debralegg.com http://debralegg.com A working mom's mad adventures in boy land. Thu, 18 Mar 2010 02:47:20 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 debralegg/vQVWhttp://feedburner.google.comSubscribe with My Yahoo!Subscribe with NewsGatorSubscribe with My AOLSubscribe with BloglinesSubscribe with NetvibesSubscribe with GoogleSubscribe with Pageflakes Paywall anyone? http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/debralegg/vQVW/~3/GqEBwXOrN5M/ http://debralegg.com/2010/03/17/paywall-anyone/#comments Thu, 18 Mar 2010 02:41:20 +0000 Debra Legg http://debralegg.com/?p=8519 The worst news for the newspaper industry out of today's the Pew Internet and American Life Project report was not that 82 percent of those polled said they'd go to another site rather than pay to read the news.

The fact that 65 percent of the respondents have no favorite online news site was not the most chilling finding.

The deeply troubling part was where the report said that convincing online readers to pay "may require specialization and investment by news organizations."

Eek. Investment. Isn't that a four-letter word? It certainly was back in the days when online divisions were begging for people and equipment but the pleas fell on deaf ears because shareholders were demanding exorbitant profits.

Yes, times are tough for the newspaper industry - and for much of the rest of mainstream media and broadcast news as well. Despite that - and largely due to shedding workers faster than a snake sheds skin - newspapers still are making profits. Let me repeat: Newspapers still are making profits.

No, they're not partying like it's 1999 and raking it in like in the 30-percent glory days - but, then, they didn't expect that to last forever, did they? Never mind. I know the answer.

Newspaper accounting is a different animal from normal accounting. It's kind of like the federal budget. In Washington, if an agency doesn't get the increase it expects, officials start decrying "budget cuts." At a newspaper, if the profit doesn't increase by as much as budgeted then the sky starts to fall.

Except this time clouds really are tumbling, and after years of not-so-benign budgetary neglect it's going to take a mighty big umbrella to fend off the fallout.

Oh, it's still do-able if newspapers would invest in the people who can run the technology - a lot of them and not just one person with a plan of working him into the ground.

It's possible if executives would quit condescending to their own blogging sites and comment mechanisms and instead develop the community by devoting resources to moderation instead of writing those areas off as a necessary web 2.0 cess pool.

It's even likely if companies on serving readers as they want to be served - full RSS feeds and newsletters that make the transition from desktop to mobile and back again seamless would be good starts.

Looking strictly at financial solutions first, though, will not work. Identify the audience, build the product, and then sell it.

A paywall would work in only one situation: If a local newspaper could convince all competing television stations and all community bloggers to charge as well. Anyone see that happening?

Copyright 2010 Debra Legg. All rights reserved.

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]]> http://debralegg.com/2010/03/17/paywall-anyone/feed/ 0 http://debralegg.com/2010/03/17/paywall-anyone/ Hopscotching into math http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/debralegg/vQVW/~3/DiWkvdzDT7Q/ http://debralegg.com/2010/03/17/hopscotching-into-math/#comments Wed, 17 Mar 2010 19:46:06 +0000 Debra Legg http://debralegg.com/?p=8512 It's a math drill with no flash cards!

It's exercise without leaving the patio!

And it's also an idea I blatantly stole from Parents Math Night at Big Guy's school - but, hey, there's nothing wrong with borrowing brilliance when you see it. Plus it's considerably more healthy than my other math trick, calculations by fruit snacks.

Yes, I only have two math tricks so far. Math was a weaker subject for me and, no, Mom it wasn't because I "just wasn't any good at it," so please drop the cliche that my first-grade teacher passed along to you decades ago. When you start telling a girl at 6 that she doesn't like math, guess what the obvious result is going to be.

Best of all: It doesn't cost a thing other than the price of the chalk. We did buy oversized dice, but only because we lucked into two sets at a dollar store. You could easily play with regular dice, though.

