The Oldies are Still The Goodies

I was recently sick and stuck in bed for days. While in bed, I found a couple of channels on TV that showed old TV shows.

I watched shows from the 70s like Streets of San Francisco, The Mod Squad, and The Rookies.  (I even remember shows like The Waltons and Little House on the Prairie. What happened to Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley?)

They don’t make family shows like them anymore. Some people died but it wasn’t the focus of the shows. Themes seem to highlight teamwork, solving crimes, mystery, crime doesn’t pay, and the police always win.

Today’s shows seem to focus on blood and guts, criminals win, and the police are the bad guys. There are too many shows about vampires and zombies but not many wholesome family shows.

Television is a major influence on society. I don’t understand why society is allowing so much violence, profanity, and social unbalance to play a major part in television programming.

What old TV shows did you watch that you wish would make a comeback?

End the Age of Entitlement

To me, entitlement means that people are getting something for free without having invested any time, energy, or money into it.

It is sad when people talk about my social security and retirement income as entitlements. I’m not being given something for nothing because I paid into the system on the promise that I will be taken care of in my old age. I put in over thirty years of teaching and invested into this system so when people talk about my social security and retirement as entitlements, it makes me mad!

Recently my husband and I were traveling and seeing so many people who act as if they are entitled to something. They think they have a good enough reason to get something for nothing because of some excuse. This excuse can be race or socioeconomic level or because they are a victim of violence, bullying, etc.  Those that are poor feel they are entitled to have what the rich have because the poor don’t have it. The rich feel that they are entitled to it because they are rich and they have it. Many races feel like they have been abused by society and are entitled to recompense because of the way they were/are treated. It saddens me because I think everyone at some point in their life or in their heritage has a reason they can use to say they are entitled to something.

I am not saying that people don’t deserve it for some reason or another but it is time to move on. We need to stop training our children and future generations to constantly believe that they are entitled to something for nothing. We can’t keep using our savings for the future to pay for wrongs of the past. There has to come a point in time where we say enough is enough.

It is time to get past this attitude.

I believe that is why many young people don’t have a work ethic. They don’t believe that they should have to work hard to get something. I grew up with an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay. It didn’t matter whether I was entitled to something or not and I had to earn it. If I didn’t earn it, I didn’t deserve it. No one asked me if I was entitled to it or not.

Some don’t have any respect for differences because they feel that they are entitled to be above others who may be different. They may be different because they have different ideas, values, looks, or beliefs.

Maybe I’m feeling cynical or disconnected or whatever you want to call it. But I feel that unless we, as a society, change our attitude and start teaching our children a different way of life, the world as I know it is only going to get scarier.

Maybe if we start by teaching our own children or grandchildren or relatives, this little change may have a ripple affect and eventually change others.  I hope people will start giving it a try.

What do you think about entitlements? How do we change the way people think? Please share.

Kick a Ginger Day Horror

After reading Kick a Ginger Day: One Mom’s Horrifying Account and seeing news accounts on TV, I was also horrified. For some reason I couldn’t get it off my mind. Of course, this leads to a discussion of sorts with my husband over breakfast which really is more of a rant.

Apparently a group on Facebook who was inspired by a South Park episode encouraged kids to beat up others who had red hair and freckles. At one school a 12 year old boy was surrounded by a group of 15 others (some were even his classmates) like a pack of wild animals and attacked him. They took him down and kicked him repeatedly.

This is just more evidence on how what our children watch can influence them. There is so much violence and profanity on television now that I think our children are desensitized to it. They think it is so cool to do these kinds of things. Even worse, many of these shows are showing that the “bad guy” gets away with it.

I have watched an episode of South Park once and swore that I would never watch that again. But apparently enough people watch this so they get advertising and continue to broadcast. I was horrified with the disrespect these characters use to interact with others. How can parents allow their children to watch this garbage?

At first I thought that this type of stuff should be banned from the airwaves! Of course my husband disagreed (amazing that we got married since we don’t agree on a lot of things but I guess after 30 years of togetherness, I should be glad we agreed on the important things!). He felt that censorship is “big brother-ish.” When I calmed down, I had to agree but something needs to be done. Parents need to monitor what their children are watching. If people don’t watch certain programs, their ratings go down, advertisers won’t pay for advertising and these programs will go away.

What happened to those great family shows? They don’t seem to make them anymore. I remember my children watching Little House on the Prairie, Eight is Enough, Our House, and Touched By An Angel. Those were great wholesome shows that a family could watch together and even talk about. Even now I tend to watch the Hallmark channel a lot because those shows just make me feel good about the world and others.

I watch a lot of TV shows now that my children are grown up but I don’t think I would have watched these shows with them. There is so much violence and blood in shows like CSI, Law and Order SVU, NCIS, and other shows like this. I didn’t let my children see those horror movies that “everyone else” got to see. I didn’t let them watch TV shows that “everyone else” got to watch. Maybe I was a fuddy-duddy (do they still use that phrase?) but I felt it was my responsibility as a parent to set these limits.

