Happy Father's Day!

I would like to take a moment to wish all the dads out there a very happy Father's Day!

Researchers have been studying the impact of fathers on their children for decades. They have found clear benefits to having an involved father including:

• higher scores on tests of cognitive ability
• higher likelihood of graduating from high school and from college
• better grades in school
  
• higher income as an adult
  
• greater financial stability as an adult
  
• lower rates of juvenile delinquency and adult criminality
• lower drug, tobacco, and alcohol use as teens
  
• less likely to engage in early sexual activity
• lower risk for teen pregnancy
• less likely to commit suicide
  
• higher self-esteem
• better social skills
• more involved with their own children when they become parents

References:
1. "The Hidden Benefits of Being an Involved Father" by Garrett Evans & Kate Fogerty
2. "20 Reasons Why Your Child Needs You to be an Active Father" at Kidsgrowth.net
3. "Father and Daughter Relationships" at GirlHealth.org
4. "The Father Factor" at the National Fatherhood Initiative

Certainly some women will become single moms through no fault of their own. Widows are the obvious example. In addition, there are marriages that cannot be saved- torn apart by domestic violence, substance abuse, chronic infidelity, and so on. Also, some women never get the chance to marry; adoption by them, while not the ideal, is still preferable to letting a child languish in an orphanage or foster care. My heart goes out to all those moms who find themselves, despite their wishes, struggling to raise kids on their own. These women need to make a special effort to find father figures for their children such as grandfathers, uncles, other relatives, pastors, youth ministers, teachers, sports coaches, Boy Scout leaders, Big Brothers, and so on.

May God bless all the fathers and father figures out there!

CO Legislators Call for Dismissals in the Boulder High Assembly Controversy

The controversy continues in Boulder, CO over the Conference of World Affairs mandatory assembly at Boulder High School, at which speakers promoted sexual activity and drug use to students as young as 14.

According to WorldNetDaily, a number of parents as well as all of the Republican State Senators on the Senate Education Committee have called for the dismissal of Boulder Valley School District Superintendent George Garcia and Boulder High principal Bud Jenkins.

The senators' letter to the BVSD board called the CWA assembly a "disgrace":

"The minors who sat through this dubious discussion were subjected to the most dangerous kind of input any youth could get from a presumed authority figure: a green light to engage in destructive behavior."

Helayne Jones, president of the BVSD board read a prepared statement at the most recent board meeting saying that unspecified "actions" were taken on the complaints generated by the CWA assembly and that several BHS staff members have been verbally reprimanded. However, the statement emphasized that no dismissals are contemplated over the assembly.

BHS parent Priscilla White, who made the original complaint to the BVSD board, considers this a slap on the wrist and has called for Ms. Jones' replacement as well as Garcia's immediate dismissal.

The CO legislators also noted that the Democratically-controlled legislature voted to abandon abstinence-only sex ed and mandate so-called "comprehensive" sex ed, while at the same time refusing to adopt a bill that would set state standards for math & science knowledge. Says Sen. Josh Penry, R-Fruita:

"Instead of giving more Colorado high school grads a shot at succeeding in college or the job market, House Democrats decided that kids needed to know even more about contraception. As we could see in Boulder, kids are already getting plenty of indoctrination on sex."

If parents wish to teach their children about contraception, they have the opportunity to do so at home or if they are too embarrassed to broach the subject, there are workshops held by Planned Parenthood and the like. I don't personally think it's a good idea to promote contraception to teenagers when 50% of all unplanned pregnancies are the result of contraception failure and teenagers have the highest contraception failure rate of all age groups. However, I fully support the right of parents to teach their own children in accordance with their personal beliefs on the matter.

Do Government Schools Worsen Social Conflict?

I recently read an interesting policy analysis released back in January by the libertarian think tank the Cato Institute entitled "Why We Fight: How Public Schools Cause Social Conflict". The paper discusses how rather than bringing Americans of diverse backgrounds together "like the gentle flame beneath the great American melting pot", government schools have instead produced "political disputes, animosity, and sometimes even bloodshed".

