The tragedy in Boston came to an almost Hollywood epic ending with the finale taking place in a middle class, New England backyard complete with grenades, robots, a massive police/military presence, and the victorious capture of the bloodied suspect. You couldn't write it any better.
As information continues to roll in on the Tsarnaev brothers we - yet again - learn that the Internet played a role in their behavior as well as planning. Through the massive, unfiltered access of the World Wide Web - two seemingly "normal" New England teens were in fact leading a double life. They were reading, watching and digesting the inflammatory and anti-American messages posted on Yemeni based Al Qaeda web sites and propaganda pages. The Internet also provided the brothers with the knowledge and lessons on how to build as well as detonate the bombs. All of this done from the comfort of home and/or school computers, smart phones or tablets. Some of the brother's classmates, family members, teammates, and in the case of Tamerien Tsarnaev (the brother who was killed) - his spouse - were all shocked to discover it was people they knew and/or lived with who committed the crimes.
This reaction is becoming an all too popular here. When the Manti Te'o incident erupted, people could not believe that a grown man could "fall in love" with a woman who didn't really exist but, was actually another man. Every day in America elementary, middle and High School aged children are the victims of Internet based Cyber bullying. Sometimes this can involve the creation of fake web sites and/or Twitter pages that say and even picture innocent kids "doing" and "saying" things they never have. The rape incident in Steubenville, Ohio showed us how High School kids witnessed the attack on one of their female classmates while she was passed out due to alcohol. Instead of stopping the crime, many chose to record it with their cell phone cameras and post the footage on Youtube. Others chose to Tweet about the act rather than try and stop or report it.
Why is this happening?
I am shocked when my daughter's eleven year-old friends show up at my house with brand new iPhones. These iPhones also include access to Instagram accounts as well as Facebook pages. The parents of my daughter's friends grant them free, unlimited access to the Internet, and the ability to upload pictures of themselves, but will not allow them to walk to school alone. We have created a very strange paradigm in which the real world is the place where kids don't play outside and aren't allowed to walk to school despite police and laws. Meanwhile, those same kids are granted full entry into a sudo-world (cyberspace) where they can post pictures of themselves for anyone to see; visit inappropriate web pages; learn how to make a bomb; become brainwashed; and create a whole separate identity. There are no laws or anything in place preventing this behavior.
The New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman really said it best when he wrote about the Internet and the role increased role it plays in the Boston bombings and our society:
"And that’s why the faster, more accessible and ultramodern the Internet becomes, the more all the old-fashioned stuff matters: good judgment, respect for others who are different and basic values of right and wrong. Those you can’t download. They have to be uploaded, the old-fashioned way, by parents around the dinner table, by caring but demanding teachers at school and by responsible spiritual leaders in a church, synagogue, temple or mosque. Somewhere, somehow, that did not happen, or stopped happening, with the brothers Tsarnaev."
Friday, May 3, 2013
Monday, March 18, 2013
Another Example
The news from Steubenville, Ohio is just the latest example in how we continue to fail our young people. If you did not know, two High School football players were found guilty in the rape of a 16 year-old girl. The victim was intoxicated at a party last summer and passed out. That's when the two boys apparently took advantage of her. While the story of a young girl being raped is horrible, what's even worse is that other party goers, as well as classmates, knew what was happening and did not come to the victims aid. Instead they chose to take out their cell phones and snap pictures and/or videos and text and Tweet about it...while it was happening. In addition, other students discussed and gossiped about the crime openly online while never bothering to contact authorities.
In addition, three other football players watched what happened and recorded it on their phones. They received immunity for their testimony. Some of the most damning evidence were sexually explicit text messages sent by students and classmates who were at the party. The judge delivered a Guilty verdict and in the process stated "Many of the things we learned during this trial that our children were saying and doing were profane, were ugly."
