Progress and Problems
Peter T.
location: New Hampshire
listening to: Too much of everything!
registered: 1999.05.20
posts: 3017
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Yes, EEE, things have changed and will continue to do so. Someone once wrote that "there's
nothing so constant as change". Now this topic could keep us going through Labor Day. But for now, I'll touch upon one success
story and one failure, at least as I see things.My Fox News watching mother-in-law has rose colored glasses about "the good old days". I'll
then mention that women and minorities were systematically denied opportunities back then,
gays were in the closet, and we unfailingly and foolishly put our faith in institutions of power
(governmental, religious, mass media, etc.) when we should have had a more skeptical
perspective. I don't think it registers with her. No, I know it doesn't. We can all agree a lot of
progress has been made but there's more work to do.In my teaching job and with yours in law enforcement, we have a window into some serious
problems that weren't as prevalent in those good old days. I view out-of-wedlock births and the
growth in divorce as often very destructive to the development of children. Typically one-fourth of
my students come from such situations and by and large, these children have far more behavioral
and therefore academic difficulties. So, in this case, my mother-in-law has a point. Peter T.
Peter T.
(view)
Yes, EEE, things have changed and will continue to do so. Someone once wrote that "there's
nothing so constant as change". Now this topic could keep us going through Labor Day. But for now, I'll touch upon one success
story and one failure, at least as I see things.My Fox News watching mother-in-law has rose colored glasses about "the good old days". I'll
then mention that women and minorities were systematically denied opportunities back then,
gays were in the closet, and we unfailingly and foolishly put our faith in institutions of power
(governmental, religious, mass media, etc.) when we should have had a more skeptical
perspective. I don't think it registers with her. No, I know it doesn't. We can all agree a lot of
progress has been made but there's more work to do.In my teaching job and with yours in law enforcement, we have a window into some serious
problems that weren't as prevalent in those good old days. I view out-of-wedlock births and the
growth in divorce as often very destructive to the development of children. Typically one-fourth of
my students come from such situations and by and large, these children have far more behavioral
and therefore academic difficulties. So, in this case, my mother-in-law has a point. Peter T.
