HBO “Real Time” host Bill Maher recently criticized President Barack Obama’s decision to support a Rhode Island superintendent, who fired every single teacher at a failing high school, forcing them to reapply to their jobs. He stated, “New Rule: Let’s not fire the teachers when students don’t learn—let’s fire the parents,” Maher said, arguing that teachers are scapegoats for the failings of society. “Isn’t it convenient that once again it turns out that the problem isn’t us, and the fix is something that doesn’t require us to change our behavior or spend any money?” he asked, alleging, “According to all the studies, it doesn’t matter what teachers do.”

This week, John Legend responded to Maher’s statements in the Daily Beast. He came to Obama’s defense and claimed that it is teachers, not parents, who hold the key to children’s educational success and that they should be held more accountable.  I think that both John and Bill are each half right!  It is BOTH parenting and teaching.  The best teachers in the world cannot help a child if he/she goes home to ignorant parents!  Far too many parents dump their sugar buzzed, badly trained, little no neck monsters in the laps of the school system and expect them to perform miracles!  But on the other hand, there are far too many teachers who are just taking up space in the classroom and teaching an outdated curriculum that has no relevance in today’s world.  Numerous studies have proven that children, whose parents spend focused time with them, end up faring much better.  The solution is simple.  Child bearing is a choice.  If you cannot afford children, then you should not have them.  And I mean, afford in every sense of the word, not just financially.  Before breeding, individuals  should ask themselves, can I afford both the money, the time, the emotional and spiritual energy it takes to properly raise a child to be an actualized adult?  Too often people pop a child out with no plans for his/her future or their own.   If you are as John says “struggling in poverty” or “working double shifts just to make ends meet,” then you cannot afford a child either financially or time wise.  It’s the cold hard truth.  Live with it.  The American capitalist system is not set up to care about people who are dumb enough to have kids they can’t afford to raise properly.  It cares little for them.  Thus, it comes down to the parents to make sure that THEIR children are properly equipped to compete.  It’s called “planning”!

The school system cannot educate a child alone.  Even a talented and gifted child still needs parents who have a plan for their future.  I have seen first hand what bad parenting and/or poor planning can do to a child’s future.  I have a very young niece that can’t afford to pay for a ringtone for her phone, who is currently pregnant!  That is just ridiculous.  But her parents had no real plans for her, so what can truly be expected?  Parents are the biggest influence on a child and they need to be in partnership with good teachers not off “struggling in poverty” or “doing double shifts to make ends meet”!

Tiger, Tiger, Tiger!  Fire your management team immediately!  The ghastly Nike ad, with your dead Dad’s admonishing voice, was totally ill-conceived and downright creepy!  It’s as if you are trying to use your poor dead Dad to garner sympathy for your sexual peccadilloes.  The ad has a “Weekend At Bernie’s” vibe to it and fails on every level!  Rather than spur people to run out and buy Nike products, it mostly just grossed everybody out!  What next?  Are you gonna dig Earl up and prop his corpse up in the stands?!  I can’t imagine that your Mom approved of this.  If she did, stop listening to her too!  We get it, Tiger.  You messed up and you are now willing to publicly lynch yourself in your quest to keep your Blonde wife!  The problem is, that it is unfair of the two of you to continue to ask for privacy, then ram your problems in our faces!  Enough already.  Just win the Masters and leave us out of your little psychodrama!  Most of us have plenty of drama of our own to deal with!

I am very amused by the meteoric rise of Ashey Dupre due to her tumbles in the hay with our former Governor Eliot Spitzer.  In another lifetime, I met Ashley.  We were all rolling our eyes to the sky at this irritating lil’ wannabe, who spent the whole afternoon building herself up by dropping celebrity names.  Who could’ve known that she would just a few years later be a celebrity herself, abet through dubious means?!  And I agree with the ladies on the View, I’m not sure if we, as a society, are sending young girls the right message to be rewarding prostitutes with columns and Playboy spreads!  But hey, having had quite an interesting Life of my own, (no I was never a hooker!) I am not one to pass judgment.  However, we do need to start taking a look at what kind of behavior we applaud lest me completely destroy ourselves.

And finally, cried my eyes out over the leaked Whitney Houston tape!  I pray that Sista can get her thing together!  Years of abuse can totally destroy a voice, I hope that this is not her Fate.   But I also hope that she will be a cautionary tale to others that are ruining their lives with drugs and alcohol.

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