What Was He Picturing?

So, I was in a sixth grade classroom last week, and they were assigned to read a selection on medieval children's games. About 20 minutes in, one of the students comes up to me and says, "I found a bad word in this." I have him show it to me, and it says:

"Cock fighting was another popular past-time."

I did my best to stifle my laughter, but still:

1) I'm amused that it was only the dirty definition of cock that he knew.
2) Without knowing it meant rooster-fighting, what in the world did he imagine medieval youth were like?
3) After I told this story to a friend, he asked, "So did you teach him about cock?" And thus "Megan's Law" Chicken was born, a popular past-time of post-millennial youth.

A Gem from Today

In the class I was in today, the students were working on computer-based grammar drills. One flagged me down for help, pointed at her screen, and asked, "Is 'whom' even a word?"

It was a high school class.

The Most Messed Up Thing I've Heard in a While

I was in a fourth grade classroom today. While working on a worksheet about the life of MLK, a girl raised her hand and said, "I know how he died. He was shot in the head."

A boy in the front row responded, "Boom! Headshot."

I'm starting to rethink whether maybe violent video games may have a negative effect on children, after all.