Raising Children - Jonathan Pryor's web log

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Raising Children

As a new parent, I'm finding the various perspectives on what's "wrong" with American education and children to be fascinating subjects.

slashdot.org discussed what's wrong with science education in america recently; the impression I'm left with is that Americans don't emphasize science and other intellectual accomplishments enough, preferring instead to emphasize sports and other physical accomplishments. The result is that sports and acting (TV, movies) become the way to Get Rich And Famous, instead of inventing, writing, research, or any number of other areas.

Is this a problem? Given how additional education is important for more and more areas of society, the neglect of the mind certainly isn't helping.

Perhaps meditation is the answer. :-)

In a related miracle, I'm finding myself agreeing with an article on -- gasp -- FOXNews: straight talk on teen sex and media hype. This shouldn't be too surprising, given that it's written by Glen Reynolds of Instapundit fame.

Doubly interesting is The Voice of Hedonism.

It's amazing how people seem to think that modern times will alter millenia of human behavior. Of course teenagers will have sex. They have for millenia, and will continue to do so. The reasons are myriad, but it will happen; adults shouldn't throw a hissie fit every time it happens, it's embarassing.

Posted on 28 Jul 2005 | Path: /etc/ | Permalink