care of themselves right when they are born.

There are plenty of cases in nature in which animals of the same species form herds for community benefits and protection.

There are even cases of cross-species mutual benefits, such as an alligator not eating the bird that picks the remains of flesh from its teeth. The bird eats the flesh in the teeth and the alligator reduces the decay caused by the remains.

It is by far much more natural for animals and people to form communities to look out and care for each other than it is for them to be singular individuals who neither empathize nor care for anyone but himself.
 
Bull****.

If that was the case no animal pairing would ever take care of their young because the young are too weak to take care of themselves right when they are born.

There are plenty of cases in nature in which animals of the same species form herds for community benefits and protection.

There are even cases of cross-species mutual benefits, such as an alligator not eating the bird that picks the remains of flesh from its teeth. The bird eats the flesh in the teeth and the alligator reduces the decay caused by the remains.

It is by far much more natural for animals and people to form communities to look out and care for each other than it is for them to be singular individuals who neither empathize nor care for anyone but himself.

You are listing the exceptions rather than the rule.

We can see what happens to societies in there is no common belief system where morals and values are concerned.
 
Bravo!

In this "Everybody gets a trophy" and "don't keep score" society we've been racing children in - many of which are now parents themselves - this is refreshing to hear in of all places...Massachusetts.

I'm sure being the son of David McCullough allowed this teacher the assuredness that he could get away with such a commencement message, but it is refreshing nonetheless. And I have no doubt it shocked a kid or two into reality, and sent their helicopter parents into a tizzy.

Now, can we get this guy to talk at the Democratic National Convention to tell their entitlement-addicted constituents to grow up to?

I don't know where the hell you live, but that's not American society as currently constructed.
 
Bull****.

If that was the case no animal pairing would ever take care of their young because the young are too weak to take care of themselves right when they are born.

There are plenty of cases in nature in which animals of the same species form herds for community benefits and protection.

There are even cases of cross-species mutual benefits, such as an alligator not eating the bird that picks the remains of flesh from its teeth. The bird eats the flesh in the teeth and the alligator reduces the decay caused by the remains.

It is by far much more natural for animals and people to form communities to look out and care for each other than it is for them to be singular individuals who neither empathize nor care for anyone but himself.


Well you can believe that if you chose.

Male lions will kill the cubs, if he defeats the current leader of the pride, so his offspring will have a better chance of survival.

Elephants go off to die by themselves, and none of the others stop them.

In the animal world if you're the weaker or smaller, you're likely to become food.

Sorry but animals take care of their own, up until they realize it's a lost cause and they take care of themselves.
 
Bull****.

If that was the case no animal pairing would ever take care of their young because the young are too weak to take care of themselves right when they are born.

There are plenty of cases in nature in which animals of the same species form herds for community benefits and protection.

There are even cases of cross-species mutual benefits, such as an alligator not eating the bird that picks the remains of flesh from its teeth. The bird eats the flesh in the teeth and the alligator reduces the decay caused by the remains.

It is by far much more natural for animals and people to form communities to look out and care for each other than it is for them to be singular individuals who neither empathize nor care for anyone but himself.


Is there an alligator council that forces the bird to do this based on the birds lifetime earnings?


j-mac
 
Is there an alligator council that forces the bird to do this based on the birds lifetime earnings?


j-mac



I'd bet if the alligator got hungry and the bird cleaning his teeth was available, the bird would become a snack real quick. After all there are plenty of birds.

Trying to make the animal world "cute and sweet" is dressing up a pig with lipstick.

But the real reason this is now a fight is I brought religion into the mix. Why does it scare so many?
 
I'd bet if the alligator got hungry and the bird cleaning his teeth was available, the bird would become a snack real quick. After all there are plenty of birds.

Trying to make the animal world "cute and sweet" is dressing up a pig with lipstick.

But the real reason this is now a fight is I brought religion into the mix. Why does it scare so many?


Because religion answers to a higher power other than them. They can't control it, and that is real fear.

j-mac
 
Sounds about right.


