Stop indoctrinating my kiddies!!
I switch on the local news in the early morning, and halfass pay attention while doing yoga on the floor in front of the teevee. It's the dorkiest of the local morning news programs, which is good, because light fluff that doesn't need close heeding is exactly what I'm after at Oh-Dark-Thirty. Yay, Little League! Yay, Missing Puppy Returned Safely! Yay, Street Scene! That kinda thing.
So this morning I go about my regular routine. Only this time, on the dorky local news show, they're interviewing school administrators about Obama's socialist indoctrination slated morning speech to the school kiddies, exhorting them to steal dad's wallet and pass out the contents to homeless folks work hard, stay in school, and take personal responsibility for the things within the personal responsibility realm.
Two local districts are refusing to air it at all. The others are showing the speech, but require parents to sign permission slips, allowing their kids to watch. News guys interviewed the parents dropping the offspring off at school. Nope, not signing that permission slip. Nope, nope, nope. Why not? Because they don't want their children being "indoctrinated."
Blah de fucking blee bloo blah. There are all kinds of parents, who believe all kinds of stupid things. It's not the school's job to educate people in their 20s, 30s, 40s...I get all that. What surprised me most was the way the school admin is falling in line, falling all over themselves to reassure folks that their kids would not learn anything their parents might disapprove of, unless said parents gave written permission for them to possibly do so.
Apparently, Obama is darker complected much more nefarious than Reagan or GHWB, because there was no need for parental consent involved when those Presidents made speeches to America's schoolkids, exhorting them to work hard, stay in school, and take personal responsibility.
This, for me, is ye olde proverbial peacock feather -- y'know, those light things that, when piled too high, can still break the axle of a sturdy cart. This is a deal breaker. I have no respect for anyone who nods wisely at this foolishness, mumbling about their kids being indoctrinated. Zero, zip, nada. I ended a real-life friendly relationship -- not a friendship, but a previously friendly acquaintanceship -- over this exact simple little thing.
You know where I do disapprove of schools' indoctrination of malleable children's mind -- the fucking DARE program. That expensive thing that's been proven time and again to have no impact on kids' future drug use? That program where the teacher encourages children to rat out their joint-smoking parents in the name of love? Y'know....that fucking INDOCTRINATION PROGRAM? Where was my permission slip when my kid was being indoctrinated? Where was my opt-out? Oh, that's right ... there wasn't one.
In 6th grade, my daughter was caught smoking a cigarette in a school bathroom with a couple other kids. The kid who snitched them out only recognized Tam, so she was caught. I'm not criticizing the school thus far -- she should not have been smoking at all, certainly not in school, and she knew the rules and broke them anyway -- yeah, consequences are called for. BUT! She was given a one-day suspension for the smoking itself. Then two days were added, for a total of three, because she wouldn't name the other kids who were smoking with her. Does it sound foolish to say that this interfered with my parental rights? Here's the thing.
I taught Tamara to take personal responsibility for herself and her own actions. I also taught her not to try to weasel out of said responsibility by spreading the blame around. Being a little snitch isn't a matter of telling an adult when something serious is going down, but the activity known as being a "tattle-tale" in my day. And the fact that someone's sentence would be cut simply because they were willing to rat out others -- spreading the blame around -- is gross. Also pervasive (See: Bargain, Plea for more details). But adding to the sentence of a kid who doesn't engage in that kind of weaseling? Shit, not even convicts face that. Just DARE kids!
So, if I disapprove of my child being indoctrinated into believing a parent who has a little baggie of funny-smelling green stuff is an addict who needs to be brought to the attention of the authorities before s/he winds up giving $5 blow jobs for crack, then I'm in the wrong (and obviously a druggie, or else why would I object?). But a parent who believes that the President of the United States is a socialist with a fake birth certificate, attempting to indoctrinate the kiddies into Black Liberation Philosophy is ... appeased. Played up to. Reassured that, no worries, no one will ever tell their kids anything that hasn't been pre-approved by them. "Whaddya mean the earth revolves around the sun!!!!! The Holy Bible says differently!!!!! Stop indoctrinating my kids to your godless communist agenda!!!!!!!!"
