E is for Ed-U-Ka-Shun– April 2012 Blogging from A to Z Challenge

Sorry I'm falling behind in my quest. Maybe I'll finish this April challenge some time in May.

Please excuse me while I step up on my soapbox.

Education, or the frequent lack thereof, is one of my major pet peeves. Uneducated education can come in several forms: home schooling, religious schools, private (often elitist) schools, and substandard public schools.

My problem with home schooling is twofold. First, I honestly don't believe there are many people out there who are truly qualified to teach a child everything he needs to know. As a reasonably well educated person, with an associates in Computer Science and a BA in English, I would never presume to believe I could teach a child, for example, higher math. Yes, I had quite a bit of math in college, but that doesn't make me an expert. And as for the sciences, forget about it. I am a “literary” type of person and, although I know enough about most of the sciences to appreciate them and (hopefully) discuss them intelligently, I could never answer the more in-depth questions that could arise – nor would I have adequate access to other educators who would have the needed information. Second is my distrust of home schooling. Almost everyone I have known who home schooled their children has done so in an attempt to control the information they receive, whether that is ideological, social, racial, or any other “al” you can think of. I've heard people who home schooled their children say they don't want them exposed to “unacceptable” ideas like evolution, other religions, racial equality, etc....

Next on my list is religious schools. For the most part, religious schools exist for the sole purpose of indoctrinating their students in the guise of education. In many of these schools, science is considered evil unless it can be presented in a way that promotes the religion of the founders of the school. I dare you to find a Southern Baptist school that teaches evolution instead of creationism – or a Catholic school either, for that matter.

On down the list of non-educational education is the elitist private school. In some of these, the children are so insulated against other “classes” that they have no idea what real life is. In their world everyone has a vacation home and a trust fund. This can be as bad as, if not worse than, religious or racial separatism. By virtue of their elevated financial status they may well be some of the leaders of our future, which does not bode well for lessening the gap between the haves and have nots.

Last, but not least, on my list is inadequate public schools. While there are quite a few magnet or charter schools out there that provide an excellent education, there are also many schools that are hanging on by the skin of their teeth, educationally speaking. If a child lives in an area with inadequate schools and his parents aren't motivated or, in many cases, able to personally transport their child to a better school, that child is cheated. On top of that, we have all heard about the push by certain groups to eschew teaching evolution in favor of creationism. Personally, I don't think that creationism has a possibility, at least equal to evolutionism rather than a sole fact-based concept.

I have one last point to make. Isn't our job as parents, grandparents and/or educators to teach children to think instead of just telling them what to think?

Think about it, then encourage them to think for themselves.

OK. I'm off my soapbox now,

D is for Decisions – April 2012 Blogging from A to Z Challenge

I hate decisions. I don't mean just the big ones like, should I leave one job and go to another (apparently better) one. Those I can work through logically even if, due to factors beyond my control, those decisions turn out not to be the best. I mean the day-to-day decisions. Unless I'm “in a mood for” something or someone requests something specific, I hate deciding what to make for dinner, what restaurant to go to (unless a Chinese buffet is an option), which brand and/or size of a product to buy, etc. . . . I rarely care what kind or color of furniture I have except that I want it to be comfortable and not too fussy, and overly ornate window dressings tend to irritate me. I don't even care what color a room is as long as it's not vile. I don't even care what kind or color my car is as long as it is reliable, not too much of an eyesore, and doesn't invite the police to stop me.

On a personal level, once I find a style of clothes I like, I'm prone to stick with them until they're woefully outdated. Even among those limited styles, my color palette is somewhat limited as I tend toward black, blues, and the occasional maroon or purple. Nor am I the type to fuss and worry about my hair – I believe that simple is best. Just cut it where I can comb it and go. I never learned how to do all the elaborate things that others do with their hair. This part is rather odd, as I grew up with a mother who loved to go to the hairdresser and my oldest sister is one of those “never a hair out of place” people. I honestly believe that she has shampooed her own hair far less times than she has had it shampooed by someone else. The frugal side of me rails about that type of primping.

I think I've always disliked decisions because I've always worried about how those decisions might affect others. I used to worry about every word I wrote lest I should offend someone. I even censored my own journals, when I wrote them, in case someone read them and was offended. Then, recently, I realized that most people really don't give a damn about what I say, and of the ones who do, most of them don't censor their opinions to avoid upsetting me.

This realization has made it easier for me to openly express my more “unpopular” views such as atheism and other topics on which I disagree with many people I know. I guess that means I don't dislike decisions so much any more.

C is for Contraceptives – April 2012 Blogging from A to Z Challenge

Ah, the hot-button subject. EVERYONE should have easy, if not free, access to contraceptives if they want them. I win!

What? You say that there is still debate about it? I heard a reference today to contraceptives being “against the Catholic church's conscience.” How in the hell can anyone with half a brain think that what is, effectively, an un-taxed corporation has a conscience? That is utter, unadulterated bull!