The math hopscotch premise is as simple as traditional hopscotch, except instead of tossing a rock the players roll the dice. Younger children can simply count the number on each die and hop the number of steps. Big Guy already was learning addition when we began, so he added the roll in his head.

For very young children, the teachers at Big Guy's school suggested using shapes, drawing them on the grid and having the child pull one from a basket to determine where to hop.

As Big Guy's math skills have grown, so has our hopscotch grid - it's the full length of the patio now. He keeps rolling until he misses either an equation or a step, adding his new roll to the number he'd landed on previously. For subtraction practice, he works backward. His class has started adding three numbers, so we've also started rolling three dice at a time.

And while it's a gross exaggeration to claim that Boots can do math, the game is helping introduce him to the concepts. He understands that, for example, he rolls a one and a two and counts all the numbers at the same time, the result is three. "Yes, one plus two equals three," I'll say to reinforce the idea that he's actually doing a calculation.

There are other variations out there, including one that uses a chalk-on-sidewalk calculator instead of a traditional hopscotch grid. For an indoor version, you can use masking or colored tap to form the hopscotch grid. I've also heard of parents using the backs of old shower curtains and Sharpies.

I see the potential to use it for multiplication, too, though that hopscotch grid will quickly wind up stretching around the block. I'm tired already.

Copyright 2010 Debra Legg. All rights reserved.

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]]> http://debralegg.com/2010/03/17/hopscotching-into-math/feed/ 0 http://debralegg.com/2010/03/17/hopscotching-into-math/ Boots and his babies http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/debralegg/vQVW/~3/qKhl5peS7HA/ http://debralegg.com/2010/03/16/boots-and-his-babies/#comments Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:46:44 +0000 Debra Legg http://debralegg.com/?p=8505 Boots is going to have two babies, and he's already set on their names - Lightning and Juan Pablo. The latter is a NASCAR thing.

But what if one's a girl? What's her name going to be? I asked.

Wubbzy! I'll name her Wubbzy, he smiled brightly. And don't worry, Mommy. I know how to take care of my babies. Plus I'll have their mommy to help me.

That's good, I said. Babies are a lot of work.

Oh, I know what to do. You give them milk and make sure they sleep and change their diapers. He wrinkled his nose at the last. I don't think I know how to change diapers. You might need to do that for me, he said.

I'm not having babies, Big Guy interjected. Diapers stink.

Not if Mommy does it, Boots countered.

I decided to leave that debate to him and the future Mrs. Boots. What else do babies need, I asked.

They need food, he said. But not at first, right? They need teeth first. When they get teeth, I'm going to give them lots of good, healthy food. Fruits and begetables. And milk. They'll still need milk.

Mom, if Boots has babies will I be an uncle, Big Guy asked, alarmed. Coz I don't want to be an uncle.

Oh, being an uncle is fun! You get to buy them toys and candy, but when they get upset and start crying you get to send them back to your brother, I assured him.

Big Guy's eyes lit up at that. I'll buy them lots of candy, he grinned, so they'll cry a lot when I say, "no more."

What do I do when they cry, Boots asked, alarmed.

You can rock them or sing them sweet little songs, I said. That usually worked with you - I neglected to mention his brother's massive three-month colic. Nothing worked for that, except dancing endlessly to The "Garth Brooks Double Live" version of "Callin' Baton Rouge."

I can pet them, too, he said, demonstrating with his El. I'll love my babies sooooooooooo much, he smiled dreamily.

Lightning and Juan Pablo-Wubbzy are going to be lucky children. Milk ... begetables ... love. What more could a kid ask for?

Copyright 2010 Debra Legg. All rights reserved.

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]]> http://debralegg.com/2010/03/16/boots-and-his-babies/feed/ 3 http://debralegg.com/2010/03/16/boots-and-his-babies/ Recess and rules http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/debralegg/vQVW/~3/H_iT79gR_1c/ http://debralegg.com/2010/03/15/recess-and-rules/#comments Tue, 16 Mar 2010 00:53:19 +0000 Debra Legg http://debralegg.com/?p=8500 It started out ugly yesterday afternoon, but it ended with a peace accord that made all sides happy.

