50-something Moms Blog

College Students and Jury Duty

Many students go to school in a state other than their own when they head off to college. They may get a jury duty notice from their home state while away, and usually they can postpone jury duty until they graduate without having to ever appear at a courthouse. This is all very reasonable. Then there is Massachusetts.

Massachusetts has 121 institutions for higher education within its relatively small area. To take advantage of a tremendous jury pool it calls students that are citizens of other states, but go to school in Massachusetts, for jury duty. These students are not allowed to postpone it by phone or online or mail. They must spend a day in court and ask the judge to grant a postponement. In the meantime, these kids are also being called for jury duty in their home state!

Minimum Drinking Age is Unconstitutional and Does More Harm Than Good

Did you know that almost every country has a minimum drinking age of 18, if they even have one at all. Did you also know that the minimum drinking age in the United States was always 18 until 1984? The law almost didn't pass because there was a very heated fight in Congress over passing this law and it mostly came into effect due to the lobbying efforts of Candy Lightner and the Mothers Against Drunk Driving organization (MADD).

Before I even get to the arguments why this law is unconstitutional for a couple of reasons, I need to speak to the more practical problems with this law and why it doesn't work. The main reason is that 18-21 year olds are going to drink no matter what the law is. The law isn't preventing teen drinking, it is just making teens find devious ways to do it.

Back in the day, when I was college aged, the regular place that we hung out when we got together was in bars. Some of us drank a lot and some barely at all. It was just a place where a large group could go and meet up. Now, many teens, especially college students, want to get together and hang out in this atmosphere and to do so they have resorted to fake I.D.s Before 9/11 this was not such a terrible offense. However, the use of fake I.D.s has now been tied to terrorists, so anyone caught using one could face criminal charges. Why are we turning our kids into criminals?

Bonding with My Son through Blogging

Last winter my nineteen year old son was stuck in the house due to a snowstorm and we had some great bonding time together. He actually told me about something that happened that made him think I was cool, or at least that my blogging is.

We were discussing our favorite TV show, Lost, as we often do. He told me that a week or two before he did a search on Google to find a recap for the latest Lost episode. My blog, Connect with your Teens through Pop Culture and Technology, came up at the top of the search rankings. He was so impressed that this could happen to his mom's blog. He even told some of his friends and they were impressed. It isn't everyday that my son brags about something I did to his friends. Usually when teens mention their moms it is to complain. (However, it took him a few weeks to remember to tell me this story).

Public School Education's Biggest Problem

Education initiatives in the United States never seem to amount to an improvement in public school education. There is one thing that will drastically improve the education that students in public schools receive - Abolish tenure. Are the teacher's unions so powerful that our kids are put at risk?

There is no reason that teachers of grades 1-12 need tenure. Tenure originally was instituted in University's so that professors would not have to worry about getting fired for teaching controversial
theories. Grade school teachers are given so little leeway in what they teach because of standardized testing, that tenure surely isn't necessary at this level.

However, the harm to students from tenure can be drastic. I've personally seen many older teachers that have lost their passion and interest in teaching, stay in their job for the retirement benefits. Even parental complaints don't help because principals are scared of starting large complicated legal actions, which tenure makes necessary.

Ebooks for Students, Please!

When my kids were younger, I hated seeing them lug their heavy backpacks full of books to and from school. Once they were in college, I couldn't believe how expensive the books were. There is such a simple solution to both of these problems - ebooks.

There are so many benefits to students using ebook readers with electronic textbooks. Obviously a major benefit is that they would only have to carry this one item instead of books for every subject. And, the cost of the books would be reduced. However, those are not the only advantages of ebook use in school.

Ebook readers that have Internet access, which they all will have  eventually, will enable students to easily look up word definitions and research topics from the text with just a click of the mouse. With school age children growing up using computers, think how much better they might take to their studies if it is in the digital form they are used to.

Memories of Olympics Past

With the 2010 Winter Olympics just beginning, I've been thinking about my favorite Olympic memories. No matter how many events each Olympics has, it still seems that I only remember one particular person, team and/or event from each one.