Again I have to ask: Why isn't Internet common sense and/or technology ethics a part of our young people's education? Our children have the most advanced technology known to man at their disposal and are given an unprecedented amount of freedom as well as exposure through social media and Internet technology. Yet, nowhere are they being taught how to use it. How many more Manti Te'o's or High School incidents like this do we have to see? We have all seen and read about the absurd number of teen suicides as a result of cyber-bullying. What more do we want?
I have been working with middle school and High School aged children for many years and in that time have come to realize that, while being unbelievably technologically savvy, they are extraordinarily ignorant regarding consequences. We now have a national story where educated High School kids stood by and filmed/photographed a girl being raped instead of trying to stop it. They even went as far as to post some of their material on Youtube so other people could watch as well.
Maybe this case will get the wheels moving...? I think the victim's mother summed it up best in what she said to the accused at trials end: "You were your own accuser, through the social media that you chose to publish your criminal conduct on."
In addition, three other football players watched what happened and recorded it on their phones. They received immunity for their testimony. Some of the most damning evidence were sexually explicit text messages sent by students and classmates who were at the party. The judge delivered a Guilty verdict and in the process stated "Many of the things we learned during this trial that our children were saying and doing were profane, were ugly."
Again I have to ask: Why isn't Internet common sense and/or technology ethics a part of our young people's education? Our children have the most advanced technology known to man at their disposal and are given an unprecedented amount of freedom as well as exposure through social media and Internet technology. Yet, nowhere are they being taught how to use it. How many more Manti Te'o's or High School incidents like this do we have to see? We have all seen and read about the absurd number of teen suicides as a result of cyber-bullying. What more do we want?
I have been working with middle school and High School aged children for many years and in that time have come to realize that, while being unbelievably technologically savvy, they are extraordinarily ignorant regarding consequences. We now have a national story where educated High School kids stood by and filmed/photographed a girl being raped instead of trying to stop it. They even went as far as to post some of their material on Youtube so other people could watch as well.
Maybe this case will get the wheels moving...? I think the victim's mother summed it up best in what she said to the accused at trials end: "You were your own accuser, through the social media that you chose to publish your criminal conduct on."
Sunday, February 24, 2013
It's Not About the Outcome
I have been trying to earn my Alternate Route teacher's certification for the last two years and in that process have discovered one major thing: experience means nothing. I have been teaching children for over ten years and have a varied amount of experience. Not only did I teach in a very tough inner city school but also worked in a school that was exclusively for children with autistic spectrum disorders. I not only taught in these environments but did so successfully. This experience means nothing though. In fact, the state seems to be less interested in the experience and knowledge of children that I bring to the table and more worried about the payment of various fees, as well as the completion of seemingly inane courses (that cost more money) that ultimately mean nothing.
It seems to me that this whole thing is less about the outcome and more about the process. I think this is indicative of the society we have become. As an example, look at the recent Presidential election. We watched two candidates slug it out for what seemed like an eternity while spending billions of dollars. This electoral process was finally completed in November and now we settle into what appears will be four more years of a gridlocked government doing nothing. In a similar way, the road to becoming a teacher from an alternate direction is about the payment and procurement of fees; taking of tests; and completion of extra college courses and less about actual teaching experience. I don't get it.
Wouldn't you think that a school district would ultimately want a teacher with proven experience, effectiveness and solid recommendations?
It seems to me that this whole thing is less about the outcome and more about the process. I think this is indicative of the society we have become. As an example, look at the recent Presidential election. We watched two candidates slug it out for what seemed like an eternity while spending billions of dollars. This electoral process was finally completed in November and now we settle into what appears will be four more years of a gridlocked government doing nothing. In a similar way, the road to becoming a teacher from an alternate direction is about the payment and procurement of fees; taking of tests; and completion of extra college courses and less about actual teaching experience. I don't get it.
Wouldn't you think that a school district would ultimately want a teacher with proven experience, effectiveness and solid recommendations?
