My point is that there are so many laws NOW which ARE NOT ENFORCED. They are "missapplied", twisted or circumvented by the lawyers who overload our legal system. More laws only serve to give a false sense of security to those who live with the misconception that "big brother" will take care of them. Our society is becoming a bunch of (excuse the bluntness) idiots. As professional educators, we should be the first to realize that a TRULY GOOD EDUCATION, would put a stop the all of this junk mail. The only reason there is so much junk mail, is that so many foolish people fall for it! If the junk mail people were not making so much money on it they would not be sending it to you! Have you ever brought a piece of junk mail into class and asked the students to find the tricks and schemes in the writing?? Why not, that would be a much more real test of reading comprehension than any of the "classics". Our society is falling into a seriously dangerous trap of believing that government is the solution to all of our problems. I certainly believe we need government, and laws. I am by no means an anarchist. My point is simply, you cannot legislate everything. If you try, you actually COME MUCH CLOSER TO ANARCHY!! As the laws and the system become more and more restricting, people begin to have contempt for the laws and the system. That is anarchy!! What does the list of rules look like in your classroom? It should be short and sweet. These are the guidelines that run your class. The best classrooms have clearly defined expectations of their students. Those classrooms with too many rules, too many exceptions, inconsistent consequences, those are the anarchistic classrooms. Consistent implementation of law is, I believe, the most important factor to the success of law. How many times do we see "famous" or "important" people get away with breaking laws and facing no consequences. What effect do you think Dennis Rodman, or Jose Allmar(sp?the baseball player who spit on the umpire), or O. J. Simpson (whether or not he is or is not guilty), Mr or Mrs President (any of them, JFK, Nixon, Johnson) have on the attitude our youth have toward laws? Our whole legal system is in bad shape. People have little or no respect for it. I do not have all the answers. I admit that I do not know of a better system, but ours is broken and that is what you should be trying to get fixed, not junk Email! I heard on the news this morning that some kid shot a 20+ year old mother of two as she walked past him on the street. Why, he wondered what it was like to kill someone. My first thought when I heard the story was, he'll get off. Some slick lawyer will plead him insane, he MIGHT get a little prison time. He will have access to more technology than we have in our classrooms, a better library than most colleges, full health care, three meals a day, he can start his own religion and have all kinds of perks. I wonder if in congress today they are going to debate, banning the particular kind of gun the kid used? OH wait, I forgot, it is already illegal to kill people. [22 lines left ... full text available at <url:http://www.reference.com/cgi-bin/pn/go?choice=message&table=05_1997&mid=2481683&hilit=ANARCHY> ] -------------------------------- Article-ID: 05_1997&2430845 Score: 82 Subject: Misconceptions of Anarchism