"How can you know what pride is if you have no sense of shame?"

I said this to one of my classes after I'd had enough excuses for bad behavior.  Whether it was lying, sneaky, evasive attempts to avoid responsibility, an air of entitlement, irresponsible behavior. 

There is no way around it.  You can't know darkness unless you know the light and visa versa. 

A mother is complaining that a teacher's giving her daughter "the catastrophe award"  is bullying.  The award is given to students with the most excuses for not doing their homework.  Maybe attempting to ween her daughter or toilet train her can be considered bullying too.  Certainly, that caused some trauma to the child as she had to make a change.  That is what growing up and being responsible entail.  My question is always "What would you prefer, an uneducated adult who knows no shame?"  Aren't we already doing a great job of producing enough of that right now?

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2012/05/30/catastrophe-award-given-to-8-year-old-student/


I believe the award is not meant to be taken so literally.  "Yes but the child is only a child and will take it that way." But you can't have it both ways.  This kid uses the fact that they are a child to get a free pass regarding, not just irresponsible behavior, but also lying.  Huh?  Sure.  All those excuses are basically lies and adults know it and just accept it because "she's just a child."