CHILDREN ARE VICTIMS OF ANTI SPANKING INDOCTRINATION

CHILDREN ARE VICTIMS OF ANTI SPANKING INDOCTRINATION

By Domenick J. Maglio, PhD. Traditional Realist

Modern parents are raising their children without the best arrow in the quiver. They have been coerced through the media, government schools, agencies and evolving case law that parents no longer have the right to use corporal punishment with their own children. Parents are unable to quickly establish their power and authority.

This one change in parental rights has had devastating impact on the development of our children. Children are not learning to listen and obey.

Parents giving a lecture to a toddler, before they get the child’s undivided attention, is futile. Parents saying a firm “no” and appropriately spanking the child on the behind when their command is ignored is an attention getter.  All the words in the world have little to no impact on a toddler who has not been trained to listen.

Modern children are immune to parent lectures. The words enter the ears but cannot penetrate the brain’s thinking process. The child appears to listen for an acceptable interval to the parent. Then the child goes back to his business of doing what he wants.

 When the disobedience is too blatant, the child might suffer the traumatic “time out.” The modern child learns the “time-out shuffle” going in and out of the chair, but does not learn boundaries. The child is usually dismissed from time-out or leaves of his own accord with little or no notice by the parent. The child realizes he can do anything and everything that pops into his head without concern for physical or legal risks.

“Time out,” like anything used carelessly or too much loses its effectiveness as a consequence. Some experts are even saying that time out is psychologically harmful and even abusive.

Modern children who are being deprived of time tested moderate spanking become victims of permissive materialistic parents. Giving children permission to do whatever they want and material objects to bribe them to do what the parent wants has become a complete failure in our affluent world.

Parents need to return to their natural instincts to firmly demand that their offspring do what the parents want. Parents are more experienced and wiser. They need to take control of their children’s lives to prepare them to take flight on their own by age 18.

When parameters are firmly established at an early age, the parent’s authority becomes more meaningful for the child.  The youngster realizes that certain  unacceptable behaviors will bring on the wrath of the parent. This response should be taught early through a “no” that is followed by a stinging spank when not listening and a direct discussion as to why the behavior was wrong.

We are witnessing too many children doing bizarre and hideous acts. These children have difficulty controlling their impulses. They have not been taught by their loved ones that they cannot always get what they want when they want it.

A child needs to ask for permission to do anything that he has not been previously been approved by their parents. This simple rule cuts down on outrageous behavior.

Children without parameters are a danger to themselves and others. The basic rules of conduct have to be established by the parent or society steps in. These children end up in mental health facilities or incarcerated. It is preventable when limits are established in the child’s life.

This virtual ban on spanking for most parents has weakened the power status in the eyes of their children. The child continually pushes the envelope until parents give into the demands of the child. The child supposedly wins this and following battles but eventually falls victim to his own overinflated sense that he is more powerful than he really is. He becomes delusional.

The parents allow him to believe he is more powerful than they are. This sets the child up. He assumes he has the right and ability to do and demand things from acquaintances and strangers.

His response is to become more aggressive and hostile in order to attempt to create a tough image. This strategy can result in unnecessary anti social behavior that leads to more anger. On the other hand, he might go into a shell, avoiding the normal challenges of growing up. 

When parents do not train their child to be respectful to authority figures they are jeopardizing the child’s future. This vacuum predictably will lead to trouble for youngsters. This person raised with permissive parents will be less prepared to deal with the reality of power figures.

Today’s parents may not understand that they will be unable to overturn the socially approved decisions of law enforcement, mental health and the judicial system.  The ultimate victim is not the parent, who will vouch that the child has never done “anything wrong,” but their child.

Domenick Maglio, PhD. is a columnist carried by various newspapers, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. You can visit Dr. Maglio at www.drmaglio.blogspot.com.

FREE COMMUNITY COLLEGE WILL DUMB DOWN STANDARDS EVEN MORE

FREE COMMUNITY COLLEGE WILL DUMB DOWN STANDARDS EVEN MORE

By Domenick J. Maglio Ph.D. Traditional Realist

Free community college will be a poison pill for the local governance of the institution and its quality of education for students. There will be an increasing population of unmotivated and non-caring students who believe they are entitled to a two year Associates Degree with little or no effort. They think the government will pay for it all.

The government will not pay for the community college proposed bill but our citizens will and students will be nickeled and dimed. Currently the projected cost has been stated to be $16 billion over 10 years. This estimate will substantially rise as government bureaucrats low ball start up costs of federal give away programs. The scheme is always the same with government money. In this case community colleges will find creative ways to inflate the cost per student.

The bloated federal government makes an outlandish promise like free community college. The state pays a small amount, in this case a quarter while the debt ridden federal government finances ¾ of the program. The state portion will increase with time. As the number of “free service” participants increases to more than anticipated the middle class finds there is a new state or federal tax robbing and redistributing their money. This is a hijacking of their property for a service that most of the recipients will not appreciate or will not take advantage to benefit their situation.

