O’Reilly: Epidemic of disrespect due mainly to public schools

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After years of calling his political opponents “pinheads,” Fox News host Bill O’Reilly on Wednesday night lamented the decline of respect in the United States.

He observed that a woman recently received 30 days in jail for cursing at a Wisconsin judge and giving him the finger. O’Reilly said the incident highlighted the “epidemic of disrespect in America.” The public school system, he concluded, was mostly to blame.

O’Reilly noted New York public schools revised their disciplinary code last year in an attempt to keep more students in the classroom. Insubordinate students can no longer be suspended for one-time, low-level infractions, such as talking back to teachers or carrying a smartphone.

“As a former teacher, I know that if a system allows students to curse out teachers in front of other students all discipline breaks down,” O’Reilly said. “By the way, that is one of the reasons I sent my kids to Catholic school.”

O’Reilly said the Internet and reality TV shows were also contributing to the epidemic of disrespect.

Watch video, via Media Matters, below: