Rural Poverty

TimesDispatch.com | Virginians' income ranks No. 8 Kudos to Virginia for getting a good spot in the rankings. As always the poorest states are in the South. The poorest counties were all rural. Not the inner cities, but rural areas. It has always aggravated me how rural poverty is so overlooked. Certainly there is a lot of poverty in many of our nation's cities, but at least those people are geographically close to jobs, college education, and choices. If you can't afford a car, you have at least have a chance at being able to walk or take the bus to a job or job training center. If you are carless far from a town, your choices are quite limited.

Universal Preschool?

Some argue for universal (code: taxpayer funded) preschool, implying that parents aren't up to the task of raising their children and preparing them for school. In 2006 Californians will vote on it. Some even want to make attendance mandatory. I absolutely am opposed to this. Sometimes it's enough to make me want to become a Libertarian. Hey, some parents aren't up to the task of raising their children, but I don't think mandatory preschool for all will solve very many of those problems. I feel so sad for little children trapped in crazy homes, but I just don't believe another government program will help much.

Or, here's an idea - what about universal kindergarten? Oh, wait, we already have that, and yet disadvantaged children still remain disadvantaged. How is starting them a year earlier going to level the playing field?

Getting a Physical

I went to the doctor this morning and I’m not even sick.  An aggravating waste of time, but since I have lived here over two years and still don’t have a primary care physician, I figured I better find one and establish a chart.  So I got a physical – my insurance pays for one a year.  Now I’m all ready to get sick!  No, really, I hope I don’t ever have to go back.  I’m supposed to go get blood work done, but I’m tempted to skip out on that.  It’s one of my least favorite activities, and I don’t want to have to bug grandma to babysit again.  Maybe I’ll try to drag them along with me, although when I took 18-month old S. with me once, she was horrible.  The lab techs were not amused.  Anyway, my husband called me from work to see how my checkup went.  I tell him that I’m healthy, and he says, “You are?” like he’s surprised!

The Suspension Vacation

Suspensions are overused in today's hands-off-parenting world. This Washington Post article highlights some of the problems caused by spotlighting two sisters suspended for five days for fighting. The teenagers spend their time shopping, lounging around, and watching TV. There's no need for me to state the obvious about that. But a few things did catch my eye.

Kymber and Shawnte were suspended for five days, and the principal later told them that they can make up the work they missed, their mother said.
"But why couldn't they have just sent the work home? I wish we could have had that for them to do at home -- it would have kept them motivated," said Sanders, 33, an operating room coordinator at Inova Fairfax Hospital and a member of a National Guard unit. "I know they're being punished. But are they really being punished? I don't understand the value that they're trying to teach children."

Argh. First, the school can't just send the work home immediately because it probably isn't ready. Most (good) teachers' lesson plans are very fluid, and are adjusted from day to day. A teacher can only give you a general idea of what the class will be doing in five days. Nevertheless many schools do require that of teachers. It was a real burden having to take the time to prepare packets to send home to suspended kids, especially when I knew that what I was sending might not end up being what the rest of the class was doing. However, in some cases, that burden was more than offset by having a break from the troublemaker for a few days!

Second, why is the parent letting her kids have such fun on their suspension? Take away the cell phones, car keys, and TVs. Get out the cleaning supplies! If the school didn't send work home, then have them read a chapter or two ahead in every textbook.

Thanksgiving

Just back from Thanksgiving travels.  We did the split-the-holiday routine in only three days.  It helps that both of our parents reside in the same state, but it was still a little hectic.  First we went to my parents’ home so we could see my brother, who is getting ready to leave on a church mission to Brazil for two years.  Otherwise, we wouldn’t have gone to see them until Christmas.  Then we went to J.’s side of the family for the actual Thanksgiving meal, and stayed over until Friday.  It was nice to see everyone, of course, but with such short visits I feel as though I did not spend enough time with anyone.  However, considering how awfully difficult Kate was, I don’t regret not staying longer.  She has real issues with sleeping in her playpen.  The first night away she did okay, basically sleeping through the night, so I was deceived into thinking she would be fine the next nights.  Not so.  The next two nights were just dreadful; filled with lots of screaming and little sleep.  She wanted her own crib, and there was nothing that would calm her down.  Holding her, bringing her to sleep with us – nothing was acceptable.  It’s at those hopeless two o’clock in the morning hours that I swear I will never travel again!  Naturally, today she was extra grouchy from all of her sleep deprivation.  I got her to take a nap, to my great relief, but only 40 minutes later, to my absolute horror, I find Sophie and her cousin jumping on the bed in the room Kate was sleeping in.  Kate was jumping up and down in her playpen laughing along with them.  I did not laugh.  For the rest of the afternoon Kate was just unbearable – until she fell asleep in the car coming home.

Well, that’s all seems a bit negative!  Really, aside from the sleep issues, the holiday was good.  In keeping with the spirit of the day, I will say that I do have so many blessings in my life that I am thankful for!

Parents' Effect on Achievement Shaky??

I hardly know what to say! I don't care what studies have been done - parents have an enormous effect on their child's achievement. Parents have a direct impact on how much value a child places on learning. Parents have a major contribution to their child's literacy by controlling (or not) the amount of reading and TV in the home. Parents teach their children how to behave (a child who can't be respectful and behave in school will miss out on a lot of learning). Parents can send their child to school well fed and rested so they can be ready to learn. Parents can send their child to school from a loving and secure home. So don't tell us it's "shaky."

