American Entitlement: Paris Hilton Gets Out Early
Why is it everyone seems so entitled? How do you have a society that works when everybody thinks he or she is an exception to the rule? Where does this start? Likely at home, where many parents these days prefer being buddies to their kids instead of parents. My mom teaches first grade and you would be surprised (unless you too are entitled, and then it may not seem surprising at all) how many parents will spend a huge amount of time and effort to make sure their children get out of punishment, and actually blame the teacher for enforcing the rules!!
Last year I was a yearbook adviser and substitute teacher in a public school. The yearbook classroom teacher and I disciplined a student for making fun of a kid with Down’s Syndrome. He got a detention. Big deal right? Well…his mom came in, tense and angry, mad at us for suggesting her child did something wrong. The kid’s dad suggested the problem was not that his son behaved improperly, but that a Down-Syndrome child was even allowed to attend a public school to begin with. Eventually the parents cooled down when their child, more mature than them it seems, admitted he did the wrong thing.
Well now, in a continuation of the long saga of American entitlement, Paris Hilton gets to leave jail early for “medical reasons.” Personally I think she should have served the sentence just like anybody else would have. Am I way off? Does being rich and/or famous, and feeling emotionally distraught about being in jail, mean she should get off the hook? Personally, I think jail is effective because it DOES cause emotional distress. Perhaps she will now alter her reckless behavior in the future…or maybe she has been taught she can always get off the hook!
