Because I'm in Property...

I really should stop reading the GNP but... I already read the celebrity gossip sites, most of CNN, about 15 people's profile's on myspace, new apartments on craigslist and... I even logged onto facebook for a few minutes.

So, I moved onto the GNP. Unfortunately.

As I started reading Kimber's (see below) column, I was excited. The guy referenced "Res Ipsa Loquitor" - I know what that means...woohoo! And, I mean, typically, I like what this guy writes... but.... his column seems to make no sense. I mean, he goes from 17 year olds who drive BMW's to what we feed our kids to CEO's being given severance packages. I mean, I'm not advocating severance packages or feeding junk to kids but what's his point? I especially don't get the part about going into someone's house and cleaning it. WTF is he talking about? Am I missing a metaphor?

And, about the bit on 17 year olds driving BMW's...

Perhaps I have become overly sensitive to this subject but I sense some resentment and perhaps some prejudice. Personally, I don't think parents should let their kids drive fancy shmancy expensive cars starting the day they turn 16. BUT, that said, I do know parents who have allowed their kids to drive nice cars and at the same time taught their kids the importance of hard work (or, the value Kimbers seems to think they're missing - how to share the road). And, I've met kids who drive beat up, broke down, barely running vehicles who have ZERO respect for other drivers on the road. Heck, I've seen 40 year olds driving beat up old cars who don't seem to have respect for other drivers. Actually, I think 75% of Southern California drivers have no respect for other people on the road irrespective of what car they drive.

And then he goes on to comment on people who make loud nosie and then ties them to the 17 year olds driving BMW's. That's an interesting assumption. I've known many a non-bmw driving inconsiderate person and many a bmw-driving considerate person.

I just hate generalizations. We all make them. I know. And that's fair. But don't mouth off in a public forum and feed your personal prejudice to everyone else. I've spent many years consciously trying to break down my own personal prejudices. I don't think it's fair to clump people together so categorically. Do we all do it in our personal lives? Of course. That won't change. But when a high school teacher in a predominantly BMW driving community publicly announces his prejudice and then comes into the classroom with such preconceived notions about his students and their families, I am a bit bothered.

(Since GNP articles are archived over two weeks, text below:)
EDUCATION MATTERS:
Let the fact speak for itself
By DAN KIMBER

There is a Latin phrase used in law that says, "res ipsa loquitor," which translates roughly to, "the thing speaks for itself," and is usually invoked in civil cases to establish negligence without having to prove it. When a doctor, for instance, sews up a patient after an operation but fails to remove a scalpel from the patient's body, an obvious case of negligence is established. The fact speaks for itself.

I'd like to apply that phrase to some situations in my life that seem, to me, anyway, self-evident and beyond dispute. Like, for instance, people wanting to build a house/mansion on a street in a neighborhood that will alienate virtually every neighbor in the vicinity. That pretty much speaks for itself. How comfortable would a family be in a house that negatively affects the quality of life of its neighbors?

Like mom and dad buying a new BMW or Mercedes for their 17-year-old son. There is nothing good to be said about such a thing. Parents who indulge their little prince thusly bear responsibility for what they have wrought — a spoiled, over-inflated, thinks-he-owns-the-road, doesn't need to follow rules, obnoxious general pain in the neck for the wider community.

Kids do thrive when they are lavished with love and security and acceptance and support, but they are none the better for coming to believe, at such a tender age, that the world revolves around them.

Like people who make loud, continuous noise into the wee hours (likely related to some of the above folks) without regard to other people within earshot and who are kept awake by their loudness. This is prima facia, in-your-face, inconsiderate, boorish behavior. Can anyone put a positive spin on people who do this?

Like school districts that have money to spare when it comes to instituting useless, and I don't use that word lightly, programs to upgrade teachers' skills, but cannot find the money to finance basic programs that benefit the students. Schools have had to scramble to support many programs by profit sharing with companies that sell junk food on its campuses. Kids get fatter, their requirements for exercise get shorter, their bodies and minds get mushier, and as long as we continue to dispense mega doses of salt, sugar and fat to our children, they will continue to under-perform. The situation is getting better, but much more needs to be done. We need to reinstate the four-year physical-education requirement for high school and get rid of the garbage that substitutes as food from every corner of every campus.

Like when students take a sudden nosedive in their grades. It's almost always because of some emotional upheaval in their lives. Getting them back on track often starts with someone, anyone, caring enough to do a little probing. "So what's going on with you?" "Is everything OK?" "I'm a good listener, is there anything you want to talk about?" If there is a problem, it doesn't take much to open up a kid who is hurting on the inside.

Like when a CEO of a large company gets hundreds of millions of dollars just for leaving the company, while stockholders go empty-handed or workers in that company have their pensions diminished or taken away all together. That is capitalism gone crazy.

And finally, if a person enters someone else's house (uninvited) to clean it up, and then instead proceeds to make an absolute mess of that house while there, and after being asked to leave insists on staying, all the while creating more of a mess, I ask: Shouldn't that someone have the basic sense to leave, and then be gently reminded that it's not his business to put other people's houses in order? That's pretty basic advice wherever and however one wishes to apply it. Res ipsa loquitor.

DAN KIMBER is a teacher in the Glendale Unified School District, where he has taught for more than 30 years. He may be reached at DKimb8@sbcglobal.net