Isn't it ironic that two of the most important sociable skills, marriage and parenting skills, are absent from any school's curriculum?

Taike

------------------
Bo pen nyang.

[This message has been edited by Taike (edited 06-18-2010).]

There IS an alternative to developing these 'social skills'............lots of money and a high tolerance for pain.



chas

Here in Troy they do have courses on Adult relationships and child rearing. In the child rearing one, the kids actually are given a multi functioning baby to be responsible for a week. If its not "fed" or "changed" etc., a loud obnoxious crying alarm goes off...

------------------
Bill in Dayton

I think that's what they gave us in the hospital instead of our real son.



chas

Aw, DADDY!

Russ (your "albino" adopted son) Lay

Yeah, what a shame that there is still something out there that the government doesn't run. The world would be such a better place if the government started teaching our kids how kids really should be raised and how marriages should work. That way, whenever their parents do something that the school doesn't teach, they can report their parents to the authorities and the government can more properly take care of them.

Yeah, what a shame. The government should definitely keep hands off. Just look at the marvelous success stories that occur when they do. Let's see, there's Lehman Bros. (Financial), Enron (Telecomunications), AIG (Insurance), and of course Exxon and British Petroleum (Energy). Guess we'd all better stock up on our guns and ammo (and fertilizer and ammonium). Let's see now, what constitutional article or amendment was little Timmy (McVeigh)operating under?

Sorry Rory. I just get really tired of hearing people parroting all this Beck/Limbaugh garbage. Heck, this government was legally elected by a majority of the people in this country and should be supported in their efforts to keep this country safe, secure, and viable. I'm just so tired of hearing this administration vilified at every turn, no matter what they do. You obviously have a right to your opinion but I just fail to see how these persistent attacks on this administration, pretty obviously fueled by the hate-mongers with a personal antipathy towards the president, do any good. I think he is definitely in a no-win situation until more people are willing to grow past this country's dark past.

chas

Sorry? I thought we were talking about institutionalizing marriage and child raising programs in schools. Did someone derail this thread? Someone who surely went out of his way to "SUPPORT" the previous administration? Oh, that's right, the last administration wasn't legally elected. Why are you so determined to take every thread and try to turn it into someone attacking this administration? The same thing happened on the thread about who has a right to be rich. You decided that was somehow an attack too, even though it was you who tried (hoped) to turn it into that by inferring it was another slam to Obama.

[This message has been edited by FAEbGBD (edited 06-25-2010).]

Oh, so teaching some basic parenting skills in school (given the extremely high rate of teen pregnancy) constitutes "the government taking over child-rearing". And I love your (implied) scenario where the parents ground the kid or restricts his TV privileges and the kid promptly reports them to the 'government'. If fact, isn't that the mantra of the far (as in completely whacko) right? That the government is 'taking over everything'. Hey, wasn't it the 'government' that decided that women should get equal pay for equal work, that Americans should be able to serve their country in the military regardless of sexual orientation, that if you're able to pay, you should be able to eat at a freakin' lunch counter, that every citizen, regardless of race, creed, color, should have equal protection under the law and equal opportunity in the job market. Wasn't it the government that decided that our veterans deserved the best medical care possible (VA) and that our seniors should have some measure of protection when they were no longer able to work or care for themselves (Medicare & Social Security). I admire the 'rugged individualism' and independent spirit of SOME of the fine folk from Wyoming, Montana, the Dakotas, and similar sparsely populated states, but the majority of Americans have little desire to return to those 'golden days of yesteryear' where the buffalo roamed free and there was nary a government to be found anywhere.

Look, we could dance around this all night and play around with words and semantics, but in the end, we all know what this is about. Since the current administration took office, taxes have been reduced 3.7% but that doesn't stop the bashers from complaining about 'higher taxes'. Since Rush said it, it must be so. Look, I'm done with this. I really admire you as an artist and respect the effort it surely must have taken for you to get there, but I too, have had a few obstacles to overcome, and I'm thankful every day that the 'government', along with a lot of morally responsible people, were there to protect me and MY rights; the right to go where I wanted, the right to live where I wanted, the right go to any college I was qualified to attend, the right to serve in my country's military in some capacity other than 'chief cook and bottlewasher'. In other words, rights that the majority of citizens always took for granted. Having been deprived of them early in my life, I can now appreciate and value what the 'government' has made possible for me. So maybe we come at this from a different perspective and process life through a different set of social filters, but when I hear anti-government rhetoric, I hope you can understand why it gets such a visceral response from me. You think that I'm a 'liberal'. I'm not. I'm just an American citizen that wants to live with dignity and enjoy the same rights and legal protections as any other citizen. History has shown us that those rights and protections can only come from one place, the government.

chas

Rory, I am not talking about "institutionalizing" marriage and parenting programs but rather about the need for "educational" programs in schools.

Divorce rates, teenage pregnancies, spousal abuse/violence, child abuse, child neglect and STDs are clearly signs that educational programs are needed. Handing out condoms in elementary schools isn't the solution.

How much of a school's curriculum prepares a teenager for the real world? Aren't families what make a society?

Regards

Taike

------------------
Bo pen nyang.

[This message has been edited by Taike (edited 06-26-2010).]