Two days per week, my 3.72 year old daughter attends preschool at a local community center, for 2.5 hours time. It's cheap and it's close. I consider it nothing more than convenient babysitting.
But no longer. The State of Massachusetts just stepped in and declared it *unregistered* or *unlicensed*. Thus, this particular program can only offer 6 days of classes per month, henceforth.
Now I've never been overly fond of daycare or pre-school, and 6 days per month is plenty for me. Getting ready, dropping off, and picking her up from pre-non-school kills the momentum of my day. I was elated when my son stopped going last year. And I'm very much looking forward to the Princess' last days. This way I can get the kids into a more efficient and regular homeschooling routine.
Getting back to the BS licensing issue...
While it represents a clearly unwarranted, illiberal meddling in the affairs of individuals, there's the consequence that all the regulations end up *taxing* away preschools. And THAT is a good thing indeed!
Side Note - Recently I was talking to a local *mom*, an acquaintance. She told me that she was a *big believer* in preschool, *lots of preschool* in fact. I asked her if she researched this belief. No answer. I informed her that children who are heavily daycared have half the vocabulary of 5 year olds who weren't. I told her, I had plenty of material on this subject I could send her.
CaptiousNut - Are you interested?
LocalMom - Nope.
CaptiousNut - You don't even want to take a look at it?
LocalMom - Nope. I'm not interested. I'm a big believer in preschool.
And there you have it folks, a circular self-fulfilling argument against Moronic parents (products of Big Education) teaching their own!
I just can't tell you how many times I've endured this same tragic conversation. The first 50 times, I was really trying to be helpful. But now I'm jaded by the .000 batting average. Now I just provoke for my own self-amusement.
7 comments:
C,
This is awesome and totally tip (typical... new slang I'm working on)!
My friend and I discuss this probably once a week. We exchange these absurd anecdotes in which we encounter someone who says something foolish and we either correct them outright or offer them a resource to "get more info" so they can correct themselves and they just straight up refuse it. Exactly as happened in your story... they even reaffirm that, despite being proved wrong, they still hold onto their cherished beliefs.
What IS it about the MSM and the stupid nonsense stories they create all day long that makes people think it's so damn authoritative?
I think, honestly, it's an ego thing. People hate to be confronted with their own ignorance because we live in a society of mass psychological insecurity. Remember, liposuction, fat drugs, fad diets, sex pills, etc., don't cater to a "health conscious" society but rather a "self-conscious" society!
Also, did I forward you that story recently about the woman in Michigan who was watching a few of her neighbors kids after school after they got dropped off by the bus and before the parents returned from work? CPS dropped by and said she was running an "unlicensed daycare center" (she was receiving no $$$ compensation, doing it as a favor) and threatened her with fines and prison time if she didn't close up.
Closing of private preschool, as crappy as they be, will be followed by opening of compulsory public preschool. That's where this is going:
TOTALITARIANISM.
They're not our kids anymore, they're "our" kids. Get me?
Can't wait til the Prince or Princess (hopefully no more than 7 or 8 yo themselves), put a MORON adult in their place by correcting them on some collectivist mythology they espouse, and then pointing to their young selves as living proof they're right and the adult is wrong!
Taylor,
People are unnerved by *self-assessment*.
They've been conditioned to only have (interested) experts pass judgment on them.
I'm big on self-assessment; and self-improvement. If that's not THE aspect of genuine education then I don't know what would be.
Yeah - Taylor and I have had some pretty funny encounters with morons. The latest... I was at a party last sunday and was telling some people about inflation. A wise man interrupted me to explain that the money supply HAD to be expanded to keep up with population growth. The group thought it made sense. When I asked what his economic theory was based on, he leaned in and said... the human body. He then went on to explain to me that as kids we have a certain amount of blood and when we grow we create more blood.
I asked if it was possible that the US money supply was not literally guided by the principles of human blood supply. He thought for a moment and said no.
C,
I will take this one step deeper--
I think people resist self-assessment because if they were critical of themselves they might need to change, and change makes most people extremely uncomfortable because it requires effort, self-honesty, responsibility, thoughtfulness, as opposed to life on auto-pilot. You know who else has a tough time dealing with change? Children.
Yes, this is another symptom of our immature, childish society.
Another anecdote demonstrating a related phenomenon:
I was having lunch with a young neuropsychologist in training. I was whining about how no one wants to discuss anything of any level of seriousness (what else would I discuss, with a lady, no less?!) and she agreed that most people considered it "rude" or not part of social etiquette to be forced to discuss things they didn't know much about or had no familiarity with.
That's when I asked, why? How come? Why is it that our social ethics demand we cater to the LCD in conversation? Why, with a football fan (trivial) and a neuropsychologist (revolutionary, cutting-edge, fascinatingly different), should the two be forced to discuss football so as not to make the fan uncomfortable? What about how uncomfortable the NP feels discussing something trivial and likely unfamiliar to her?!
I know nothing about rocket telemetry. If I met a rocket telemetrist, my first instinct would be to ask him every freaking question I could think of about what he does and why so I am no longer ignorant about the subject. I do not think, "I bet he likes football, maybe we can both talk about that."
Is it such a crime to admit one is ignorant about something now and then?
Tom,
Nice reasoned retort on your part.
Though, next time, you might want to punctuate your point by blasting a fart on the pointy-head intellectual. That's what I would do anyway.
Tom,
Luckily for your wise, probabilistic friend, he too can have a voice in the National Dialogue by voting his ignorant conscience and forcing the rest of us to deal with the consequences.
I agree with C. Go with the fart, or the gut-punch. Or the bust out laughing right in his face.
That reminds me of when Taylor and I were running into people who "did not believe in private property"
We concluded the best way to make our point was to take their wallet, food, purse, etc. and then ask "on what grounds do you want this back?"
It is priceless watching socialists squirm.
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