My Daughter (14) and the Debate

[RoyGBiv]

Wanted to share this personal "proud dad" story.

My daughter has developed a political conscience in the past year, and with it, she's started to learn some of the downfalls of speaking your mind on controversial issues. She has a history teacher who openly criticizes her and one of her friends for their views, which he openly solicits just to have the chance to knock them down. (This is particularly irritating to me because of my background in history and my attempts to keep my daughter interested in the subject. It's become a challenge with this guy's influence.)

Last night, about half-way through the debate, she called me, and asked, "So, Kerry's killing him, right?"

"Right."

"Good, I thought so. Just wanted to make sure for tomorrow."

"What's tomorrow?"

"<History teacher> asked me and Heather if his two liberal activists would be watching the debates tonight and that we should because it would prove how much better Bush is and he wouldn't have to listen to us about him any more." (Something like that.)

More conversation ensued as we watched together. She too noticed the bad posture, the blinking, the smarmy facial expressions. I went over some "talking points" with her, gave her ideas on how to react to things her teacher might say. I wouldn't normally encourage open rebellion against a teacher, but from listening to her, and talking with him once, it's become apparent to me this guy is a moron who needs to be brought down a few notches. He picks on kids. Much of this year so far, I've helped her pick back in small ways. He's not very good at history either. With the invitation his parting shot gave them before leaving class yesterday, I decided it was time to open the big guns.

This afternoon, I got another call. She was giddy.

"You won't believe it. He admitted Kerry won. He really admitted it! He let me and Heather say anything we wanted, and he stood up in front of class and everything and said we were right!"

Thank you, John Kerry. You helped a young lady's confidence immeasurably.

[slinkerwink]

that's great!

[proud patriot]

1. Right On

:bounce: That's great to hear

[Kanary]

2. What a woman!

:toast: to be held in trust for daughter until she is of age. :)

Having had a teacher pick on me in 6th grade, I have some idea what she is going through, and I can tel you that having a parent helping her gain the inner strength to deal with it is *everything*!

:toast: for dad!

Kanary

[RoyGBiv]

3. Thanks

I'll take it, and hold on to hers for the future. :-)

:toast:

[madrchsod]

4. she sounds like my 18yr old daughter..

last year she did the same thing and ran into problems with her teachers..good thing she got out of high school and on to college. she reads du ,bbc , and a couple of other sites daily. she never misses john stewart.. guess sometimes we just have to say how proud we are of our daughters,,whether we deserve it or not....na,just kidding. i think we`ve done a better job than you know who....

[Kanary]

6. Did you have her on a leash? No?

Then you definitely did better than *.

:) :thumbsup: :)

Kanary

[phylny]

16. I, too, had a giddy moment with my daughter

She's in college in Virginia (such a conservative state) and I asked her, "Did you watch the debates?" She gave me an evil laugh and said, "Didn't he just SMASH Bush? I watched The Daily Show afterward and could hardly contain myself!"

She's so excited that she's voting in her first election ever this year :)

We have three daughters and never once felt like we should put them in a leash like ... you know who.

[WillyT]

5. Fantastic !!! - Good For You, And Good For Your Daughter And Her Friend !!

:toast::yourock::toast:

[saracat]

7. Congratulations! Sounds like you raised a great daughter!

and maybe a potential candidate?

[RoyGBiv]

8. She's got the heart for it ...

That girl loves to speak her mind, and she's developing some definite opinions.

[WilliamPitt]

9. Kerry was so clearly dominant, she didn't need your talking points

Suh-weet.

You sound like a great father, a far better teacher than she has now. Kinda cool that Kerry rendered the need for your talking points moot, right? The troof is the troof.

:toast:

[RoyGBiv]

10. Yup ...

I was talking to her when I still was trying to imagine how this would be spun, but Kerry was so dominant, the spin doesn't seem to have worked.

She had this whole speech planned. She and Heather had even coordinated before class.

He kinda took the wind out of their sails for a moment by actually letting them talk first, but they apparently rebounded fairly quickly and just went with it.

[WilliamPitt]

12. As a former teacher of young women

you did your daughter a great service, and taught her a great lesson. In this country, under the current (and future) circumstances, women who know how to speak their mind in public and under pressure are worth their weight in silver and gold, to themselves, and to the rest of us.

[RoyGBiv]

13. Not just me ...

I do my part, but I cannot take all the credit.

I come from a family of strong-willed women, and I have in turn been the benefactor of NOT being indoctrinated with the myth that women are the "weaker" sex, which is particularly rare in rural Oklahoma where I was raised.

The stories I heard as a child were about my grandmother and her sisters racing each other to be the first in the family to acquire a PhD, or the first to get a job teaching advanced math, or the first actually to walk around in public in long pants rather than a skirt. My Aunt Alta, who is almost 100, caused a stir as a youth by driving down Main Street, by herself, in a car she bought herself. Oh, the HORROR!

My daughter was lucky enough to have the influence of my grandmother in her life until she was 5, and since then I've done what I could to pass on the family history. She likes it. It makes her feel empowered. Yeah, I tell the stories, and I tell her it's right to feel the way she does about them, but the women who created these stories deserve the real credit.

[WilliamPitt]

14. Fair enough

[Booster]

21. You should be very proud of your daughter. Sounds like

she just may have taught the teacher a thing or two.

