I find your lack of faith disturbing

So say all of us. I guess. Actually, it's just me here, so...well, I'll just continue with the post.
Across the hall from me, a teacher is totally reaming out a student. Apparently, the student has not done some assignment, and the phrase, "No, you WILL do it" has floated across the hallway and through my door.
Now, this is a scene that I see quite frequently, and I believe it ties somewhat into the conversation that Buckwalter and G-Money (if I may be so bold as to use that name) are having. It is an interesting blog-alogue, and I would like to tie in a possible root of the problem if I may.
Teachers in general have become very hard-assed. In most aspects, this is not necessarily a bad thing. Children should be held to certain expectations, and they should know that there are consequences to every action. But this "hard-assness" goes beyond all reasonable thought. I've seen teachers in this school physically stop a student and turn them towards the nearest flag to make them say the Pledge. Not politely ask them to stop and wait, or stop and join in, but grab them by the shoulders and get in their face about it. I've seen teachers telling kids they are worthless because they didn't finish one assignment. I've seen teachers tell crying students to just "get out of my classroom already." I've seen students (and this is a large number) get detention for chewing gum. Gum, people. Teachers as a whole have lost any kind of knowledge of the difficulties of being an adolescent, and therefore are forcing students to be "responsible and respectful" at a very early age.
It's important to note that any school you go to will have banners flying, proclaiming that their school is a respectful place. Bullshit. No school is a respectful place. But this is not the fault of the students. Kids are kids. They have to learn how to be nice to each other, and middle school is the worst place on earth for a child to be. Kids are mean. There's no stopping that -- they just have to grow out of it, and you have to keep pointing them in the right direction.
The big problem in our schools is that these kids GET no respect. How are they supposed to learn to be nice to others when their teachers treat them like prisoners? Um, the answer? They're not supposed to learn. And they don't. A precious few with parents still capable of raising a child end up okay. (That'd be all of us, guys).
I know that I am rambling, but I'll get to the tie-in. I promise.
This "respect" revolution started, at least in the Minnesota schools, around the time I hit middle school. I went on one of those dumb respect retreats in 9th grade. I was told from day one of 5th grade to "respect my teachers." Also at this same time there was a big push to teach kids about their responsibility to many things -- saving the planet, voting, and basically making the world a better place. But now we're seeing the problems created by the educational system here -- when no one respects you, you don't want to respect anyone else. And too much pressure at a young age is not a good thing.
And so, cut to modern day. All of these kids who have been told for so long that "the future depends on you" and "respect each other" and "put a brick in your toilet tank to save more water or the seals will all die" are fed up with responsibility. They have gone to college, had more pressure placed on them there, and have finally decided that they're done. They go back to live at home, and do they want to change the world anymore? No. Because they tried when they were in 6th grade by taking showers instead of baths, and guess what? The environment is still fucked. We raked yards of older people for service projects in 7th grade, and those same people still glare at us in grocery stores, as if we're using 5 finger discounts at 24. We raised money for March of Dimes in high school, and nobody cared. Some of us move into our careers, and when we have new ideas, they aren't listened to because we're "unexperienced."
Obviously we shouldn't be giving up. But my point is, what else does the world want from us? Where was our adolescence? It was sucked dry by community building projects or unnecessary visits to the principal's office -- when we should have still been just hanging out with friends and getting into harmless mischief.
So here we are. Everyone wants that time back, and so we take it. Some of us go to our jobs, but desperately wish that we could just sit at home, have someone else cook for us, and maybe knit something. Some of us still live at home, work part-time jobs, and still wonder when our lives are finally going to come together. We've become apathetic and useless, even those of us with budding careers, and becasue I am a part of the system, I can boldly say that we can blame the public education system in this country. And not just its recent mishandlings -- the whole system is a fluke.
We've been responsible all our lives and now we just want a break. Before we become pregnant. Before we move out and have to pay bills. Before our life gets too serious. Because the truth is, our lives have been sold to us as serious all along.

It is important to note that my point of view on this may be varying from others. This is probably because, as Buckwalter would put it, I don't come from the "hood" like he does. Nope -- I grew up in Minnetonka, one of the blessed of the Minneapolis suburbs. I had awesome teachers, a well-funded school district, and an assistant superintendent who knew not only my name, but my friends' names as well. So perhaps others have not felt this pressure -- I only know Minnetonka and Farmington as of right now, but I'm hoping to expand that in the near future.

And I believe we may be looking at the Hemingways and the Fitzgeralds of our generation right here. Our philosophizing must count for something, after all. I believe I've done enough rambling for now. Lord knows I could go on forever.
And ever and ever.
Play with us, Danny.
See, I warned you! Seriously, now I'm done. I've used my whole prep hour up. Whoops!