If you think I get opinionated and strident sometimes trust me when I tell you my kid can verbally work you over and leave you shaking in the fetal position in about five minutes flat.
She now has her own chair in my office where she sits to debate me.
Have to admit, it's kind of fun.
Your daughter sounds so cool! I am good friends with my mom - I am 47 and she is 87 - and we love talking politics and "issues". Her latest issue is death with dignity.
ReplyDeleteThe US is a wonderful country, and we are ahead of the world in many things (hello! We built the Internet!), but there are so many ways we could be better! Education, childcare for working parents, more racial reconciliation, less Pentagon, honester campaign finance, and more immediacy about limiting pollution, to name a few.
Love your blog, babe!
(That's a play on a local DC-ism. We used to have a popular morning DJ on the radio who, as part of his wacky montage of clips, would play a clip of him saying, "Love your show, babe!" to some celebrity he had on once, and then listeners started saying it to him... And it became a "thing.")
This is offensive. I come from modest means, worked through college, sacrificed nothing, and graduated after 9 semesters debtfree. I also purchased my first home in those years, almost paid off 7 years later.
ReplyDeleteTOO many people tell high schoolers, go to the school of your dreams, chase this cookie cutter fantasy... when there is a big possibility that expensive school doesn't really offer them a program they will use in life. Too many Americans go to school to party and NOT learn skills, racking up debt, requiring a second degree.
This is high schools and public educations fault, though private schools are at fault too.
Thank you Sarah and family for being one of the millions who are smart enough to know if what you want to do doesn't require wasting money in a 4 year institution, then dont be a sheep. Follow YOUR dreams.
More parents could help their own kids as well in determining the best course of study but in my experience, parents don't hold a lot of pull with the average teenager.
In this country, a degree isn't required to live a good life of prosperity. THAT is fact on fact on fact.
And let's not forget the most important ingredient there: make sure to be born into a family with a publicly funded account to support your dreams, and also too, one that has enough dirt on people to do whatever the hell they want to and get away with it. After all, rules, like "elite" education, are for the rubes, not the Royal Family of Alaaasssska
Delete5:08 AM
Delete"Thank you Sarah and family for being one of the millions who are smart enough to know if what you want to do doesn't require wasting money in a 4 year institution, then dont be a sheep. Follow YOUR dreams."
----------------------------------------
Somehow I don't think Sarah's family of GED kids "followed their dreams". I think they were too over-burdened with dysfunction to have ever had dreams. Getting drunk and high, vandalizing school buses, getting pregnant when she was drunk, vandalizing a friend's house isn't following their dreams. Sarah Palin did nothing to help her kids even form dreams, if anything her own drinking and having affairs destroyed any hope of one of her children following their dreams.
Track is 25 or 26, and it's rumored he's in rehab. Good for him if he is, hopefully he'll take advantage of that opportunity. Has he been following his dreams? Was it his choice to join the military? Or did mommy pull strings to get him into the military when he was caught vandalizing the school buses? Hell of a dream. He has no job that anyone has mentioned.
Bristol is 24, has been on some reality TV shows, had at least one child -- possibly more -- and hasn't been able to form a lasting relationship with a boy/man. Traipsing around behind her mommy doesn't appear to be a good career when what mommy needs is a babysitter because she's got a substance abuse problem herself. And then there's a report of Todd and Bristol getting into a physical fight and Bristol grabbing Todd's crotch. Do you really think Bristol is following a dream?
Willow? I don't know about Willow but going to "hair school" ... gotta wonder if that was Willow's dream? And if so, is she now a practicing stylist?
The world got a glimpse of Track's, Bristol's and Willow's ability to think and express themselves when we listened to their recorded blubbering, cussing and alcohol/drug induced insanity at the Brawl. Again, hell of a dream. "It's my dream to get drunk and high, take my 6 year old to an adult party, assault the host then make a total hysterical ass out of myself". Oh yeah, Sarah is/was a FAN-TAS-TIC momma!
The closest the three oldest Palin kids came to having dreams is perhaps wet dreams. You may not know it 5:08 but the rest of the world knows it.
Gryphen, I admire you immensely for raising your daughter to be able to discuss things. Clearly she has critical thinking skills. Good for her. How anyone can be offended by your post is beyond me.
Things have changed. College tuition has soared since you went to school. Your experience is applicable only to you. Yet you seem to think it's universal. You didn't learn anything about reality in college.
DeleteIn 1993 the college i went to was a traditional 4 year college. Tuition was 350 a semester. In 2000, same college the tuition was 2000 a semester. I dread to think of what it is now.
DeleteIf you think a four-year liberal arts degree is a "waste"--well, I feel sorry for your paltry little mind.
DeleteGuess what? I also graduated debt-free and have a (large) house filled with books, music, musical instruments, art, art supplies, pets, and seven--yes, they're all biological--children. Oh, and a husband of 25 years with an executive job in IT. (You know, that stuff called critical thinking....)
So take your "facts" and shove them.
I am betting that the 'large' house, and all the stuffing came from marrying wealth. I sincerely doubt that the story you tell is true. I ain't buying it.
DeleteAhahahaaa, it is totally true. I worked my way through college as a motel maid. My husband worked in a bookstore. My degree is in philosophy. I got a job as a technical writer. His degree is in modern European history and Slavic languages. We saved my salary and lived on his.
DeleteHe got a job translating Russian for oil companies. One of them asked him if he could write a program encompassing the standard technical terms and sentences, to make translation easier and faster.
He did. The rest was history.
If you don't buy it, I'll be kind enough to give you a coupon, how's that?
Marrying wealth, oh good God. I told him that and we had a very long laugh.
"Thank you Sarah and family for being one of the millions who are smart enough to know if what you want to do doesn't require wasting money in a 4 year institution, then dont be a sheep. Follow YOUR dreams."
Delete****
Are you trying to say sarah is right by not sending her kids to a four year college? Is that what your sayin? Well your fucking WRONG!
Sarah tried to send Track/Trick to UAA but couldn't get student loan b/c the family was so too rich, so he went to the army instead.
President OBAMA is trying to forgive student loans and make JC FREE and some JC into 4 yr college.
So you just stay with stoopid... ok!
All other countries pay for higher education Freedum USA the only country that doesn't...
Anonymous5:08 AM
DeleteYou are offensive and a liar. Sarah's kids did not go to school b/c she couldn't get OPM! The palins were too rich and Track/Trick did not qualify for Pell grant or student loans.
So it was the army for him...b/c you KNOW the PALINs won't pay for anything out of their own pockets.
That's is why YOU 5:08 are a liar!
**
"Thank you Sarah and family for being one of the millions who are smart enough to know if what you want to do doesn't require wasting money in a 4 year institution, then dont be a sheep"
***
So full of shit. Sarah would of sent track/trickertreat but she couldn't do it on OPM b/c the Palins were "too wealthy" stick that in your meth pipe dearie.
And since we should be paying LESS to the Pentagon "forgiving student loans" would be a huge stimulus. I have a feeling he will do it as a last act :) And really we need more smart people in the country, its full of low info voters who lap up fox and the likes of "methpalin"! Most "smart, educated or real common sense" can't stand that grifter.
DeleteWe had too many dum-dums around who don't know basic biology or science...and they of course watch fox news and BELIEVE liars like Bill o'reilly and palin!
When and where did you attend college - and how much did you pay per semester?
Delete@ Anonymous5:08 AM I'm sorry but you have it all wrong. In reality, Sarah's three grown children are stupid lazy slackers! It's not that they were smart enough to know better than to waste their money in a 4 year institution, it's that they were not smart enough to pursue a 4 year college education, so that was never going to be an option for any of them.
DeleteThe Palin handlers knew how damaging it would be too the Palin brand to have 3 unemployed adult children so they quickly tackled the issue by having Sarah champion the vocational school alternative. Spin Sarah spin!! This was nothing but damage control for the Palin clan brand!
It's too bad Sarah didn't spend any quality time raising her children. If she had been a better parent her kids might have gone off to pursue their dreams. But sadly they were all afraid to leave the flock and start a life of their own. Now those three sheep are all still living at the Palin compound! Not one of them has a full time job! BHAAAAAA!!
I'd like to clear up something for the non Alaskan commenters.
DeleteAny resident of Alaska can get a a loan to go to college from a state program. I believe the max is still plenty of money to go to just about any school, in state or in the lower 48. It used to be more than enough for tuition, books, and living expenses.
There are no income or academic eligibility standards; it's available to all and the interest is very reasonable. This loan program was created in the heady days when the oil money started to pour into state coffers, and the state felt like they had so much money they didn't know what to do with it all.
So lack of money is not the reason any Palin - Sarah, Toad, or any of their moronic offspring - didn't go to college. They all qualified for a state loan, but chose not to educate themselves.
I agree with you Daughter of G. I had to refinance my house to finally pay the student loans. So really I am still paying and I will be 60 this year.
ReplyDeleteEducation is a wonderful thing in so many ways for the common good. Education can bring people out of poverty. And once out of poverty, those educated people can begin to pay taxes Coupled with a decrease in social service spending, a program for a free college education could pay for itself. Not to mention the intangible benefits of a more educated electorate.
But if the masses are educated, who will vote for the Republicans and the things they stand for today. And that is why Republicans are doing everything in their power to discourage education. Hence, the dumbing down of America.
Oh Gryphen, I'll bet you are so proud!
ReplyDeleteEven though I don't have kids I pretty much raised my
nieces. The proudest day of my life is when one of them called me to tell me she had just gotten out of jail having been arrested at a protest.
They grow up so fast and hopefully even more liberal than
their elders.
Remember the good side of our system: so many of our universities and colleges are private: no government interference in what can be taught or spoken. Yes, there's a high price to pay, but the dividends are the ingenuity and creativity of much of many of our graduates.
ReplyDeleteJust look at what Scott Walker wants to do to the venerable University of Wisconsin, which is state-funded. He wants to take away all non-essential study and turn it into a trade school.
Secondly, the private for-profit schools that are raking in U.S. loans and returning virtually nothing to their graduates.
Our system needs to be fixed, but, if the government paid all the costs, the government would dictate what was taught.
Bull.
DeleteI have a feeling that university students in the countries listed above have freedom of expression also. I remember the control that the Kansas state government wielded over the Univ. of Kansas back in the 1960's; imagine what it's like now that Kansas has become Brownbeckistan.
DeleteBeaglemom
6:14 -- your Ph.D. training shines through with your extensive vocabulary.
DeleteThe Koch Boys control some colleges via their financial support and dictate what is taught. They also control some so-called academic think tanks. How about these private right wing colleges?
Delete5:45 AM
DeleteUAA is supposed to be a private school Professor Steiner Lost his grant funding and his job b/c he was too liberal with Climate change so yea, you are full of BULL Sarah trollbail. I do believe that happened while GINO was in office. Of course he is one of the most HIGHLY RESPECTED AUTHORITIES ON ALL THINGS "OCEAN" AND WAS CALLED DOWN TO DEEP WATER HORIZON CLUSTERFUCK, FOR CONSULTING.
And also,too see Anonymous6:34 AM above. Kocks pull funding and that is what surely happened to our great Professor Steiner.
6:34 AM
DeleteYou are so right that the Koch brothers control some schools with their funding and then dictate what can be taught. There's more than one university in Florida that accepted their bait.
If parents co-sign for a bank student loan and child attends for 4 years and is an A+ student, then dies right after graduation, the bank will make parents pay the loan back - happened to a friend of mine. (This may not apply to fed backed loans, but so what?)
ReplyDeleteUltimately, the Fed sells your loan to a bank, so it's a bank loan either way. It's just that if you totally default and all methods of collection fail, they'll hand it back to the government to collect.
DeleteLast May we had a nice conversation with the young man working behind the counter in the cafeteria at the Danish National Museum. He had spent some time in the US (Milwaukee to be precise) and he said he cannot understand Americans. He said that he, and most Danes, don't mind paying taxes because they get so much in return: health care, child care, education, unemployment benefits, great infrastructure, etc. We agreed with him, also lamenting the reluctance most Americans have to paying taxes to benefit the whole of the country. Boy, the GOP and Fox News have brainwashed the US into submission to the corporate world.
ReplyDeleteBeaglemom
Beaglemom, it sure didn't used to be that way. In the 1950s that the GOP loves so much, taxes were much, much higher. Because of that, there was money to spend to put a person on the moon, to build roads and bridges and maintain national parks and schools.
DeleteAnon at 9:41 am. Have you noticed how the 21st century GOP never mentions Eisenhower? They've devolved since then dramatically.
DeleteBeaglemom
He said that he, and most Danes, don't mind paying taxes because they get so much in return: health care, child care, education, unemployment benefits, great infrastructure, etc.
Delete-----------------
All things we pay for anyway, one way or another.
Idiots who don't realize it's all much better at a "group rate" are those clapping their hands at lower taxes.
Mildred
If education, which is more than "just a degree" as someone above said, is too far out of the reach of the average citizen, we end up with an ignorant society. Compared to those countries on that list, we are there. Can't we evolve beyond survival of the fitest?
ReplyDeleteMildred
"Because then who'll flip our burgers and clean our toilets?" -The 1%
DeleteBest question someone ever asked me when I became outraged and strident: Do you want to change something or do you just want to vent? Feel free to share it with her.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter debates with me as well...last night is was the benefits of her eating dessert before dinner.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad for your joy in your daughter and her mindset. What a blast for you to share and cogitate....
ReplyDeleteI say, "Way to go. Dad!"
The Palins none of which are college educated, never mind material, should not even enter into an academic discussion.
The American lack of awareness in terms of how other countries providing education is just mind blowing!
This is a global world, people.
I would love for our public universities to be free, as they are in Europe, Japan, Mexico, and many other countries. However, for that to be practical, we would also have to do what they all do, and raise the admission standards to be much, much higher than they are now. And we would have to have *gasp* HIGH STAKES TESTING, starting in early grades, like all ALL of those other countries, and probably tracking in high schools for the college bound and non-violent bound, like most other countries. I would support all that even though it would be a huge change to our system, because it works in other places, but I would not support just opening the doors to all comers at our public universities, which some seem to be suggesting. That would be an expensive disaster.
ReplyDeleteMost nations with free university have cost of living 25+% higher than USA. Even Sweden struggling economically to fund generous educational policies. No free lunch anywhere sorry.
ReplyDelete