OK, as may be surmised, Valentine’s Day is not and never has been a particular favorite of mine. But this is just stupid.
UK school bans Valentine cards: report
Ashcombe Primary School – which teaches students aged four to 11 – has threatened to confiscate any cards found on the premises in Somerset, southwest England, the Times reported on Thursday.
“Some children and parents encourage a lot of talk about boyfriends and girlfriends,” wrote head teacher Peter Turner in a monthly newsletter.
“We believe that such ideas should wait until children are mature enough emotionally and socially to understand the commitment involved in having or being a boyfriend and girlfriend,” he said in the letter to parents.
Oy vey. Children have historically been exposed to the whole gamut of human experiences, from conception, to birth, to a whole lot of death. Hell, read the original “Grimm’s Fairy Tales.” I dare Disney to pick one at random and do a faithful adaptation. The idea that grade school kids aren’t ready to begin the process of socializing with the opposite sex, getting into the whole “puppy love’ thing, and then getting their hearts ripped out of their chests and stomped on, or being perpetually shut down by the opposite sex, is just damnably ridiculous. It’s not like they’re being trained to do the horizontal monster mash; children’s V-Day cards are merely a way to express childish affection for others, and of course are a fabulous way to indicate social outcast status by the lack of ’em. The earlier kids get these experiences under their belts, the sooner they can get going on learning to deal with such things.
I suspect that a good deal of the motivation for this is due to the fact that, if the practice today is anything like it was when I was in grade school more than thirty years ago (ye gods that’s unpleasant to write), kids in class hand out V-Day cards not just to their chosen targets of affection, but to pretty much the whole class… and there are always some kids who end up being forgotten or outright avoided due to being ugly, weird, nerdy, smelly, whatever. Thus, “losers.” And as we’ve seen all to much of, there is a PC movement to make sure that nobody loses. Well, sorry, but some people *are* losers… and if they don’t figure it out as kids, it’s gonna hit ’em like a ton of bricks when they finally enter the Real World. And they’ll either shut down, kill themselves, kill someone else, or become socialists. And society really doesn’t need any of that.
7 Responses to “The War On Valentine’s Day”
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I fuly agree. Me and you are in the same age group and
back in our day it was all a matter of fun and tradition and
really not anything to be taken seriously in those ages. It
sounds like they are just either too bored making unnecessary problems or just being plain stupid.
They want to take from children the ability to choose their mates (in both senses). By claiming the children are too young to understand romantic relationships, the school is taking control of what the children can learn in a social setting.
I’ve sent a note to a friend whose family teaches at three schools in Staffordshire. I’ll forward this to two friends who teach in Virginia. If they comment, I’ll pass on what they say.
I was a kid about the same time as you were, Admin.
Back in the day, it was just silly, sweet fun and no Big Deal. It ought to go back to that, and the kids ought to be able to have their parties and their cards.
What I am sad to see is that, for grown-ups, V-Day has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the diamond industry. Seems the current notion is, if a guy wants any, he’d best come across. It’s obscene , and very one-sided.
Of course, there is always 14 March, one month later…
😉
“Of course, there is always 14 March, one month later…”
> PI day? Last year we actually made pies and brought them to class for that. The class in question was advanced orbital mechanics, so the geekiness of the holiday was quite appropriate to the setting.
“And they’ll either shut down, kill themselves, kill someone else, or become socialists.”
> *laughs* Only you would throw those all together Scott. Only you….
> Only you would throw those all together Scott. Only you…
Well, they are all indicators of truly failed individuals, people who were probably brought up wrong.
Hello, Brianna!
Ahem.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=March%2014th
I like the “Pi Day”, though. A lot.
🙂
“Well, they are all indicators of truly failed individuals, people who were probably brought up wrong.”
> Hey, I said you were the only one who’d throw them all together. Didn’t say you were wrong 🙂
Tiamat:
Um. Oh.
Well, what do you people want of me, anyway? I’m a geek, for chrissake. Did you not notice the name of the class we were bringing said pies into?