In the 2005-2006 school year alone, there were over 150 major values-driven conflicts that made national headlines. These ran the gamut of issues, including the battle over teaching intelligent design in Dover, PA; a high school in Fallbrook, CA banning students from carrying the American flag; the Miami-Dade school board ordering the removal of the book Vamos a Cuba on the grounds it portrayed Fidel Castro's regime in too flattering a light; the suspension of a Juneau, AK student carrying a"Bong Hits 4 Jesus" sign at a school-sanctioned event; Hindus upset with the portrayal of the religion in California's state-sanctioned history textbooks; the decision by an African-American legislator to split the Omaha, NE school district among racial lines; the passing of legislation allowing the Detroit, MI school district to establish single-sex schools; the San Francisco Board of Education voting to end the popular JROTC program; controversy over Bible in History & Literature electives in Georgia and Texas; and a lawsuit over the reading of a book promoting homosexual "marriage" to 2nd graders in Lexington, MA.

Conflicts over what should be taught in government schools are not a new phenomena. The Cato Institute paper discusses the deadly Philadelphia Bible riots that killed hundreds, stemming from a dispute over whether to use the Protestant King James version or the Catholic Douay-Rheims version in public schools. It also discusses at length the turbulence of the mid-20th century court-ordered desegregation and secularization of government schools.

The Cato paper argues that such clashes are inevitable in government-run schooling because all Americans are required to support the public schools, but only those with the most political power control them:

"Under our monolithic system, different cultural, ethnic, and religious groups have no choice but to enter the political melee if they want to see their values taught by the public schools."

The author argues that the solution to defusing social conflict between different groups is by

"enabling people to select schools that reflect their own values, use the curricula they desire, and so on....In other nations as well as our own, we have seen educational choice defuse social conflicts. The Netherlands, for instance, was split between Protestants, Catholics, and socialists, for generations, and these divisions caused constant battles over what should be taught in the public schools. Eventually, in a drive to end these conflicts, the Netherlands instituted a voucher system that let families choose their preferred private or public schools. By the 1960's, the social divisions that had previously torn the country apart had almost disappeared."

The Cato paper makes an interesting argument about the potential for vouchers to defuse social conflicts over public schools. I do have some concerns about vouchers, as I mentioned the other day. It is clear, however, that the current situation is very detrimental to the education of students caught in the crossfire. Something definitely needs to be done to defuse the social conflicts caused by government-run schools so that children can focus on mastering the 3 R's.

Memo to Diane Ravitch: It's Not Just Students, Parents, and the Culture to Blame for School Failure

Dr. Diane Ravitch, former Assistant Secretary of Education, current professor at New York University, and fellow of both the Brookings Institution and the Hoover Institution, has written an op-ed piece for the New York Sun entitled "Don't Blame the Teachers". In it, she blames the dismal state of public education in the United States on students, parents, school administrators, politicians, and popular culture - basically everybody involved except for teachers. She writes:

"Next time there is a conference about the state of American education — or the problems found in each and every school district — why don't we take a hard look at why so many of our students are slackers? Why don't we look at the popular culture and its effects on students' readiness to apply themselves to learning? Why don't we investigate the influence of the role models of "success" that surround our children in the press? Why don't we ask how often our children see models of success who are doctors, nurses, educators, scientists, engineers, and others who enable our society to function and who contribute to our common good?"

I certainly agree with Dr. Ravitch that these are serious problems that do contribute to school failure. A recurring theme of this blog is my frustration with the anti-intellectualism so prevalent in American culture. She's also correct in her criticisms of student apathy, lack of parental support of and involvement in their children's education, administrators and politicians who micromanage teachers, and so on. They all play a role in school failure and we as a society need to address them.

However, Dr. Ravitch glosses over the very real problem of teacher incompetency in many schools. Most teachers are indeed "hardworking, earnest, and deeply committed to their students" as Dr. Ravitch points out but all their good intentions come to nothing if they are poorly trained, dumb, or both. Certainly not all, but sadly too many in this country.

According to the recently released report of the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce, the average SAT score of a new K-12 teacher in this country places him/her in the bottom third of college graduates. That is the lowest average test score of any professional occupation. The National Survey of America's College Students (NSACS) found that education majors had the lowest average prose and quantitative literacy scores of all majors studied. When Massachusetts started requiring prospective teachers to first pass an exam testing 10th grade English and Math in 1998, an astonishing 59% flunked. While it's true that one does not need to be a rocket scientist to be an effective teacher, these statistics are downright shameful!