Friday, February 1, 2013
Flashback Newark, New Jersey
This is a journal entry I found that was dated July 12, 2012. It was fairly close to when my school year in Newark had ended. I had managed to get through to some pretty tough kids and also made headways with some kids I really had to build trust with. At the time I wrote this, I had no idea I would not be going back to the school. You will see the impact the kids and their surroundings had on me.
Lights come up in the morning almost the same in every house. Young mothers walk into babies rooms to pick up little bundles with smiles and greetings. Shadows are cast across the wall in morning angles. Mothers with older children ease into rooms, turn on lights and gently break the bad news: “Time to wake up”. Regardless of where or how - it’s morning and children are beginning their day. The sun is barely up, the smell of coffee fills the home and dad is upstairs getting ready for work. Breakfast is prepared and the mindset of school begins to set itself.
Up the road ten miles it’s a different story. It’s still morning and children are still waking up but in this house it’s three to a bed. There may not be a mom but an Auntie or maybe a Grand-mom. There is no father. It is time to get ready for school but there will be no breakfast and perhaps no encouraging words. New clothes will not be laid out but rather the ones worn yesterday will be worn again or maybe the ones that were slept in. Some of them will go to school dirty and unclean although washed of inspiration and encouragement.
They are still children, and they are waking with innocence in their eyes. There is hope and even some dreams but there is also reality. That gets pushed to the back though and with any luck there will be something that looks like a smile - even if it’s forced. Tiny shoes are put on tiny feet, hands are held and the door opens to a new day. Opportunity looks different to some children and to others it’s not even opportunity but survival. Again, it’s only ten miles from you but you pretend it’s not there until you have to see it every day. You touch their lives and they touch yours. In many ways they make you feel guilty for your life. You want to save all of them and even take a few home but you know you can’t. They are children but you have to remember that they’re not your children and that - yes that - is the worst part.
At some point it becomes clear that it has everything to do with love. They don’t know love and you have to show them. In the process of doing that you begin to love some of them despite your best efforts. Even the worst ones: the thugs, the playas, the knuckle heads...it doesn’t matter. You see the light in all of them and they know this about you so they begin to show themselves to you and this only makes it hurt more. They let you in and you can’t believe what you see and hear. Some of the stories are too sad to be true others are too awful to even be a part of someone’s reality - but they are. These realities are now yours and you can’t help but think that this is not fair. This life that these children are forced to live. How could they be living these lives, here? Here in this country?
I drive ten miles from my house but it feels like ten-thousand. I leave a community that has safe streets, grass to play on and hope. My community gives its children a chance and I’m not quite sure why the children I teach can’t have those chances. The children I teach are not dumb. They are not stupid. In fact, they have hopes and dreams just like my children. The problem with the children I teach is that no one is there to tell them this. No one reminds them of the vastness of their potential and what it can bring. My children leave the house and will discover things they didn’t know. My students leave their homes and are simply reminded of what is coming.
Some of the children write poems and they make you cry when you read them. You cry because they are so honest but are coming from a place that no child should be coming from. The poems ask “Why?” and “How come?” Some of the poems simply want the violence to stop. It seems like such a simple request especially when it comes from a child but no one listens to the child nor the simplicty.
If you’re not careful you’ll get angry and then cynical and that’s not good. You want to make sure that the children never see cynicism. No one likes that, not even a child and these kids, well, they’ll see right through it.
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Surreal
The bizarre news surrounding Notre Dame football star Manti Te'o is yet the latest example of another way we are failing our children: Technology and the Internet.
I am 46 years old and getting older every day. Perhaps I am as not as hip as I once was when it comes to how younger people communicate and/or interact with each other. Despite this I do know one thing: when two people want to establish a romantic relationship with one another, live human contact is key. In order for two people to fall in love, I would think that being able to hold hands, speak, touch, see, and interact face to face in a live setting would be important. Obviously I am older than I think.
