Date:         Fri, 27 Nov 1998 21:57:51 -0800
Reply-To:     Dean Forshee <steeling@CREATIVE.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Dean Forshee <steeling@CREATIVE.NET>
Organization: Steel Crazy, Inc.
Subject:      Re: vanagon Digest - 27 Nov 1998 - Special issue
Comments: To: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

<" MY KID BEAT UP YOUR HONOR STUDENT"

This is easily my most-hated bumper sticker.  It symbolizes everything
that
is wrong with america... the emphasis on violence, and the denigration
of
education.

Coyote>

Coyote, I know this is way off topic for the Vanagon.com list... but
since we have breached certain topics anyway, I'd like to respond to
this.  I think you may have missed the point of this bumper sticker.  I
actually like this BS (bumper sticker) and think that it's not only
funny, but makes a valid point.  It's a reaction to the typical "My
child is an honor student @ blablabla school."  Of course it's a good
thing to recognize kids for their achievements in school.  And I imagine
that usually when parents place such bumper stickers on their bumpers,
it's not because they really need to tell the world that their kids are
particularly cleaver, but simply to show their own kids that they are
proud of them.  That's a good thing.  But I saw a variation on this that
I thought was great -it said something to the effect that ALL of the
students at a particular school (I don't remember the name) were
honored.  I like that idea.  I am wary of anything that might suggest
that some kids are BETTER than others.  My wife adopted an infant @ 5
weeks old, named Maria.  She is now 22 years old.  She never excelled in
school, and never would have qualified for any kind of honor society
(and bumper sticker that goes with it).  But she has always had a good
heart, and I think it's possible that this is more important than
acedemic achievement.  She, at times, felt badly that she was never more
than an average student in school, and that her parents were never able
to brag about her achievements.

Forgive my babbling.

-Dean.