SCHOOL 1977 vs. SCHOOL 2007
Scenario: Jack goes quail hunting before school, pulls into school parking lot with shotgun in gun rack.
1977 - Vice principal comes over, looks at Jack’s shotgun, goes to his car and gets his own shotgun to show Jack. Later Jack forgets his gun is in the rack when he stops at a baseball game to watch his little brother play. Some 8 year old decides to try and steal the gun for some harmless fun and shoots himself in the eye.
2007 - School goes into lockdown, the RCMP are called, Jack is hauled off to jail for the night and never sees his gun again. Jack feels stupid for not being able to remember how to safely store a gun to make sure the idiots at large don't hurt themselves with it.
Scenario: Johnny and Mark get into a fistfight after school.
1977 - Crowd gathers. Johnny wins. Johnny continues to harass Mark for years afterwords as he chases him down with his buddies every day after school. Frequently egging his house and ending with Mark committing suicide when they finally start to turn on Mark's little sister in a sexual way as she hits high school. No one cared though because women are considered fair game to harass, it is Mark's duty to protect her after all.
2007 - Police are called and arrest Johnny and Mark. They are charged with assault and both are expelled even though Johnny started it. Mark is let out on community service while Johnny is charged as a young offender.
Scenario: Jeffrey won’t sit still in class, disrupts other students.
1977 - Jeffrey is sent to the principal’s office and given a good paddling. Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again, for about 15 minutes. He's booted out of class and drops out of high school. He spends his young life working at the loading docks getting high and drinking before getting fired and living off of welfare.
2007 - Jeffrey is given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. Tested for ADD. School gets extra provincial funding because Jeffrey has a disability.
Scenario: Billy breaks a window in his neighbour’s car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.
1977 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up 'normal', goes to college, and becomes an unsuccessful businessman. Later it turns out he kidnaps and beats women to death in his basement. His dad meanwhile died in prison, as he never learned to control his anger and beat his ex-boss to death in a bar fight.
2007 - Billy’s dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy is removed to foster care and studies hard to beat the system. He becomes a successful businessman with a hard edge and raises his own kids right.
Scenario: Mark gets a headache and takes some Aspirin to school.
1977 - Mark shares Aspirin with the school principal out on the smoking dock.
2007 - Mark shares Aspirin with the school principal in the principals office.
Scenario: Pedro fails high-school English.
1977 - Pedro goes to summer school, passes English, goes to college. He becomes valedictorian but ends up mowing lawns because no one thinks they should have to hire a Mexican and the world at large agrees.
2007 - Pedro’s cause is taken up by local human rights group. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that making English a requirement for graduation is racist. Canadian Civil Liberties Association files class action lawsuit against provincial school system and Pedro’s English teacher. Pedro is given his diploma anyway and ends up running a somewhat successful business catering to Spanish speaking customers, but never really makes it far. He picks up enough English to get by, thankfully his kids are fluent in English.
Scenario: Johnny takes apart leftover Canada Day firecrackers, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle and blows up an anthill.
1977 - Ants die. Johnny loses his fingers in the explosion, the neighbour kid he brought over loses his eye. No parents are charged with negligence after all "Boys will be Boys". 2 years later Johnny's little brother dies in a similar accident.
2007 – Johnny's parents are charged with neglect when they awake from their drunken stupor. Surgical advances prevent most of the permanent damage. Johnny's little brother lives to a ripe old age.
Scenario: Johnny falls during recess and scrapes his knee. His teacher, Marty, finds him crying, and gives him a hug to comfort him.
1977 - Johnny soon feels better and goes back to playing. Later Marty lures him into his van and molests him. This happens with a chain of students over the years, each one shamed into being quiet. Good kids don't talk about this sort of thing, so Marty is never caught before he dies.
2007 - Marty is accused of being a sexual predator and loses his job. He faces thirty years in federal prison. Johnny undergoes five years of therapy after all the Child Pornography encountered on Marty's home PC is uncovered and Johnny realises he could have been next. Dozens of children over the years are now never molested.
See, I can do that too.