3 posts tagged “gender”

Welcome to sunny California, world renowned for its tall palm trees, beautiful beaches, wineries, movie studios and one the worst Elementary, middle, and high school systems on the face of planet earth.  The reason:  playing politics and weird experimentation with the children has overridden any care for the education of them.

Every one of us who lives here (particularly those of us with children) have heard stories of large numbers of people graduating who cannot read or pass simple exit exams on what they were supposed to have learned and on and on.  I remember on story I heard years ago where the children in one area were failing a pretty standard high school exit exam miserably so the proposed solution………..make the test easier?

A quick story to help you understand my disgust: 

After I graduated high school I left for military service and went to travel the world.  I came back on leave to visit my old high school and the coaches and teachers who I had built a bond with.  I arrived at the school to find that all of the teachers I had considered (and still consider) to have been the good teachers had left the school.  There were no coaches as the school which had n illustrious sports history had eliminated all sports.

The weirdest part about walking the campus was that while I was wandering the campus confused many if not most of the students seemed to be wandering the campus looking just as confused as I was.  This was midday in the middle of the school year.  I heard different bells ring and saw some of the kids going to classrooms.  In the classrooms there were small pockets of teenagers who seemed to be doing there own thing while some person in front 9I assume to be a teacher) lectured.

I finally asked one of the students what was going on.  The answer was ridiculous.  The school was an experiment to see if children learn better in an environment where they have no books, no mandatory class attendance, no homework, no sports, and very few tests.  I asked if this was working and in the words of one kid, “It was cool at first, but this really sucks.  I want to transfer.” 

As a side note, I have a relative who graduated from the same high school, who has a diploma that looks just like mine, who could not read or write any better than the average kindergartener until as an adult his wife taught him.

This brings me to my point.  In Alameda California there is a controversial proposal creating a huge disruption among the parents.  The proposal is to add curriculum about sexual orientation and gender identification to the curriculum.

So let me get this straight:  the school systems in California can’t get reading, writing, English, math and science right, but now they are qualified to teach my child sexuality.  That ought to turn out well.  I told you that little story a above to set the stage for one key point I think is being missed.  I PAY TAXES AND SEND MY CHILDREN TO SCHOOL TO LEARN TO READ, WRITE, GET EDUCATED, AND PREPARED FOR COLLEGE IF YOU CANNOT DO THAT RIGHT YOU HAVE NO BUSINESS TRYING TO ADD A WHOLE BUNCH OF OTHER STUFF OF ANY KIND.

All over California strange experiments have been done for years with our children and all kinds of weird ideas have been voiced al because our school systems and our teacher’s unions want to use our children as political ping pong balls instead of just doing what we (I) pay them to do.   STOP EXPERIMENTING WITH OUR CHILDREN AND JUST TEACH THEM ENGLISH, MATH, SCIENCE, AND SO ON.

There is this ongoing list of things that they always want to add that clearly are politically motivated and that would be a discussion if we already had reasonable results.  The California school system is the laughing stock of the whole planet.  HOW DARE YOU TELL ME YOU ARE BETTER QUALIFIED TO DO MY JOB AS A PARENT WHEN YOU ARE FAILING AT YOUR JOBS AS TEACHERS?

The entire reasoning for this addition to the curriculum has been defined as an attempt to stop bullying through a gained understanding of sexual orientation and gender identification.

Another short story, my son was new to one of California’s illustrious public schools and was stabbed in the forehead with metal scissors by an angry 9 year old.  As far as I or anyone know my son is not homosexual or transgender and was only guilty of being the new kid having an encounter with what turned out to be the class bully.  The school investigated and discovered several such incidents with this bully and other children that had gone unnoticed until now.

I was obviously concerned and spoke to the principal whose response was that they had spoken to the parents of the child.  SPOKEN TO THE PARENTS, WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?  I suggested possibly separating the child from the other children for a while to undergo some kind of counseling until such a time it was safe for the rest of the children and then reintroducing the child to the school as I thought that was the least that should be done in light of all of the children that have been wandering into schools and killing everyone.

I tell this story to illustrate that the school system has no clue about what to do about bullies.  Those of us who experienced bullies in elementary, middle and high school (or possibly were the bullies) have a pretty good idea that lack of information and understanding was not the problem.  Usually the problems are far deeper than education about one group or other would solve.  I am also quite sure that information about sexual orientation and gender identification would not have saved any of the children from this bully because as far as anyone can tell at this age, none of the children were bullied for this reason.  The problem with bullying lies in the inability of the schools to properly deal with the bullies until after the bullets (or scissors) are flying and the bloody bodies of our children are being carried away.

All this to say to our governments, including school boards and our teachers:  I DON’T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT ANYTHING BUT HOW WE ARE IMPROVING MATH, SCIENCE, ENGLISH ETC. UNTIL YOU GET THOSE SUBJECTS RIGHT.  I UNDERSTAND THERE ARE BAD PARENTS OUT THERE THAT ARE NOT DOING THEIR JOB, BUT DON’T NEGLECT YOURS TO DO OURS.  SPEND ALL THAT POLITICAL ENERGY TRYING TO REFORM THE AGENCIES THAT ARE SUPPOSED TO BE HOLDING THE PARENTS ACCOUNTABLE TO DOING THEIR JOB AND STICK TO YOURS!

If you watch, listen to, or read the commentaries on the primaries taking place every couple of weeks, the news has drifted into a public battle of race, age, and gender.  I have been struck by the amount of news that basically states that Senator Hillary Clinton is winning over middle class, whites (the exact words that the media seems to be comfortable using), older “white” voters and is campaigning to win over women.  The other side of the coin is that Senator Barack Obama is winning over African-American voters (in the media known as “black voters”) and new, young voters.

