Sometimes the best example is a bad example- just ask my kids! Seriously, this is a legitimate concern, although kids these days have highly attenuated BS detectors. One thing 24/7 TV has taught them is that everyone has an agenda, sometimes innocent, other times not so much...
My husband went to boot camp at Parris Island. He said it was hell. I remember watching Full Metal Jacket too. I'd cry like a baby in boot camp.
:iagree: C'mon....there will be greater things for your child to deal with....So take comfort that your guidance will give them the base for their choices and beliefs. Besides, public exposure to history (hmmm, like Hitler's regime, etc.) and "the world" (which includes religion), lectures and studies under "supervision" may offer parents an opportunity to discuss topics with their children, moreso than a tv program or movie (and some cartoons) viewed without supervision. My only concern would be if this was a "secret" assembly...obviously this was not the case...It's just "another program" unless parents make it into something more.... No worries....
Wow reading all these post just makes me realize where our morals as parents have gone & why kids are out there hurting themselves and no one cares because it's not PC to get involved. Maybe if people would stop bashing someone who dedicates their life to encouraging kids, telling them what can happen when you make the wrong choices, lifting them up to believe in themselves, if those bashing did it themselves then someone else wouldn't have to. Every person on the board should ask the question of themselves " what do I do that helps a child out? Not my own child but a child that is hurting from a broken family? A child that is so hopeless that they feel like they are in control when they are cutting themselves. How about the kid with three different colors of hair, and piercings on their face. How many of you out there can honestly say that you reach out to show those kids love? Do you ask them if you can do any, the simplest thing to help them? Do you offer to hug them when they are hurting? Probably not. All I can say is that I am glad that someone can speak to kids about right decisions, not about religion we know that's not allowed. Which the speaker never spoke of God in school. I think we have some priorities out of whack.
Who is bashing the speaker?? It's total nonsense to imply that if you don't agree with this speaker being in that school because of the fact that the kids got invited to a church means that your priorities are out of whack and that you simply don't care. I have been around long enough to know about the way that Hat and his wife are positive influences on kids, but he doesn't agree with having religiously themed presentations in school. I'm not sure if you are trying to generalize in these terms, but that's what it sounds like and it's simply not fair. There are crappy parents that are fine with this speaker and great parents who aren't and visa versa. And like I said, let the speakers come, but they need to come with messages from all faiths and beliefs and invite the kids to other places where they can win Ipods. :? And don't get me wrong. I am not opposed to Christian motivational speakers. The ones I have heard are fantastic and I think kids should have the opportunity to hear them and it could be a great benefit. But public school is not the setting for such a thing. That's really all I'm trying to say and hopefully that doesn't mean I'm a crappy parent with no morals.
VG, thanks for the kind words. I too, wish for a more ethical, moral world for us to enjoy. I don't see that happening if parents abdicate their responsibilities for teaching and living a moral code to their children to any others, be it schools, or any other institution. If one practices what one preaches, children learn the lessons. As Mahatma Ghandi said, "We must become the change we want to see." If parents want a moral world, they have to act in order to achieve it. Telling kids to behave, and then not setting the example serves no useful purpose. Telling kids to play fair and square in their dealings with their friends and peers fails as an object lesson when they overhear us gossiping about our coworkers and friends, being less than honest in our business dealings, etc. Consistently demonstrated positive conduct will far outlast a huge preachy session. I jokingly tell the parents of the students with whom I interact that I'm investing in their kids now, because, one day - hopefully no time soon, one of them may be performing my heart surgery or other procedure..and I want the best, and for them to remember that I helped propel them to excellence. In actuality, these kids deserve the best we can give them, to nurture and challenge them to become the changes in the world that will need to be made. No doubt, my religious beliefs are not shared by some parents. That's why I don't interject my religious feelings or agenda into an already overloaded, underfunded academic curricula requirement in public schools, and don't want anyone else to introduce theirs. I believe that science should be taught at school, and beliefs taught and practiced at home. I do not see conflict between science and religious belief, unless one is unable to accept the other. If science is unable to explain, that certainly does not preclude a religious occurrence. If Science can explain, Religion should not feel threatened.
