I am lost in this new world. When my girls grew up the word “shut up” was a bad word and soap was used to wash the mouth. It did not hurt them at all. I remember one day my oldest coming home with this news: “Mama, Kelly said a very bad word to me, she said S……H…(at this point the hair on my back started to stand up) and then she finished …U T….UP!” I never forgot that as I was petrfied that something else was going to be coming after the sh… Of course the “girls” grew up in the sixties and seventies. Sometimes I do wish we could set the clocks back.

The school Superintendents attitude says everything. He was not angry that the incident happened but that the media reported it. It was the same when the south saying the problem was not its segregated ways but northern agitators and the news media. Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage and Sarah Palin have made it okay to say these things. What happens when they are called on the carpet? I said nothing wrong and I didn’t hear anything. Of course its okay to yell” kill him “. It is okay to call the president elect a chicago thug.

Well when you have the repubs pandering to the lowest common denominator in this country, the 85 IQ morons of the know nothing party—oops excuse me the Republican Party,, what can you expect—more of the same? Probably. And just remember—the kids heard it from parents.

I don’t know anything about this except what is printed here in the article, but these words stopped me cold: “… teachers have been busy instructing their students that using the words “kill” or “assassinate” in relation to the president has serious repercussions to it, and can bring about severe sanctions.” Scaring a child into silence by threats of “repercussions” and “severe sanctions” is not the same as teaching the child why something is wrong. It seems to me that all these children have learned is that “kill” and “assassinate” are words to be used in secret …

There is NO respect or discipline taught in those homes! It is not the teacher’s job to teach respect. They should know better. I blame the parents for this…this is why there is racism and hate in this country…generation after generation.

What is missing from these posts? What ? no word from a single right wing nut?

I was just going to commit on the fact that no one who claims to be a good Republican on this site had made a comment. As someone else said, These are the kind of things that were said at Sara Palin’s Rally’s……….She seemed to think it was OK for her fans to talk this way. At least McCain disapproved. Perhaps when she writes her book she will dedicate a chapter about her Racist and bigoted ways to all her fans who must obviosly feel the same way since they admire everything about her. It’s sad that such Hatred is still taught to innocent children. They don’t come up with this horrid stuff all by themselves……..they hear everything that goes on in their homes………it’s obvious what they are hearing.

How interesting. I am reading a widespread philosophy of “guilty until proven innocent.” Kids are at fault. Bus driver is at fault. Teachers are at fault. Parents are at fault. The community is at fault. No! All republicans are at fault, especially Sarah Palin! What factual evidence do you participants offer which clearly links a specific source to blame for this inappropriate behavior? Might this be one, two, maybe three kids started up this chant and the rest joined in thinking this is cool and fun? Perhaps a kid, maybe siblings heard this on the news, read this, did not understand the meaning of “assassinate” then spread this around on campus? Reminds me of an innocent mistake I made during my teaching career. I am discussing solids, liquids, gasses and related topics during a science class. I get to talking about how some “things” fall between a solid and a liquid, this “thing” being demonstrated with a hefty rubber band. Lot of fun, kids love this. I took to launching pencils to show kids how rubber bands are elastic, sorta solid, sorta liquid. Not intended, I launch a pencil which promply sticks itself into our soft acoustic ceiling. Oh boy, my kids are absolutely delighted, think this is so funny. Certainly they will remember some of what I teach. Over coming days, there is plague of pencils being shot into ceilings in almost all classrooms. Who catches the heat for this? You know. What a reprimand I received from my principal. Participants here quickly blaming this person and that person for this school bus incident reminds me of my one time accident of launching a pencil into a ceiling. Those dozens of pencils hanging from ceilings all around our school. She did it! This is all her fault! She is a bad teacher! Fire her! Ain’t this a lot like you participants? Okpulot Taha Choctaw Nation

