Hurrah for Laziness: The Imbecilization of Children

Lawyers do what they do: they sue. And rotten parents do what they do: anything to get out of parenting. And the kids . . . well, who the hell cares about them?

From The Guardian: Sherri and Tom Milley, two lawyers from Calgary, Alberta, launched their highly unusual case after years of struggling to make their three reluctant children do school work out of the classroom.

After waging a long war with their eldest son, Jay, now 18, over his homework, they decided to do things differently with their youngest two, Spencer, 11, and Brittany, 10. And being lawyers, they decided to make it official.

What a victory for the further imbecilization of children! Of course homework won't turn any child into Stephen Hawking. No, it's worse -- having to do homework might teach responsibility and self-discipline; impart the notion that one is responsible for one's actions. None of which has any place in our drive-thru, zombie-consumerist, Me first! world.

More from The Guardian: "It was a constant homework battle every night," Sherri told Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper. "It's hard to get a weeping child to take in math problems. They are tired. They shouldn't be working a second shift."

"Why were we putting our family through that stress?" she wondered. "If we don't want it all, we shouldn't have to have it."
. . .
"We think it's a parent's right to choose what's in our children's best interests," said Sherri. "But we're thankful the school did the right thing."

Well, I'm sure Sherri was thinking of someone's best interest, but I don't think it was her kid's. If we don't want it all, we shouldn't have to have it should be emblazoned on a bronze plaque.

So, good on you Sherri and Tom Milley, liberators of children, freers of the oppressed, lifters of the lowly, speakers for the mute, and excuse forgers for the terminally lazy. Score one in the Win column for mediocrity, ignorance and the further erosion of character in the North American ambulatory biped.

The following suggestion may fall into the category of the accursed "homework," but I do hope that Sherri and Tom Milley's children do learn a couple phrases before they grow out of tween-pain-in-the-asshood to shiftless twentynothinghood. Those two helpful phrases are: "Welcome to Wal-Mart" and "You want fries with that?"