As today is Christmas, please bear me a moment of reflection. These past 5 years being a substitute teacher has been great–and I mean that. I do applaud the public school system. They do attempt to teach all students with excellence. However, why is there unrest in 75% of the high school students? Not for lack of education…but has it been the right kind? 

Even though we are aghast at the ages, 100 years ago, 15 and 16 year old men (boys) and women (girls) frequently got engaged and subsequently married. That is unthinkable today. What made the difference? What they had to look forward to. 100 years ago this country was mainly composed of farming communities and the whole attitude was towards self-perpetualization of the community.  Hence, a farmer might give a cow and some hens to his daughter and another farmer might give a steer and a rooster to his son, along with a couple of goats. Those two youngsters would start a farm on a piece of the farmers property. Sure it was hard work for the girl and boy, but they both knew what they had to do.

Recently, I saw a neighbors boy, of say 12, run from snow bank to snowbank each time tumbling himself in the snow. That boy was desperate for something to do. As he lives in the city on a very small lot, there isn’t much for him to do. To his father’s credit or discredit, whenever the dad works on a car, or makes a fence, or adds on a new porch, the boy is no where to be seen. The dad does all the work himself or with a another neighbor, who is the dad’s brother. How do they expect the boy to end up with skills that he has not been taught?

Tune in tomorrow for more thoughts on this subject.