Big Guy and a friend from school were playing tag at a park when another kid came along and wanted to join. Trouble brewed, though, when the other kid - a year younger and, as a result, a few steps slower - kept trying to change the rules because he kept losing.

"No, red isn't 'base' now," he lectured as he scampered toward the grass. "Green is 'base' now. That's what I say!"

The other two, loudly but not meanly, kept shouting, "No, no, no! That's not fair. That's cheating to change the rules."

In a matter of a few minutes, they were able to work it out. Big Guy and his friend agreed to a "base" color that gave the other kid more safe havens, and he agreed to quit trying to change the base.

By adult standards it might have been a little loud and messy, but they did achieve a peace agreement for the rest of the afternoon.

It didn't take a $14-an-hour recess "coach" - the kind they're hiring in schools across the country to teach children how to play.

A coach such as the one in a New Jersey school who breaks up renegade hopscotch games because that wasn't what was scheduled. A coach who forces kids to play even if they don't want to.

One school's principal said the coach was necessary to cut down on the number of after-lunch disciplinary referrals.  I've no doubt that the program does that. In the long-run, though, it also has the potential to teach two other behaviors, neither of which is desirable: To constantly look to an authority figure to settle disputes or to behave only when that authority figure is around.

It seems that having someone around to merely monitor, rather than micromanaging every second, would serve to resolve any disputes the kids can't figure out for themselves. And dispute resolution is part of what Playworks USA, the nonprofit that provides the coaches in 170 schools across the country, does. But it doesn't stop there.

Part of Playworks' pitch is the oh-so trendy demonization: "For many elementary school principals, recess is the toughest part of the day. That's when all the trouble starts — the teasing, fighting, bullying, injuries, referrals and suspensions," its Web site says. True - but that's been going on for decades. It never took turning recess into just another class to stop it before.

Playworks says that's necessary now because kids today don't know how to "manage their own play." To a certain extent, I'll buy that. I've seen preschoolers sit to the side at parties and watch, as if the world is merely a TV screen writ large. But, then, the kids never had a chance to learn anything different because the parents refused to let them learn when they were younger - we never go to parks because they'll get lice from playing in the sand, they said solemnly.

But, really, does it take an entire year for kids to learn how to "manage their own play." And does constantly telling a kid where to go and what to do teach anything other than blind obedience?

Some parents like the vigilance: “It’s better this way because that’s how other kids get hurt, when you’re horse-playing,” a mother told the New York Times. “I think the more supervision, the better.”

I bet that mom also avoids the cootie-filled communal sandboxes. And I bet her kid runs to her 30 times a day with grievances that she has to solve.

I'd rather let the kids solve them themselves, just like the three kids did yesterday.

Copyright 2010 Debra Legg. All rights reserved.

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]]> http://debralegg.com/2010/03/15/recess-and-rules/feed/ 2 http://debralegg.com/2010/03/15/recess-and-rules/ During deployment, the smart phone is smart again http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/debralegg/vQVW/~3/Dq_BjqYhtaw/ http://debralegg.com/2010/03/15/during-deployment-the-smart-phone-is-smart-again/#comments Mon, 15 Mar 2010 18:57:40 +0000 Debra Legg http://debralegg.com/?p=8494 Yeah, we have all the toys: Digital audio recorder for capturing bedtime stories, digital video recorders (yes, plural) for reliving sports and school programs, a digital still camera for everything in between and a scanner for sharing school papers and report cards.

Increasingly, though, I'm realizing that I'm also going to rely on my least-favorite and lowest-quality piece of gear  to keep Dad in the loop while he's deployed. My smart phone.

It's not that I don't love my Blackberry Storm, though its camera reeks and I'm not the only one who thinks so.  Dad became instantly addicted to the instant communications too after I bought it while he was in advanced training last spring. The powerful part for him was the ability to share our lives in real-time, no matter whether the event was as trivial as Big Guy agreeing to eat salad or as monumental as his first hit in tee ball.

