Thoughts are now being censored

[MouseWife]

Originally Posted by 3894

2. What purpose did the assignment serve? Just putting down the first thing that comes into your head is not creative writing. It's automatic writing and the Surrealists loved it for getting in touch with the subconscious. Ask someone to do automatic writing and turn it in and you're going to get all kinds of violent and sexy stuff. Automatic writing is far more a clinical tool than an artistic one. Actual creative writing requires far more discipline and skill than just writing the first thought that comes into your head.

This really struck an idea into my head. Perhaps the teacher/principal felt that they needed to do this to see what was going on inside the kids' heads. I don't know.

[scaeagles]

Some of the greatest people I've known and some of the greatest kids I've coached have gone to serve in the military and I admire them for wanting to serve and protect their country. No military, no U.S.A. Granted, that's somewhat off topic, but I had to say it.

[wendybeth]

Just think, that kid was ready to lay his life down to protect the freedoms of the very people who are sticking it to him. Actually, I don't think what you point out is off-topic, Scaeagles. That's the thing I find so ironic about this.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Originally Posted by wendybeth

Just think, that kid was ready to lay his life down to protect the freedoms of the very people who are sticking it to him.

Eh, anyone in the military is always restricted from certain freedoms.

Originally Posted by MouseWife

But that isn't what was decided, we are not talking about what should or could have been done. But what they decided to do after the fact.

I still maintain that someone at any given point should have said "this is ridiculous, give the kid his A and let's forget about the whole thing." But as scaeagles said, in our litigious, finger pointing society, this just isn't possible anymore. Anyone with a brain is going to get shouted down for not "taking every precaution."

Hmm, which country to move to...

Originally Posted by Alex Stroup

I still develop a suicide plan almost daily.

God bless Alex Stroup. I've done this a-plenty, but not lately.

Things I daydream about:

Punching people and smashing things (born of pure frustration)
My own death and the deaths of others, often including funerals (always very dramatic accidents)
What I'd do if someone ran the red light at the next corner/pulled out of the driveway up ahead/slammed on the brakes in front of me on the freeway. Sometimes these are so vivid, I flinch.

[wendybeth]

I think everyone has weird or disturbing thoughts, especially at this kid's age. I'm far more disturbed by the teacher reneging on the amnesty offer at the outset of this assignment.

CP- wait until you have a kid. Nothing you can imagine can surpass the awful, fantastic imagery one can conjure up with regards to their kids. Everything from 'what if the babysitter snaps!" to ways to do yourself in should the worst happen to your child. You think you want to murder the guy who cuts you off on the expressway? You should see what I'd like to do to the bastard who caused Tori's hearing loss, or the kid who makes a snide crack about how she speaks, etc.


I have a very good imagination.

[blueerica]

Though I don't have kids of my own, most have no idea what I'd like to do to the doctors that botched my sisters' surgery on her ear. Knowing what we know now, she should never have undergone anything, now she's deaf in one ear, and growth of the ear is stunted. She has nerve damage, and has gone through phys therapy to gain some of her smile. Unfortunately my dad and her mom didn't have their *crap* together enough to do the right thing before, during and after.

It's these reasons that I'm hesitant to have kids. I know how much I love my three (much) younger sisters. I couldn't imagine how it would be to have kids of my own.

[blueerica]

Apparently I typed up something last night and never sent it. I got a phone call and must have just closed the window.

One of my favorite teachers, Ms. Slaughter, changed my life in the 5th grade. I think it was for the better, but she was about as unconventional as it got in the middle-of-nowhere Michigan. Of course, with a name like Slaughter, she'd heard just about everything. She was different from the other teacher. On the more pop-side of music, she was into Depeche Mode, and she liked bands I'd never even heard of - though they were punk... of sorts. She was cool, with her flaming red, curly hair that was cropped short, but in an avant garde style. My... She wore a lot of black and her eyes were a blue green. Wow, I'm surprised I remembered so much.

She helped me in an early rough time in my life. My grades were slipping, to the point that I might have had to re-take 5th grade if something didn't change. She changed it, worked with my organization, worked with handling school work and talked to me about my homelife, which was awful at that time.

But, one thing I do remember, and I wish I knew how we got onto the topic. I can't remember now if it was the whole class or just a handful of us. Maybe it was even some time when I was talking to her on my own, but I doubt that. We were talking about punishment, death... that sort of thing. We were discussing "what would be the worst way to die?" I know, it sounds strange, but we talked about all kinds of things. They were childish, but it was fun, in a different way. It really got us to think outside of the box, I guess. Oh, and we decided a razor blade slide heading into a lemon-juice filled pool would be the worst.

To my knowledge, no one in my 5th grade class turned out "bad" from the experience. And if anything, I remember we all ended up being pretty good, brainy students. We were put into the class because it was something new the district was trying with a group of us kids - Instead of being in the same class all day like the other students, we had a rotation where it would be art focused, science focused, and "social studies" focused. I remember playing chess, there was even a bracket system. It seemed like we had a lot of free time to explore in that class.

Wow, now that I'm thinking back, she was even better than I thought.

[3894]

Originally Posted by blueerica

a razor blade slide heading into a lemon-juice filled pool

I hate it when that happens.

[MouseWife]

Originally Posted by Cadaverous Pallor

I still maintain that someone at any given point should have said "this is ridiculous, give the kid his A and let's forget about the whole thing." But as scaeagles said, in our litigious, finger pointing society, this just isn't possible anymore. Anyone with a brain is going to get shouted down for not "taking every precaution."

Hmm, which country to move to...

Things I daydream about:

Punching people and smashing things (born of pure frustration)
My own death and the deaths of others, often including funerals (always very dramatic accidents)
What I'd do if someone ran the red light at the next corner/pulled out of the driveway up ahead/slammed on the brakes in front of me on the freeway. Sometimes these are so vivid, I flinch.

Sure, of course, if he'd have received an 'A' we wouldn't be here discussing this.

That is a bit of a wide range lable to say people with brains are shot down for not taking every precaution. Everyone can justify whatever they do, or don't do, after the fact.

You do have to learn from mistakes.{previous school/workplace shootings, etc.} They shouldn't have taken it this far. If they did indeed do this assignment to 'test' the kids, they should have had the school psychologist talk to the kid. Believe me, they do this all of the time and parents probably don't even know. And, that could have solved the whole mess.

Some teachers are overzealous and use their positions to be a-holes. My nephew told his teacher 'You suck!' and the teacher said he was going to file a sexual harrassment type of complaint against this 12 year old kid. My sister told him he was the one with the dirty mind and perhaps he shouldn't be working with kids.

Oh yes, where the imagination takes us when someone hurts our kids.

Road rage???? Sure, the imagination goes a bit wild while driving. Especially after a really good work out, I feel totally pumped. Ready to get out and act upon my urges. But then I laugh and remember I am not really so tough.

But, the imagination can bring about precautions. Thinking about what could happen makes you think about what you should/could do in those instances.

blueerica~ your teacher sounds really cool. A bit like Not Afraid, even with the hair.