Thursday, March 8, 2007

Children Will Listen

Ms. Massresistance's latest rants are about students holding mock hearings in the Massachusetts statehouse:
Two mock bills advocated legalizing polygamy, and we heard about a mock hearing on the subject that afternoon in the State House. The polygamy bills were mixed in with some silly bills (annex Maine; change the state muffin from corn to cranberry, etc.), and others on arguably legitimate topics (legalize gambling; require state-owned vehicles to use alternative energy; ban cell phones in public schools, etc.).

Further down she has the nerve to ask:
Now who is putting these ideas [polygamy] into young teens' heads?
Well Lordy Ms. Massresistance, YOU did. She first mentions polygamy way back in Feb 2005, only the second month after she started posting:
And then she essentially gives the students arguments for their mock hearing:

What's the problem with letting the students discuss it? Is she afraid they will bring up Jacob and all his wives from the Old Testament and use the argument that "The Bible said it was OK"? I'm guessing she just wants the kids to not think for themselves even though her and her ilk have been talking about the "slippery slope" for years with their children in tow.

As Stephen Sondheim wrote in "Into the Woods":

Careful the things you say

Children will listen

Careful the things you do

Children will see and learn

2 comments:

John said...

Good grief, these are highschoolers.

They are only a few years away from voting on these and many other issues.

Do we not want them to think?

Tom Lang said...

Oh for Pete's Sake. I was in the Massachusetts Public School System in 1980 and was selected for the "Model Senate." One of the Bills that was brought up by fellow honorees was "To Legalize Prostitution" and this was under Governor Ed King. The kids bring up bills like this and hold mock trials which are exciting interesting and really push the enevelope.

It is because they are young that they MUST challenge their world. I would really start to worry about them if the only mock trial they could come up with would be to debate if Massachusetts needed to select a state ice cream.