That said, I do agree with some of the points in Jay Mathews's column. In particular,

"Principals need to make schools welcoming places for parents," said Elizabeth Useem, a research consultant with the group Research for Action in Philadelphia, "but that is different from putting huge amounts of time into trying to get parents involved in governance or in coming to events at school planned for them. It takes a long time for parental governance input to work its way into classroom learning -- and even then, it might not be helpful input."

"Great schools and school systems . . . aren't obsessed with teaching the parents," Allen said. "They aren't making excuses. They are focused on one thing: teaching the children."

I agree. Keep parents informed, encourage involvement, offer help if needed, but don't try to "teach" them. That seems a little too patronizing as well as being fruitless.

Pre-Thanksgiving Errands

Not much going on today.  We’re going out of town tomorrow, so I’m trying to get things in order.  The girls and I went to the store for a few last minute items this afternoon.  It seems like I am in the store every other day.  I can’t seem to get it together enough to shop just once a week.  Anyway, Kate demonstrated that she is old enough to throw a real fit when I took the bag of Goldfish away from her.  I tried giving her just a few crackers to hold in her hand, but no, she would have none of that.  Shrieking and arms flailing, she refused them.  Fun, fun, fun!

What's Wrong With This Outfit, Mom?

We women are losing ground! Sometimes I wonder what on earth has happened to the feminist movement. More and more we allow ourselves and our young daughters to be viewed as sex objects through inappropriate clothing. This op-ed article from the Washington Post hits the nail right on the head. It amazes me what parents, especially fathers, let their little girls wear sometimes. Do they want every pedophile and teenage boy paying special attention to their daughter? Or do they want their daughter growing up with a damaged self-image just because they were afraid to say "no"?

Next time you're in Wal-mart or a toy store, go look at the doll section and find the Bratz dolls. Black leather, thigh-high boots, peek-a-boo tops, pouty lips, sultry eyes, and leather bustiers are what they wear. These dolls are marketed for the preteen crowd. There is also a new Baby Bratz line of stuffed dolls for the preschool crowd. Gotta get them hooked on sex early, I guess! I know perfectly reasonable parents who believe in modest clothing who have purchased these dolls for their kids. I can hardly believe anyone could be so crazy.

A Tax Revolution

I’m all fired up about I book I just read, The FairTax Book: Saying Goodbye to the Income Tax and the IRS, by Neal Boortz and John Linder.  In a nutshell, all federal taxes (including Social Security and Medicare) would be replaced with a retail tax of about 23%.  I think it sounds wonderful!  At any rate, even if it’s just a mediocre idea, it can’t be any worse than our current system.  Critics say that it would be hard on the poor, but not so.  This varies from traditional sales taxes in that everyone would receive a monthly “prebate” to cover the tax on the basic necessities of life.  So the poor would pay little or no tax.  

Currently in Congress as the FairTax Bill (H.R. 25) it does not aim to reduce or increase government spending.  The 23% is calculated to keep revenues at their current levels.  I love that it is such a simple plan.  You keep all the money you earn, and pay tax only when and if you buy something (above the basic necessities of life).  No taxes on savings or investment earnings.  No more loopholes for the rich.  No more tax evasion for “under-the-table” payments.  Even drug lords and criminals will pay their tax when they spend their loot.  No corporate taxes – thus bringing back businesses and jobs to the U.S.  The authors propose that once the current embedded taxes on all goods and services are abolished, actual retail prices will decline, so adding on the FairTax will not make prices much different than what you are paying now.  That part I’m not so sure about, but we’d still be getting our entire paychecks plus the “prebate,” so it would at least even out.   The only real problem that I see with this plan is that it is just too good to be true!  I guess there is another problem, and that would be getting it through Congress.  So read the book, go to www.fairtax.org, write your Congressman, and get involved!

Religion and Science

I don't always care for Charles Krauthammer's opinions, but this one in the Post makes some excellent points. Read the whole thing.

How ridiculous to make evolution the enemy of God. What could be more elegant, more simple, more brilliant, more economical, more creative, indeed more divine than a planet with millions of life forms, distinct and yet interactive, all ultimately derived from accumulated variations in a single double-stranded molecule, pliable and fecund enough to give us mollusks and mice, Newton and Einstein?

Amen. I am very religious, and yet I have no problem with evolution. At conservative, religious BYU, I studied evolution taught by church-going professors, and never did I notice any student or faculty uproars over it. It was just education as usual.

I'm afraid that many people who shriek against evolution are misinformed about it. For example, you still hear the old "man didn't descend from monkeys" argument. (Not true - evolution does not say that we descended from apes. These types of people are an embarrassment to me, and make all religious people look uneducated and uninformed. However, if you don't want to believe in evolution - fine, that's your perogative. But don't be so afraid of it that you try to keep it out of the schools (Wouldn't that be a little like trying to keep prayer out of schools - something these same people want?). If you truly have a fundamental religious belief against evolution, teach your child what you believe at home. Sooner or later they will have to decide for themselves what they believe, and a few days of high school bio class shouldn't "corrupt" them if you have taught them well. For my part, I will teach my children to pray at home, and expect that they will survive 7 hours at school without prayer! I will also teach them that religion and science can coexist.