LETTERS: ADULTS UNRULLY AT SCHOOL FUNCTIONS

To the editor:

I have been going to school functions at different schools in Cape Girardeau for 22 years, and I have always been frustrated by the rudeness shown by adults attending these functions who sit and visit during the programs. In the beginning years, it was just one or two groups who whispered throughout the program except perhaps when their child was performing. More often than not, these same people fussed at their children for being noisy.

As the years have gone by, this problem has gotten worse and worse. The adults now talk and laugh out loud and don't even pretend to keep their children quiet.

We attended a function at an area grade school April 22 where the principal had to remind the audience before each number to be quiet. Sometimes we had to wait because some in the audience were so obnoxiously rude they just ignored him. When the other audience members finally got them quiet and the group or individual started performing, the roar of conversation started again.

Perhaps television in our homes for the last 40-plus years has made us inse3nsitive to the need for silence at a live event. Whatever the reason, some adults need to be taught or reminded that when they go to a function outside their homes, especially one where people are performing in a way to be heard, they are not to talk during the performance. They should also learn that as adults they are responsible to make sure their children are with them or another responsible adult and are made to behave, including not letting them talk through the proram.

I'm sure this responsibility seems particularly difficult for adults who do not understand and have not been taught about the respect and courtesy that are expected of them toward the children in the program, the principal of the shcool and the parents and friends who actually came to hear the whole performance.

Why are many children rude and distrespectful in today's society" Because the adults they look up to are rude and disrespectful.

I know I was not the only one who went to hear the performance and was extremely irritated with the rudeness displayed. What do we do about it? Ask those around us who are talking to be quiet? Get a loudness bouncer? Give the audience a lesson on manners before each program? Send notes home with students and tell parents and friends that those who feel they can't refrain from talking during the performance are to please stay home?

I don't have the answers, but something definitely needs to be done, because this is just one symptom of what is happening to our children. They are not being listened to, nor are they being respected, and that always has consequences.

JEAN HALL

Cape Girardeau