Frazz by Jef Mallett for January 06, 2012

Hey, she’d be able to hear talking in the back of the room better…

From yesterday:

Wolf Emperor said, about 15 hours agoYes, Caulfield is intelligent and witty and all, but academics is only half of what you learn in school. The other half is to exhibit proper respect for authority and respect your elders, and behave, and in that arena, Caulfield always earns the failing grade. I have told Jef Mallett this before. Jef accorded, but said Caulfield is humorous the way he is.

I’m hearing that you define “proper respect” to mean unquestioning, non-thinking acceptance of “expert” pronouncements and “gospel” no matter how stupid or non-sensical they may be. By that definition, Caulfield does fail. But that definition is what is at the core of what is wrong with this country: people putting blind trust into and following idiots. If you don’t think this is rampart, go lookup the Jonestown massacre in 1978. Way too many people are still "drinking the Kool-Aid " today.

Fortunately, Caulfield is far better than that. He is actually very respectful of other people – from his classmates to his teachers.

It would be disrespectful to outright denigrate or denounce another’s statements or opinions simply because they don’t agree with one’s own. To question a belief, opinion or “fact” is not disrespect. Just the opposite: it implies that the questionee came to his conclusion through rational thought, is capable of rethinking his conclusion from a different perspective and is willing to enter into a discourse about the subject. Caulfield is questioning the rationale behind an opinion. He is not attacking the person. There is a big difference. Caulfield passes the respect for others test with flying colors.

============GatoCat said, about 14 hours agoWould a Caulfield who was intelligent, respectful and well-behaved hold the attention of comics fans?

Yes, he obviously is and does. Just look at Steven Colbert or Jon Stewart for RL examples

BTW, if you think that Caulfield is mal-behaved I submit that you need a dose of reality. We’ve never seen Caulfield being destructive, having a tantrum, fighting, disobeying direct orders or anything else qualifying as misbehaving. Asking questions and popping an ego balloon is not misbehaving.

That contraption would simply turn Mrs. Olsen into a bong. I don’t feel that this is the sort of message we want to send to our children. Unless, of course, she intends to audition for the next Cheech and Chong movie.

Making compliant respectful little worker bees is the WHOLE purpose of public education.

I think it’s funny that so many people are under the mistaken impression that Caulfield is a real person. It’s a comic strip, folks. It’s supposed to be funny, not promoting respectful students. Sheesh. Get a life people.

Actually the American “Child Inventorying” system hasn’t been about “educating” since the PhD’s started coming back from Germany bearing the “Prussian Plan” as their goal.

Take a look into John Taylor Gatto’s “Underground History of American Education”

I say this as the Son of a teacher and veteran/victim of New York Catholic and Public Schools, “Open Education,” PA Public Schools and College.

I ALWAYS got good grades, and was USUALLY “Bored out of my Gourd!” Now I know why.

AAAnd on to the side note…PLEASE spay/neuter your pets!

The goal of education, from the young person’s viewpoint has to be to pick up the few useful skills they still teach while avoiding the damage the System wants to inflict.

There is hope for Caulfield.

Give her Chinese-made cigarettes. That would probably stop her from smoking.

Agree with Sheldon. We always had humorous and scary tales about how warped we were by education/ourparents/ society etc…somehow we all learned to read and write!

Caulfield is a gifted child and trust me folks they are a handful. They are not trying to be disrespectful, they are just highly inquisitive little lawyers types. With a highly tuned sense of sarcasm.

@fiddler17

Dead right, idiotic commenting on a cartoons behaviour, shows less sense than the cartoon.

Caufield has the right idea in addressing problems——just the wrong approach to presenting how to solve them. Gotta love the annoying but cute little smartass!

Sharuniboy said, about 11 hours agoThe purpose of EDUCATION is to encourage people to EDUCE – draw forth, from within, by reason, analysis, comparison, and exercise of judgment – an activity otherwise generally known as THINKING. On the other hand, INDOCTRINATION will produce all the “little worker bees” anyone can ever wish for.

Well said Sir! (and I learned a new word)

There are times that I would posit that Caulfield may be on the (high-functioning end of the) Autism scale. Very intelligent, but sometimes seems to have missed out on the social side of learning.

When you hear someone say that they are going to try and quit smoking, put your money on their failure. If they said, “I’ve decided to quit smoking”, good for them. They’ve decided. “I’m trying or I’m going to try” indicates the lack of a decision. When you decide to quit, done deal. Decision made. Of course failure can creep in on occasion, but “I’m going to try” is rife with guaranteed failure. Make a decision and stick to it. I did.

I smoked for 25 years. Camel non-filtered. 3 packs a day. One night, I was in the Emergency Room and the doctor asked me if I smoked. I said, "Yes, for 25 years. But, I’ve smoked my last one. I’m quitting. And that was that. I’m sure that I’ll succeed. That was August 7, 1989. I’ve been quit for 33 1/2 years. I haven’t touched even one in all those years. I made a decision to do something. Not to TRY to do something! Good luck to anyone wanting to do the same!