But that was in another city, one where there was real cell phone coverage. Here, I get ticked off every time I pass the Blackberry kiosk in the PX. Why don't you tell people they have no hope of getting a strong signal in half the houses, I want to growl. Our house is hopeless unless I walk to the bus stop up the street or lie in bed facing the headboard with my head at a 45-degree angle.

So I'd pretty much abandoned my phone shortly after we moved here, forgetting half the time to take it with me when I left the house. What was the point?

During soccer season I'd remember it once in a while because I could get enough of a signal to send Dad photos during the games. I'd also send some images to my email account so I could edit them and order prints later.

That's when it occurred to me that, for purposes of keeping Dad up-to-date on the important daily trivia, my phone camera would work just fine. I could snap it, email it and forget it. No downloading, no editing, no hassle. I get enough of a signal at the house now that the phone can send images - it just takes a half hour to transmit four.

It won't have the immediacy of text messaging and it won't have the quality of our regular multimedia productions. But it's as close as we can get to real-time in communicating from one place where cell service reeks to another where it's pricey if it exists at all.

Simple is good sometimes.

Copyright 2010 Debra Legg. All rights reserved.

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]]> http://debralegg.com/2010/03/15/during-deployment-the-smart-phone-is-smart-again/feed/ 0 http://debralegg.com/2010/03/15/during-deployment-the-smart-phone-is-smart-again/ How to avoid turning OpSec into OopsSec http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/debralegg/vQVW/~3/o0uKX1ZxmQw/ http://debralegg.com/2010/03/14/military-social-media/#comments Mon, 15 Mar 2010 01:59:22 +0000 Debra Legg http://debralegg.com/?p=8489 It was a blunder so classically moronic that you wonder how the person who posted it was deemed intelligent enough to serve in the military - any country's military, including countries with mandatory service.

"On Wednesday, we are cleaning up (the village). Today - arrest. On Thursday, God willing, we will be home," the Israeli soldier posted on Facebook just before a raid was to take place.

The operation was canceled after other soldiers reported the posting, CNN reported, and the soldier was sentenced to 10 days in prison plus loss of combat postings. You have to wonder if that was his goal from the start.

It came just days after the U.S. military announced that it would allow social media on non-classified Defense Department computers - a policy that largely affirmed what had been going on in most branches anyway. It's a move that not everyone in the military is wild about.

"I am still having a hard time not thinking of social networking sites as the work of the devil. Just like credit cards and cell phones it is not the technology that is bad but how they are used or what they are use for that is bad. People spill just as much information on a cell phone in the mall as they do on their personal web page," a commenter wrote on an Air Force story last summer as the military discussed the policy.

If the commenter thought things were bad then, just wait until location-based social media really catch fire. "Gomer Pile checked in at Fallujah." "Beetle Bailey just became mayor of Marjah."

The concerns might be a bit overblown. A 2006 study found only 28 security violations on independent military blogs over the course of a year but 1,800 violations on official military sites. Of course, that was before everyone and his sister had Facebook accounts.

Nevertheless the concerns are real, particularly in a day when computing power is cheap and data-mining capabilities are spreading. Everyone connected closely to the U.S. military, at least, is aware of all that. It's hard to be on post for more than a day or so without seeing a sign reminding you to "Think OpSec" - Operations Security.

The guidelines are hammered into our heads: Don't post when people are leaving, exact locations of where they're going or when they'll be coming back. Don't post "I haven't heard from so-and-so for XXX number of days" or "So and so told me she's going to be gone on an important mission for XXX days." In some circumstances, it's inappropriate to even post unit information. Above all, don't assume the enemy isn't interested in information about you. Enough crumbs scattered across the net can add up to a whole cookie.

I'm not worried about one of our soldiers, sailors, airmen or Marines pulling a lamebrain act like the Israeli did - the numbers are on their side based on the 2006 study, plus why would they want to put their own lives or the lives of colleagues at risk?

