Day 7 - Tuesday

Today was a busy day in the life of an assistant principal wannabe, but instead of boring you with tales of crazy parents and wacky kids, I am going to spend my time focusing on something entirely different today. I am constantly amazed by the types of people who get hired as role models for our kids.

Tonight I was out to dinner with my family to celebrate my daughter's sixth birthday. She was in her own little world playing with her cousins and eating her burger and fries while sipping on a chocolate milk shake. For that I was thankful because she could not hear the man siting at the table next to us. My ears kept picking up on his prolific use of four-letter words as he recounted to his buddy the trials he is going through with his live-in girlfriend. Nearly every sentence contained expletives, many used to describe her. I could tell he was angry and I concluded that to call him on his horrific behavior would only make things worse, so I suffered in silence.

As he spewed out his profanity, I couldn't help but notice that he wore the uniform of a local high school baseball team. Sure enough, the conversation eventually turned to baseball and the players on the team. I couldn't believe that this man had been hired to coach high school boys and mentor them through a portion of their most impressionable years. His disgust with his shack-up honey and the words he used in a very public setting were among the most offensive things I had heard in quite some time. I was equally appalled by his buddy who sat there never once suggesting to his friend that his language might be offensive to those around him.

If this man were to tell me that he never speaks that way in front of his team, I wouldn't excuse him. The truth of his character was revealed tonight. Even if his language was nothing but perfect in the presence of teenagers, his character is flawed and those flaws will be evident in his interactions with those he is tasked to train.

It is these kind of people who influence our children. These are the men who shape our future. Until our role models can control themselves, we will continue to see new generations of ineffective and immature parents sending their children to our already struggling public schools. It's time to take a stand because when we do, students will be free to learn.