Important notice from the GRAMMAR POLICE. Plz read. This means you.
Stitches:
It's true that a lot of schools force it on the brighter kids because they know that community participation is becoming a big issue with upper tier universities. As it should be. It's possible that if we had more high school students working in situations that force them to consider a larger world than their high school microcosm, they might not be entering universities as such entitled brats.
Zaphod Beeblebrox:
Actually, I grew up in a small farming community in southeastern Indiana where if you weren't Christian, you were some sort of freak, and since my father was a "loud and proud atheist," our family was not liked by many. Also, "being involved with the community" is all fine and dandy when it means actually doing community work, but what our school board meant by "being involved" was "going to church". Yes, I was discriminated against, and I suppose my family could have fought to get me included, but I had no backbone in those days (hence, I didn't want to be even more ostracized by my peers), so I chose to remain silent on the matter. Probably wouldn't have won against the school anyway considering that I went to school in the '80s, and atheism was still relatively a new concept in small town America.
Eh, even if the requirements were actually about community service instead of religious intolerance, I still wouldn't have been able to participate. I lived 5 miles outside of town with no way to get to town (as in "not allowed") to even do any sort of community service. In the end, someone always loses out no matter what.
In closing, Indiana (most parts of it) = armpit of Hell.
teebs:
It's more probable that if parents would take their entitled brats in hand before they became so, they wouldn't arrive at university as such. The idea that one is going to change the entitled mindset is ludicrous. The entitled brat who attends university will in nearly every case remain an entitled brat, "community participation" or no. In fact, it has been my experience that many of the most active community participants in the the many places I've lived are the most self-important, self-absorbed, entitled fucksticks I've ever had the displeasure to meet.
A requirement by an university to "participate in the community" is nothing more than forced indoctrination. A large part of the problem with the distinct downturn in the quality of American education is that more time is spent with socialization than academic and vocational knowledge, from grade school through university. It is the right of the individual to choose their level of community involvement, even if that means as little participation as possible. Then, this comes from a pirate and misanthrope of the "take what you can, give nothing back" variety.
It is the responsibility of the parent to teach their children to play well with others, and the academic institution to impart knowledge.
lemmiwinks:
teebs, I would have to say that was nothing short of an outstanding first post. It seems the educational system is working somewhere.
Welcome to MATY.
teebs:
Thank you very much, lemmiwinks. My blue collar, high school drop out parents' efforts paid off. Five children; five college graduates. My public school experience had little to do with it.
I appreciate the welcome. I read through this thread with more than a little amusement. I am a convicted Grammar Nazi, and this site always provides good, satisfying entertainment. I've been lurking here for years, not finding a need to post. I either find answers to my queries through a little searching, or (my preference) I find my own solution.
The baiting and ridicule tossed about among the cohort of more articulate members reminds me of my family's rather voluble barbecues. I love it.
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