The other morning I read a horrible news story about a 12yo girl who was beaten and tortured by 2 other 12yo girls at what was supposed to be a ‘sleep over. That is a horrible situation and the girls must be punished – but let’s talk honestly here.
How many parents know the families of the children with whom their children interact? Sorry to say, I expect MOST don’t.
Sadly – and factually – most all the nonsense going on in public schools about which parents have (rightly) complained, could have been solved by parent involvement at even the basic level of knowing the families of their children’s friends – yet I will go so far as to say that a majority of parents have abdicated so much of the responsibility of caring for their children to the now-government-sponsored systems of daycare and school, that knowing the families of their children’s friends is simply meaningless and unnecessary to them.
How could I make such a statement? I’ve seen it firsthand.
I taught science for 7 years in the public system and 3 years at a homeschool coop. In between those years, I sat on the PTA of our kid’s government elementary before they were pulled to become educated at home. Consequently, I have about 30 years of involvement in many different forms and levels of education.
In EVERY educational situation in which I’ve found myself, I’ve seen FEW parents actually interact with the education of their children.
In fact, there’s even a segment of parents who call themselves “homeschoolers’ who simply drop their children off at ‘coop’ and go about their merry way – they don’t interact with other families, help with coop duties, or even inquire as to how their kids are doing in their subjects – they simply EXPECT others to do their job for them because, for whatever reason, they can’t or won’t do it for themselves.
Since the 1960’s and LBJ’s War On Poverty – where the government offered the benevolent hand of government to ‘help’ families care for themselves – we’ve seen SKYROCKETING dissolution of families, SKYROCKETING single-parenting and SKYROCKETING abandonment of even basic parental duties.
Why would a couple stay together when they can get ‘free’ money from the government to raise their kids separately? Why would a parent make the effort to educate or feed their children when the government does it for them without them having to expend any effort to do so? ‘Free’ daycare, ‘free’ education, ‘free’ lunch… the government programs are endless.
Human nature tends toward laziness – it’s the main reason we have technology – our very nature tells us we have to “work smarter, not harder”. Consequently, when the government inserts its ‘helpful’ hand, society is destroyed.
Solomon said, “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop; idle lips are his mouthpiece” (Proverbs 16:27) because humans will – by and large – attempt to do very little work. Once we don’t HAVE to keep ourselves fed, or clothed, or a roof above our heads, we’ll simply stop trying and allow others to do those jobs for us.
Then comes the death spiral; government provides ‘help’ to citizens, citizens stop providing for themselves, personal responsibility fails, government increases to counteract the lack of personal responsibility by creating more and more laws, citizens become oppressed, free society falls.
America is in this death spiral – and at this point we may not be able to recover.
If we ARE going to recover, however, MORE GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION IS NOT THE ANSWER. The answer is MORE PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY.
So here’s my request: If your child is in a government school of any kind – get them out and assume the responsibility of educating them yourself without excuses. In this way, citizens can create lifeboats of self-educated families and individuals who can then extend a hand to those who need help exiting the system for whatever reason through their church or other non-governmental group.
Taking control of the personal responsibility for our own actions and consequences (and modeling this for our children and others) is THE ONLY WAY to improve ourselves and this country in a lasting way for generations to come.
