Maggie's Farm

Agree that it is some post-Christian thing. There is some relationship between Europe's declining religious faith and declining birth rates of their native populations. Not as simplistic as objections to the Pope on birth control, or economic explanations. As people become more secular, they are less willing to sacrifice for others, even their own offspring. It goes way beyond people living in small apartments or not needing farm labor. The sad thing is that nations of only children will be in deep trouble in a few years. Nations of people who all grew up the center of their family's universe may be more selfish nations? I am not saying that all only children are selfish, just that all of us are naturally selfish and siblings rather brutally educate us in social life, and how to fit in, work together, ally against the wicked parents, whatever...

Re: mandated student volunteerism. In my family, nothing is mandated. All our children are given the option: they volunteer at church or they do not eat. I have not heard any complaints as yet. Either from the kids (who love their teaching and helping out with little kids and coffee hour) or from church.

I am only half tongue in cheek. I think it is important for families to insist that children give their time and efforts to help others. It has been particularly important to us at times when we have felt alienated from our community or belonged to churches with problems, or when even a beloved church has been leaving us cold spiritually. We all have found that when we quit b*&@#ing and just do some work around the place and reach out to other people instead of being our naturally grouchy anti-social selves, we feel better and fonder of the people around us. And it is nice to be useful. I have already had each child exclaim in turn, each aged around 14 how "I was really fed up with church and youth group, but when I got to do something instead of yak and eat donuts, it meant more...."

But I am appalled by the college application volunteer rat race here. By contrast, in France, high school students headed for university are not allowed to have jobs or significant extracurricular activities. It is expected that their primary focus will be studying. Academics. Reading literature in their spare time. Whatever else you can say about France, their approach to education has certain advantages. For example, a relative who has just spent a year there tells me how much more sane is the approach of tracking kids to vocational schools and apprenticeships who are not cut out for university. Based on her conversations with motivated kids from normal, intact middle class families (there are some, despite the headlines about disaffected youths and immigrant rebels), the system works pretty well. In fact, the kids who go thru the apprenticeships are far more likely to be able to find work than the university bound ones, because they learn something useful.

I know, I know, y'all hate the French. But I think we have much to learn from them, and they have been very good to my family for generations (long family tradition of visiting and studying there).

http://whitewolf.newcastle.edu.au/words/authors/K/KiplingRudyard/verse/volumeXI/fuzzywuzzy.html