EDUCATION MATTERS:Let the fact speak for itself

There is a Latin phrase used in law that says, “res ipsa loquitor,” which translates roughly to, “the thing speaks for itself,” and is usually invoked in civil cases to establish negligence without having to prove it. When a doctor, for instance, sews up a patient after an operation but fails to remove a scalpel from the patient’s body, an obvious case of negligence is established. The fact speaks for itself.

I’d like to apply that phrase to some situations in my life that seem, to me, anyway, self-evident and beyond dispute. Like, for instance, people wanting to build a house/mansion on a street in a neighborhood that will alienate virtually every neighbor in the vicinity. That pretty much speaks for itself. How comfortable would a family be in a house that negatively affects the quality of life of its neighbors?

Like mom and dad buying a new BMW or Mercedes for their 17-year-old son. There is nothing good to be said about such a thing. Parents who indulge their little prince thusly bear responsibility for what they have wrought — a spoiled, over-inflated, thinks-he-owns-the-road, doesn’t need to follow rules, obnoxious general pain in the neck for the wider community.

Kids do thrive when they are lavished with love and security and acceptance and support, but they are none the better for coming to believe, at such a tender age, that the world revolves around them.

Like people who make loud, continuous noise into the wee hours (likely related to some of the above folks) without regard to other people within earshot and who are kept awake by their loudness. This is prima facia, in-your-face, inconsiderate, boorish behavior. Can anyone put a positive spin on people who do this?

Like school districts that have money to spare when it comes to instituting useless, and I don’t use that word lightly, programs to upgrade teachers’ skills, but cannot find the money to finance basic programs that benefit the students. Schools have had to scramble to support many programs by profit sharing with companies that sell junk food on its campuses. Kids get fatter, their requirements for exercise get shorter, their bodies and minds get mushier, and as long as we continue to dispense mega doses of salt, sugar and fat to our children, they will continue to under-perform. The situation is getting better, but much more needs to be done. We need to reinstate the four-year physical-education requirement for high school and get rid of the garbage that substitutes as food from every corner of every campus.

Like when students take a sudden nosedive in their grades. It’s almost always because of some emotional upheaval in their lives. Getting them back on track often starts with someone, anyone, caring enough to do a little probing. “So what’s going on with you?” “Is everything OK?” “I’m a good listener, is there anything you want to talk about?” If there is a problem, it doesn’t take much to open up a kid who is hurting on the inside.

Like when a CEO of a large company gets hundreds of millions of dollars just for leaving the company, while stockholders go empty-handed or workers in that company have their pensions diminished or taken away all together. That is capitalism gone crazy.

And finally, if a person enters someone else’s house (uninvited) to clean it up, and then instead proceeds to make an absolute mess of that house while there, and after being asked to leave insists on staying, all the while creating more of a mess, I ask: Shouldn’t that someone have the basic sense to leave, and then be gently reminded that it’s not his business to put other people’s houses in order? That’s pretty basic advice wherever and however one wishes to apply it. Res ipsa loquitor.