Saturday, October 9, 2010

The Connection/What Kind of Children Are We Raising?


The Connection
is now up and running. By next week, we hope to have most of our departments in service and to begin offering you a unique local Internet experience. This blog will now be available through the magazine, as will several others.


Thanks to all have encouraged us and helped make it possible. Here's a link to our temporary URL:


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I was once 16--in the last millennium. I'm sure I said, "Oh, Mother!" and "Oh, Daddy!" so often my parents couldn't wait for that magical age when I would turn 25, the age psychologists predicted children would finally become adults and develop a modicum of common sense.

If you read any forums or blogs, you know for the past year there's been much controversy about Sweetwater Mansion, aka the Weeden Home. It seems there's not much middle ground--you either think the restoration efforts justify the means, or you think the owner is a crook and you wouldn't give her the time of day. Surely, there could be some compromise...at least I have felt that way until recently, until I've seen the remarks made by both adults and children concerning this project.

In the past few days I posted some questions on Facebook. These questions didn't denigrate the work the volunteers were doing, but asked if they realized it could be all in vain. I've been quite surprised by one 16 year old, by her language and her attitude.

What do they teach in schools? Do students learn grammar and syntax? Do they learn debating techniques? Do they even learn good manners?

I'm attaching a message I received from the sister of one of the volunteers. At first I debated if I should black out her name in some way, but it's still there on Facebook for the world to see. This young girl insults "Bible Thumpers" and praises Neo-Nazis. What kind of children have we raised? What kind of students have we produced? Perhaps most importantly, are we aware of how many are utterly lost?