A public comment received in the local Summerville, SC newspaper, in reference to a discussion about the apprpriateness of high school students walking out to support the MSD H.S. students of Parkland, FL:


"John Schwendler um sir i don’t know you but you have the wrong idea. us students are not completely self absorbed in our phones that we can’t care about each other. our phones are what keep us connected and informed. i don’t know if you know this but what you said is incorrect. you can’t stereotype of as a typical teenagers who only care about our phones. most of us care and are trying to make a difference even if it is a small one and you saying, “i’m glad the students are putting their phones down long enough to care about each other” is making us out to be children who only care about our technology. don’t put us down."

My response on Saturday Mar 17, 2018:

Allow me to cue you in to reality. Are you ready? My perception:

I subbed in a high school classroom this week, as I usually do. I asked students in each class, all day long, to stand up and name each of their classmates. No one could do it, not all of their classmates. And it's March, not August....something is wrong, if  students don't know everyone in their classes by now. Could you do this? I don't expect them to know everyone in school, just to clarify. Five days weekly with the same students in all their classes, and no one knows each other?

I can't get students to put away their phones. I have watched you walk into each other, walls, doors, door posts, food carts, custodians, custodian carts, all while your head and eyes were down locked on your little phones. You stand outside the front doors awaiting entrance, and you are on your phones, not talking with each other. Check your student agenda for cell phone usage rules, because every last one of you violates those rules daily. Trust me.

I do know enough about you, from covering at various schools, and having taught awhile myself, to know this much. You are the most self-absorbed, close-minded, non-inquisitive generation to come along in America, ever. The majority of you have few inter-personal skills, can't carry on a conversation, nor write a paragraph on any subject, with correct grammar and spelling. Most of you don't read, in fact you hate to. Most of you don't hold doors for each other as you pass in and out of bldgs and hallways. Most of you rarely say Excuse Me, Please, Thanks, or simply, Hi. There are reasons many students feel alone and bullied. See the last sentence.

You are commenting, about the way you currently live your life, because it is the only style you have known. To me, it is an empty, soul-less existence. Most of you care little about the world, and those around you. Almost none of you ask questions, other than " do we put our names on our papers?" Most of you didn't want to participate in a simple walk-out because "we'll get in trouble". Dare I stereotype all teenagers? Of course not, just as you should not stereotype all adults. But my comments are based upon two year's exposure to high school students in multiple local schools, and in middle schools in another state across the country where subbing also appealed to me, so that I wouldn't have to deal with rude students and idiotic parents.

I stopped subbing in middle schools here, because the students are extremely rude and disruptive. Those are the same reasons their teachers are leaving the profession in droves (look that word up).

Nearly every classroom I cover, has signs posted within: No Cell Phones! No student pays attention to that rule whatsoever. Has it ever once occurred to any of you, how much more you could be learning, and would have learned, had you put your stupid little phones away? Cluess, absolutely clueless.

Your generation is rising, quickly, to move into society and one day be the majority. I shudder to think what you will do with your opportunity to improve the world, nation, state, community. Call each other?

One last thought: sentences begin with capital letters, sweetie.