What Cell phones are REALLY Used For At School

"Pupils at East London's Stirling High School have used cell phones to video vicious attacks and horrific fight scenes among uniformed Grade 8 children on school grounds."

"Three video clips ... show how pupils, among them two girls, viciously attack a fellow pupil in a free-for-all fight. In one scene, two girls lie on top of the third, delivering fist blows to her head." - The full report is here

The disturbing thing about this trend is that if anyone tries to break up the fight, they are discouraged. It seems that having such scenes on a cell phone increase the popularity of the phone's owner. Some pupils even seem to pick fights just so that they can be caught on camera.

I am really so sad! What kind of sick society are we living in that glorifies and even encourages such behavior? Most of the fights seem to be about stupid stuff like accusations of "boyfriend stealing", name calling, and just outright bullying.

It seems as if our kids are not being trained to control their emotions, combined with the belief that it's OK to sort problems out with the use of force or violence. This begs the question - What are they being taught at home? What are they watching on TV? They are certainly not being taught self-control, morals, or just plain socialization skills. This may be aggravated by both parents working, and the babysitter being Mr. Playstation. Is it that parents have abdicated their authority, and passed their responsibility over to the school system? I believe so - and it's this that makes me so sad ...

On a lighter note, why not use your cell phone for the purpose it was intended - to communicate useful information. Let your School Governing Body know about www.SchoolReportServices.com. This is a service that provides your child's school report card to you the parent, as an SMS text message on your mobile phone. Get your school to subscribe.

Philanthropic Oprah's School To Open in 2007

I personally am not a fan of Oprah Winfrey, although my mum-in-law and sister seem to be, judging by the way they follow her show. However, Oprah opening a private school for disadvantaged (soon to be advantaged) girls. WOW!

 

To be honest, I’ve heard about the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls for a while – but in my own cynical eye, just thought it to be another celebrity publicity stunt. Just goes to show how wrong one can be. Ok, I’ve had a change of mind – but I’m still not an Oprah fan – rather an Oprah “respectee”.

 

I haven’t seen the school or the building yet, but according to the newspaper report today, it’s sumptuous – and for just 150 very fortunate girls in grades seven and eight. It’s reported that the education value is about R105,000 per year. (as if you can put a value to something like that). There are facilities a-plenty including a wellness centre, doctor and dentist on site, high tech security, top-class teachers, heating and air-conditioning, library, labs, boarding facilities, great curriculum.

 

The only thing missing from the list is a state-of-the-art addition to their school reports system, so that the parent’s and guardians of these girls can be kept up to date with their progress via SMS on their cell phones. Oprah, if you read this, please give me a call – I’ll donate my service at cost. For more info check out www.schoolreportservices.com

 

I would have given my eye-teeth to have had it so good when I was at school. I really hope that the girls that graduate from this school help make a difference in the societies that they come from. More than that, I really would like other people and organizations to get behind improving our children’s education.