Of course the leadership of the Catholic church doesn't want its members to have unfettered access to birth control. With it there would be far fewer gullible people to support the church! It's the same with Mormons. What is the one thing (other than Mormons) that you see more of in Utah than anywhere else? Twin strollers. This isn't because they have more twins. It's because they have more stair-step kids. Take it from me, unless you are independently wealthy, stair-step kids are damn hard to feed, clothe, and educate!

Why, you ask, should I be considered an expert on this topic? Hmmm... Maybe because I had 4 kids, 4 and under and, nearly 4 years later, 5 kids 8 and under! What they didn't tell us back then was that antibiotics frequently interfered with the pill's effectiveness, and I was often on antibiotics because I was prone to incessant earaches and tonsillitis, so it never quite worked right for me. Don't get me wrong. I love my kids and wouldn't change a thing . But shouldn't women – no, FAMILIES – have at least a chance of deciding how many children they want and how far apart they are? Do these idiots who want to make it difficult, if not impossible, for women to get contraceptives know what pregnancy after pregnancy does to a woman's body? What about abstinence? They're already bitching about there being so many one-parent families that need help. Try cutting your husband off from sex so that you don't get pregnant and see how long the marriage lasts. Presto, more one-parent families!

When it comes right down to it, shouldn't readily available contraceptives be considered a boon to men as well? How many poor, lower middle, and middle class men are child support poor? If anything you would think men would want more effective birth control! And not just condoms. Aside from everything else, people in a truly committed relationship generally hate having to use condoms.

And then there is the topic of overpopulation! Haven't we been hearing for years that Earth is overpopulated? We still hear dire predictions of what will happen if the population keeps growing like it has. Not that I hold 100% to everything about overpopulation. I think that in some cases (China) it has been taken to ridiculous extremes.

Another thing. I know people who honestly believe they are not cut out to have children. So should they be denied the basic comfort of close interpersonal relationships? If a person doesn't want a child, or genuinely believes that he or she would not be a good parent, he or she shouldn't be forced to abstain from all sexual contact to avoid becoming a parent solely because of a bunch of uptight men? (And a few women, I might add.)

In short, to all those contraceptive naysayers out there....... GET A LIFE!

B is for Babies -- April 2012 Blogging from A to Z Challenge (Unofficial)

OK. Today is, hopefully, a non-controversial post.

As a mother of 5, grandmother of 20, and great-grandmother of 1, I would like to think I know a lot about babies. I live with my son, who works nights, and his fiancee, who works days, and I am between jobs so my current job is that of a live-in grandma. Not the worst job in the world by any means. It is, however, a lesson in humility. I've seen babies who were fine on breast milk and/or formula until they were several weeks old and babies who needed more than just milk almost from birth. I've dealt with colicky babies and calm babies, good eaters and poor eaters, little ones who had to be burped after every half-ounce and infants who screamed bloody murder if they weren't completely full before the bottle was pulled from their mouths, babies who were never sick a day in their lives and babies who got sick every time they turned around.

I relearned last night that the only thing anyone really know about babies that each one is different. I was taught this lesson by my youngest grandson, who is 23 days old at this writing. During the day he is a very good baby, only crying when he is hungry or needs changed, but at night he gets fussy. I wasn't aware of exactly how fussy he was at night because his mommy usually takes him to her room at night. Last night was my son's night off and he had “bitty butt”, as I call him, in the living room. He would settle in for a few minutes than start fussing and work himself up pretty badly. The only time he seemed to calm was when one of us was holding him tight, and he would only sleep until we put him down. We finally found the solution. As soon as we swaddled him he went right to sleep and slept like a baby....well.... like most parents hope their babies will.

A is for Atheist -- April 2012 Blogging from A to Z Challenge (Unofficial)

WARNING -- BLASPHEMY ALERT!!!  If you think this might offend you, it probably will.

A is for Atheist.

That's what I am.

So please do not send me

Your religious spam.

I trust what is proven,

Things scientists show,

Not “heaven” above us

Or “hell” down below.

No book only proven

Within its own pages

No evidence needed

Just myths from past ages.

And if in the end

I am wrong, which I doubt,

You go to your heaven

And please leave me out.

For endlessly praising

Some self-centered god.

Sounds terribly boring

And quite smacks of fraud.

For why would a deity

So desperately need

Millions of people

His ego to feed?

So pray me no prayers

And leave me no tracts.

Just treat me as equal,

And show me true facts.

April A-Z Challenge -- I missed the signup.

I guess I should have been watching things more closely.  I've decided to do the challenge even though I'm starting late and not in the "official" list.

I wish I could write.

No matter what I do, I can't seem to write.  If I sit with a pen and paper I doodle, make some useless list to add to all the other useless lists I have lying about, or just sit and stare.  At my computer I end up playing some mindless game or reading/looking at random web pages.  I haven't even been blogging lately.  I'm working on it, though.