Rattle wrote:
] ] ASBURY PARK -- As she watched her niece graduate from
] ] kindergarten yesterday, Sherri Stanard's pride turned to
] ] shock and anger when a vice principal told the children
] ] to stand up to demonstrate that he believed one-third of
] ] a kindergarten class would not make it through high
] ] school because of alcohol, drugs or pregnancy.
]
] ] "He asked the kids to stand up, and he told us to take a
] ] good look at these kids because a third of them will not
] ] graduate from high school or make it to high school
] ] because they will be too busy drugging, drinking or
] ] getting pregnant," said Stanard, 42, of Neptune. Stanard
] ] said she also has a niece in first grade at the Bangs
] ] Avenue Elementary School, where the vice principal, Paul
] ] J. Banik Jr., has worked for three decades.
]
] ] Howard Mednick, the school's principal for the past two
] ] years, said that the context of Stanard's account was
] ] basically correct, but that Banik did tell the audience
] ] he was not talking about the children standing up.
]
] Hahaha.. Asbury Park, where the truth hurts.

Well, Mr. Cynical, I was going to leave this one alone until I started thinking about it this morning in the shower. It's called "self-fulfilling prophecy". Once someone tells you "you're ugly" enough, even if you're beautiful, you will start to believe it. If someone tells you "you'll never get anywhere in life" enough, guess what? You won't get anywhere in life. Yes, we all know Asbury Park sucks. And yeah, that probably is the truth...a lot of those kids will get involved in drugging, drinking, and getting pregnant... But at 5 and 6 years old, these kids don't need to hear that. Neither do their parents. These kids are off to the right start, you know... They're in school. Their parents are TRYING. Think about that.

RE: Warning hits sour note at Asbury Park kindergarten graduation