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Kids and politics


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My 16 year old is not speaking to her father -- why? Because he's voting for Bush. She goes to the creative and performing arts high school here. Both the faculty and students are very liberal -- there are alot of gay kids there (male and female). The teachers talk openly about their support for Kerry, and even put up pro-Kerry signs in their classrooms.

 

I think everyone is entitled to their opinion, of course, but if the teachers were pro-Bush, would this be tolerated? Remember, this is still a public school.

 

I work around the University of Pennsylvania, and the place is festooned with Kerry signs. Most of the students there are pro-Kerry, even though there is an active Republican group on campus. I really think if someone walked around with a Bush button on, they'd be harrssed.

 

In fact, if you walked around this area, you'd get the impression that all of Pennsylvania hated Bush.

 

We'll see . . .

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Melissa, that's exactly why my wife and I make the financial sacrifice of putting our children in a private school. I get incensed when I hear about teachers feeding their students their political views in elementary and high schools, not to mention their values on homosexuality etc. At the collegate level I'm not so bothered, though I still think it's wrong, but for younger kids it's outrageous.

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Melissa, that's exactly why my wife and I make the financial sacrifice of putting our children in a private school. I get incensed when I hear about teachers feeding their students their political views in elementary and high schools, not to mention their values on homosexuality etc. At the collegate level I'm not so bothered, though I still think it's wrong, but for younger kids it's outrageous.

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Funny you should say that . . . when I was at the (People's) University of Pennsylvania many of the professors openly ridiculed Bush. They encouraged the students to do so as well. I'm not a big Bush fan, but I thought this was disrepectful. These were mostly the liberal arts profs; the science and economics profs were a bit more conservative. This wouldn't be a problem if more conservative views were tolerated, but at many colleges and universities they aren't.

 

My daughter's high school is very good academically. I've always encouraged her to think for herself, no matter what her teachers and classmates say, which she does -- for example, many of her classmates went to the "March for Women's Lives" last spring, and she is pro-life.

 

She's a good kid (she's not really "mad" at her father, just annoyed).

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I went to public school and I disliked Nixon. So if I had stayed in St. ___'s I'd have been a Republican?

 

My dad voted for Nixon when I was 12 and I was pretty pissed off about it, but I got over it. Public school wasn't to blame. When I was 14 the only teacher who expressed a political view was rabidly in favor of Vietnam and not hesitant to inject his opinions every chance he got. It happened we studied SE Asia that year and he and I got into it. Unforunately for him I had statistics and he ended up losing and apologizing in front of the class. We stayed friend until his death.

 

I read the paper, watched the news and drew my own conclusions. Maybe Melissa's daughter is doing the same.

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I went to public school and I disliked Nixon.  So if I had stayed in St. ___'s I'd have been a Republican?

 

My dad voted for Nixon when I was 12 and I was pretty pissed off about it, but I got over it.  Public school wasn't to blame.  When I was 14 the only teacher who expressed a political view was rabidly in favor of Vietnam and not hesitant to inject his opinions every chance he got.  It happened we studied SE Asia that year and he and I got into it. Unforunately for him I had statistics and he ended up losing and  apologizing in front of the class.  We stayed friend until his death. 

 

I read the paper, watched the news and drew my own conclusions.  Maybe Melissa's daughter is doing the same.

91767[/snapback]

Yeah, your mental function does seem to equate to a 12 year old.

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Is it me, or do the lefties have a little trouble with witty come-backs?

91818[/snapback]

A witty comeback implies there was something worthwhile stated in the first place. Personal attacks or various iterations of "mine's bigger than yours", which is pretty much everything here these days, don't warrant it.

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A witty comeback implies there was something worthwhile stated in the first place.  Personal attacks or various iterations of "mine's bigger than yours", which is pretty much everything here these days, don't warrant it.

91837[/snapback]

Reaping a little more of what you sow...

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A witty comeback implies there was something worthwhile stated in the first place.  Personal attacks or various iterations of "mine's bigger than yours", which is pretty much everything here these days, don't warrant it.

91837[/snapback]

 

Then, why do you bother? All you are doing is showing that you are no better than them. It would be hypocritical to criticize, when you do the same thing.

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Then, why do you bother? All you are doing is showing that you are no better than them. It would be hypocritical to criticize, when you do the same thing.

91846[/snapback]

There's a shocker. Debbie acting like a hypocrite? Let me put another star on the calendar. Sun must have risen in the East as well.

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There's a shocker.  Debbie acting like a hypocrite?  Let me put another star on the calendar.  Sun must have risen in the East as well.

91850[/snapback]

Yeah how many stars you got on there for today. I have already seen at least 4 or 5 in the last 15 minutes.

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There's a shocker.  Debbie acting like a hypocrite?  Let me put another star on the calendar.  Sun must have risen in the East as well.

91850[/snapback]

 

What is the over/under on her coming back, pleading that she is just an innocent victim?

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have your hubby and daughter been feuding over other things besides politics? she may just be using the election as ammo for another part of a passing teenage rebellion or assertion of independence

 

i'd sit her down and explain to her that this is america. we're all entitled to our opinions and political views. just because she disagrees with her dad on politics is no reason to affect their personal relationship. i mean in my family my dad is a reagan democrat retiree voting for kerry, my brother a country club conservative academic voting for bush, and i'm an apathetic libertarian gen-x'er voting for badnaraik. we'll talk politics, disagree over some stuff and maybe get into a good argument. but in the end, we're family and love each other other and we're americans and respect each others right to hold different views

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What did you know about the world that would make you give a rat's ass who your parents voted for when you were 12?

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In case you've forgotten in your haste to be exercise your nasty gene, the discussion was about kids and their political opinions and where they learned them.

 

I happened to be very aware of politics at age 12 because it was so in my household. And I cared. Just because you may not have known at that age (and to this day) doesn't mean I shouldn't.

 

I can imagine what you were doing at the same age - didn't they tell you that causes pimples and blindness?

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