[jbutsz]

11. As someone who is watching his early-teen nieces...

being "indoctrinated" by family political myths before they've had a chance to learn how to think for themselves, this is a wonderful and welcomed story to read. Thanks.

[fujiyama]

15. Wow

that too you live in a pretty conservative state. How is Ok City? Is it more liberal than the rural areas?

That's really impressive on the part of your daughter. BTW keep close attention to the teacher's grading and make sure that there isn't any bias in it.

He sounds like he's a bit of moron, but it is possible that he wants to challenge his students to think critically, though this sounds doubtful. It sounds like your daughter is a smart kid though and she doesn't back down. That's really impressive.

[Disturbed]

17. Kudos to you and your daughter

Hey, that is great.

Both of my daughters refused to say the Pledge of Alligiance in HS and were sent to to Principal's Office. I was called. I went there and told him that I would call an Attorney unless my daughters were sent back to class and could sit down and not say the pledge. He shrugged and said ok.

I was and am real proud of my daughters. One is a "liberal" Dem and the other is in the "Peace and Freedom" Party. Both in college now and doing quite well.

[RoyGBiv]

19. OKC is a Republican Stronghold

There are pockets in OKC that tend to be more liberal, but the full metro area is very conservative. One of the most racist towns in American is a suburb of OKC.

Oklahoma itself breaks the mold. Democrats have a better chance in rural areas than in the cities, Tulsa and OKC. For Democrats to win a statewide race, they have to negate the influence of those two areas, and they usually do this by making a hard right turn, which has the effect of demoralizing the more liberal residents. Result: low voter turnout. It's been a challenge to support our Democratic senatorial candidate under these circumstances.

As for the teacher, him challenging his students to think was a possibility I considered as well, and I thought perhaps my daughter was exaggerating a bit about him and not quite understanding this. This is why I decided to talk to him. It was a friendly talk -- we discussed history mostly -- and he is more tolerant of various viewpoints than I initially expected. My daughter and her friends had staged a "protest of silence" to draw attention to the abuse of gays the previous year, and he was one of few teachers in the school who didn't openly object. However, he considers my daughter's views to be "misguided" and "unChristian." I responded to that in such a way that he was left with little doubt I, who had helped "guide" her views, would haul his ass into a courtroom if he tried force a "Christian" view of anything on anyone.

[slor]

18. May her future be as bright and clear...

as her intellect and courage.

[proud patriot]

20. she reminds me of myself when I was in H.S.

my dad backed me up with certain teachers too .

I remember one in paticular's first statement to my
dad was "Hi so you are the radical" he he he...

edited for grammar

[Zomby Woof]

22. great kid!

Be proud! Kicking freeper teacher ass!!! :D

[jclay]

23. ear piece in Shrub's ear?

I just read an article on Buzzflash.com that said Bush may have been parroting someone (maybe Rove) who was speaking to him through an earpiece during the debates. Bush responded "let me finish" in the middle of a response he was giving when no one actually said anything to him. Anybody know about this?

[Eloriel]

24. Fabulous story, proud dad

Thanks for sharing it.

[Democat]

25. Congratulations to your daughter!

Sounds like a great kid - she is the future of the party and the country! :)

[jn2375]

26. My son is also fighting the battle for Kerry in school

He is only 13 but has done a pretty good job of defending him, When he comes home with another Kerry lie I research the facts and give then him to take back to school. The cartoons of Bush being a moron also help. I hate to use them but dealing with 13 and 14 year old boys it seems its the only way to fight back. When teachers confront him I supply him with the facts. Thanks heavens there is one teacher who sides with him and also tells the students who are proBush she doesn't want to hear the lies they should LOOK AT THE FACTS.
My 13 year old son knows more about the facts then grown up Republicans.

[RoyGBiv]

30. Congrats to your son ...

In some ways it is even harder for boys, I think. They're supposed to be "tough guys." Thinking is not generally considered a positive virtue among teenaged boys, and those that do think tend to be ostracized.

Just keep supporting him, and he'll keep plugging away.

:toast: to you and your son.

[Cha]

27. That's a beautiful story...

I've heard so many stories on people's reaction to the "debate"..this one is priceless!

Thank You RoyG!:D

[Killer Poodle]

28. It's great to see teenagers interested in politics.

Not many are. Out of all the young adults I come into contact with only a couple care at all.

Good parenting helps. =)

[RoyGBiv]

29. I know what you mean ...

I am very thankful that my daughter is opening her eyes to the world. I know too many teenagers that don't and possibly never will.

There are a lot of influences working together, and sometimes against each other, that determine whether someone develops in that direction. It's been hard for me to accept that I have control over almost none of them. So, I just do what I can do and take full advantage of the openings as they present themselves ... and I try to create openings where I can.

This may sound weird, but I think the start of her interest in politics began with _The Lord of the Rings_. I somehow managed to talk her into reading the books before I took her to see the movies. (She's always been a voracious reader, so this wasn't too hard, but at the time she started, the books were a little advanced for her level.) She noticed things in the books that a lot of adults don't get, and this generated a lot of conversations about the points Tolkein was trying to make about the modern world. This opened her eyes to a lot of things going on around her.

Her friend is also a huge influence in her life, and I'm happy she seems to have chosen her friends well. Her friend reminds me of one of my childhood friends who helped lead me in a more "radical" direction with my politic beliefs. Some of the parallels are almost scary.

[UrbScotty]

31. We need a great, shall we say, 'restoration of hope' in this country.

John Kerry will do that.