Monday, March 26, 2007

Mission Statement

After consciously avoiding the blogosphere, including its MySpace, Facebook and other social networking brethren, I feel I've finally found a purpose. I've become increasingly alarmed and dismayed by the state of our public schools today, in that since the Columbine High School massacre and, more recently, the September 11th terrorist attacks, our nation's children are increasingly living in a fascist state for seven hours of every day for fourteen years. Increasing numbers of journalists, bloggers and young adults are becoming aware of this but I have found no concentrated evidence log, activist center or article repository for reformers to rally around. Hence, this blog.

Look back at your own youth. After your parents, was there any force that impacted your personality, your everyday life, or your future ambitions more than your schooling?

My parents transferred me to another school in fifth grade because of the terrible treatment I had received, and I'm a better person for it. My brother is not so lucky. When I have children I intend to conduct interviews with administrators of potential schools, public and private, and present them hypothetical situations based on the incidents you'll read about here. Millions of parents are not so lucky to afford tuition for sending their children to another school district, so I also intend to act for reformation of the school system and the reversal of 'zero tolerance' policies.

Now, on to the specifics. I'll start with the article my friend Erica sent me and prompted this whole thing; then I'll archive some of the more offensive incidents I've read about in the past few years. More to come, please feel free to send me any happenings at your school that deserve condemnation and reform. And every time a child is expelled for pointing a finger at a classmate and shouting "Bang!" remember to ask, "What are these kids actually learning from this?"

No comments: