Standards

Why is it that in the United States, it is politically incorrect to have standards? Just saw a news spot on a woman who calls herself Tiger Mom, a woman of Chinese ancestry who reared her kids according to traditional Chinese standards. The kids were never allowed sleepovers or playdates or to watch tv or to play computer games or even to bring home grades less than an A. While yes, this is extreme, I think it's also a bit proactive. We live in a society where competition is off the chain. Our educational system leaves much to be desired (btw, the mother and her husband are both Yale Law profs). What's so wrong with cramming high standards into kids while they're still young and giving them the opportunity to excel when they grow up? Isn't life about having options? If young brains are, as we are understanding, capable of absorbing phenomenal amounts of information, then why not cram as much information as possible into those young brains? What, it's better to fill young minds with the drivel that passes for lyrics in rap music?

This discussion leads into another difficult one that I had with a friend the other night. She, like many of my friends, is not US-born, so perhaps her sensitivies are different; perhaps she's just more compassionate.

We started the conversation talking about the Republican push to create to citizenship statuses -- or the fact that US Citizenship might not automatically be granted to people born in the US whose parents were not US citizens. I happen to agree with that, to an extent. If you're not in the US legally, then I don't think the conference of US Citizenship should automatically go to your children. Why? For two reasons. 1) if you're in the US legally, you're already breaking the law. i don't think you should get rewarded for that, and I don't think your kids should be rewarded for it. My friend thought this was different from other countries in the world, but I don't think so. When I enter another country, I have to show that I have resources for the entire time I expect to be there and that I have a means to leave. If I were to remain there illegally and were to have a child, my thought is that, after birth my child and I would be immediately deported to our country of origin. 2) The second reason I don't think people should automatically get US Citizenship is because of the issue of responsibility. Once upon a time when the US had a greater share of the world's resources, it was an admirable thing to do to open our doors to everyone. That is not the case with the US today. We can't even take care of the people inside our borders. Why are we letting more and more people in? Why not take care of those who are here first?

Which led to another conversation, one I've approached before on this blog. I don't think it's ok for people to keep having babies and keep getting public assistance. I've had to make decisions about my ability to have and care for children; I don't understand why it's fair or equitable that not only do my tax dollars have to support people who have not been willing or able to make those decision, but that a greater percentage of my income goes to support such people. It's like we're rewarding people for being irresponsible and punishing people for being responsible.

I don't know what the solution is. You don't want to make the children suffer, but I don't want to subsidize a woman who's silly enough to go out and have child after child when she doesn't have a job or any way to take care of the child. If she makes one mistake, ok; but if she's not able to learn after two or three children, then what is the solution? No, we can't penalize the children, but we can't keep rewarding the parents, either.

I talked about how the African American community has lost direction since we lost God. It's as if we have no standards since God is no longer supreme in our communities. I was talking to my friend Kevin about it, and he compared it to Joseph, David, and Solomon -- Joseph and David always either came back or were drawn back to their iroots in God; they went through tests and trials, and always returned to God. solomon, on the other hand, never really was tested. He had a relatively easy life. And he was the one who turned away from God.

And maybe that's the answers for the other two questions. Maybe I should spend some time searching the Scriptures to see what God has to say about it. Let's see what God's standards are....