There's a certain line drawn through my high school based on age and maturity. Through the past 4 years, that line has become more and more defined, and I don't think it's merely because I've gotten older. This year's freshman are worse than last year's who were worse than the year before's. They need a special explenation and invitation to do everything. Doing a lot of work is an accomplishment that you personally should be praised for, even if you did the same, or not as well as the rest of the class or group. They seem to think in questions that are half self answered and half answered by anybody nearby. Why can't the directions be followed as they were given. Very rarely is it very complicated. So that's the little rant about freshman that prefaced my discussion of parents in soceity. A friend and I were blame parents on the sudden change. It is now ok for a kid to be wrong, it just makes them special. They're perfect, but make mistakes so they don't have to work hard, nor should they be punished. This extreme lack of discipline along with solely positive input causes incabable kids. My friend, who I mentioned in the last blog, Hannah, gets yelled at if she doesn't get an A. Not understanding something means that she needs to study harder to understand it. Hannah's dad pushes her so much and is so determined for her to succeed, she sees that riding o her shoulders and does her part to keep his dreams going. American parents don't seem to push so hard for such dreams, maybe because we've al been spoiled. But then contrast present America to China to Older America. Discipline was key. Bad grade means you're grounded, no phone, something simple. What ever happened to action followed by consequence. I understand how the Chinese way is different from a cuultural perspective, so that can almost go ignored, but what about the discrepencacy in American parenting over the past few years. I remember that if I brought home a C, I'd be in big trouble: no TV all week usually. Now...it's the teacher's fault, or it doesn't matter because it was a good effort. If there's no pushing, there's no effort, that's how Americans function. Basically, parenting in differend soceities is so different. I'd say the Chinese way yields the most physical success, the new American way the most emotional success, but the old way seems to have the right balance to me. Which is better in the end though?