Education Matters US

Here is the second part of my notes from the Michael Medved presentation at Deerfield High School Monday night. These are the tips Mr. Medved gave on how parents can fight back against the attack on their kids.

What Parents Can Do To Combat These Influences

1. Control (Influence of Media)
   • Not going to succeed through boycotts or letters
   • Control what you and your kids watch
   • Demand side solutions not supply side
   • No TV in kids room (78% of kids between 2 and 18 have TV in bedrooms)
   • No TV in your bedroom, you need to communicate
   • One TV in the house, make a schedule for it, limit the watching time
   • Discuss with the family what is actually worth watching
   • Problem with TV is the high quantity instead of the low quality
2. Community (Influence of Peer Pressure)
   • Affirm discrimination based on moral values, i.e. let you kids know what is right and wrong
   • Find a good group of peers who have shared values
   • Example is Young Life, Church groups, Boy Scouts
   • Hip Hop culture is more devastating to white communities than the black communities
3. Communication (Influence of Education System)
   • Spend more time and communication with your kids
   • Problem is parents never grow up, so parents and kids both act like adolescents
   • Be clear that you are adults and you are different form your kids
   • Parents are protectors, not pals
   • Good teachers and good school administrators welcome debate and the free flow ideas not squelch them
   • We should have school choice in this country
   • All of the best things in life come with problems and challenges
   • Need free and enlivening exchange of idea
   • Supports the creation of school for gays and not all schools becoming gay schools
   • One size solution does not work well

The following came during the Q&A period with the audience. I did not write down the questions though some are obvious given the answers.

• No sex education in schools, they should focus on reading, math, history and leave the sex education to volunteers and community groups
• Problem for Democracy when you can’t question anything. Examples are Evolution and Abstinence Education
• Good teachers allow debate without agendas
• Choice forces parents to get more involved. Proven in Milwaukee, Ohio and the other limited places that allow vouchers
• Poor communities – parents get more involved when using vouchers, most choose Catholic schools because of the discipline
• Unions are hysterical over choice
• There as a guest of H2O not of WIND
• School choice advocates
  • should focus first on the inner city
  • second on localization instead of federalization
• 0 tolerance for all teasing, bullying and disruption of educational learning for any reason
• Yale Medical School study showed most of those have same sex relationships before the age of 18 will not be at 35
• Teach respect and dignity, not tolerance and acceptance