Having access to social media is important during deployment especially. Families can stay in touch via Facebook or exchange videos via private YouTube postings - though it still would be illegal for military personnel to film certain things.

I am worried, though, about people a few steps removed - friends or those outside the immediate family - who don't or won't understand even after they're told. Maybe it's airheadedness or maybe it's some kind of sick attention-seeking tendency, but I've seen information posted that definitely violates guidelines. It makes my blood boil.

Of course, you could argue that the problem begins with military members sharing information and to a certain extent that's true. Friends and family can't post what they don't know to begin with.  But that issue has nothing to do with social media - it dates back to the "Loose Lips Sink Ships" days.

Social media does ensure that in a modern war, information can travel that world at the speed of a pixel. In cases where it's information that shouldn't be made public, the violators need to be ordered to remove it just as quickly - punished, too, if the violation is serious enough or repeated often enough.

But there's no need to punish in advance and deprive military personnel of valuable personal and professional tools. Generals blog. Army posts have Facebook pages. It's all a modern reality, and now the military has a social media policy that addresses that.

Copyright 2010 Debra Legg. All rights reserved.

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]]> http://debralegg.com/2010/03/14/military-social-media/feed/ 2 http://debralegg.com/2010/03/14/military-social-media/ Dazed and confused? Then dance http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/debralegg/vQVW/~3/Jq27KO7Nexk/ http://debralegg.com/2010/03/12/dazed-and-confused-then-dance/#comments Fri, 12 Mar 2010 21:33:52 +0000 Debra Legg http://debralegg.com/?p=8460 It was the second week of karate, and Boots was starting  his new sport the same way he'd started soccer.

He'd flop. He'd flit. He'd spin merrily and smile broadly. Then he'd look appropriately chagrined when a sensei took him gently by the shoulders and steered him toward where he was supposed to be. He'd stay there for 3.6 seconds, then the twirls, tumbles and twists would begin again.

It made me wonder what he'd do it he were enrolled in dance class. Start practicing his jab punch?

Probably not, because it appears that dancing is what Boots does when he's discombobulated. Some people chew their nails, some twirl their hair. Boots pirouettes.

And, just as he couldn't focus at the start of soccer season, he had trouble concentrating in karate. Too much noise. Too many new people. A soft mat to flop on, so might as well flop.

"Stick with it. If anyone can get him to focus, she can," another mom said, referring to the sensei. "My kid had the same issue at first."

I like that she called it an issue and not a problem. As far as I'm concerned, it's not a problem at all as long as Boots (eventually) starts paying attention for most of the class.

At the start of soccer season, I read his lack of attention as a lack of interest even though he'd begged to play. He was sooooo different from Big Guy, who was uber focused from the second he set foot on afield. But, then, Boots will sit and work puzzles that quickly tax Big Guy's patience.

By the end of soccer, though, Boots was staying upright most of the time. He consistently ran in the direction the ball was headed and even kicked it once in a while. And now, a week after the season's ended, as he plays in the back yard he smoothly sends the ball toward the net.

He's slowly starting to catch on in karate, too.

"When do I get my white belt?" he asked this week.

"When you earn it," I replied.

"Why didn't I earn it?"

"Because you weren't paying attention when sensei asked who was ready to take the test."

"Ooooooooooh. Why can't she just give it to me."

"Because this is not soccer, where everyone gets a trophy," I said. "You have to show sensei that you can do what you need to do."

What they "need to do" is not much at all for his age group - they simply have to stand still, arms at their side, for 30 seconds. No soft shoe. No bunny hop. No hoe down.

He's getting there. He even made it a whole 15 minutes Wednesday night without a sensei having to bring twinkle toes back down to Earth.

Copyright 2010 Debra Legg. All rights reserved.

