09-28-2015, 11:59 AM
Two anecdotes come to mind.
1. A friend of mine is a pretty well-adjusted fellow (even though he is a C.al alum) and lived in Belvedere. When his son was about ten, he came in to tell his father that his friends and he were going to play some pick up baseball at the local park. He asked for a ride and Jack took him over to the field. He pulled into the adjoining parking lot and his son got out and ran over to join his friends. As he was starting to pull away he noticed that the other parents had gotten out of their cars and were standing outside the fence of the field and were watching the boys get ready. His curiosity got the best of him and he parked and went over to observe. The boys were having some difficulty figuring out how to set the teams and it went on for a little bit. Then it started. One of the fathers interceded to instruct the players in a process for choosing sides. Then another started giving input to one of the teams about how they should determine who should play which position. Another father took over setting the line up. By the end of my friend's observations, a half dozen adult men had taken over their sons' playtime and were running the whole operation. He left, disgusted.
2. A very close friend of my wife's whose daughter was in one of the C.al State schools wrote her papers for her. Not even just editing or guiding. She fully composed all of her daughters term papers for the full four years of her college experience. She even joked that she was really angry when one of the papers received only a "B" and she wanted her daughter to go in to argue with the professor about the grade (!).
1. A friend of mine is a pretty well-adjusted fellow (even though he is a C.al alum) and lived in Belvedere. When his son was about ten, he came in to tell his father that his friends and he were going to play some pick up baseball at the local park. He asked for a ride and Jack took him over to the field. He pulled into the adjoining parking lot and his son got out and ran over to join his friends. As he was starting to pull away he noticed that the other parents had gotten out of their cars and were standing outside the fence of the field and were watching the boys get ready. His curiosity got the best of him and he parked and went over to observe. The boys were having some difficulty figuring out how to set the teams and it went on for a little bit. Then it started. One of the fathers interceded to instruct the players in a process for choosing sides. Then another started giving input to one of the teams about how they should determine who should play which position. Another father took over setting the line up. By the end of my friend's observations, a half dozen adult men had taken over their sons' playtime and were running the whole operation. He left, disgusted.
2. A very close friend of my wife's whose daughter was in one of the C.al State schools wrote her papers for her. Not even just editing or guiding. She fully composed all of her daughters term papers for the full four years of her college experience. She even joked that she was really angry when one of the papers received only a "B" and she wanted her daughter to go in to argue with the professor about the grade (!).
"It's not what you don't know that gets you in trouble. It's what you think you know that just isn't so."
Mark Twain