Even teachers who are bright can lack competence due to poor training. My sister-in-law is a public school math teacher and she told me that the coursework for her B.Ed was a complete joke. Her high school classes were harder! I looked into the requirements for a M.A.T. at a local state college and of the 12 classes, only 1 was on subject-specific methods. The rest were edubabble with names such as "Multicultural foundations of a diverse classroom" and other such nonsense. Yes, classrooms today are diverse (particularly here in California) but devoting a full course to the topic? Can't multiculturalism simply be incorporated into training on subject matter such as literature or history?

Doctors and lawyers seeking a license have to complete rigorous graduate-level coursework and pass a very challenging exam to prove basic competence. Shouldn't teachers have to do the same?

If we as a society want to fix our schools, it's not enough just to address the problems of student & parent apathy and the anti-intellectualism of our pop culture. We also need to totally revamp how we select and train teachers. Teachers aren't the only ones at fault, but the incompetence of many of them does play a significant role in school failure.

Standardized Testing is "Sucking the Soul Out of the Primary School Experience"

Karen Taylor from the California Homeschool Network gave a heads-up to an excellent op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle a couple of weeks ago entitled "Let children be children: Is your 5 year old stressed out because too much is expected?" by veteran teacher Penelope Bevan. Ms. Bevan writes:

"We've just finished test time again in the schools of California. The mad frenzy of testing infects everyone from second grade through high school. Because of the rigors and threats of No Child Left Behind, schools are desperate to increase their scores. As the requirements become more stringent, we have completely lost sight of the children taking these tests."

She decries the developmentally inappropriateness of the new curriculum that focuses so much time on preparing for standardized tests and not enough on

"the happy messiness of paint, clay, Tinkertoys and jumping rope, the quiet discovery of a shiny new book of interest to them, the wonders of a magnifying glass."

She worries about the impact the constant academic pressure has on her students' souls. Are they being deprived of "the joy that comes but once in their lifetime"?

I certainly believe children should receive an education that is academically challenging, but in a developmentally appropriate manner. Endless worksheets, rote memorization drills, and standardized tests are not going to help build children's minds. Instead, they need exposure to the best literature, art, music, and the great narratives of history; hands-on exploration of God's creation; lots of time for creative art and imaginative play; and so on. Activities that are going to engage them in learning, not make them overly stressed.

To be fair, test scores have risen modestly since NCLB was signed into law. The $64,000 question is at what cost to children's souls?

TT: 13 Things I Miss About My Pre-Mom Life




Thirteen Things I MISS ABOUT MY PRE-MOM LIFE Lara David from "Life: The Ongoing Education" had a fun TT last week on the 13 reasons she's glad that she's not yet a mom. That got me thinking about all the things I miss about my pre-mom life. Don't get me wrong, I love my kids to death and wouldn't trade them for any of these things. I'm only human though and I do get nostalgic for these: leaving the house with just keys, a driver's license, and a debit card! perky boobs and taut tummy skin. Diet and exercise can do a lot, but not everything :-( light carpets and glass-topped furniture all the cute clothes that I'm young enough and thin enough to wear but that look ridiculous on me when I've got 2 kids in tow (people assume I'm the nanny even though my DD is a mini-clone) indulging in regular facials. My skin looked sooooo much better when I had the disposable cash to get them every 2 months instead of once a year. freedom from the voices of Elmo, Barney, Captain Feathersword from the Wiggles, Weezy from DragonTales, or any of the other characters who I'd rather listen to scratching nails on a chalkboard than hear. not having to confine bedroom activities to our bedroom ;-) using idioms and polysyllabic words in conversation without having to stop to explain their meanings doing laundry once a week instead of every single dangblasted day! making spur-of-the-minute plans to attend adult-only events turning on the TV, popping in a DVD, listening to the radio, flipping through a magazine, reading a book, surfing the 'Net, or just walking around in public without worrying about what impressionable little minds might see or hear.* devoting 100% of my attention to Mass.** not having to always set a good example by wearing a lifejacket when boating, helmet when biking or rollerblading, safety pads when rollerblading, copious amounts of sunscreen when outdoors, and a seatbelt in taxis; eating 5 servings of vegetables per day; skipping seconds on dessert; limiting alcohol to one or two drinks; driving at the posted speed limit; never making an illegal left or u-turn; pulling over to the side of the road when I need to make a cell phone call in the car; crossing only at the crosswalk and when the light says "walk"; and so on.*** *I tend to hold relatively libertarian views on the freedom of expression but at the same time I also strongly believe in the parental right to shield one's own children from content one deems inappropriate for them. Censorship by the government - very bad! Attempting to keep negative influences away from one's children - a basic parental obligation! **I know God understands and I do believe it's important to worship as a family rather than sticking kids in the nursery. "Let the children come to me" and all that jazz! ***Yes, I am aware that I ought to be doing these things anyways for safety's sake. Realistically, though, most people don't do them 100% of the time for various reasons. Links to other Thursday Thirteens!




