On independence and attitude

I rarely publish comments sent to this blogsite. I'm not saying I agree or disagree with the published comment, but I do feel obliged to present a wide variety of views. I personally do not think the spankings I received growing up in a family of five children (I'm the oldest) hurt me at all or did anything to me in a long-term physical or sexual sense. I did listen to my psychology professors and education professors really well though. Both were filled with a sense of wonder about the capacity of the human brain to learn and change due to internal and external influences.

They also talked about how the senses are integrated and the 'skewing' of the modern educational system to the extreme on visual and auditory learning above all other senses. I do NOT believe you should beat your kids, but some kind of physical intervention to refocus them on hearing what a parent is telling them IS sometimes necessary. It could be a hug or a 'swat'. In this age of abuse scandals on the part of certain churches is is important to realize that going in the complete opposite direction may have unintended consequences. Having taught in a half-dozen school systems at everything from grade school to senior high, both long term (26 years of full-time teaching should count for something) I can tell you we're raising a nation of zombies! The influence of media compared to the influence of parents and the school is ruining the kids ability to think for themselves. Now I'm not talking about your kids...it is the other kids
I'm speaking of (sarcasm intended here!).

The amoung of information that the past two generations has been bombarded with on a daily basis is causing the split in our society. The big businesses and government that they influence are taking advantage of it with sweeping legislation that are eroding our basic freedoms. Supporting is very different from not knowing or caring. I question kids once a month in my 5-hour prelicensing class about their freedoms given to them by the Bill of Rights, Amendments to the Constitution and the constitution itself...the silence is scary and telling. I may get the exact quote wrong, but "May the chains of slavery rest lightly upon your shoulders as you bow down to lick the hand that feeds you" seems to be the destiny of peoples living in 'these united states'. The only encouraging thing I'm seeing is that there are a lot of states loosening up their restrictions of their carry concealed hand gun laws. On the other hand, a kid bringing a butter knife into school can be suspended for carrying a weapon and need a superintendent's hearing to get back into school! I have never heard of an attack ever carried out with a Boy Scout pocket knife....the only injuries I've ever seen were from my own stupidity with my own pocket knives...and those lessons ARE necessary to teach people the dangers of dull and misused knives.
I would never stop those lessons from being learned by banning things like that. Maybe we should ban wood stoves or hot pots because a little kid can burn his finger on them...maybe we're doing that right now bu teaching microwave use instead of cooking on a stove in Home Economics classes.

There are some rays of hope I do see in my exposures to the youth of today. Kids that have any reasonable contact with their parents every day and home schooled kids both, by and large display a refreshing independence and ability to interact with multiple generations that isn't found in the common students I deal with on a daily basis. They will be the leaders of tomorrow...I hope they lead us well!