I hope some of these parents with young children will start to wake up and realize that they have a responsibility. It is time to say no to these movies and shows. It’s time to tell our children no. They do not need to watch these shows and encourage their continuing influence. They do not need to do what “everyone else” does because, let’s face it, not “everyone else” really does it!

Okay, I will get off my soapbox now. I just got so upset with this story and it all boiled over. Now, tell me what do you think? Do you let your children watch these types of things? If so, convince me why I shouldn’t feel this way. I’m not sure you can but I’ll keep an open mind.

Original image: 'Little Redheaded Boy at the Atlanta Zoo'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/93229003@N00/3431837959 by: Steven List

Work Ethics vs. Laziness

How many times have I wondered why my students think working is beneath them? How do I teach a good work ethic? How can I show my students that they should take pride in having a job and doing it well? My parents told me many times that it was important to give an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay. If I didn’t work, I didn’t get paid and I couldn’t do anything in life that I wanted to do. I had never heard of welfare until I was in college and never knew it was an option for some people. When I did hear about it, I thought it was only for old people who couldn’t work.

I guess now is the time to apologize for this rant and didn’t realize where this was going until I started to write. I know I’m probably preaching to the choir but I’m about to say things that I’ve thought about for a long time and felt like it was probably politically incorrect to voice these opinions.

I recently read Drop Outs - A Sign of the Entitlement Times? from Open Education by Thomas,

“Here in America, a good number of folks tend to think our young people carry with them such a strong sense of entitlement that the idea of working towards a goal is simply deemed as asking too much.

Indeed, the outstanding performance collectively of Asian-American students provides strong evidence that we need to look at our culture as well as our schools. Because when a sense of entitlement is removed from the mix and hard work emphasized, this group of students represents living proof that teens can and will actually focus on their education and their future in the right circumstances.

Drop outs are an important issue and schools must be part of the solution process. But to continue to insist that the problem is one that can be solved solely by schools demonstrates a dramatic failure to understand the true scope of the issue.”

I suddenly realized that is exactly how my students were acting, like they were entitled to something, anything, everything! My parents would have slapped me into next week if I had this attitude. I was taught that I had to work for anything I got. I paid my own way for college and even my own wedding. Nothing was handed over to me. Even after we were married, I didn’t live beyond my means. If I couldn’t afford it, I didn’t buy it. Even if I bought it on credit, I had the money in the bank to pay it off but I was just trying to build my credit rating.

It makes my blood boil to see my students on the free lunch program coming into my class every week with new name brand blue jeans and high dollar tennis shoes telling me they had thick juicy steaks for dinner. Yet, here I am giving an “honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay” and my own children wear Wal-Mart brand clothes and shoes and eat ground beef at dinner. No wonder my children didn’t want to grow up to be like me. They want to grow up to be like these other kids’ parents! At times, I want to grow up to be like them too! I get tired of struggling and feeling defeated when I see these people with everything that I’m trying to work to get. Then I wake up and realize that I have my pride. I am proud that I’m working, that I earn what I get, that others know I am a hard worker.

My dad had to retire at 88 years old when he suffered a mild stroke. He retired actually twice before but he needed to work because it made him proud to work. He never took a hand out from anyone and expected us to be the same way. Not working was never an option in his mind. If you were healthy and breathing, then there was no reason why you should not contribute to society. Even now at 90, he is constantly doing something. Yes, I really feel proud of what he has accomplished in his life and I guess I want to be like him! He was pretty upset when he heard that I retired from teaching but since I have become a consultant and give presentations as well as teaching some courses on the college level, he has forgiven me.

How do we instill this work ethic in our young people? I wish we could institute some form of the Civilian Conservation Corps again. I think adults should have to do some kind of work service if they are not disabled in order to receive any kind of government benefit. We have been too accepting of giving the handouts and not accepting something in return. By doing this, we perform a disservice to our young people. I had one parent of a student who volunteered every day at my elementary school because she got government help. No one told her she had to do this and she didn’t get paid but this was her way of paying back in the way that she could. I really respected her for doing this.

Before you get too mad at me, let me make it clear that I have no problem with the government helping those who really need it. There are many who are medically disabled or even elderly who should benefit from government programs. There are many that would benefit but their pride actually keeps them from asking for help. These are not the ones that I am talking about. There are so many who are just taking advantage of the government who really don’t need it and these are the ones that I have a major problem with. Maybe if we start speaking out about it, we can change society. Maybe there needs to be better controls on these programs which would save taxpayers more money during these economic times. Maybe then, there will be money for the people who really need it instead of being turned away because of lack of funds.

Okay, I’m done ranting. Feel free to lamblast me if you disagree. I can’t help feeling this way though when I look at my father and see his generation of hard workers. I guess I’m feeling nostalgic and want it to be the time of “happy days are here again…” I really want my students to be successful in life and if they are healthy and able, I believe that working will improve their self esteem, keep them out of depression, and make them contributing citizens in today’s society. What do you think?

Original image: 'Demo: Leaning against the wall' http://www.flickr.com/photos/69446467@N00/312426679 by: Tao Kitamoto