Manti Te'o fell in love with a woman he had never met face to face. They met on Facebook and that lead to Twitter messages as well as phone calls but he and this young woman never met in person. Eventually Te'o experienced the tragic death of his Grandmother and in the midst of that his "girlfriend" also died of leukemia. This served as inspiration for his continued success in football as well as making for a great story in the world of big time collegiate athletics.
In the last couple of days we come to find out that this girlfriend never really existed. Her entire persona as well as appearance and image were entirely made up. "She" was cobbled together by someone else.
Our kids are growing up with an unprecedented amount of technology fully accessible to them. Think about it for a minute: your kids have access to wireless phones, cable TV, Netflix, video games, iPads, iPods, smart phones, iPhones, and laptops. Each device has its own way of accessing this vast open world known as the Internet. In this "place" you can buy anything you want (including guns and body armor); steal all the music you want; steal all the movies you want; steal books; watch porn; create a personality separate from your true self; watch TV; play games with people in other states and countries; communicate with anyone you want and upload pictures and/or movies of yourself for the entire world to see. We give our kids full access to this technology but we never teach them how to use it.
The Internet is amazing as is technology and this all comes with responsibility. Nowhere in the education of our kids is there a point where they learn about the benefits and the dangers of it. Think about how many people's lives have been negatively impacted by technology: Internet rumors; false stories; harmful photos or videos; racist "tweets"; asinine "tweets" and just overall bad decisions. Schools have had students commit suicide over bullying that took place solely within the confines of social media. It's bizarre and getting more bizarre every day and yet - we do nothing about it.
Please tell me why there is not a course or courses being taught in school that help our kids navigate this technological world. Being a kid is hard enough and all of this now makes it even more complicated. Remember - they may be growing up faster than you want but they are still kids and need all of the help they can get.
Let's give it to them.
I am 46 years old and getting older every day. Perhaps I am as not as hip as I once was when it comes to how younger people communicate and/or interact with each other. Despite this I do know one thing: when two people want to establish a romantic relationship with one another, live human contact is key. In order for two people to fall in love, I would think that being able to hold hands, speak, touch, see, and interact face to face in a live setting would be important. Obviously I am older than I think.
Manti Te'o fell in love with a woman he had never met face to face. They met on Facebook and that lead to Twitter messages as well as phone calls but he and this young woman never met in person. Eventually Te'o experienced the tragic death of his Grandmother and in the midst of that his "girlfriend" also died of leukemia. This served as inspiration for his continued success in football as well as making for a great story in the world of big time collegiate athletics.
In the last couple of days we come to find out that this girlfriend never really existed. Her entire persona as well as appearance and image were entirely made up. "She" was cobbled together by someone else.
Our kids are growing up with an unprecedented amount of technology fully accessible to them. Think about it for a minute: your kids have access to wireless phones, cable TV, Netflix, video games, iPads, iPods, smart phones, iPhones, and laptops. Each device has its own way of accessing this vast open world known as the Internet. In this "place" you can buy anything you want (including guns and body armor); steal all the music you want; steal all the movies you want; steal books; watch porn; create a personality separate from your true self; watch TV; play games with people in other states and countries; communicate with anyone you want and upload pictures and/or movies of yourself for the entire world to see. We give our kids full access to this technology but we never teach them how to use it.
The Internet is amazing as is technology and this all comes with responsibility. Nowhere in the education of our kids is there a point where they learn about the benefits and the dangers of it. Think about how many people's lives have been negatively impacted by technology: Internet rumors; false stories; harmful photos or videos; racist "tweets"; asinine "tweets" and just overall bad decisions. Schools have had students commit suicide over bullying that took place solely within the confines of social media. It's bizarre and getting more bizarre every day and yet - we do nothing about it.
Please tell me why there is not a course or courses being taught in school that help our kids navigate this technological world. Being a kid is hard enough and all of this now makes it even more complicated. Remember - they may be growing up faster than you want but they are still kids and need all of the help they can get.
