Quote:
Originally Posted by sputnik
to be fair, it's not just the schools' fault. i think parents and family environment also have a lot to do with it. the more time i spend on the interwebz reading this type of thing, the more i realise just how lucky i was. if you don't grow up in a family where culture is important, with parents who read and teach you to love books, and take you to museums and have you watch documentaries and even stuff like animal shows on tv and not just cartoons, do cultural things when you're on vacation and not just amusement parks and beaches, eat interesting foods, you're almost destined to grow up complacent and mediocre, with no curiosity and a short attention span.
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My parents did. Of course, I'm not so young -37.
My mother always tells this story. When I was 5 or 6, she had some girlfriends over and I was in the den watching TV. She poked her head in to check on me and she saw an operation being performed on the TV, she was shocked for a moment and asked what I was watching.
I replied "PBS. Mom, you can't believe this, a man had a vasectomy and now wants to have children so he's having an operation to reverse his vasectomy". My mother was so beside herself with happiness that her having me start reading, and be open to educational public television, and all the other great stuff that she had exposed us to was having such an affect, so that she was able to have a conversation with her 5 or 6 year old child about vasectomies. Then she went back to her girlfriends and they had a drink of wine, and played cards for hours.
Life is all about balance.
It's ironic that all these hyper-yuppie moms are raising a generation of dumb kids.