Every time I see "The Principal's Office" I am reminded why school was such misery for me (and based on this show, its only gotten WORSE and more fascist, dictatorial, and tyrannical in the over decade and a half since I graduated) and why if I ever have kids they are NEVER, EVER, EVER setting foot in any conventional school as long as I have a say, and instead will be home-schooled and specifically, UNschooled!!
Seriously, I thought MY high school principal was a jerk for kicking me out of school for weeks/months at a time for being a self-injurer (a "cutter") and being suicidal at times, but compared to the such trivial and frivolous crap that kids on this show are being suspended for...............for example, the episode where a kid got in trouble for just speaking a foreign language to friends at school, or another kid was suspended for texting during lunch (of course, cell phones weren't in widespread use, when I was in school so that wasn't really an issue back then -- although pagers & cell phones were banned at my school as well, nobody really had cell phones yet, and only the drug dealers had pagers).I mean WHO CARES if a kid is speaking a foreign language at school?? Don't schools actually have FOREIGN LANGUAGE CLASSES (at least they did in my high school where they offered Spanish, French, German, Latin, Japanese, Chinese and ASL) so if its all right and expected to speak foreign languages in those classes then why aren't kids allowed to speak foreign languages amongst themselves if they want? They're not hurting anyone!
Yet, pretty much EVERY SINGLE principal or assistant principal featured on this show are absolute dictators, especially that "paddling principal" Steve Halter! I bet a pervert like him really gets his rocks off paddling young schoolgirls behinds! You can just see the lust and excitement he has, hoping that the students will choose a paddling when he offers them the option of trading a paddling for a half a day of Saturday detention school. Even the non-paddling principals are all fascist bullies, like that Principal Sheninger (from New Milford HS, I think?) who called a mother to his office just because her daughter was texting DURING HER FREE TIME at LUNCH. I loved how the mother pointed out Sheninger's tyranny, saying "If this is the worst thing that my daughter has done at school, I should be coming down here for an award!", or that Wills Point principal, Coach Lamb, who threatens to burn a kid's skateboard just because he was skating at school! WTH?? Talk about emotional abuse and destruction of personal property! What right does he have to burn someone's skateboard just because he doesn't like their behavior? Also, what is it with nearly EVERY male principal (Sheninger, Tague, Halter, Coach Lamb, etc.) on this show being bald?? Are they intentionally TRYING to draw a comparison between the principals and goose-stepping skinhead neo-Nazis??
It's INCREDIBLE how much more fascist and tyrannical that schools have become since I was a student. This series is a PRIME EXAMPLE of the many EXCELLENT points made in the SUPERB Cevin Soling documentary, "The War on Kids". As funny as some of the kids & situations on this show can be, it just furthers my resolve that if I ever have kids, they are never going to any school (whether public, private, parochial or charter) to have their every move controlled by Gestapo-wannabes, and worse put them at risk of perverts in power like that paddling principal.....No sirreee! This show is a great reminder (and anytime I need a refresher -- though I never do, and just watch it for the laughs) why, with the exception of college/university (which will be THEIR choice whether to go or not) if/when I have kids, they're never setting foot in a formal school system, and instead, will be home-schooled/UNschooled from toddler-hood to adulthood!!
So thanks Principal Sheninger, Coach Lamb, Mr. Tague, Mr. Halter, Dean Arritt, and the rest of the tyrannical dictator bullies on "The Principal's Office", as well as my own fascist principals from middle school, the late Gary Grossnickle, and High School, Dr. David S. Symington, for making what might have been a hard decision (where and what kind of schools to send my kids to) a much easier one!!!
Seriously, I thought MY high school principal was a jerk for kicking me out of school for weeks/months at a time for being a self-injurer (a "cutter") and being suicidal at times, but compared to the such trivial and frivolous crap that kids on this show are being suspended for...............for example, the episode where a kid got in trouble for just speaking a foreign language to friends at school, or another kid was suspended for texting during lunch (of course, cell phones weren't in widespread use, when I was in school so that wasn't really an issue back then -- although pagers & cell phones were banned at my school as well, nobody really had cell phones yet, and only the drug dealers had pagers).I mean WHO CARES if a kid is speaking a foreign language at school?? Don't schools actually have FOREIGN LANGUAGE CLASSES (at least they did in my high school where they offered Spanish, French, German, Latin, Japanese, Chinese and ASL) so if its all right and expected to speak foreign languages in those classes then why aren't kids allowed to speak foreign languages amongst themselves if they want? They're not hurting anyone!
Yet, pretty much EVERY SINGLE principal or assistant principal featured on this show are absolute dictators, especially that "paddling principal" Steve Halter! I bet a pervert like him really gets his rocks off paddling young schoolgirls behinds! You can just see the lust and excitement he has, hoping that the students will choose a paddling when he offers them the option of trading a paddling for a half a day of Saturday detention school. Even the non-paddling principals are all fascist bullies, like that Principal Sheninger (from New Milford HS, I think?) who called a mother to his office just because her daughter was texting DURING HER FREE TIME at LUNCH. I loved how the mother pointed out Sheninger's tyranny, saying "If this is the worst thing that my daughter has done at school, I should be coming down here for an award!", or that Wills Point principal, Coach Lamb, who threatens to burn a kid's skateboard just because he was skating at school! WTH?? Talk about emotional abuse and destruction of personal property! What right does he have to burn someone's skateboard just because he doesn't like their behavior? Also, what is it with nearly EVERY male principal (Sheninger, Tague, Halter, Coach Lamb, etc.) on this show being bald?? Are they intentionally TRYING to draw a comparison between the principals and goose-stepping skinhead neo-Nazis??
It's INCREDIBLE how much more fascist and tyrannical that schools have become since I was a student. This series is a PRIME EXAMPLE of the many EXCELLENT points made in the SUPERB Cevin Soling documentary, "The War on Kids". As funny as some of the kids & situations on this show can be, it just furthers my resolve that if I ever have kids, they are never going to any school (whether public, private, parochial or charter) to have their every move controlled by Gestapo-wannabes, and worse put them at risk of perverts in power like that paddling principal.....No sirreee! This show is a great reminder (and anytime I need a refresher -- though I never do, and just watch it for the laughs) why, with the exception of college/university (which will be THEIR choice whether to go or not) if/when I have kids, they're never setting foot in a formal school system, and instead, will be home-schooled/UNschooled from toddler-hood to adulthood!!
So thanks Principal Sheninger, Coach Lamb, Mr. Tague, Mr. Halter, Dean Arritt, and the rest of the tyrannical dictator bullies on "The Principal's Office", as well as my own fascist principals from middle school, the late Gary Grossnickle, and High School, Dr. David S. Symington, for making what might have been a hard decision (where and what kind of schools to send my kids to) a much easier one!!!