Let's give it to them.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
January 17, 2013
It has been just over a month since those horrible shootings in Connecticut and we have already lapsed into the same old mindless banter in its wake. Of course the issue of gun control has come up and some idiot spokesman from the NRA has found it necessary to make numerous moronic public statements regarding the matter. My personal favorite was something along the lines of "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun."
What really bothers me is that no one is talking about one of the key issues at hand and that is the how we treat children with mental disabilities in this country. As I said in my last post, we all knew a variation of the young man who committed that horrible crime: a very bright, socially awkward, somewhat disaffected individual who was ignored, bullied or both. There are kids just like that in class with your children now. Perhaps you know that child. Think about how he or she is being treated at the school.
There is a boy in class with my son who falls into the above category. This young man has been through some tough emotional things and has some issues. He has engaged in some pretty questionable acts at school and as far as I can tell, is not receiving proper care or attention. This scares me.
Again, our schools are truly the first line of defense. At some point it has to stop being about money and being about what's right. In the midst of this retreaded and ridiculous gun control discussion, why hasn't anyone stepped up and mentioned the care and treatment of young children with special needs? Why aren't our procedures and protocols being questioned?
Think about that while you're thinking about your children.
It has been just over a month since those horrible shootings in Connecticut and we have already lapsed into the same old mindless banter in its wake. Of course the issue of gun control has come up and some idiot spokesman from the NRA has found it necessary to make numerous moronic public statements regarding the matter. My personal favorite was something along the lines of "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun."
What really bothers me is that no one is talking about one of the key issues at hand and that is the how we treat children with mental disabilities in this country. As I said in my last post, we all knew a variation of the young man who committed that horrible crime: a very bright, socially awkward, somewhat disaffected individual who was ignored, bullied or both. There are kids just like that in class with your children now. Perhaps you know that child. Think about how he or she is being treated at the school.
There is a boy in class with my son who falls into the above category. This young man has been through some tough emotional things and has some issues. He has engaged in some pretty questionable acts at school and as far as I can tell, is not receiving proper care or attention. This scares me.
Again, our schools are truly the first line of defense. At some point it has to stop being about money and being about what's right. In the midst of this retreaded and ridiculous gun control discussion, why hasn't anyone stepped up and mentioned the care and treatment of young children with special needs? Why aren't our procedures and protocols being questioned?
Think about that while you're thinking about your children.
Monday, December 17, 2012
It's a horrible day. It all started Friday when a severely disabled young man walked into an elementary school in Connecticut and killed almost 30 people - 20 of them young children. Yet again we Americans are forced to sit back and ask "why?". Yet again we are forced to watch helplessly as another psychologically disturbed individual walks into a public place with an array of military grade assault weapons and opens fire on the innocent. The reason it's so chilling this time is because so many of the victims were young helpless children.
Now we begin to state why we believe this happened. Many are blaming our violent culture: TV, films, video games and web sites that do nothing except further enhance what many see as an increasing culture of violence. I agree in some regards with that. We do live in a society that seems to enjoy violence. We also seem to be pushing an ever expanding envelope when it comes to what's deemed "acceptable" in entertainment. The TV landscape is dominated by Reality Shows whose sole purpose seems to be rewarding the moronic, useless, argumentative, indignant or a variation of all of these. Video games are extremely violent and only seem to be getting worse. Films are violent and so are the lyrics in much of the popular music...but again: we've heard this before.
This is all old news and, yet, nothing seems to change. In addition to the aforementioned I have been thinking a lot about education and the role our schools play. I have worked with and taught a wide array of children in my life. I have taught at an inner city school, a school for children with autism and a High School for children with behavioral and emotional issues. The one thing that keeps popping into my head is how we all know who the kid was who did this horrible thing in Connecticut. We had a variation of him in our elementary, middle or High School. In fact, there may even be a student like that in class with your child right now: a highly intelligent, disaffected, socially awkward, perhaps mentally disabled child. Maybe you made fun of him in middle school or High School. Maybe you stood and watched when he was pushed around on the playground. Or maybe you did what most of us chose and silently dismissed him as "weird" or "different". It's time to change that. I think that schools need to identify these kids and work with not only their teachers but also parents and family members to get them help early on. So much of what we see today is the result of social and/or psychological dysfunctions that are not properly addresses or treated. Why is that?
