what the heck is wrong with these kids today?

On my way home to and from breakfast today, I witnessed a number of grade schoolers on walks with their teachers.

At first, I notice the children wearing bright orange or yellow reflective vests... not a bad idea, I suppose...

Then, I realize that they are all walking very close together, oddly so... as I walk closer, I find out why. They are all tethered together on a line, a lease being held by the teacher in the back of the line. (I didn't notice if a teacher was holding the front end).

Am I going crazy?
Am I too old now to be saying "Back in MY day, kids behaved and stayed together without the aide of being roped together"?
Did they used to do this, but it wasn't done in the 80's and now it's back?
Are kids dumber that they need to be leashed?
Are educators and care givers dumber for not being able to keep an eye on their charges, so they need a rope?
Do these ropes really help? Or do they just provide a small amount of security, and providing false freedom to the caregiver, so they he/she can "look away" more often, with the knowledge their kids are holding onto the rope??

Sorry, I had to rant. But, honestly... I don't have kids, maybe I'd feel differently if it was my kid on the field trip. But I'd like to think I'd raise a smart enough kid not to wander away from the group, and would have placed him/her in a smart enough school that their teachers are careful with my child.

thoughts? parents? teachers?

Cancer.

My cousin's husband's brother went in for surgery today. He has a tumor, but they don't know what kind it is, but they expected it to be a 12 hour surgery.

He was always obese, when I saw him last, a few years ago, he was about 300lbs. Now he is 400lbs, and the surgery ended about 4 hours early. The tumor weighed 25 lbs. They still don't know what type it is, they are waiting for the labs, he lost a kidney to the cancer, and there are cancerous spores on his intestines. They couldn't get it all.

The husband, and their daughter are at UPenn Hosp, along with his brother's family, to be supportive, but with the lack of so many answers, my cousin's may return home tonight.

Mike (the brother) is a great guy, very generous, loving etc... no one deserves this. My cousin is a wreck too, both families are very close. There has been so much death in the family, my cousin was crying on the phone, but seemed to be crying for me, Mike is far from terminal at this point, but she is just so full of emotion and caring that it comes out of every pore.

I have to hope there is a lesson to be learned from this whole thing. It has to be more complex than "don't become obese to the point that your 400lbs masks any possible cancerous illness you have and will complicate surgery when they finally do find it."