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]]> http://debralegg.com/2010/03/12/dazed-and-confused-then-dance/feed/ 0 http://debralegg.com/2010/03/12/dazed-and-confused-then-dance/ Don’t mess with Texas? Then don’t mess with history http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/debralegg/vQVW/~3/KVXjUdKA6g8/ http://debralegg.com/2010/03/11/dont-mess-with-texas-then-dont-mess-with-history/#comments Fri, 12 Mar 2010 03:07:18 +0000 Debra Legg http://debralegg.com/?p=8452 Life was so much simpler when I was in school. History texts focused on presenting facts - and back then, a fact was a fact was a fact.

Today, though, there are some who think the moon landing never happened, that 9-11 was an inside job and unemployment is so generous that it encourages people not to work.

And, sadly, we cater to them. Once in a while, they wind up in such powerful positions that they expect the world to cater to them.

Such is the case in Texas right now, where a Republican faction on the state school board is attempting to rewrite the social studies curriculum so that it complies with its world view. That wouldn't matter in the least to people in the rest of the country, except for the fact that Texas is one of the biggest purchasers of text books so what it demands will carry weight with the publishers.

What it wants, in some cases, is ridiculous.

According to some, the Republican efforts are merely an attempt to overcome bias that many of us are too unenlightened to see.  “I think the left has a real problem seeing their own bias,” board member Don McLeroy told The New York Times.

According to copy of the Texas proposal compiled by the Texas Tribune - it includes deletions and additions - in a passage covering the 1970s and 90s, for example, McLeroy didn't want to describe Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan's "roles" in events of their day. He insisted that teachers discuss their "leadership."

Maybe it's just my jaundiced liberal eye, but I see "role" as pretty fact-based: Someone did something. Leadership, on the other hand, is a little harder to nail down. But if McLeroy wants to give credit for Reaganonmics, go right ahead. In the interests of balance, though, there should be some mention that even George Bush called it "voodoo economics."

That would only be fair since the conservatives want to make sure they discuss opposition to New Deal policies and economic approaches to ending The Great Depression. That did end, didn't it?

Betty Friedan is out - but Phyllis Schlafly is in. She's important enough to be mentioned twice. The AFL-CIO was never in - but the Moral Majority is. Country and western music was inserted to "balance" hip hop - McLeroy initially wanted to dump hip hop completely in favor of country.

The funny part is, all of the board's changes deal with facts - stuff students are more likely to forget anyway - and have nothing to do with the tools. The board has barely noticed sections covering analysis, problem-solving and decision-making, communications and technology.

If I had to choose between my kids learning how to evaluate data or cramming to memorize a laundry list of historical figures for a test, well, let's just say I've never liked doing laundry.

Texas school board, Stop Wasting America's Time by creating the curriculum equivalent of a bubble test - and a politically skewed one at that. It's called a board of education, not a board of indoctrination.

Copyright 2010 Debra Legg. All rights reserved.

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]]> http://debralegg.com/2010/03/11/dont-mess-with-texas-then-dont-mess-with-history/feed/ 4 http://debralegg.com/2010/03/11/dont-mess-with-texas-then-dont-mess-with-history/ They really don’t make them like they used to http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/debralegg/vQVW/~3/RjGVs0Cnd4M/ http://debralegg.com/2010/03/11/they-really-dont-make-them-like-they-used-to/#comments Thu, 11 Mar 2010 20:04:35 +0000 Debra Legg http://debralegg.com/?p=8439 It was garden-variety stuff - cat chases mouse, cat catches mouse, mouse bonks cat's head with an iron skillet, dog pummels cat - but I hadn't heard Big Guy laugh so hard in ages as he did the day he watched "Tom & Jerry" as we waited for a doctor's appointment.

Not while he's watching "SpongeBob," which he says he loves. Not while he's watching "Danny Phantom," which is taking up half the hard drive on my DVR at the moment. Not even during "Fanboy and Chum Chum," which he defends against my complaints by saying, "but it's funny!"

And yet, if would take months for any of those to draw the number of belly laughs generated by mere minutes of "Tom & Jerry."

