Will Generation 'Gimme'
 

Work for the American Dream?

http://video.foxnews.com/v/1300268927001/

since ww2 every generation has been given things and like all generations some will work others will work some and others will not work at all. The worry I have is their intellectual capacity or lack thereof.

And they keep on breeding and voting!!

How have we gotten to this point? Just a few years ago, I said that I wondered what would happen to the children of this generation of selfish adults we'd raised without boundaries, without knowing the meaning of the word "no" or a sense of starting at the bottom and working for your dreamsI suppose this is the answer to my question. Very sad.

minimalistic values with little or no effort with no less than maximum expectations. Reward for effort and accomplishment have been replaced by an entitlement mentality.

There is no upside to the current direction...in my opinion.

btk

THAT and not teaching (in the home) values, a spiritual base and I could go on and on! There is such a sense of "entitlement" AND wanting to blame others for what affects the person as well.

This is a great exercise this Professor has presented to his students that illustrates my point in another thread of the "incrementalization" of socialist ideology into our mainstream culture. He provides testimony that this is being advanced by our public schools, which we know receive their mandate from the DOE and the teacher's unions.

The schools are by and large not instructing their students on the principles of self reliance and individual achievement that have been the hallmarks of the American Dream, but instead have fostered a climate of entitlement coupled with an inherent unfairness in the American model of self determination.

I see this thread being moved to "Political" very shortly, which will be a shame.

I am related to several educators, and I think they would disagree - the school systems tell them what their curriculum is. When it comes to things related to values and morals, I believe it falls to the parents. IMHO.

What disagreement? The school systems get their curriculum mandates from the DOE and the NEA. So, I think we are more in agreement than not.

Parents, of course, need to instruct their children but the education system is very powerful and the students desire to be accepted by their peers and teachers are very powerful.

Parents are kept out of the loop as much as is possible when it comes to the indoctrination of their children. This is more prevalent in urban than rural areas of our country in primary education. When they advance to college age, all bets are off as to providing an alternative to radical thought.

I haven't lost hope in the next generation....just think about how your thought processes ran at that age. We had a really neat example of the upcoming generation this holiday season. Steve and I were sitting, watching TV when the doorbell rang. Since we have a very large lot that sits back off the road it was surprising. I opened the door to find two young women standing there. They asked if we had any extra gas (for a lawn mower, etc), they were with the brother of one of the girls and had run out of gas in front of our house. Steve, being the kind, wonderful 'fixer' that he is, immediately got a gas can and drove the young man to a station to get some gas. The next night the doorbell rang again...one of the young ladies was standing there with a plate of Christmas cookies and a card thanking us for our "thoughtfulness" and signed "those idiot teenagers". I will cherish the card and no, they are not "idiot teenagers"....they are a great example of many of the young people out there today.

My brother and two sisters in law teach in urban areas, and they do not keep the parents "out of the loop", it is that many, many parents do not want to be involved and do not participate in parent/teacher activities. It is a source of great frustration to the teachers.

Charles Murray writing in the New Criterion News January 2012
 

As republished in Notable & Quotatble WSJ January 7/8 2012

This may explain this dilemma in part:

The members of America's new upper class tend not to watch the same movies and televisions shows that the rest of America watches, don't go to the kinds of restaurants the rst of Americans frequent, tend to buy different kinds of automobiles, and have passions for being green, maintaining the proper degree of body fat, and supporting gay marriages that most American don't share. Their child rearing practics are distinctive, and they typically take care to enroll their children in schools doimnated by the offspring of upper middle class or better yet of new upper class. They take their vactions in diiferent kinds of places than other Americans go and are often indiffernt to professional sports that are so popular among other Americans. Few have served in the military and few of their children either.

Worst of all, a growing proportion of the people who run the institution of our Countryhave never known any other culture. They are the children of upper middle-class parents, have always lived in upper middle-class neighborhoods and gone to upper middle class schools. Man have never worked at a job that caused a body part to hurt at the end of the day, never had a conversation with n evangelical Christian, never had a friend who didn't have a college degree, never hunted or fished. They are likely to know that Garrison Kellior's monolgoue is the source of the phrase "all of the children are above average" but they have never walked on a prairie and never know someone well whose IQ actually was below average."


These folks are running our educational Institutions.

These folks are employed in key power positions in the government

These are the people who run our entertainment industry

These are the folks hat have labeled themselves the "liberal elite"

:agree:Absolutely:agree:

Yes, because these parents, our children!s generation, first developed this attitude of entitlement for their children --and they grew up under a couple of Republcan regimes so this s not a political issue--this is a parental issue!:ohdear:

I agree.

It is silly to blame schools. It is ultimately the parents responsibility to teach values. But the teachers that I know and my children and grandchildren had were mostly wonderful examples. I know that because even as a grandparent I stayed personally involved with our school system....which was and is...drum roll please, Lakota Local in West Chester, Ohio. It is worth a google.