The main issue is that the “free funds” dilute the quality of the service.  The money comes with government strings attached that cause unintended consequences for the community college programs and all the levels of education. In this federal proposal, students will have to maintain a 2.5 grade point average to continue in the federal community college give away. This would put pressure on the administration and staff for students to receive at least this low grade. A 2.5 will become the new F. The federal and state bureaucrats will set quotas and retention percentage requirements in order to receive funding.

Most professors will be encouraged enough by salary, promotion and misplaced sensitivity to the student’s plight of flunking out of the program to lower their grading standards.

External and internal political factors will cause grade inflation by dumbing down all standards to keep the students and the funding. The community college degree will lose its value of being accepted into four-year degree programs and as a job entry credential. The community college experience will become a socially approved and attractive place for hanging out to pass the day away.

The value of education comes from the individual’s desire to improve personal knowledge, as well as economic and social status for it to be meaningful and appreciated. A student not having skin in the game (money) for his own education decreases his personal involvement and stake in the education process. Being in a community college might impress others that he is attending college but he knows he has not earned it.

The throwing of trillions of federal dollars at a problem, like we have seen in public education over the past five decades, does not even improve and certainly does not result in excellence in education. Presently 50% of college freshmen are required to take remedial courses. Free education from kindergarten- high school, has not produced high academic performance as compared with other nations.

Community college was first established in 1901 as a liberal arts school. In the 1930s most focused on job training. Community colleges from their inception have had a mission to address local needs. They have been laboratories of innovative ideas to promote better higher education.

The federal government is too far removed from any real communities to understand their needs. Under Article I Section 8 of the Constitution the federal government has no standing to be involved with education. This was left to the states. The founders realized the federal government would not have its finger on the pulse of each community.

They understood control of education by the federal government would enable government to indoctrinate the people rather than allow their citizens to learn from historical and current sources to learn how to critically think in order to draw their own conclusions. Community college gives many students a second chance to develop stronger academic skills.

The community college system should determine its own educational community desires. This could be a certification, trade or liberal arts emphasis. The central government should keep their paws off attempting to control education from Washington, D. C.

Central government’s intrusion into community colleges will make the credential irrelevant to the graduates. It will be nothing more than an extension of high school.

Domenick Maglio, PhD. is a columnist carried by various newspapers, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. You can visit Dr. Maglio at www.drmaglio.blogspot.com.

TRADITIONAL FAMILIES ARE BECOMING A RADICAL SOCIAL UNIT

TRADITIONAL FAMILIES ARE BECOMING A RADICAL SOCIAL UNIT

By Domenick J. Maglio PhD. Traditional Realist

In our current culture traditional families are not only becoming unpopular, but are being viewed as a hostile unit to our social engineers.  These experts see the family as relics of the past that impede the transformation to a more equitable society.  The education and allegiance of the people should be to the state and not to the family. Families only hinder this process of establishing a conforming culture that glorifies the state. Families, meaning a husband, wife and children, are under attack on every front.

Families have traditionally inculcated moral values. These moral values taught that first you honor God, and then your mother and father leaving out any thought of a government entity. Government institutions have to be dealt with judiciously but certainly are not considered sacred. These attitudes are prevalent where the government serves the people.

As the “nanny-papa” state proliferates throughout the world, people have to be taught the antiquated notion that the people serve the ruler of the government. They do this by meeting basic needs and even by government promising elaborate give-away programs. The more centralized the government, the more it can take from certain parts of the population and give to other parts. This redistribution of assets from the producers to the non-producers eventually leads to common mediocrity. No one does more than they have to since there is no benefit to them. Only political leader’s selected friends, intellectual supporters and government bureaucrats stand above the insignificant “stupid people” through their power.

The nation’s inhabitants need to be led by insightful intellectual experts representatives of the ruler. They can inform the people how to act and think for the common good. Obamacare allows the government to dictate what are good and healthy practices supposedly to prevent illness to keep down the cost of this national health insurance. This encourages local, state and federal leaders to pass laws to dictate the way people should live for the people’s sake. This rationale allows the elites to decree in PC language, no 32-ounce sodas, no salt and sugar and calls for numerous vaccines that have to be given to our children. The parent’s power to be responsible for their children has been usurped by government mandates. President Obama recently went so far as to advocate women not be stay-at-home moms not to handicap their careers. He did not seem to have any concern with how it negatively affects the family.

At government schools lunch menus have been changed to meet the latest nutritional fads, types of lip chap and sunscreen have to be approved by the school board while sex education and pregnancy advice can be given to students without parental approval. Even where and at what age children can play in their own neighborhoods can be second-guessed by child protective agencies. This process of government intervention has undermined the power and sanctity of the family.

The social unit of the family has to be attacked to undermine the legitimacy of parental rights. Worst of all, child protection agencies and government schools have gradually eroded parent’s rights. They no longer feel comfortable disciplining their children. Sex education, dispensing of contraceptives and even state giving medical advice on unwanted pregnancies is done behind the backs of many parents. Some parents are being second-guessed about what their children can eat and how to get them to eat these foods and the types of physical activities that are appropriate for them. Even moderate spanking is becoming a government issue. A Florida man called the police to supervise the spanking of his 12-year-old child to avoid his daughter’s threat to call the police. The state is moving parents away from being responsible for raising their own children.

