I’d like to welcome you to Coffee Talk. If you’re new here, this is where I share some of the great and not~so~great stuff that I find on the web. Topics range from news stories that leave me scratchin’ my head to DIYs that I think are absolutely clever. And, who knows, there may even be a recipe thrown in here or there just for fun.
So grab a cup of coffee {or tea or whatever floats your boat} and let’s talk…
A man is facing assault (and possible manslaughter) charges after beating his wife’s would-be rapist to death. Let me repeat that. A husband defended his wife and beat her would-be rapist to death and is now facing charges. The rapist had 19 prior arrests. NINETEEN. In 2003, he pleaded guilty to stabbing, beating, and sexually assaulting a seventeen-year-old girl. Why is this husband not being rewarded for doing the court’s job? Why was this rapist even out on the streets? I understand that you’re not supposed to take the law into your own hands but let’s say you come home and find someone violently attacking your family member, you’re just gonna ask them to leave? You’re gonna tap them on the shoulder and give them the opportunity to escape? Let him finish? What? I believe in that moment, the husband probably snapped and did what he had to do to defend his wife. A crime of passion. Self defense. No crime was committed here. Unless you count the one committed by the judge who let that rapist back out on the streets.
A Texas high school has decided that students who worked hard, studied, and put in the effort to earn the right to wear National Honor Society stoles at graduation will not be allowed to do so because school officials don’t want to hurt the feelings of students who did not put in the hard work or weren’t academically capable of obtaining/maintaining high grades. Seriously? So what incentive do students have now to work hard and get good grades? Why are academically gifted students being penalized? I didn’t make the NHS when I was in high school, but I didn’t cry about it either. You know what I did? I applauded the kids who did make it. I celebrated their achievements and I walked across that stage, grabbed my diploma, and went home. End of story.
If we don’t stop rewarding mediocrity, we’re going to end up with a school full of students who whine because they can’t get their assignments completed on time because they’re activism is getting in the way. Oops, that’s already happened.
Students at Brown University are upset because they’re expected to keep up with their studies even while they protest every. single. thing. that happens on campus. I have three kids in college right now and, you know what, I’m not paying for them to go to school to protest, I’m paying for them to go to school to learn to think critically, to learn a trade, to become more well-rounded; that means learning to prioritize. If there’s a protest and a test scheduled for the same day and time, you know what takes priority? The test. As an instructor, I’ve had students tell me they couldn’t finish assignments because pets died, they overslept, my class wasn’t a priority, etc., so you know what happened? They failed the assignment. Not because I hated them but because I respected them. When they go out into the world, they cannot go to their bosses with weak excuses for not getting a project completed. That incomplete project is going to cost that business money and cost that employee their job. I went to school and completed two Master’s programs with 4 kids under the age of 5, a husband, and cancer.
Now it’s your turn, what’s got you scratching your head?
