Darth Executor on April 9, 2008 at 9:32 PM

The victim was apparently trash talking the other girls on Myspace.
But it’s a bigger issue than whatever she was saying about those girls. The problem starts with the unfettered use of the computer through instant messaging. Then it morphs to cell phone texting and Myspace comments. All of these forms of communication are nonverbal and rob from our kids the ability to communicate face-to-face in a productive manner. It’s a heck of a lot easier to type something vicious than it is to say it to someone and it just snowballs. Parents should know what their kids are doing online, even if they’re 16. If those parents knew what their daughter was doing, perhaps they would have intervened before she got the crap kicked out of her.

If you have a kid on a computer, you should have monitoring software. You’d be surprised what goes on, even with “good” kids.

When time-wasting is a way of life, some pretty wierd sh*t can happen

smellthecoffee on April 10, 2008 at 12:48 AM

Your comment is a testament to that.

Thankfully, all my children have never seen the inside of a public school.

AZ_Redneck on April 9, 2008 at 10:19 PM

Nor have mine…and, God help me, they never will.

In twenty ten years, public schools will be empty.

THE CHOSEN ONE on April 9, 2008 at 3:41 PM

They may not be empty, but the teacher’s unions are worried. They see the start of the exodus to home education and that’s federal dollars out the door. It’s not about education anymore, it’s about putting butts in the seats to get the dollars – hence the recent California court decisions.

Wait… There’s already one! If you watched the re-run yesterday on Spike TV…

Apart from that, I think the girl and her parents should move out of state and start over. New friends, new school… wait… Definitely homeschool her! High-school friends are highly overrated, trust me.

I guess you’re blaming your goofy ideas on your upbringing?

Next time you have a guess, let it go.

AZ Redneck

I like your philosophy so much, I blogged about it…in December.
Click on my username & click on “2007″.

freevillage

I guess you’re blaming your goofy ideas on your upbringing?

I went to a public school… in the Soviet Union. I can actually remember myself saying when I was very young, hey isn’t it just swell that we live in the first socialist country? I also somehow remember my mother not being particularly enthusiastic. By the time the late eighties came I somehow knew what was wrong with the Soviet Constitution, what was the right to free speech, political pluralism etc.

This notion that public schools will brainwash your kids is ludicrous. It depends on you. Most of the stuff you mentioned I had done too. When I was doing my homework, my parent checked my notepad and any mistake or a typo resulted in me redoing everything. I also socialized with kids. Yes, I smoked. Yes, I saw porn in the 4th grade. But at the end I turned out more or less ok.

P.S. People who excel at all subjects don’t do well later in life. That’s been my observation.

Then you guessed tragically wrong.

Raised two, one of each, boy and girl.

Neither of whom would have been unsupervised like this, and neither of whom ever was.

Home-schooling is stupid. …

freevillage on April 9, 2008 at 3:53 PM

Reposting from a previous …

We home school our three children in AZ. Mrs Redneck teaches the kids, I am the principal and an additional teacher.

We chose to home school because:

1) We believe it to be our responsibility to educate our kids, not the state.
2) The state holds fundamental beliefs different from ours.
3) The state does not hold the same values as our family.
4) Our kids will not be handed over to strangers.
5) Our kids will not be educated in a gun free zone.
6) Our kids will not be denied the right to free speech.

Thankfully, all my children have never seen the inside of a public school. My kids

- don’t care about the brand of clothes or shoes they wear.
- don’t care about celebrities.
- redo their work until they receive a B (85% or better).
- use the Bible as part of their curriculum.
- receive gun saftey training.
- actually ask to go to the library and read every book cover to cover.
- raise money (their own idea) to support a local pregnancy center.
- are excelling in all subjects
- love their teachers
- enjoy school

It’s time to take public money out of the schools and abolish the Dept of Education.

AZ_Redneck on March 7, 2008 at 10:16 AM

You don’t even know what you are talking about.

Interesting… when I was 16 and 17, I was taking backpacking trips with just me and my friends…

Romeo13 on April 9, 2008 at 3:30 PM

Amen brother, I enlisted in the Marine Corp at 16 left for Boot Camp at 17. I’d been living on my own for 2 years prior to that and managed to graduate high school while working 2 part time jobs (Mickey Dees and Cumberland Farms) and playing football and fighting in AAU, ISKA, KRANE and PAL.

I think the problem is too many news shows, an ass whippin like this wouldn’t even make the local news in the late 70′s , maybe the local paper, not the tv.

sheesh on April 9, 2008 at 8:49 PM

What does the myspace account have to do with this?

That thought would not even enter my mind!!!! I would be out measuring rope and looking for high tree limbs and this guy is on TV complaining about having to be a Dad!!

– Apparently, there is no remorse from the perpetrators. Rather, they blame the victim for having posted objectionable comments on internet.

– Fairly obvious lack of parental disapproval from perpetrator’s parents. (At least the ones that agreed to be interviewed.) These parents also blame the victim. Could that be where their children are getting their own views?

– No parental responsibility for victim being in a position to receive the beating from any of the parents!

– The victim’s father completely rejects parental responsibility to control the whereabouts and/or actions of own child. Instead he blames the internet. I know kids will test limits; had two that sorely tested me. As a parent I still owned responsibility for my children. Yes, I had to also teach them responsiblity by holding them responsible for their actions. However, I believe that they learned more from my role model than from my instituting consequences. (I too “worked” but never thought to use that as an excuse for not controlling my children.)

– No regard for others from the victim as evidenced by alledged postings on internet. Apparently the victim was also at odds with her parents at the time of the incident.

– This is not new. Similar situations existed when I was a teenager, and they existed when my daughter was a teenager. And they still exist while my granddaughter is a teenager.

– We are more aware of unsocial behavior, largely due to the 24 hour news cycle and the need to fill 24 hours with “News”.

In no particular order.
Society’s fault? We’re all society, including the victim’s parents. So, ya, I guess I kinda agree with them.

I think the parents of the little sociapaths who did this should be put in stocks on the town square for two weeks.

EJDolbow on April 9, 2008 at 3:08 PM

The parents? Why the hell the parents? Shouldn’t the “little” sociopaths be punished instead? They were old enough to know exactly what they were doing.

1) Do the (alleged) perps have their names witheld “because of their age”?
2) Will they be tried as adults for a crime of adult magnitude with adult consequences?
3) Will the convictions (and sentences) be wiped out when they reach 21?

The answer, in any sane society, should be (1) No way, (2) Damn straight, and (3) Hell, no!

But yes, punish the girls severely. Maybe flog them, and put the video on UTube?

Home Schooling: Having adults teach children how to socialize.