I've always felt contempt and rolled my eyes at these high-school graduation speeches where some blowhard goes on about "you are the future, the world is in your hands" and all this crap that makes the grads feel like the whole world is holding its breath, waiting for a bunch of 18 year-olds to charge out and take control of everything.


The fact is the world doesn't give a crap about you. 18yo high-school grads are NOT about to go out and take over; they're going to get mostly menial and low-paying entry level jobs (either now or in a few years when they finish college) where the supervisors and managers don't give a flying crap about their drama or what "bold new ideas" some zero-experience wet-behind-the-ears kid has.

For roughly 99.9999% of humanity, you don't change the world; the world changes you, or crushes you if you won't adapt to it or else get out of the way.

Those kind of speeches I think raise the expectations of HS grads to unreasonable levels in some cases. One of the problems we get with hiring fresh-out-of-school youngsters is they often think the world is supposed to be handed to them on a platter, RIGHT NOW, in return for just showing up and barely trying.

It ain't so. You start at the bottom and if you want to even KEEP your job you bust ass every day, even if your paycheck sucks and your boss is a jerk and you hate your job.... because you have to pay those bills. That's reality.

Geeze Louise, you make living in the USA sound like a bitter pill. Lighten up Francis, JC suffered so that we don;t have to.

You are right about paying the bills. I'll give you that much.
 
Sounds about right.


I've always felt contempt and rolled my eyes at these high-school graduation speeches where some blowhard goes on about "you are the future, the world is in your hands" and all this crap that makes the grads feel like the whole world is holding its breath, waiting for a bunch of 18 year-olds to charge out and take control of everything.


The fact is the world doesn't give a crap about you. 18yo high-school grads are NOT about to go out and take over; they're going to get mostly menial and low-paying entry level jobs (either now or in a few years when they finish college) where the supervisors and managers don't give a flying crap about their drama or what "bold new ideas" some zero-experience wet-behind-the-ears kid has.

For roughly 99.9999% of humanity, you don't change the world; the world changes you, or crushes you if you won't adapt to it or else get out of the way.

Those kind of speeches I think raise the expectations of HS grads to unreasonable levels in some cases. One of the problems we get with hiring fresh-out-of-school youngsters is they often think the world is supposed to be handed to them on a platter, RIGHT NOW, in return for just showing up and barely trying.

It ain't so. You start at the bottom and if you want to even KEEP your job you bust ass every day, even if your paycheck sucks and your boss is a jerk and you hate your job.... because you have to pay those bills. That's reality.
It's good think people like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerburg didn't listen to Debbie Downer nonsense like this. I'd argue that one of the reasons a lot of people stay average and don't reach their potential is because they have the mentality that you are espousing here. I imagine one of the main differences between the Average Joe and influential individuals is that the former group thinks your way about themselves and the latter thinks much more.
 
Well that goes right back to the ail that plagues society; viewing children as a mere inconvenience and nothing worth all the time and energy it takes to have and raise them. . . just a nuisance - nothing more . . . worthless and wasted. :roll:

Seh made it sound like all these kids had life handed ot them on a golden platter - as if we'er all the 1% with silver spoons and golden rattles. :roll:

People don't have to believe they're unique; but at least they can be treated better than trash, yes?

Yes, and we have to wonder just how many of those graduates had been treated better than trash.
 
Yes, and we have to wonder just how many of those graduates had been treated better than trash.

Hopefully most haven't - honestl y . . . what's worse; being loved and treated well - or being hated and treated like crap?
 
Hopefully most haven't - honestl y . . . what's worse; being loved and treated well - or being hated and treated like crap?

Um.. you have to ask?

I'd be willing to bet that quite a few of them have, if not by parents then by peers. It's a testament to their strength that they made it to graduation at all.
 
I somehow think that liberal/progressives will scoff at this notion that natural selection exists in a world where they believe that the game is rigged by whom you know, rather than what you know.


j-mac

Well, in the interest of fairness, there are people who don't know ****, but can survive because they have some redeeming qualities which make people inclined to take care of them. As we used to say in the 70's, you need to bring something to the party.
 
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