Parental Gall vs Parents Ingenutiy
- on 08.12.07
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In the Opinion section of the Daily Herald this weekend was the following paragraph:
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Parental gall: Heaven forbid Erik Wolf’s parents might tell him to “deal with it†or take out a personal loan if they think their son’s dream of being a tennis pro is so important. Begging on the Internet for others to help pay for a $65,000-per-year stint at a famous tennis academy is the ultimate in parental gall. Or further evidence of how ingrained is the sense of entitlement these days. This is the time in any teen’s life when family finances tend to pour a big dose of reality on youthful dreaming. Millions of kids have to tone down college expectations because the bill would beggar the family, and that’s for a smaller investment with a more predictable outcome. |
This was in reference to the following story excerpted below [Emphasis mine]:
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Asking strangers to pay for your child’s education might sound like a crazy idea. But Lynn and Dan Wolf of Kildeer say they had to try something creative to help their son, Erik, realize his dream of becoming a professional tennis player. Lynn, a Realtor, and Dan, a software consultant with his own company, say they can’t afford to pay the roughly $650,000 for 10 years of training at Erik’s choice tennis academy. They are hoping their new Web site — www.milliondollartennisplayer.com — will raise the money they need. The plan is for advertisers to buy space on the site. As more advertisers come on board, more people will be directed to the site while searching on the Internet. And more money will flow into Erik’s training fund. |
The Wolf’s decided to ask for donations in return for advertising. The opinion writer finds that galling and wonders why people feel an entitlement to have other people pay for the child’s education. Think about that for a moment and see if you have the same reaction as I did.
The first thing popped into my head was that each time a public school district runs a referendum all you here is how you are supposed to pay for the education of every child in the community. It is their right to force you to pay for it whether you have children in the system or not. Now, you have a parent who is asking for help, albeit a strange one, but never the less they are asking instead of forcing the community to pay for their child via your property taxes.
It is refreshing to have a parent recognize it is not their right and they should ask for help instead. Every referendum that is run is nothing more than a scheme to force all taxpayers to fund extravagant expenses on building, synthetic turf, marble floors, Chinese classes, etc. all at the expense of strangers. Once a referendum is approved, the taxman forces payments even when the payments exceed what the voters originally approved.
No, the Wolf’s have the right idea; ask for money voluntarily instead of by force like the government monopoly schools.