The young man who did this suffered from severe psychological problems. I saw an interview with one of his former school counselors today who said that the young man did not feel emotional pain. The other thing the counselor said - that scared the hell out of me - was that the young man was also incapable of feeling physical pain. Knowing this, you have to ask two obvious questions:
1.) Why wasn't this young man given proper and/or top notch treatment and care?
2.) Why, knowing of his disabilities, did his mother keep military grade assault weapons in their home?
It's the second one that gets me. Why, as a part of her son's treatment, wasn't the mother educated about the dangers of having these weapons - especially with a mentally disabled son - in her home? Is it really her "right" to have these military grade weapons in her home when it clearly is and was a danger not just to her but also her community? Also, why wasn't her son placed in a special home?
The cynical side of me believes this has to do with money. Could the mother not afford appropriate or proper care? Maybe her insurance wouldn't cover it? What about the schools? Were appropriate programs put in place to help this young man? If not, was it because they were not in the school's budget?
These are just questions I have and I'm hoping to get answers.
Now we begin to state why we believe this happened. Many are blaming our violent culture: TV, films, video games and web sites that do nothing except further enhance what many see as an increasing culture of violence. I agree in some regards with that. We do live in a society that seems to enjoy violence. We also seem to be pushing an ever expanding envelope when it comes to what's deemed "acceptable" in entertainment. The TV landscape is dominated by Reality Shows whose sole purpose seems to be rewarding the moronic, useless, argumentative, indignant or a variation of all of these. Video games are extremely violent and only seem to be getting worse. Films are violent and so are the lyrics in much of the popular music...but again: we've heard this before.
This is all old news and, yet, nothing seems to change. In addition to the aforementioned I have been thinking a lot about education and the role our schools play. I have worked with and taught a wide array of children in my life. I have taught at an inner city school, a school for children with autism and a High School for children with behavioral and emotional issues. The one thing that keeps popping into my head is how we all know who the kid was who did this horrible thing in Connecticut. We had a variation of him in our elementary, middle or High School. In fact, there may even be a student like that in class with your child right now: a highly intelligent, disaffected, socially awkward, perhaps mentally disabled child. Maybe you made fun of him in middle school or High School. Maybe you stood and watched when he was pushed around on the playground. Or maybe you did what most of us chose and silently dismissed him as "weird" or "different". It's time to change that. I think that schools need to identify these kids and work with not only their teachers but also parents and family members to get them help early on. So much of what we see today is the result of social and/or psychological dysfunctions that are not properly addresses or treated. Why is that?
The young man who did this suffered from severe psychological problems. I saw an interview with one of his former school counselors today who said that the young man did not feel emotional pain. The other thing the counselor said - that scared the hell out of me - was that the young man was also incapable of feeling physical pain. Knowing this, you have to ask two obvious questions:
1.) Why wasn't this young man given proper and/or top notch treatment and care?
2.) Why, knowing of his disabilities, did his mother keep military grade assault weapons in their home?
It's the second one that gets me. Why, as a part of her son's treatment, wasn't the mother educated about the dangers of having these weapons - especially with a mentally disabled son - in her home? Is it really her "right" to have these military grade weapons in her home when it clearly is and was a danger not just to her but also her community? Also, why wasn't her son placed in a special home?
The cynical side of me believes this has to do with money. Could the mother not afford appropriate or proper care? Maybe her insurance wouldn't cover it? What about the schools? Were appropriate programs put in place to help this young man? If not, was it because they were not in the school's budget?
These are just questions I have and I'm hoping to get answers.
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