This race may not be what has split the party, but no matter how you think it got there, I think it is safe to say that, the party is split and it is being made obvious to the whole planet. 

The last few days of news has brought lots of stories and discussion about the possibility that events of this primary season are negatively affecting the party as a whole.  Some say that the events of the last few months are not negatively affecting the party.  Again, that may or may not be the case, but the party has a huge negative point at this minute:  The party is divided. 

I have been befuddled by how comfortable the media has been in reducing the campaigns to the group that seems to vote for the candidates.  Now we can all think of Sen. Clinton as the candidate of middleclass “white males” and “older white” voters while Sen. Obama as the candidate of African Americans and new voters.  But, in thinking about it, although these facts are uncomfortable, they are true and this is news.

The problem is not the reporting, the problem is that the Democrats are comfortable with this as a whole.  It does not matter if the party split yesterday, over this primary season, or ten years ago, it is still split and the gap between the different factions is growing. 

The problem has the potential to move from a large crack in the party to a completely broken party in the near future. 

If Sen. Obama wins, the middleclass white males will feel disenfranchised and may not be in as much of a hurry to vote for him simply because he is a Democrat.

If Sen. Clinton wins, by the overturning of the popular vote by superdelegates, or by getting the states that Sen. Obama did not campaign in to count, a large part of the African American community will feel cheated by the candidate that represents middleclass, “white” America.  Has the party not thought through how overriding the popular vote of the people or including the votes of states that the first African American candidate did not campaign in (in accordance with instructions from the party) would speak to the African American populous. 

In polls the voters have made it clear that if their respective candidate did not win, they may vote for a Republican, Independent, or at the least no longer affiliate themselves with the Democrats. 

Both middleclass “white” and the “black” voters are major demographics that have been the base of the party for the past few years.  One of these groups is likely to be alienated in the next few months.  Then what?  How about the young voters that are voting for the first time?  Alienate them and you have succeeded in alienating the future!

I suppose the party has counted on being to get the two candidates coming together after some sort of solution is reached and running together as presidential and vice-presidential candidates.  This would be the case normally, but this current unusually prolonged  primary season and the nature of the “firsts” represented in the candidates, has allowed more time for voters to get their heart set on their candidate and to foster more dislike for the opponent. 

The end of the party seems to be coming faster than the end of the primaries.  If I were a Democrat (and not a complete independent) I would think that this has to stop now, because this one presidency is not worth risking the destruction of the party.  As an independent that thinks the party system is broken, I think if the one party explodes in front of the entire planet it will force the government and the country as a whole to look at revamping the party system.

Senator Barack Obama squeezes by in the primary in Guam this weekend. The senator squeezed by with a mere seven votes.

In looking at this I see what has been happening all along. There is a lot of press and stress. Then there is anticipation and prediction. In the end, the voters determine the democratic candidates to be equal, yet Sen. Barack Obama comes out just slightly ahead. How does this keep happening to Senator Hillary Clinton.

As I sort through the various conversations and interactions I have had throughout the information blitz of this campaign season, I am left wondering what is driving the voers to vote in this race the way they are voting.

Is it the true belief that this is the best candidate that the country has to offer?

Is it that none of the candidates are truly good prospects for the presidency and we must hurry to pick the least of the evils in the hopes of keeping what is about to happen to a low threshold of pain for the rest of us?

Is it to ensure that the unpopular actions of our current president are not repeated?

Is it to keep the Democratic race tight and running in the hopes of dividing their party so the Republicans can win easily?

Is it simply because a person likes the race of one candidate over another?

Is it simply because a person likes the Gender of one candidate over another?

Is it not liking the candidate particularly but supporting one party or the other?

In my recent comments and in listening to much of what is discussed in the media, I am convinced that many people vote for all of the wrong reasons and that many of the candidates and in reality both of the major parties count on that fact.

The truth is that I feel the race is so tight right now because all of the candidates are all so great, it is because all of the candidates are so average. They are not really bad candidates, all three are just average candidates with really average ideas and plans.

If my fears are the truth and we are simply settling for the lesser of three evils and hoping to minimize the future damage.

I do not yet endorse any of the three candidates and will not a I continue waiting in the hope that there will be a miracle and an awesome and independent candidate will come out of nowhere to represent the hopes of the people will emerge as the sudden superhero of the presidency.

If this person does not show up, as it is starting to seem, then I will have to chose one of these candidates and I will have to vote for one of them and that will simply be what I consider a vote for what is perceived as the lesser evil.

This choosing the lesser evil has been getting eviler and eviler. I mean the mere idea that I should vote for a person because he or she can bowl or drank some shots with some “average” people, or played basketball, etc. Seriously, what an insult to all of our intelligence.

If that does not work, offer to take a few cents our of our gas price and secretly charge us later to cover the billions of dollars lost to lower our gas a few cents and save us a few dollars in the few month period mentioned. In other words, bribe me.

Why should we be forced to endure this? Why are more people not insulted? These candidates are not normal, average people. I am not really convinced that a normal, average person should be given leadership of what is arguably the most powerful nation on the planet and it’s people. This is an above average job that will require an above average person.

Maybe the race and the polls are so close between all three candidates because they all are just as bad as the others and it barely matters which one wins. My search for the lesser evil has led me to believe in a new concept: “Equal Evil.” This is when one is looking for the lesser evil and finds that no option bring the lesser evil. At this point the evils are all the same.

I hope that none of this is true and I have just been thrown off by the various candidates attempts to seem like the average normal person and one of these candidates is actually a very above average individual who is truly capable of running this country.