Monday Melee 3/5 – teen theme

The Monday Melee is a Fracas project. You’re invited to participate. Get details and see the participant list here.

The Misanthropic: Name something you absolutely hate.
The social stratification, peer pressure, and cruelty of high school. Granted, some people claim it was the best time of their lives, but not me. I wouldn’t relive it for anything. I think it may be worse now than when I was young. Hundreds of kids are trapped together all day, five days a week. They’re afflicted by raging hormones, they’re trying to forge their identities and gain greater independence, and they’re facing a mixture of academic challenges and pure tedium: it’s a sure-fire recipe for trauma of one kind or another.

The Meretricious: Expose something or someone that’s phony, fraudulent, or bogus.
No Child Left Behind. The program has failed to elevate the achievement of poor children and minorities, and has, in fact, proven disadvantageous for these very children. Schools are narrowing curriculum to basic skills and content most likely to improve test scores. This skews education toward lower-order thinking skills, and short-changes the arts and humanities. Additionally, the tests are culturally and linguistically biased. The program operates through sanctions, often taking money away from ‘failing’ schools that most desperately need it. High school dropout rates have actually increased, particularly in communities with a large percentage of minority students.

The Malcontent: Name something you’re unhappy with.
Teenagers (specifically, my own) can be so damn uncooperative and unpleasant.

The Meritorious: Give someone credit for something and name it if you can.
The flip side: teenagers can be adorably affectionate and protective toward their now-smaller-than-them mom.

The Mirror: See something good about yourself and name it.
I am doing my best to remember how hard adolescence is and cut my kids some slack.

The Make-Believe: Name something you wish for.
A safe and simple cure for acne. Don’t teens have enough to be self-conscious about without it?