I know and am related to many educators. Yes the curriculum is given them by the district and state, but it is infused throughout with leftist ideals. And the teachers and school staff who have spouses working in the private sector vent all the time about how clueless school employees are as to how income is produced in the private sector, to pay for the public sector employee benefits like 100% of health insurance paid by the district for teachers and staffers.

I'm so thankful Steve's experience was a good one...
 

This could have been a very bad experience also, if these teenagers had ill intentions......Your note is encouraging BUT please be careful!

"I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on
frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond
words... When I was young, we were taught to be discreet and
respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly wise
[disrespectful] and impatient of restraint" (Hesiod, 8th century BC).

"The young people of today think of nothing but themselves. They have
no reverence for parents or old age. They are impatient of all
restraint. They talk as if they alone knew everything and what passes
for wisdom with us is foolishness with them. As for girls, they are
forward, immodest and unwomanly in speech, behaviour and dress." (Plato)

So, do you know what the children are learning today in the subjects of American History and Social Sciences? I'll wager they're not learning the same history with a reverence for individual achievement as we did from what I gather.

Parents do need to stay involved, but they are almost powerless when it comes to the texts that their children are taught. Many children are not taught that their country is the greatest nation on earth because of the achievements of it's peoples which were forged by freedoms never before bestowed on a nation's citizens, as we were taught when we were children.

Today's children are too often not taught about patriotism and allegiance to a cause bigger than themselves, which is the cause of personal freedom and rights of private property, which were a rare thing before the birth of our nation.

This is why we have a generation of young adults who think the government owes them a free college education, a job, a prosperous retirement and a redistribution of others wealth for which they should be required to expend little effort to achieve.

It's not a good place we're going unless we have the courage and fortitude to stop it.

Richie as a former teacher you have no idea what you are talking about. I don't know where you went to school but what you are talking about didn't happen in my educational upbringing. As a matter of fact,I remember my best teachers presenting us with problems that had difficult choices not blind allegiances. I was taught to think for myself.

...

I think you have had a completely different school experience than I am used to.

I enjoyed the patriotic music played by the large high school orchestra, our grandsons last concert. There wasn't a dry eye in the auditorium. Lots of kids are still eagle scouts. They still sing in their church chiors. They still get on the honor roll. They still have summer jobs and after school jobs.

I served on the curriculum committee of our school system for years as a grandparent and communicated with the teachers that my grandchildren had. They were so great. Our grandson says that his first year of college is way easier than his high school.

Plus, the reason that the good Lord gave us all a mouth was to repeat and repeat again and again the things we believe to our children...but it isn't what we tell them. It is what we ARE that they will become.

I was talking specifically about curriculum. I think we're talking about two different things here.

You were talking about parents being powerless. Children, sooner or later will be exposed to ideas that widely differ from those they were taught.

I don't see American history or world history being taught with any kind of slant. It was years later that I figured out just how bad the Nazi's were.

When you are teaching you are supposed to be presenting the facts, not preaching your philosophy.

Gracie,

YOUR children and grandchildren do well and do well because, you let them know how great they are and that they can do well.

As for the people who's children don't do well... They don't let their children know they can. They don't let their children know how special they are.

The people on this forum who don't see that the next generation CAN and WILL do great things, will have children who will be mediocre.

When you expect and know, your children will do well, they will!

I'm sorry to say that you will not convince the people who see the world otherwise, because they are making their world as they see it, as you are creating yours as you see it.

Sweetie, I would rather live in YOUR world. :)

Agree!
 

:agree: I don't see public schools trying to slant any curriculum. Just presenting the facts. Moral and personal perspective comes from home, personal experience and reading, and external influences.

Gosh has it been really that long since schools stuck to teaching the three R's and leaving child rearing to parents that many people can no onger see the drastic change???. Parents have continually compalined that history books are so slanted that white explorers and poineers are now seen as evil doers. Educators continue to re-write hitory books. Orientation toward cultural diversity and homesexuality leave no room to teach civics or geography. Kids are taught to emote and not critical thinking. why is so many parents are home-schooling nd why is that so many parents vote for school vouchers?????

I am sure their are exception and exceptional students. However it doesn't explain why WSJ carried a one page article explaining how many corporations are actually accepting the fact that they will have to offer remedial education for those sudents coming out of our public schools.

But as one english teacher defending her public school to question my sister related " we ain't got no problems here."

A person can ignore reality have it work against him or embrace it and have it work for him. Fact is emerging economies are beating us in the educational arena

a big difference in emerging countries is they are raising the bar to improve their education and all the good that will flow from it.

We have been lowering the bar to accomodate more students passing and that ain't write!!;)

btk

Generation "Gimme"
 

were raised as "latch-key", so Mommy and Daddy could BOTH work and buy lots of "things", is it any wonder that we are at this point! IMHO..