And "They" Wonder Why Home Schooling Is On the Rise!

While I'm sure that there are many different reasons home schooling has become such a popular option these days for those families that don't require a dual income household, if this wouldn't push me over the edge, I don't know what would.

Math Curriculum Doesn't Add Up

A super "hat tip" to Tom Mountain who authored that piece.

Can you actually believe that political correctness has entered the math classroom? What has happened to us? Math is probably the most universally understood language that we have! It's what we one day may have in common with extraterrestrial life, if it exists.

Read on...there's more!

The leadership, and I use that term extremely loosely, of the Newton School District seems to have their heads buried in the sand when it comes to finding the cause of the plummeting math scores. I believe that Mr. Mountain has put his finger smack dab on the pulse and diagnosed the problem correctly. This district is wasting time with things that parents and grandparents should be working on at home with the children...but that's okay, I'm almost 43 years old and they're still doing the same with me. The government is no different. I get to attend on average 20 hours of nonsensical drug/alcohol counseling, violence in the workplace, consideration of others training, sexual harrassment prevention and a number of other mandatory training sessions.

Back to Newton, Massachusetts for a moment or two. I have always maintained that one fallacy of diversity training/instruction is that it makes things better. While understanding other members of the human race is certainly important to getting through this rat race called life, I'm not so sure that it needs to be part of a child's curriculum. This would appear to be something that should also be backed up at home by parents and other family members. I grew up in a completely white suburb in NJ. I didn't go to school with a black child until I entered West Point...did that mean I had troubles during my first encounters? Hell no! My parents and my church taught me to treat other people the way I'd want to be treated myself. Guess what, it works. The other thing...it didn't take away from my studies either!

Another problem I have with the concept of diversity training is that it would tend to give minority kids some idea that they have a crutch they can lean on because they're a member of a minority group.

• How long are we going to keep trying to convince each other that because someone is a member of a minority that they're inherently deserving of special treatment or notice?
  
  
• Isn't the fact that we're all human beings enough to put us on an equal footing?
  
  
• When will be we begin to live in the colorblind/race blind society that Dr. King spoke about many years ago?

If having 23 chromosomes, walking upright, and having dominion over the animals of the sky, sea, and land isn't enough...I'd like to check out, please!

See you on the high ground...I'll be the one that was raised right.

MajorDad1984

HomeSpun Bloggers Symposium XII

As a member of the HomeSpun Blogger network of writers, here's Week 12's topic.

During last year's presidential election, some people began talking about reinstating the draft. Most conservatives, such as myself, simply saw it as an effort on the part of liberals to distance young people from Bush. Many conservatives have responded to the issue by insisting that there won't be a draft. Yet, I think another question deserves consideration. Do we have the right to insist and expect that the war against terror will not require a draft? The draft was an important element in the winning of the first two World Wars. The war on terror is another global war. What gives our generation the right to expect to abstain from the same duty our grandfathers and forefathers were called to?

Ooh! I like this topic and believe it or not, I've got an opinion on it!

Do we have the right to insist and expect that the war against terror will not require a draft?

No, I don't believe that we have the right, as citizens to have any expectation or guarranty of freedom against a draft in this country as we continue to fulfill the promise the United States made to the world when President Bush told the American people upon commencement of hostilities against the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan in October 2001:

"We will not waver, we will not tire; we will not falter; and we will not fail. Peace and freedom will prevail."

For the time being, the all-volunteer military is meeting the needs it was intended to. While it's true that the National Guard and Reserves are having difficulty, I believe that is due to another problem. As far as the Army and Marines coming up short in recruiting in recent months and the Air Force and Navy having recruiting surpluses this is quite telling. We are indeed in the middle of a war AND the nation's youth have finally realized it too.

In order to keep the military capable of performing the expected and anticipated missions, the ranks must remained filled to a suitable level. If young men and young women are not volunteering to fill these ranks, perhaps we need to tap the men and women at the Selective Service System and get them moving on putting the plan into action. However, we have a problem Houston...young women within the draft age windows are not currently registered!!!

We will have to address this issue before moving forward with any kind of draft resurection. Will Americans support drafting their young women to fill gaps in the volunteer force?

The second part of the question is:

What gives our generation the right to expect to abstain from the same duty our grandfathers and forefathers were called to?

At nearly 43, I'm not sure that I necessarily have a dog in this fight. If they get to the point where they're pulling me into the active force, you might want to wonder where this is all going.

As far as those members of Generation X and Generation Y that are squarely in the sights of any moves by the Selective Service System, I'm uncertain. I believe that there should be much more patriotic and civic duties performed by children/young adults today. I see a large majority of these generations (and my own as well) being very self absorbed and interested in personal gain rather than any collective progress to be made by our society. I wish that there were some way for ALL American "kids" to serve at either at the local, state or federal and military service level before continuing any education past high school. This interim period could be used to help break the apron strings, get used to doing things like paying bills, being responsible for getting themselves up and off to work on time, and introducing them to the reality of the world where all the self-esteem oriented programs they've left behind in academia simply don't exist anymore. Upon a success 2-4 year period performing civic duties, then they would be "eligible" to enter their undergraduate studies program.

