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Sunnybeach7, sorry to miss your comment.
And with homeschooling, there's a very good chance the quality of schooling will be significantly better. Well done to you!
posted by
JanesOpinion
on July 13, 2006 at 11:18 AM
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Nautikos, you've written an excellent comment.
Thanks for your input! You know, that's the impression I get -- that it's up to the schools to fill the parental voids -- and I have a real problem with that. To think that, according to the 9th Circuit, parents have no say in matters pertaining to their kids, is ridiculous and frightening. At the same time, I can see how that has happened. It's almost as if parents have thrown in the towel and given up all responsibility to the kids, perhaps thinking they can do a better job. The fix is going to be difficult and, well, I have a few answers but even those will be divisive.
Thanks for stopping by. I value your input!
posted by
JanesOpinion
on July 13, 2006 at 11:17 AM
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Jane,
again, an excellent post. But I want to focus on one issue you raised, an issue that is independent of the theme of homosexuality, but even more important. Allow me to quote you: "But since too many parents have abrogated responsiblity and neglected what is a vitally important role -- i.e. spending time with kids, listening to them, loving them unconditionally -- the schools have taken over."
There is an underlying assumption here (and I'm not saying you assume this) that schools can fill the void, as it were, that they can do the work of parents, and I can't be emphatic enough about this: they CANNOT! People who believe they can are fooling themselves, or else they claim to believe it in an attempt to fool others and to further their political agenda.
Mind you, I have no solution to this problem either! I don't know how we can turn an ever growing number, indeed a generation, of dysfunctional parents into people who can raise their children well. Of course, the breakdown of the family, the prevalence and cultural acceptance of 'single parent families' (where many of the mothers were never in a stable relationship, let alone married, but often have a number of children from different men), all these variables must be factored into the equation.
But to believe that we can fix the system by throwing more money at it is another, apparently self-sustaining, myth...
posted by
Nautikos
on July 13, 2006 at 7:41 AM
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JanesOpinion
I homeschool due to the many problems with the school systems. Also because of the shootings, etc. that you hear about every once in a while.
Never would I want to be a parent sitting at home waiting to see if their child is dead or alive.
posted by
Afzal_Sunny7
on July 12, 2006 at 11:31 AM
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Amen bel. I'm with you 100%.
Isn't this just common sense? Who in their right minds would WANT the schools to take over when parents potentially can do it so much better. You go girl!
posted by
JanesOpinion
on July 12, 2006 at 11:24 AM
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I find it sad that as parents
many have relinquished the raising of our children to their teachers. I am not a parent that makes sex a dirty thing in our home. My daughter is at the age of noticing the opposite sex but I still believe the ultimate responsibility is on her parents shoulders!
Maybe if more parents took the time with their children to teach them about morals, ethics, values, kindness to others and about sex then the schools wouldn't in such a hurry to do it for us!
posted by
bel_1965
on July 12, 2006 at 10:59 AM
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Gomedome, that's funny. How odd.
Your response to this blog has little to nothing to do with your responses to my other blog on the same topic. Here's what you wrote most recently:
"I didn't zero in on the $250,000, I just happen to know that the threat of education funds being withheld is not unique to this issue. It is the same in my country as well, once something is approved for a nationwide standardized curriculum, deviation or omission from the approved segments carry the potential penalty of federal (or state) transfer funds being withheld. Your sources, the gay bashing groups that insist they are working for the benefit of family values, neglected to mention that."
Compared with what you wrote in the other blog (see below in italics). You talked about "a dollar figure that amounts to less than pocket change." And you talked about teen suicide. And it would seem now that, in your most recent comment (above), you've accused me of not learning and instead you changed gears into a new direction. Fess up bro. You did fixate on the "less than pocket change," missing alltogether the greater sum of money in your haste to accuse me of being a gay basher. You obviously did not read the rest of the post. The last thing I want to be is a gay basher. I just think there's a better way of going about it -- i.e. parental involement, parents teaching their kids the social skills of kindness and gentleness. Your fellow Canadian got the message. You, obviously, did not.
