The old saying "you never stop learning" doesn't work if you never started to learn in the first place. "You can't teach an old dog new tricks" would be better worded "It's a LOT harder to teach an old dog new tricks."
My biggest gripe is aimed towards parents. Parents carry the most responsibility when educating their children. They are the ones that children mold their minds, behavior and way of life after. An argument could most certainly be made about children that succed beyond their parents, but generally speaking, most children grow up to be like their parents, in one way or another.
Day in and day out, I see the different interactions with children and their parents. We all see it, whether its within our own homes, at the store, friend's house, or the park. What I don't understand and probably never will, is why parents let their children rule their homes. At what point did their thought process include, "Yeah, it's a good idea to let little Jimmy make his own rules at age three. He'll be a better person for it when he's older." Umm...no. Someone should have bitched slapped that parent upside the head.
Little Jimmy will NOT be a better person. In fact, little Jimmy will probably be a bully by age five, an assole by ten and friendless by 15, not counting the people that hang around him simply out of fear. Then you have to deal with little Jimmy not being invited places and teachers "picking" on him by actually doing YOUR job for you, disciplining his horrendous behavior.
In case you haven't notice, I cannot stand unruly children, and even worse, the parents that made them that way. If you're reading this and your child is under the age of ten, talks back to you, pushes other kids around and has no manners, WAKE UP. You are failing as a parent. And you are failing your society. The criminals that you say are ruining the country? Little Jimmy is one of them.
But you know who'll get the blame in all of this? Society. "Society failed my child. He wasn't accepted in school. The kids picked on him. His teachers failed him." Yes, teachers did fail him. His parents failed him.