But back to the question of the draft...I believe that our nation has done the right thing by establishing an all volunteer force, but if the current trends continue I believe that we'll have to resort to some sort of draft to fill gaps in recruiting. Freedom isn't free...and if there aren't people willing to pay the price, we'll have to draft some that will.

The future of the National Guard and Reserve seem to be in limbo to me. If this force is unwilling to deploy to fight and win our nation's wars (like it says in their mission statements) perhaps we need to consider dropping them from the force...and simply plus up the active components of our military. I completely understand the issues the Guard and Reserves are going through...it's been a long time since this component's been called up and expected to serve as long as they have and in active combat theaters like they have. We've experienced a significant paradigm shift over the past four years...and one that isn't likely to shift back to the "good old days" any time soon.

Any draft we impliment will have to have clear cut timelines and "exit strategies" associated with it. Once the threat is reduced to a level that is manageable by an all volunteer force again, we should move back to it quickly.

On the other hand, I think that children of privilege quite often shirk their civic duties and responsibilities. Maybe a draft is something that could level the playing field between the "haves" and "have nots."

See y'all on the high ground!

MajorDad1984

Reflecting on the State of the Union Address

After nearly a week of thinking about what our president said in his State of the Union Address, the following passage stuck in my mind...

"It is time for an immigration policy that permits temporary guest workers to fill jobs Americans will not take, that rejects amnesty, that tells us who is entering and leaving our country and that closes the border to drug dealers and terrorists."

I have a problem with this part of the speech and here's why!

1. There are jobs in this country that Americans won't take because they're able to receive benefits for NOT taking those kinds of jobs. Our other social programs are creating jobs for immigrants...rather than our citizens.

2. This program will only tell us who is entering or leaving our country if the other several thousand miles of border are sealed by fences, landmines, large hairy, mean German Shepherds, Dobermans, or Rottweillers and EVERYONE entering this country actually comes through an approved point of entry. The problem of illegal immigration isn't one we find in San Diego/Tijuana, Tucson/Nogales, El Paso/Juarez and the other large and small border crossing points. It's in those deep valleys that run from south to north in our Southwestern States. It's over the high Huachuca Mountains near Sierra Vista, Arizona...it's in the desolate desert where we share a border with Mexico.

3. See my response above for smugglers of drugs, human misery, or terrorists and their material. Until I see some more details to this program, I'm not really in favor of it at all.

I think that the key to this whole issue is that there are jobs that Americans could be taking "in a pinch" rather than throw in the towel and be satisfied with whatever federal, state and local assistance would come to their doorstep.

While I've never walked a mile in the shoes of someone that lived from paycheck to paycheck...or used food stamps, I have to believe that I've got what it takes to avoid taking handouts, even for short periods of time. I think that you have to practice the way you play. If you're willing to go "half speed" and accept the handouts, then you're starting a bad habit.

See you on the high ground!

MajorDad1984

Peace In Our Time???

Okay...being cursed by a classical education allows me to answer the question, "Who uttered these words in the last century, having later to eat them?"

The answer, dear readers, is the British Prime Minister that preceded Winston Churchill in that position...none other than Neville Chamberlain. The government of Great Britain looking the other way, under the leadership of Mr. Chamberlain, paved the way for Nazi expansion of their Reich, without firing a shot (unless you consider the assasination of rival leaders in Austria and Czechoslovakia shots).

We now have an American senator calling for us to "appease" the theocratic mullahs of Iran who are developing a nuclear capability that they truly don't need, unless it is for offensive and aggressive policies against Israel or other Western influences. Who is this senator? Check out this post and find out...

"The Plagiarist Calls for Appeasement with Iran"

While I have no problem in conducting negotiations with nations that have shown good faith in the past, I believe that we're dealing with another absolute den of snakes when it comes to the mullahs of Iran. In Iraq we were dealing with the murderous dictatorship of Saddam and his sons, in Iran we're dealing with the overzealous Shi'a Islamic sect. Somewhere there are young and old Moslems willing to rise up and claim some of their freedoms back...and continue to worship Allah in a peaceful way.

We as freedom loving people cannot allow the radical followers of either a religious sect or a cult of personality to gain access to weapons of mass distruction (I really hate this term...but more on that later). Both Iran and North Korea have continually thumbed their noses at the US, UN and other international efforts to assess the level of their nuclear capabilities. It is very close to the time where we need to act and act swiftly. Failure to do so will without a doubt hasten the next open air nuclear detonation and I'm not talking about a test. The next time we see a mushroom cloud, millions of people will be killed beneath it.

We can all get along, but the peoples, religions, and cults of personality need to come to the understanding that we have to all give a little to get along. Basic human freedoms are universal in nature...and in the 200+ years we've been in business, we've been able to prove that it works. They might do well to take a look at our past, even with its warts, and try to use us as a model.

See you all on the high ground!

MajorDad1984



And here is the rest of it.