Life events and the twisted thoughts they cause.

 
Hi Kids!

Back once again for another trip in to Blog-land. Not much new here -- school started this week, and so it's once more into the breach.

The grade-grubbers have attacked! Starting right at the end of last semsester and continuing into this I have three little darlins that have contacted me and asked why they didn't receive the grade they thought they should have!

I am fighting a losing battle here! I have classes full of kids that have received A's all through school (thanks to the ineptness of their fellow classmates back home) that arrive in college and expect that they can do the same things they did before and receive the same grades! But you can't miss a bunch of classes, turn in average work, talk through class and expect to get A's. However, I shall probably have to change their grades. Why? Because the students are Black and all they have to say is "You gave me a C because I'm black and your prejudiced!" As soon as the administration hears that, they fall all over themselves making sure that the grade gets changed. Sure, I can refuse. Then I get fired, and the grade gets changed anyway! So what's the point of even trying to "raise the standards" the administration tells us to do? It ain't happening. You can enforce tough grading in the North -- but here in Mississippi, the only students you can flunk are white kids and black kids that don't come to class. Come to think of it -- that MIGHT explain why these kids are used to getting A's!

Before you start thinking that I don't like black students, that's totally untrue. In fact, if you were to look at my grading in past years, you would find that I give as many A's to black students as I do white students. Skin color doesn't matter to me when it's time to grade the projects. However, we get some students who shouldn't be in college. They are here because Mom and Dad say they should be in college to get a good job -- or because they are the first ones in the family to go to college and they need to go! No matter what, you can't win. At least this beats working for a living!

In the end, there's no winning. Everyone saw "Mississippi Burning" and believe that's the way things are in Mississippi. Well, it's not. I have seen more racism in the North where my parents grew up than I have seen in many years of living in Mississippi. It seems that it is expected that folks here run around in white sheets and blacks are hanging from the trees! Nope, doesn't happen anymore. Even after 40 years, Mississippi still finds and tries klan killers! Edgar Ray Killen has been indicted for the killing of the three "Freedom Riders" in 1964 (the Mississippi Burning incident.) This time, he'll be convicted. It's a done deal. There's no one who would want to face the intense media storm that would happen if they were the lone holdout in the Jury Room.

Be prepared for story after story of this trial as it unfolds. It's going to be on every cable news show -- heck, we might even make Court TV!

It will be just like the guy from Macon, who drove a truck in Iraq -- got captured by "insurgents" escaped and then became a HERO with a book deal and soon, a movie. Okay, the soldiers over in Iraq are HEROES! This guy went over to drive a truck for Halliburton because they pay $180,000 tax free if you stay there driving a truck for a year. But hey -- we need heroes like the blonde-haired-blue-eyed soldier that fought off hundreds of Iraqis before giving up -- then being rescued by Special Forces. Wait, her unit took a wrong turn, ended up in the middle of the Iraqi Army, she never fired a shot, she wasn't shot, either. She hurt herself in the crash of her truck when the driver paniced and ran into a ditch. AND the Iraqi's had left the hospital hours before the Special Forces showed up! But her -- she's a HERO! AND she got a book deal and a made-for-TV movie!

You things are going to hell when our heroes are manufactured because there are no genuine HEROS left! All we have are over-priced, over-hyped and under-talented hacks who are the last to be voted off the island, can hit a jump-shot or catch a football. And people wonder why we Americans are so jaded. GIVE US REAL HEROES! May the gods help us all. BLOG OUT!

posted by Eric at 5:38 PM