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CHBM: Hosting Our First Big Family Holiday Dinner

If it's Wednesday morning, it's time for the Crazy Hip Blog Mama Carnival #35! The theme of this week is "something you've made that you're REALLY proud of."

Our first Christmas as newlyweds, DH decided to invite his parents to come visit us at the Army base where he was stationed at the time. Now, I actually get along surprisingly well with my mother-in-law but the thought of hosting our first big family holiday dinner caused me to absolutely freak out. I have perfectionistic tendancies anyways, and being 22 at the time & rather insecure about my new identity as a wife just exacerbated them. I felt as if I had to "prove" myself by pulling off a feast that would do Martha Stewart proud. Sad as it is, I literally spent months obsessing over this dinner.

I love to cook but I had never before attempted a multiple course feast so I went crazy purchasing cookbooks with names like Christmas 101, Betty Crocker's Best Christmas Cookbook and Food & Wine's Holiday Favorites. I pored over Bon Apetit, Gourmet, and Martha Stewart Living searching for recipes and tips to pull off an ambitious gourmet meal. The menu kept getting longer and longer as DH and I both insisted on the inclusion of every single dish from both our respective families' traditions: turkey AND ham, 4 different starchy side dishes, pecan AND apple pies, etc. They couldn't be just plain vanilla versions either but things like "apple, walnut, sausage, and sourdough stuffing" and "orange-Zinfandel glazed ham" (at least that's what the litle menu card I printed up off the computer says I served). DH also decreed that everything had to be 100% made from scratch with no shortcuts such as premade piecrusts, canned chicken stock, or bagged breadcrumbs. Now that we've been married 8 1/2 years, I would simply laugh at such an absurd demand but at the time I was too insecure to refuse.

As we got married right after college and since our wedding had been on the smaller side (only around 100 guests), we did not own all the serving dishes and utensils I was convinced we needed for a big feast. We were too far away from the rest of our family to to borrow the stuff from them. We lived on a pretty remote base without ready access to a Williams-Sonoma or Crate & Barrel so it was really difficult to find some of the things. It got to the point where I called my mom up having a nervous breakdown because I was unable to locate a gravy boat, of all things! I ultimately did drive down to the Mikasa outlet store and get one but really it was so not worth all the mental anguish I put myself through over it.

My mother-in-law mailed me a 3 page shopping list of things I should buy. She doubtless thought she was being helpful, but I just felt added pressure. One of the items on the list was "sparkling burgundy", something I'd never heard of before. A few days before Christmas, I went down to our local Class VI store (the Army version of a liquor store). All they had was a $3 bottle called "Cold Duck", which I was certain could not possibly be what she wanted. So I surfed the 'Net until I finally located an expensive Italian sparkling burgundy and paid an arm & a leg for rush delivery. Naturally, after all this hassle, I found out she actually did mean that cheapie "Cold Duck" stuff (to each his own)!

I literally spent the better part of three days in the kitchen preparing this meal. Fortunately, everything turned out delicious and my first attempt at being the hostess was a big success :-)


In hindsight, it's easy for me to see that this dinner was nowhere even remotely near as important as it felt at the time. The important thing about Christmas is celebrating the birth of our Lord with those we love but I lost sight of that. I put way too much pressure on myself to make the meal "perfect". I should've been more assertive with DH about paring down the menu to a reasonable number and using convenience foods as shortcuts in certain dishes. I learned my lesson from this experience and future holiday meals have been WAAAY more relaxed affairs for me! :-)