Schyeah. What a fucking world.
So this morning I go about my regular routine. Only this time, on the dorky local news show, they're interviewing school administrators about Obama's socialist indoctrination slated morning speech to the school kiddies, exhorting them to steal dad's wallet and pass out the contents to homeless folks work hard, stay in school, and take personal responsibility for the things within the personal responsibility realm.
Two local districts are refusing to air it at all. The others are showing the speech, but require parents to sign permission slips, allowing their kids to watch. News guys interviewed the parents dropping the offspring off at school. Nope, not signing that permission slip. Nope, nope, nope. Why not? Because they don't want their children being "indoctrinated."
Blah de fucking blee bloo blah. There are all kinds of parents, who believe all kinds of stupid things. It's not the school's job to educate people in their 20s, 30s, 40s...I get all that. What surprised me most was the way the school admin is falling in line, falling all over themselves to reassure folks that their kids would not learn anything their parents might disapprove of, unless said parents gave written permission for them to possibly do so.
Apparently, Obama is darker complected much more nefarious than Reagan or GHWB, because there was no need for parental consent involved when those Presidents made speeches to America's schoolkids, exhorting them to work hard, stay in school, and take personal responsibility.
This, for me, is ye olde proverbial peacock feather -- y'know, those light things that, when piled too high, can still break the axle of a sturdy cart. This is a deal breaker. I have no respect for anyone who nods wisely at this foolishness, mumbling about their kids being indoctrinated. Zero, zip, nada. I ended a real-life friendly relationship -- not a friendship, but a previously friendly acquaintanceship -- over this exact simple little thing.
You know where I do disapprove of schools' indoctrination of malleable children's mind -- the fucking DARE program. That expensive thing that's been proven time and again to have no impact on kids' future drug use? That program where the teacher encourages children to rat out their joint-smoking parents in the name of love? Y'know....that fucking INDOCTRINATION PROGRAM? Where was my permission slip when my kid was being indoctrinated? Where was my opt-out? Oh, that's right ... there wasn't one.
In 6th grade, my daughter was caught smoking a cigarette in a school bathroom with a couple other kids. The kid who snitched them out only recognized Tam, so she was caught. I'm not criticizing the school thus far -- she should not have been smoking at all, certainly not in school, and she knew the rules and broke them anyway -- yeah, consequences are called for. BUT! She was given a one-day suspension for the smoking itself. Then two days were added, for a total of three, because she wouldn't name the other kids who were smoking with her. Does it sound foolish to say that this interfered with my parental rights? Here's the thing.
I taught Tamara to take personal responsibility for herself and her own actions. I also taught her not to try to weasel out of said responsibility by spreading the blame around. Being a little snitch isn't a matter of telling an adult when something serious is going down, but the activity known as being a "tattle-tale" in my day. And the fact that someone's sentence would be cut simply because they were willing to rat out others -- spreading the blame around -- is gross. Also pervasive (See: Bargain, Plea for more details). But adding to the sentence of a kid who doesn't engage in that kind of weaseling? Shit, not even convicts face that. Just DARE kids!
So, if I disapprove of my child being indoctrinated into believing a parent who has a little baggie of funny-smelling green stuff is an addict who needs to be brought to the attention of the authorities before s/he winds up giving $5 blow jobs for crack, then I'm in the wrong (and obviously a druggie, or else why would I object?). But a parent who believes that the President of the United States is a socialist with a fake birth certificate, attempting to indoctrinate the kiddies into Black Liberation Philosophy is ... appeased. Played up to. Reassured that, no worries, no one will ever tell their kids anything that hasn't been pre-approved by them. "Whaddya mean the earth revolves around the sun!!!!! The Holy Bible says differently!!!!! Stop indoctrinating my kids to your godless communist agenda!!!!!!!!"
Schyeah. What a fucking world.