"The Rubin Report: Problems and Solutions with Education"

[Belle]

This program is absolutely superb; an interview with the Oxford-educated Katharine Birbalsingh. I absolutely could relate to everything she said about the culture of schools, the classroom, etc. It actually drove me out of the profession to early retirement. This woman is amazing!! I did almost everything myself in the classroom that she does and nobody but the kids and their parents knew about it. Like me, this teacher despises enabling. And 'teachers as facilitators'...grrr; don't get me started!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXc46-NlOyw

[jbuck919]

I learned about enabling early during my formation, when I was roundly and correctly called on the carpet for implying that drug dealing is worse than drug using. To avoid enabling, one cannot always be completely frank in an adult sense. To change the subject slightly, what drives me crazy is legalized recreational marijuana, which is now proposed for New York. I know the statistics on its illegitimate use by kids, but to make it legal in that way will be, so to speak, to remove the finger from the dam. The last thing we need is more kids coming to school high rather than to high school. There are some things where I can be a role model for kids and also be honest at the same time, and one is that I have never smoked anything. In other areas, the kids know that adults are human beings and have on occasion dropped the ball. That still does not mean that they have to repeat every mistake we ever made.

[Belle]

I learned about enabling early during my formation, when I was roundly and correctly called on the carpet for implying that drug dealing is worse than drug using. To avoid enabling, one cannot always be completely frank in an adult sense. To change the subject slightly, what drives me crazy is legalized recreational marijuana, which is now proposed for New York. I know the statistics on its illegitimate use by kids, but to make it legal in that way will be, so to speak, to remove the finger from the dam. The last thing we need is more kids coming to school high rather than to high school. There are some things where I can be a role model for kids and also be honest at the same time, and one is that I have never smoked anything. In other areas, the kids know that adults are human beings and have on occasion dropped the ball. That still does not mean that they have to repeat every mistake we ever made.

If you watched the program I posted you'll see educational and parental enabling, on steroids. But, anyway, you get the point I made about enabling generally. My concern about legalizing cannabis is that, like alcohol, the user will get behind the wheel of a car. Then it's Russian roulette.

With young people; my experience is that they 1) want to know who the adults are, and 2) where the boundaries are. Too many parents today want to be their child's best friend and this is definitely not the same as parenting. It's the road to hell, paved with good intentions.