Hick Sacrifices Achievement For Superstition

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/highschool-prep-rally/kentucky-cross-country-runner-pulls-regional-championships-rather-111318529.html?soc_src=mediacontentstory

So flabbergasted was I by this story that it’s taken me like half a year to wrap my brain around it…

This is the quality of mind that Kentucky is producing for the nation and the world.  I guess shouldn’t be surprised that the home to the Creation Museum should be responsible for such grievous mis-education of a young person, but unfortunately many other knuckle-dragging regions are allowing the backwards telescope of religion to influence the curriculum of children in the public school setting.  You know who you are, Bobby Jindal…

My initial, knee-jerk reaction was to ridicule this poor girl, young woman really, for an imbecile.

But then I softened and realized that it’s not her fault, but that of those close to her who are charged with her well being as a minor…

Parents have the right to raise their children as they see fit of course, but that does not extend to neglect or abuse.  The school and the state step in where their is a perceived need.  Both my parents were public school teachers, so I am well aware of the horror stories. Children under-clothed and underfed, emotionally and physically abused.  The state does not stand for this sort of abuse, so where are they when it comes to safeguarding a young person’s intellect?  The school should ensure the student receives the best possible education based on the most current available knowledge, both for the good of the child and for the betterment of society at large.  If the child and her family insist on her education being guided by archaic and untenable mythologies, then they should send her to one of the many “religious schools” (oxymoron) available to help fools like them lie to their children.  The public school has no business tolerating such notorious idiocy and should openly teach students to question it. To not do so is to risk falling even further behind the rest of the developed, and even developing, world in terms of education, science and technological advancement.

Recently whilst patrolling the halls of a very average local small city high school, I glanced at the photographs of the valedictorians down through the years which hung there.  The last 26 in a row, dating back to the late 80’s, were Asian. Thai, Chinese, Indian, Pakistani, Japanese, Vietnamese and so on.  None of these kids would have refused to answer a question on her ACT because the number corresponded to an ancient taboo of her ancestors’ outdated belief systems.  Education, achievement, and advancement come first in their worlds.

The sad part is, this poor, misguided hillbilly will likely be lauded for standing up for fer her beliefs . This was a typical comment:

-Mary Ann

               “It really doesn’t matter what the rest of us believe, she believes and she stood up for what she believed. That is what                               counts.” (31 -2 likes over dislikes)

Sorry Mary Ann, what counts here is that her friends, teachers, coaches and school all failed to talk some sense into this poor kid.  The fact is that society does not fully trust what children believe.  That is why they are not allowed to vote.  Some of what they may believe may be deemed dangerous by society and therefore prohibited in the public school forum.  Rastafarians are not allowed to bring weed to school, the snake-handler cult people would not be allowed to bring a rattler to class, etc.  Most of what they may believe is simply stupid, and not to be tolerated by the public school, let alone advanced as some would have it.  Never mind the fairly obvious travesty of any belief at all in an invisible overlord.  The idea that this omnipotent being, who could create all we see in a week, might be offended by the draw of a random unit in an arbitrary numbering system, is so incredibly ridiculous that I am ashamed to share DNA with these people.  Besides, could no one have thought to simply pull out a Sharpie and scribble a nice ‘.1’ after the 666? Surely that would have confounded God and the Devil both!  Her friends would have made fun of the kid who was scared to wear the number 13, but somehow this bullshit gets a pass because it’s the prevailing national voodoo?  Every one involved here should have counseled her against sacrificing the possibility of real achievement for such half-witted reason. What does this kid do in math class?  Pretend one number doesn’t exist? 

                                  

Clearly the only party involved in this idiocy who should be lauded is the committee who refused to change her number for such a complete non-reason.  To do so would have been a violation of the Establishment clause.  Freedom of Religion will always be a guaranteed right here, for adults, like other rights, such as voting and smoking tobacco.  The time has come for us to protect the minds of children, as well as their bodies.  Indoctrination to religion at home should be questioned and challenged at every level in the public sector.  After all, we don’t allow parents to keep kids out of school and teach them at home according to whatever standard they may like, unknown languages, unworkable math, etc…why should we allow them to twist their minds with unprovable myths?   We, as a society, owe it to our children and ourselves to provide them with the best of modern knowledge or we will flounder and fall even further behind the modern world.  When they turn 21, let ’em choose any myth they want, based on what they have learned, or none at all.  

Just like with alcohol, tobacco and drugs…

**In mentioning this story to someone, I heard that perhaps another runner had ended up switching numbers with her, which would have been a nice gesture I guess.  Then I thought, if the girl truly believes the number is evil, then it’s not very Christian of her to let her friend burn in hell for wearing it!  Then again, deep thought is not what I expect from Kentucky…    rm