Enough already!!

Ok, what is going on? Someone please tell me. I just read about the THIRD shooting in a school to happen THIS WEEK! This one happened at an Amish school in Pennsylvania. What the heck? First Colorado, then Wisconsin, then Pennsylvania. Something needs to be done. This trend cannot continue. No wonder our education system sucks so badly. When the teachers and students have to live with the threat of getting shot in the back of their minds, no wonder learning and teaching aren't the first thing on anyone's mind.

I know that they're going to start to condemn the media for the coverage of the shootings, and the videogames for glorifying the violence of shooting, and TV shows for the same thing, but I do not think that the media, TV, and videogames are the root of this problem. The root of this, I believe, is parenting. Poor parenting. I know, I know, I know, parent's can't be held solely responsible for the actions of their children, BUT they can be held responsible for knowing what their children are watching, playing, and having access to. This goes back to an earlier rant of mine. When the little kids were in the zombie movie that I went to. It is no one but the PARENT'S responsibility to deny or grant their children access to violent movies, videogames and TV shows. It is no one but the PARENT'S responsibility to know whether or not their kids' friends have access to guns. It is no one but the PARENT'S responsibility to know what websites their kids are visiting, where their kids are going after school, and who their kids know. It is not government's responsibility, it is not the school's responsibility.

This is where our society is failing, I believe. Now, please don't get me wrong. I'm not advocating for groups like Focus on the Family (which, seem to me to focus on any issue BUT the family...spongebob being gay for example...which can become another rant for another time). What I am advocating for is a generation of responsible parents who can be firm with their children and know when to say no. Now, parents say that they can't always keep track of their children because of work schedules and responsibilities. If work is going to get in the way of your parenting, you should not be a parent. Once you have children, nothing is more important in your life than those children. People want to have it all. They want babies and a career and a social life and everything else that they can possibly imagine. Life doesn't work that way. We learn that in economics. There's something called opportunity cost. You have to give up something in order to have something else. Whether it be money for a nice coat, or a lucrative career for babies.

Too many parents are not in touch with their children's lives. They don't know who their kids' friends are. They don't look at the video games and movies they're buying for their kids. Nothing enrages me more than hearing 10/11 year old kids talk about playing grand theft auto, or scarface, or any other game like that. Who sold that to them?? Who bought that for them?? There's a reason that they're rated for mature adults. Children at that age cannot distinguish fantasy from reality as easily as adults.

This is what makes me angry about movies like American Pie and Van Wilder too. They're rated PG-13, which means that young adolescent and pre-adolescent boys can get their hands on them. Movies like this depict a completely unrealisitc version of what adult and young adult relationships look like. For example, in Euro Trip, there is a scene where a young woman walks onto a nude beach, which turns out to be full of men. The next shot is a shot of all of these men chasing this woman. What is the point of that? What are these men planning on once they catch her? What kind of ideas does this put into young boys minds about how to treat women? These movies show nothing about making a relationship work based on mutual respect, and consideration. Young boys can't distinguish these fantasy relationships from what a real relationship will look like, and end up expecting the fantasy version.

Now, don't get me wrong. I am all for free speech, and a free flow of ideas. Again, this is where parents should be playing a role. It is no one's job but the parents to be guarenteeing that their children grow up with a sense of morality, and also with a sense of civic responsibility.

I'm not sure what the solution to all of this is. I can sit here and rant for hours about the state of parenting, but that doesn't provide any solutions. I do sincerely think that every high school student should be required to take a parenting class. I think high schoolers should be taught what the reality of the consequences of them having sex can look like, instead of just a cursory mention in a health class. I also think that once a woman finds out that she is pregnant, her options for family education courses should be much wider. I'm not even sure what kind of family education courses are offered, outside the religious sector. Not that I'm saying that it's wrong to take family education courses from a church, but what about people that aren't actively involved in a church? It's important for EVERYONE to learn how to be good parents.

Other than that, I'm not sure what else can be done without becoming a little Orwellian. As much as I would love for parents to have to pass a test before being able to get pregnant, that's way too "A Brave New World" ish for my taste. I think the best we can do is open up a multitude of options for pregnant women.