Your Child Just Might Believe You. Handle With Care.

by Chris Wright

Is your kid a clone of you? Do you want your child to think and speak like you politically, socially, morally, and ethically? Think real hard before you answer.

If you're over 30, you can probably remember a time when there was less media, less cable channels, less radio, no Sirius, no XM, no cnn.com, not foxnews.com, no Rush, no Hannity, no Bill O' Reilly, no this.com or that.com. Your parents are probably pigheaded and believed what they believed without very little media or talking-head intervention. And now you say, "my parents are so close-mined". Well, we have the luxury of being very open-minded because as soon as we think one way, we can turn on the TV or radio and hear an opinion that differs from our own and say, "hmm, I never looked at it like that!" --at the speed of light, we can change our mind. With a great deal of help from media. Look how big the Independent party is. I believe due in part to media and not really taking a side. When I was younger, there were Democrats, Republicans, and Ross Perot. That was it! Now there is 5 or 6 parties for every election!

But this is not my point. So, I was listening to this conservative radio show the other night. Very conservative host Mark Levin. One of his clones called in. (A clone is a person that forms all of their opinions from one radio host. That's all they listen to. They talk like them and parakeet everything they say when talking to other people). The clone was a proud and concerned mother. She called in to tell the host her anecdote about her son's school project on Global Warming.

Just a little background for those of you that don't really know the political lobbying agenda on Global Warming. In a nutshell, the left are all for it, because they are "tree-hugging, environmental, go-green" activist. The right totally oppose the notion of Global Warming and have pretty good data and evidence that it and Al Gore are a fraud. And that the Obama Administration continues to pour mounds of money into the prevention of Global Warming, thereby perpetuating the farce. Ok, enough about that.

Her son had to do a paper on Global Warming. Now without knowing all of the details of the background on the school, the curriculum, the grade level, or the age of the kid, I can tell you that none of that is relevant for the sake of this blog. Being that mom is a staunch right-wing conservative who is anti-global warming, she was sure to have the urge to help her son with his essay assignment and give her two cents; probably with an iron fist. I'm sure that she told her son exactly how it is in regards to Global Warming.

"But mom! That's not what we were taught in school about Global Warming!" he might've said.

And mom probably said, "Well, I don't care what they're teaching you down at that school. They're wrong! Let me tell you about Global Warming son. It's a farce. And tonight, I'm going to show you some articles that proves that it's a fraud!"

"But..."

"But nothing. I know and we're going show that little teacher of yours the truth and stop these lies right NOW!"

So, he writes his essay on Global Warming according to his mother. He takes it into school. His teacher reads. She grades. He gets a zero.

Are you emotional? For the zero or against the zero? Let us move on.

He tells mom that he received a zero on his paper. Mom fumes. She makes an appointment with the teacher and now it gets sticky. The teacher explains that her son's take on global warming is not how it was taught in class. The teacher told the mother that the curriculum is based on what will be on the State Exam and that it is her job to prepare her students for the State Exam. She further explained that her classroom is not an open forum, at least not for that particular assignment, but that this particular project was to make the students familiar with the global warming agenda both domestically and abroad.

Mom now wants to speak with the Principal, who pretty much supported the teacher. After that, mom wanted the superintendent who not only supported the teacher and the principal, but explained to the mother, that if her son gave the same answer on the State Exam, that he would receive a zero again! So now mom wants to take it to the next level; writing the state, etc.

My question to you is this. Where does the son fit into all of this and what is he learning? He's learning at a very young age to buck the system if you think it's wrong. He's learning that authority is not important if you believe that it's wrong. He's learning that one man or woman's opinion is law if they can show evidence to support their view; even if they don't show you the opposing view. He's not learning that there is a very structured way to fight a system if you're against it. He's not learning that his mom supports the school and the administration. How many times have our children said, my teacher is stupid, or the assignment is dumb, or i'm failing such and such class because I don't agree with it? As parents, aren't we supposed to support the adult establishment that are in place to help nurture and educate our children?

The better way to go about this would have been for mom to review the material on global warming that was given to her son. And she should have bit her tongue and assisted him with the assignment based on the curriculum and material provided by the school. Wait, don't kill me yet! Then after the assignment was done or even while she was helping him, she could have had a conversation like this:

"I'm going to help you with this assignment and I want you to get a passing grade on it. You have to write your essay according to what the teacher gave you to read on global warming. I have a very different view on it, but that's not important right now. For the sake of this class, let's do it the way your teacher wants it done."

The boy might say, "but mom, I want to hear what you have to say!"

"ok, but I don't want you to write this. This is just my opinion". Then proceed to explain. Then reiterate, "...but for the sake of this assignment, you need to write your essay as your were taught so that you can get a passing grade".

"But mom, what you are saying makes sense! I want to write what you just told me".

"Well, how do you know that i'm right? You have to look at both sides of the argument. Tomorrow we will go to the library and look at magazines, newspapers, and surf the internet. I will let you form your own opinion".

How's that people?? Is that so hard? Or, do you want your child to share your political views and thoughts and become the very parakeet that you or your parents might be? Not teaching kids the importantance of structure and discipline is the downfall of discipline in America. Now kids fight parents, teachers, adults, courts, and anybody whose opinion and ideas differ from their own. And we all know that kids know everything!

This is a tough call. I went back and forth even as I was writing. We want our kids to be independent thinkers. We want them to hear opinions that differ from what they hear in school and church. But look at the results. Less children go to church. Many lack a spiritual base. Children see adults as their equal. They have an opinion about everything. And it drives me crazy! They are bored in school because they think their teachers are tools. And it becomes even worse when the parent agrees with them and proves it. I'm just asking you to think before you act. I have a rule of thumb. As far as the children are concerned, the school is always right. Then I will deal with the school privately and tell them adult to adult what idiots I think they are.

That's what mom should have done.