I didn’t walk seven miles to school in sub-freezing weather, up hill both ways, sans shoes and coat. I did ride a school bus every day, though. When I played on athletic teams, buses only ran the main roads in town, so we walked a little more than a half-mile from where the bus dropped us. There was a recess, and the grounds did have slides, see-saws and basketball hoops. Lunches were $0.25, and an extra milk was $0.02, and we all ate what the caf served. We survived all of that.

Men of my generation walked on the moon. People of my generation have discovered cures for so many illnesses, and advances in science and medicine are far too numerous to list. Great literature has been written, great works of art have been created, all from the pool of kids I grew up with in the ’50s and ’60s. Imagine that.

We were graded on our achievements then, based upon our performance on tests and on our behavior. There were A’s and there were F’s, and everything in between. Many in the upper 20% of my graduating class went on to college, and some of us earned graduate degrees beyond that. Others didn’t. Many of those kids moved out of town, and some stayed around. Many have raised families of their own, and their children have moved on to college educations and beyond, too. In short, there was a little bit of everything in that generation, just as there had been in previous ones. And the world turned.

What happened along the way, though? What is it we’ve become? Parents now want their “precious little snowflakes” coddled and homogenized – - except in today’s case, that means homogenized as superstars each and every one of them. I don’t get it, frankly.

We were allowed to face and deal with setbacks and failures. We all didn’t get awards, especially when we had not earned them, and yet we survived. And thrived. No, it wasn’t easy to accept those moments. In fact, it was damned tough. I didn’t make the Bears little league team with my friend, Fred Thacher, the first year I tried out for the team, and it crushed me for a day, maybe even two. That was 50 years ago, and I’m still standing. I don’t remember a single incident of parents fighting at a little league game back then, either. Were they deficient in some way too, then?

How does today’s coddling teach our children to become grownups, to become self-sufficient? Do we not thusly raise our children’s expectations that they will always be viewed as “special” in the world as they go through life? How do we teach them to deal with failure if we don’t allow them to experience it, learn from it, see that it does not kill them? How does it help them to prepare for adulthood when they don’t learn that character is doing the right thing when it is difficult and painful and not doing the right thing simply when it’s easy?

What, my little snowflake riding to school on the bus – - the “loser cruiser”? We just can’t let their days start out in such a stressful way. What, my little precious not getting an award? Somebody’s going to get stabbed for that. What, muffin talked back to her teacher today? She was just expressing herself, and we can’t suppress self-expression now, can we? And, besides, she’s just so darn cute.

Let’s see what happens to her when she “expresses” herself in front of a judge in a court of law. Let’s see what happens when he “expresses” himself at a job interview when it doesn’t go the way he wanted.

Life is difficult. There’s the lesson we ought to be teaching our children. Give them the skills to cope with that, to accept occasional failures, to develop character by doing the right thing all the time, not just when it’s convenient. Oversimplified, for sure – - but it’s a start. Where exactly did we come off the rail, though? Can someone help me with that?

What got to me today was a news article about a teacher who was suspended without pay for 8 days because she duct taped a student to his desk to get a message across about in-class behavior. She did it with humor, and even the student was laughing during what was a light-hearted moment. Yet, she got suspended by the school board.

I would have been embarrassed to tell anybody about the incident if I were the student – - man, I would not want to be sent to the Principal’s office, and God forbid my parents found out. The lesson would have been learned loud and clear.

Today, though – - school boards don’t want to be sued. This “precious little snowflake’s” folks would have called their lawyer before they even spoke with their kid about it. Just can’t let that happen to Precious, now, can we – - we’ll show that teacher who runs the class room, won’t we? Before you know it, the student will get an award, an ass-kissing award to avoid litigation. What lesson does the kid learn from all that? What will he take from it to help him become a self-sufficient, productive adult in some future society? Beat’s me.

Duct taped to a chair. Brilliant. Oh, and it really was uphill both ways.

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