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by Frater L.A.

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Flexibility of mind; need I say more. A developing mind can be taught to either regurgitate the thoughts of others, or create those of its own - there seem to be many more of the former than the latter, which may be a godsend. Let us be thankful for the fools. But for them the rest of us could not succeed. It may be, however, that the human bio-computer runs software derived from both genetic pre-programing and experiences had during stages of imprint vulnerability. Neither of these seem to have a monopoly on determining behavior, but one seems to be more susceptible of being controlled than the other. As parents, we can only hope to exercise a any iota of effect on the later, as far as the former goes, we can only hope that the child is successful in spite of our own contributions.

The formal education system in America seems to have taken a turn for the worse over the last hundred years. Very likely few of us could pass an eighth grade final exam from one hundred years ago, which gives new meaning to the phrase, "my grandfather ONLY had an eighth grade education." While todays so-called higher education has become so technical and specialized that no Ph.D. from one hundred years ago would be familiar with the material covered, it not having existed in his time. Things are changing rapidly in our culture and we have an obligation to raise children who have a solid basic education (in spite of their schooling) and minds capable of adjusting to a world where information grown exponentially at an ever accelerating pace.

I say in spite of schooling, because many parents have placed far too much trust in the ability of the free public school system to educate and train their children, and are getting exactly what they paid for. Samuel Clemens once said, "In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards." One should never let schooling interfere with education. Not that the elite of our country have any interest in actually educating our children; a people trained beyond the minimum level necessary to become good worker drones would not be in their interest at all. So it seems that we as parents must take full responsibility for raising intelligent children.

Intelligence is an important concept when raising children. What is this elusive principle? Merely the ability to think on ones own, to question, and search for answers. For decades our school system has been moving constantly toward a definition of success focused on the regurgitation of the opinions of others, as quoted in selected text books, as opposed to analysis, creativity, critical thinking, and innovation. It seems to me that the ability to think outside of the box is intelligence and being programed to simply read and repeat is ignorance of the highest degree, perhaps even brainwashing. By the time children complete the twelfth grade in most American schools, they are permanently incapable of thinking for themselves, experimenting, exploring, or questioning anything. Some people seem to value this attitude and call it conservative. However, the radical of one century become the conservative of the next. The radical invents the views. When he has worn them out the conservative adopts them. What sort of child will you raise?

I emphasize questioning and critical thinking because I find that in very important matters, people's beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second hand, and without examination. This leads to stagnation and inability to change the way we think, even in the face of overwhelming evidence that our views don't make any sense. This is why I am convinced that flexibility of mind, as opposed to rigidity, may be the best tool we can impart to our children facing the next century and its changes in culture and technology.

How do we do this? By refusing to give definite answers. By replacing the "is" in our statements with "maybe." By responding to questions with more questions, and admitting what we do not know. By giving alternate perspectives instead of our favorite dogmas. By teaching and guiding children to question the things they hear, no matter how much society might dislike paying scrutiny to certain subjects. In short by being mentors and teachers and not relying of the public school system do do the job, which we will certainly result in disappointment.

Suppose you are a school teacher, and suppose you are a babysitter. But I repeat myself. What interest do you really have in ensuring that the students in your class receive the best education that they possibly can? I submit to you that, in spite of the bonuses now being offered to some teachers for excellence, you are paid at the end of each month regardless. It is high time parents begin to do a bit of parenting, other wise our country, nay our race, is in grave danger.

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