You know I would have to agree with what most are saying…I dont think its anyone’s fault but the parents of the kid who started the chat…Yes our kids hear things on TV but again they are at home w/ their parents and parents should really monitor what their kids watch on TV. I have a 2 1/2 year old and trust me she doesnt get to watch anything that will show her hatred. I dont like letting her watch fights on TV. My husband still likes WWE but when she is awake I ask that he not watch it and when asked why, I let her watch it with him for about 10 minutes and after 10 minutes she went over to our dog and started to punch him and slam her body down on him, like she had just watched on TV, POINT PROVEN!!! It has to start early. I mean parents yell at kids and hit kids & they are teaching kids that its ok to do that b/c why else would Mommy & Daddy be doing it. We are the first and last that our kids see. We are there when they wake up and we are there when they go to bed. They look up to us and want to be like us. Its up to US as parents to teach our kids. Its not the media’s fault, its not Palin’s fault…its not Obama’s fault…Its the parents fault for teaching their kids hatres toward someone who is different. I knew a guy in school who was really mean to another kid in our school who was Autistic, GUESS WHAT, he now has 2 children who are Autistic and trust me he gets PISSED when others kids pick on his kids. We as Parents, Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, anyone who has influence in our child’s lives has to watch what they say or do. Oh well…I feel sorry for those kids b/c they really didnt know any better. They repeated what they had heard. Weather it was on TV or from their parents.

There is no excuse - period. One rotten apple … I’m shocked at the defensive posture many parents take today, in fact, shocked more that so many appear to have given up on their spouse’s lack of parenting, indeed laying blame there, too - instead of setting limits together and enforcing them. I see it in my own supposedly well-bred,” well-educated off-spring, and at this point, I have given up. I really wonder how, with parents so active in the schools (the schools didn’t want “us” in them) why education and our youth are at the bottom in so many areas, including respect. I realize I sound like Shakespeare, but there is something wrong. I fear it’s too big for 1 person to fret about. In this case, I do believe that the superintendent is doing a CYA - there are no excuses! Period! Pull those kids together, and show them what it would be like to turn the tables on them, chanting same only using their parents names, or their own! Children do not learn in vacuum - what happened to parents being legally responsible for the acts of their children? I carried extra liability insurance for that very reason - with 5 children, and a large in-ground pool, it was needed plus anything else that may have cropped up. Super himself should be cited. More media on that group, please. Frankly, those kids will never change.

Ain’t this a lot like you participants?By Okpulot Taha on 11/20/2008 3:50 am Once again -OT is all knowing. Nothing is wrong - not worth discussion. Inapproriate thing happened and that is that.

I think if everyone were honest with themselves (even the people of that town), they would realize it’s probably the parents fault. You can generally ask a child who they think should win prior to a presidential election and who ever they say you can bet that is who their parents are going to vote for. I know my parents heavily influenced me on my political opinions when i was younger. I grew up thinking Bill and Hillary Clinton were evil when i was in elementary school (i’m now in my 20s). It wasn’t until i got older that i realized my parents were extremely conservative and that Bill and Hilary Clinton are very intelligent people that do a lot of good. I think its great that Obama was elected and i voted for him, though it was in a republican dominate state so i’m not sure it did a lot of good anyway. and though i am overjoyed that Obama won, i am also very sad to see how much ignorant and i think racist (though they might not be aware of it or willing to admit it) people there are still in this country, it seems like they have come out of the woodwork during this last election. it makes me sad, our country has come a long way but i think we still have SO much farther to go.

2ND AND 3RD GRADERS????? OMG! It had to have come from the parents of some, one, any of the children to begin something like that! Children that age simply do NOT come up with such an original thought. I feel nothing but contempt for the adults who would instill that kind of behavior in their children. The parents need to be taken to task. Never mind the media. Media is quite another thing entirely. Our media has really gone amok. Either they are placid, or they are vile, or they encourage more hate and ignorance - but, children that age do not watch news, or listen to news radio, or get information from their television sets which produce hatred. They are too busy watching cartoons - or, sneaking a “playboy” magazine in to their bedrooms, (if there happens to be one in the house). Kids that age do not have enough comprehension about hatred, unless they witness it first hand. This is really a no brainer.