The first time I remember watching the Olympics was in the summer of 1984. However, even though I didn't watch earlier Olympics, I vividly remember the excitement of Nadia Comaneci getting the first perfect 10 in gymnastics in 1976 and the United States ice hockey team winning in 1980. I've watched so many clips that I feel like I saw it live.

In 1984, I was mesmorized by the gymnastics competitions, both men and women. Both teams were amazing, but the highlight for not only me, but the entire country, was Mary Lou Retton scoring a 10 on the Vault to win the individual Gold medal in Los Angeles. The only gymnastics memory that has come even close, since then, was in 1996 in Atlanta, when Keri Strug vaulted with an injured ankle and landed on one foot to help the women's team win the gold metal.

What Happened to Common Sense?

I just read about a new federal law that prohibits texting by commercial truck and bus drivers. While I applaud this law, should it even be necessary. I still can't understand how anyone would do something that requires you to take your eyes and thoughts off the road while driving.

Some people complain that the U.S. government legislates and regulates too many aspects of out lives. Maybe if we all used our common sense, they wouldn't need to. People need to understand that cars are deadly weapons and need to be treated that way.

When I was a child, there were no laws regulating where children should sit in cars. There were no car seats and seat belts weren't required. Many children sat in the front seat sans seatbelts. Wouldn't common sense have dictated to parents that they shouldn't allow this. Eventually even seat belt use for adults had to be legislated because of a lack of common sense.

Will Daytime Soap Operas Soon Be a Thing of the Past?

CBS announced today that it is cancelling the long running daytime soap opera, As the World Turns, after 54 years. There will now only be six daytime soaps left on the air. Procter & Gamble, the company that owned As the World Turns and gave soap operas their name, will now be completely out of the soap opera business. How long will it be before soap operas go the way of silent films and typewriters?

Although the only daytime soap opera that I have ever watched, One Life to Live, is still on the air, it makes me sad to see this genre hanging on by a thread. I would have thought that video recorders and then DVRs would boost ratings of soaps because now one doesn't have to be home during the daytime to watch them. While this might be true for fans that were already watching, it turns out that new viewers have became rare.

Jewish Families and the Christmas Season

I've lived my entire life in the New York metropolitan area, so it was often easy to forget that Jews are a small minority in the United States. However, every December, no matter where you live, Christmas takes over our country and it is difficult to not feel left out.

Jewish parents have built up Chanukah to try to give their kids a semblance of Christmas. However, Chanukah is a minor holiday in the Jewish religion and the only benefit of doing this is to have a holiday near Christmas to give gifts. The rest of the Christmas trappings are still missing. A menorah and dreidel are no match for Christmas trees, songs, lights, TV specials and more.

The Jewish calendar makes it even more difficult to turn Chanukah into a substitute Christmas. Every year I would look at the calendar and hope that Chanukah would fall in late December. I would always dread when it arrived at the beginning of the month. It would mean remembering to start the holiday shopping before all of the ads and displays came out. Even though that meant less crowded stores, it was difficult seeing all of the sales and gift recommendation lists come out after we were done. It also meant being done with our festivities while the holiday season was still in full swing every where else.

2012 - Are You Worried?

I've always enjoyed disaster movies. Growing up I loved Airport, The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno and Jaws. Back then the disasters were small and localized. Even though 90s movies, Deep Impact and Armageddon, posited the end of the world, I looked at that as complete fiction. However, with all the talk around the new movie 2012 and the Mayan calendar and other prophesies, is it crazy or normal to be nervous that our world may be coming to an end?

After deciding that it is ridiculous to worry about ancient myths, I came across an article in USA Today, Oh, Maya! Is 2012 the End? Film Boosts Doomsday Prophecy. In the article, a senior NASA scientist that has been receiving about a dozen letters a day shared that "a large proportion are from people who sound genuinely afraid. Some teenagers say they're thinking of ending their lives. I got two letters from mothers who said they are thinking of killing their children and themselves rather than go through this."