[quote]ZJStrope wrote:
[quote]H factor wrote:
This is absolutely true, but is difficult in some situations. My father has been a teacher for a long time (almost 38 years). He is conservative, but not uberly so.
He told me once it is REALLY easy to talk about all the things high school kids need to do. They need to show up on time. They need to dress better. They need to work harder. They need to be less lazy. They need to get a job.
He said the problem is a lot of people have had great MODELS for them of proper behavior. Yet when you don’t see someone get up for work, when you don’t see someone dress appropriately, when you don’t see someone take care of their body hygiene wise, when you don’t see someone doing these things at home everyday it is difficult to learn the value in them.
I’m guessing a lot of us had great models for behavior at some point in our life. Some kids don’t “understand” the value of hard work because it has never been presented to them. They have watched deadbeats in their family be deadbeats and for some of them it doesn’t make sense to do more. Some people will see those situations and work their ass off to not be like their loser mom or loser dad.
Some people need better models. I learned about proper hygiene, I learned about hard work, I learned about being on time, I learned about what to wear for an interview and what to say from my family.
The easy answer is always easy. My dad is a get off your ass and do something guy, but he made me think about these things a bit differently and realize how lucky I am to have been raised by good people.
I don’t have problems doing what I know needs to be done because I was taught how and WHY it needs to be done.
Sad situations. The solution is not more government, but shitty parents is not a liberal or conservative problem. It’s a society one. And I can point to tons of people who say they are conservative and vote Republican who are living off the government teat all day long. Come to my area of Kansas and realize how much it’s not just liberals wanting a big active government to bail them out. [/quote]
Absolutely. So the question is, how do you break the cycle?
What is obvious to us (i.e. if you don’t want to end up like dad, you probably are best NOT following what dad does) is certainly not obvious to the individual who’s naturally ingrained to mimic those who nurture them.
One would think having outside influences like teachers and community leaders (think church volunteer organizations, etc) would be enough to at least initiate the questioning of one’s in home role models, but you often see that’s not the case. The influence and bond is just to strong and by the time you’re old enough to figure things out on your own, it’s to late. You are stuck in the same rut with the same underlying thought…that life isn’t fair and the “man” is holding me down.[/quote]
Not to mention (and I work with a lot of teachers in my education consulting job) the pressure you get from people when you take a more active role.
A local school I’m near got in trouble for helping a 6 year old clean up because she kept coming into school in ratty clothes and smelling of feces. Some people got up in arms about the government doing something it did not need to do.
Actually, (and I’m a limited government guy) someone NEEDED to do something about that. I don’t fault that school one iota for attempting to help this girl out because her parents clearly couldn’t.
