[beaglette]

Originally Posted by Lia

I don't think you should banish one thing to favor the another. The correct thing to do is teach both things and let the family or the person, not the school decide what to believe.

If you abolish the theory of evolution, you're segregating those who doesn't have a religion (or choose one that doesn't follow the Christian belief) - and that's prejudice - because you're dismissing another point of view . As well as the people that only teach the theory of evolution and dismiss the Christian beliefs as being silly. To me it's double standarts to allow only Christian beliefs, without thinking that there's might be other people who doesn't share the same religion, and complain if a school only allows teaching the Darwin theory.

Almost every culture and every religion has its own beliefs on how everything started.

About the other things, i won't get into the discussion because it's not my field. But as a scientist i gotta talk about that. I firmly believe that you shouldn't favor one thing on top of the other - and that you CAN't force your opinion on another person - either if it's a 'scientific' thing, like the Darwin theory or the christian belief, or any other belief.

The operative word here is "theory".

While I believe in the freedom to believe anything one chooses to believe, no matter how ludicrous, that doesn't make those things one chooses to believe *true*. A person may not believe in gravity but that doesn't change the fact that gravity exists. Those who may not believe in gravity aren't going to suddenly float above the earth's atmosphere simply because they don't believe in gravity. One will still be held to the earth by the force of gravity and their disbelief doesn't impact that outcome. Truth is truth is truth and is undeniable.

While I can't force anyone to believe and/or do anything (except my children-- I *can* force them to do things), I can choose exposure to facts, not ludicrous theories. That is indeed what I am advocating. While you don't have to agree, which you most certainly don't, this topic is entitled "unpopular social/political opinions" for a reason. Opinions are like noses; everyone has them and they all smell.

Originally Posted by KellyB

- If more kids were sent to boarding/boot camp schools, we would have less rowdy children committing public offenses. Instead of detention, public humiliation would be a nice deterrent, or even some day labor. (i.e. being forced to mow the school lawn with a butter knife). What we need is more parents taking responsibility for their children instead of pawning them off on someone else to take care. What we need is involved parental role models not retired military personnel raising our kids. What we need are parents that stop blaming society for the way their children turn out and to admit that they are too busy "finding themselves" or "climbing the corporate ladder" to properly raise kids.

I agree that parents need to accept responsibility for their children and for teaching their children morality, appropriate social behaviors, how to be a decent human being, etc. I am actually a firm believer that not only is a woman's place in the home but so is a man's (yet another unpopular opinion of mine re: women staying at home). The breakdown of society happened when BOTH parents left home to work elsewhere instead of the home! The *ideal* would be both parents at home raising their children *together*. Of course, we don't often achieve the ideal in anything in life. But, it would certainly be an honorable thing to strive for.

By the same token, in order for children to thrive in school, they must be given the proper environment to do so which encompasses *discipline*. The hands of educators have been tied in many areas, discipline among the *most* important. Children in classrooms lack total respect for the authority because teachers can't do *anything*. They spend such an exorbitant amount of time attempting to get the class in order that very little time is spent teaching! It is like madhouse at school! And society wonders why we must enact laws like "No Child Left Behind" and dumb down our children-- it's because the power of the educators has been taken away and put in the hands of mere children-- the ones LEAST qualified in knowing what is *best* for *them*.

While I believe in empowering children to feel good about themselves and their accomplishments they are just that-- CHILDREN. There's nothing wrong with being CHILDREN! But, we must recognize that CHILDREN do not have the maturity and life experiences to always discern the "best" and "worst" in a situation, for them. That's where we, as alleged adults , must come in. AND we must join forces with the educators and put the power back in THEIR hands so that they can do what needs to be done in the educational environment (that is the actual, physical school building) and we, as parents, take care of the rest (including educating our children at home).

Warmly,

beaglette