The biological and close social relationships of a family interfere with indoctrinating the individual.  People with close families have too many beliefs and viewpoints. Praying, eating, playing, helping and discussing issues together results in people resistant to government promises. These people with strong family ties do not make good candidates for accepting an all-powerful government. They are more likely to resent government stripping them of their freedoms.

The family has been the most essential social unit for free, civilized societies. It is the most aversive, radical social unit for any government trying to control the people. It has to be undermined, attacked and plowed under for government programs to have reason to grow until it becomes a totalitarian state.

This battle between parental rights and government telling parents how to raise their own children is fundamental to the direction our nation will take. Parental authority naturally limits government penetration into the hearts and minds of future generations.

It is no wonder why intrusive governments have a strong motivation and vested interest in defining traditional families as an absurd radical bastion of regressive thinking and believing. The open attack on the family is presently obvious for all of us to see. Realize that the breakdown of the family will initially result in less freedom and eventual tyranny.

Domenick Maglio, PhD. is a columnist carried by various newspapers, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. You can visit Dr. Maglio at www.drmaglio.blogspot.com.

CHANGE FOR THE SAKE OF CHANGE OR FINE TUNING FOR QUALITY

CHANGE FOR THE SAKE OF CHANGE OR FINE TUNING FOR QUALITY

By Domenick J. Maglio PhD., Traditional Realist

The more our society moves towards service and away from an agricultural and manufacturing economy, the less we appreciate the effort it takes to retain a quality operation. The consumer approach of getting our needs and wants met by hiring others is becoming more prevalent. In the recent past it was more common to do things ourselves. We are losing practical knowledge of the time, effort and ability it takes to do a quality job

Many Americans have too little time and too much available credit to avoid doing mundane activities that their parents had learned to do. These modern day consumers have high standards and expectations for what they want others to do. The consumers have become “experts” in telling others how to do their jobs without understanding the intricacies and complexity of doing the project themselves.

The Hope and Change philosophy is becoming more prevalent in our culture. Media, corporate and political promises, have inflated people’s expectations. Most of us no longer appreciate the difficulties of developing structure and systems in an organization. This ignorance of what it takes to operate a business is a formula for failure or decline, not perfection or utopia.

Change for the sake of change is often a function of a person’s ego. The person who has promoted or made the change happen will know the untested new approach. The more drastic the change in the approach, the more difficult it will be to reach an immediate high level of efficiency and the easier it is to make excuses. A significant wholesale change in approach takes a great deal of preparation and ongoing revisions to have it work effectively.

It is easier to be a sidewalk superintendent and tell others what is the best approach in getting something done but it is another to accomplish it. There have been many generals who have gone through the military academies throughout our history who talked a good game, had great political and intellectual credentials but could not produce on the battlefield.

There are other leaders sometimes rising through the ranks who could not or would not promote themselves although they inspired others through their ability to grasp the whole picture and were able to persevere until victory.  They learned by doing, making the little necessary changes and seizing upon opportunities to out maneuver the enemy. The success they achieved was based on time tested previous methods with necessary mini changes to meet the specific conditions at that moment.

We see the same scenarios in other endeavors. Over the past half century public education has grown through consolidation of local community schools. Every three to five years a new fad educational approach is introduced at great expense to revolutionize our schools.

Yet the quality of this educational approach has stagnated or has declined.

The pendulum swings one-way and then another. Teachers have to be retrained stifling their knowledge and creativity, which they had learned from classroom experience. Instead they have to become robots often doing what they do not believe, frustrating themselves and confusing the students.

It is not the recommendations made from intellectuals of the ivory tower without real world experience that has led our nation to be the envy of the world. Individual initiative by creative doers has shaped our greatness. These people work hard at turning out a better product. They tweak the system that they developed over time, not change it willy-nilly on the whim of a so-called expert.

If it is an effective and efficient operation do not “fix it” by rushing into an untested speculative program.

These doers know a radical change affects everything in the organization. They know their system and think it through making only an experimental gradual change to see the overall impact in their actual operation. They may make changes to increase the quality by making small, calibrated tweaks.

People throughout the country have developed quality businesses. People seek them out. The quality results of these doers are learned through modeling from others in their lives. They take this knowledge and focus it on a particular area. It is commitment, hard work, learning from others and a large dose of perseverance until they get it to work right.

Like any winner the hard part is to maintain a high level of performance. These individuals are the real experts on how to continue to have a quality product by making reasonable and well thought out, gradual changes. This approach is done to keep the organization viable by fine-tuning it for quality rather than as grandiose schemes that lose the essence of the operation.

Domenick Maglio, PhD. is a columnist carried by various newspapers, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. You can visit Dr. Maglio at www.drmaglio.blogspot.com.