Do you really think that a dollar figure that amounts to less than pocket change is going to affect education standards in the state of California to even a measurable degree? Do you really believe that? And do you really believe that national studies and statistics concerning the disproportionate rates of gay teen suicide, have the reasons for these suicides all wrong? I'm not going to waste another keystroke here.....if I have anything more to say, it will be in a post.
I don't know why I bother and you can delete this comment if you like but I have to ask someone who would post something such as this one little question. What would be your solution to the disproportionately high suicide rate amongst gay teens? Despite your tirade here and your biased take against the pittance of money being spent on this issue, what solution do you propose? Ya see, that's ultimately the intention of spending this money, that is the point of promoting acceptance of any segment of the populace through education. It is an attempt to alleviate a real societal problem at the source. HERE is a very good article about this. (half way down the page under the heading "Teen Suicide")
posted by
JanesOpinion
on July 12, 2006 at 5:55 AM
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Good point, Timmytales, although in general
I think teachers' pay is significantly improving. But yes, you may be right about the text books!
posted by
JanesOpinion
on July 12, 2006 at 5:44 AM
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ha ha Lensman, thanks for sticking up for me!
Yes, in spite of my prickly sort of ways, deep within, I am actually a very kind person.
I pity the people who are so addicted to gambling, that they would leave their kids in the car to go "shoot up" on some slot machines. It (gambling) appears to be as addictive as heroin for some. I cannot imagine what this gambling addiction of a parent does to the psyche of a child.
posted by
JanesOpinion
on July 12, 2006 at 5:42 AM
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Sunnybeach7 -- Amen to homeschooling!
My sister homeschools her six and I cannot tell you how impressed I am with not only the caliber of their scholarship but also the quality of their characters.
Thanks for commenting!
posted by
JanesOpinion
on July 12, 2006 at 5:38 AM
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Janesopinion
I agree. Teachers are underpaid, schools are understaffed and don't have the supplies they need to get the job done as it is. I'm sure that the literature the schools receive to teach about the contributions of gays and the like will be brand new and expensive while true history books continue to be taped and retaped together.
posted by
TIMMYTALES
on July 11, 2006 at 8:30 PM
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JanesOpinion
I get where you're coming from. I also want to underline this statement of yours:
Imagine the difference a kind teen can have in the life of another teen.
In this liberal "me" generation we live in, so many parents are abdicating the responsibility to teach empathy and kindness to their children. Proxy classroom parenting is the lazy man's way out. In my local paper today, there's an article about children being left in cars in casino parking lots. These are just two examples of where parenting is going and I'm unimpressed.
I believe you're a kind person at your centre and you're concerned about the state of the world. I wish more people understood that about you.
posted by
Lensman
on July 11, 2006 at 8:20 PM
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JanesOpinion - when are you going to learn?
I didn't zero in on the $250,000, I just happen to know that the threat of education funds being withheld is not unique to this issue. It is the same in my country as well, once something is approved for a nationwide standardized curriculum, deviation or omission from the approved segments carry the potential penalty of federal (or state) transfer funds being withheld. Your sources, the gay bashing groups that insist they are working for the benefit of family values, neglected to mention that.
posted by
gomedome
on July 11, 2006 at 8:02 PM
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Yes, parents have a choice
It's called homeschooling
posted by
Afzal_Sunny7
on July 11, 2006 at 7:43 PM
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Yeah Justi I agree. The touchy feely stuff should be the domain of
parents, grand parents, aunties and uncles, eh? Oh yeah and friends. Am I being unrealistic here? I realize that, in many ways, the damage is done, but I'd like to believe that parents -- if they really wanted -- could reclaim some of that lost territory.
posted by
JanesOpinion
on July 11, 2006 at 7:36 PM
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Janes
A good post. I want to be responsible for my child's sex education (she would love that remark at 42 but you know what I mean any parent) in what ever manner or aspect. We are introducing so many touchy feely things into the school system we no longer have time for math, science, english and history!
posted by
Justi
on July 11, 2006 at 7:30 PM
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