x_staff | Statement of Purpose

Alison posted something about the kids assuming they were promised a rose garden coming here, and she said it better than I could. But it comes down to one point - some of these kids are getting way too uppity for their britches.

This is supposed to be a school, right? Schools have teachers, administration, authority figures. But how are these kids supposed to respect that authority when the people they're supposed to look up to keep dropping the ball?

Rasputin kept a dangerous secret that endangered some of the kids. He had his reasons, and I'll back him up on them, but the point remains. The Yoshida kid - who's dealing with his part in all that? Kid seems sorry enough, and I don't think he's even capable of lying about it. But still, who's on this?

And teachers just bailing on these kids and taking off? Hell, Summers has been out of this mansion more than he's in, and ain't he supposed to be the big "team leader" type? You got two teachers who damn near killed each other in the gym in front of students, another one who took off to get her head together and left a bunch of dying plants up in the attic - hell, you've got kids who're barely out of these classes themselves turning around and teaching them.

Chuck - if you're going to keep saying that this is a school, teach these kids something useful. Get them in LINE, dammit. I ain't saying it should be boot camp here, lord knows you'd have a double busload of washouts on day one, but look at how these kids think they're running the show.

Whatsisname, the little Mexican gangbanger? Wants to teach kids how to handle a gun? Didn't he want to teach self-defense before he lost it and went crazy punching another student? Yeah, hand him a loaded weapon. Way to approve of THAT lesson plan, Summers. Real good judgement call, Slim.

Kids deciding that "next time" they'll take matters into their own hands? Who puts up with crap like that? Yeah, a lot of them defend themselves by saying they got nowhere else to go. Lemme tell you something, when you've got nowhere else to go and no one else to turn to - that's NOT the time you start criticizing how things are done. Not unless you feel ready to get booted out on your own and feel like you're capable of handling yourself.

I ain't a teacher, and I sure as hell ain't an authority figure. I do two things - I fix stuff and I break stuff. So unless you got a group of kids that either want to go do some landscaping or fix the old horse shed, don't think I'm volunteering for shit. But like Chuck told you guys - this is my home. And if you're going to play at running a school in it, at least have the decency to make it work.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

My choice to use a ranged weapon is based largely in the desire to limit the liability I am in some situations and to give me an option for defending myself or my teammates or my students that doesn't involve me getting my hands on someone. A gun sure as hell wouldn't have helped get Yana out of that mess quite so well, but I really don't like doing things like that. I'd be happy to take up a crossbow or something instead, but they don't transport quite so well. I've had permission to train using a handgun for quite some time now, from the Professor himself. There's no evil inherent in conventional weaponry like that and more than there's evil in any of us for having the capacity to kill.

God. I am tired of this argument and I am tired of trying to smooth things out between people. I quit. When the kids who have had it rough implode into their own independant little militia that trusts no one, especially people who throw idealistic, unrealistic, ethical snakeoil in their faces when they're trying to protect their own lives, or so they think, I'll be busy somewhere else, possibly embroidering a straight-jacket for myself.

When the kids who have had it rough implode into their own independant little militia that trusts no one, especially people who throw idealistic, unrealistic, ethical snakeoil in their faces when they're trying to protect their own lives, or so they think, I'll be busy somewhere else, possibly embroidering a straight-jacket for myself.

And there ain't a ONE of them that's "had it rough" enough to justify teaching the other kids how to kill. You want to try and sell me that the Professor's told you it's a kill-or-be-killed world out there? Quit blowing smoke up my ass, girl.

You want to protect these kids? Isn't that what you X-Men are supposed to be doing? But no, you're busy pretending to teach school when you've got guys like Magneto out there giving people reason to be afraid of you.

You want to be proactive - do it. But don't think you've got the right to train kids to be soldiers.

Did I say teaching them to kill? No. I said teach them how to handle a gun. There's a million miles of difference and if the teaching buys the time to teach the conscience and the ethics with it, then it's worth it. I never said we were training them to be soldiers. There's ten year olds all over this damn country who can clean, load, and fire a gun. I never once suggested that they be trained as soldiers or trained to kill.

I simply said that if it makes them feel respected and secure to be allowed to learn to use a fire arm under supervision, then it's not necessarily a bad idea, especially for the older students. With power, responsibility. The opportunity to teach both at once should not be discarded in favour of some rose-tinted ideal that says that it is right and ethical that you should take children who already kill to protect themselves, lose their trust by dropping the ball, and then tell them to go sit down and do their homework because somehow you are preserving their mythical innocence by refusing to allow them the means to cope with their present reality.

You ever seen a gun used to do something besides kill? You know what - we're done discussing this. It ain't happening, end of story. First kid I see with a gun, he's out of here. Hell, I may even give him a choice of wall or window.

Yes, we are. Not my problem anymore.

Statement of Purpose

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