[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > Lynnell Mickelsen bashes 'bad parents' in her column, "life of the city" in > December 3-16 issue of the Southwest Journal.
> While conducting these tours [of Southwest re schools], Lynnell > doesn't say what she really thinks: the schools are fine, there is no need to > worry about how your kids will do unless you are a bad parent. WM: If Lynnell doesn't say that, then how do you know what she's thinking? > > Lynnell agin: "Relax. Yours will turn out fine. Or they won't. Either way the school >won't > have much to do with it. Because most of the time, It's the family, stupid. > If parents stay sober, feed their kids, enforce bed times, give hugs, teach > manners, turn off the TV, read books, monitor homework, and show up at > conferences--by God, it may be a miracle and trust me, it will be time > consuming, but most of these offspring will do all right." WM: This is a true thing. No matter how good or bad the school is, excellent parenting produces mostly excellent kidlings. > > Lynnell: "They'll do even better if parents stay reasonably sane and don't project > their personal psychological dramas--a bad marriage, stressful job, nasty > childhood--onto their children and the school. Parental sanity gives kids a > huge educational edge..." > > Doug Mann: There are indeed a lot of "touchy, crazy parents" out there. Maybe >there >aren't so many in the SW Journal distribution area, but there are an >awful lot of >'those people' elsewhere in the city. WM: Actually, the "crazy" or "touchy" parents are pretty evenly distributed throughout the population. In Burnsville (I think, maybe Bloomington), a few yers ago, four or five high school boys of well to do parents were caught running a theft ring, stealing sporting goods from shops and selling them. Clearly someone(s) messed up or they wouldn't have been stealing. Then the courts reinforced the bad training by letting them off with community service. WM: What is most likely is that parents/families first, then schools and churches work together to produce kidlings. When that is true, the deficiencies of one are mitigated by the strengths of the others. It's maybe sad in some cases, but families have the most prolonged and steady influence on how kids turn out because families have the kids 24-7 for the earliest years. The Catholic church characterizes it this way: "Give me a child by the age of four and he'll be mine for the rest of his life." WizardMarks, Central > > > -Doug Mann > > Doug Mann for School Board > <http://educationright.tripod.com> > > _______________________________________ > Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy > Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: > http://e-democracy.org/mpls _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