It's not just because I was 10 years older than dirt when I had kids and long for "the good old days." I didn't watch that much "Tom & Jerry" when I was a kid. "Josie and the Pussycats" was more my speed.

It's more because there's simply something missing from today's cartoons. Or maybe it's something that's been added: Snark and attitude.

Look at SpongeBob, for example. I defy you to find one totally lovable character in the entire ensemble. SpongBob is not the brightest creature in the sea, and Patrick is even slower. Squidward is a grump, and Mr. Krabs is obsessed with money.

"Danny Phantom" is one of a number of shows that plays heavily on the "parents as dolts" theme - count "Fairly Odd Parents" in that category, too. Watch Danny's dad blow another ghost hunt! See Timmy Turner's oblivious parents turn him over to the evil babysitter!

Granted, in the classics someone was always going to get hurt - Wile E. Coyote, Elmer Fudd or Jerry. But those cartoons also were, in a way, feel-good lessons that usually left the little guy winning. Road Runner,  Bugs Bunny and Tom always found a way to come out on top. I miss the simplicity of life being divided between good and bad guys.

Most of all, I miss the funny. Predictable, but funny. Anvil to the head? Hilarious no matter how many times you've seen it. Gun powder all over Elmer's face? Side-splitting.

Don't just take my word for it, though. The classics have Big Guy's endorsement as well.

Note to self: Set the alarm for early Saturday morning and tune the TV to Boomerang before the guys have a chance to turn to Nickelodeon.

Copyright 2010 Debra Legg. All rights reserved.

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]]> http://debralegg.com/2010/03/11/they-really-dont-make-them-like-they-used-to/feed/ 0 http://debralegg.com/2010/03/11/they-really-dont-make-them-like-they-used-to/ Protesters at schools? Bring ‘em on http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/debralegg/vQVW/~3/IDB5iMiqODw/ http://debralegg.com/2010/03/10/protestors-at-schools-bring-em-on/#comments Thu, 11 Mar 2010 03:02:35 +0000 Debra Legg http://debralegg.com/?p=8436 Where does "protest" end and "publicity stunt" begin?

With PETA and its propensity to station costumed characters in high-traffic public places - always making sure the media are aware of the big news- it's hard to say.

A Washington Post blogger draws the line at a protest People for Ethical Treatment of Animals planned for today at DC grade school. The organization planned to have an "elephant" with a wounded head hand out activity books to kids as they left the school in hopes of explaining PETA's long-running complaints about Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

"Anybody who knows anything about education knows that publicity stunts with high shock value levels aren’t the right way to teach young kids anything," Valerie Strauss wrote.

I'm not so sure about "shock" value. Granted, a elephant mascot would get my young kid's attention. But would it "shock" him? I doubt it. Besides, since when have schools avoided "shock value?" The Every 15 Minutes, which features smashed cars and mock grim reapers, is standard fair at high schools across the country.

I can understand why some parents would object, though.

First, there's the logistics hassle. Anyone who doesn't understand the chaotic nature of drop-off and pick-up time hasn't been around a school in recent years. An end-of-the-day protest is slightly less disruptive, but not by much.

There's also the conversational hassle - the burden on parents to explain, perhaps even research, an issue they hadn't planned on talking about with their kids at that particular juncture.

But unless it's protesters displaying graphic images - and even a photographer who took many fetus images says those shouldn't be directed at  young children - then, sorry folks. Protests are a long-standing American tradition. They might be inconvenient to explain, but they're not going to go away. At least, I hope not.

We're a little different in our house. We've watched protests on YouTube. I've had to explain Afghanistan, though not yet in the context of protests. When I worked in an office, we drove daily past a man whose truck was covered with posters railing against the local police, judges and virtually everyone else. He was a whack job - that part I left out - but that didn't revoke his right to do what he was doing.

And that's the message I would hope my kids would get out of a protest, even if it's held for "shock value." They're too young to understand everything any protest group is saying. But they're old enough to start learning about their rights as Americans.

Copyright 2010 Debra Legg. All rights reserved.

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