Kids Nowadays

Hey all,

Hope you all had a great Labor Day. A day to celebrate all of us who labor. I saw a suggestion on a CNN editorial that says we should just call it "Capital Day" because we don't really celebrate those that labor as the ones who make this country the way it is today. I am just saying. I don't want to get anyone fired up first thing.

Just got back from Washington D.C. No the president didn't want to talk to me about the state of Dental Blogs. I just went for a little vacation and to see my friend play soccer for Georgetown.

Pretty good weather, great shopping, and a lot of walking around. We did spend some time seeing the monuments, which was good. Good eatin' too.

Topic...
There was a mother and her son here getting their teeth cleaned. We started joking about school with the kid. She ends up saying, "It is not Joey that we have to worry about, it is his older sister, Julie, that we have to worry about."

Then the kid says, "Oh yeah, Julie hates school."

Then the mom goes on to say that she is coming in this afternoon to get her teeth cleaned.

Okay, most of us are relatively successful people. Most of us are dentists. Some of you are dental people, some of you are friends, some of you are casual observers. But I think the one thing that we can agree on is school is good for you. Wouldn't you agree?

Listen, I know it is not always very exciting, and I know school is not always the best environment for a teen. I get that. But what I am saying is that the end justifies the means. That at the end of all the pain and suffering, there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow (maybe for some of you it is a pot of copper, but at least there is a pot of something).

School opens doors to jobs and relationships that will open doors to jobs. We all know this....but, 15-year-old girls don't.

So I kind of thought about it, and next thing you know I get called to do a recall exam. It is Julie.

I go in there and start in on her. "So, I hear you don't like school."

She says, "Well, it is not that I don't like school...I don't like getting up for school."

So, I think about it for a second and then ask her, "So you don't like getting up so early. What would be the most ideal time for you to go to school."

She said, "Well, I would like to get up at 10 a.m. but then it takes me about two hours to get ready, so noon would be good."

Then after a good belly laugh, I asked her, "So what job do you think you are going to get out here in the real world that you will be able to begin work at noon or later (You are thinking Gentleman's club aren't you?)?

She says, "I am going to own my own business." Then I really started to laugh.

I said, "I own my own business and I get here at 6:45 a.m." Then she looks at me like, "Well then you are stupid."

I started to think about it, and I was thinking she thinks she is going to be the next Bill Gates. She thinks she is going to be the next dot-com owner. And even if she is going to become the next Bill Gates, she is certainly is going to have to get out of the house before noon. What is wrong with kids nowadays? She is totally delusional.

How does this girl become 15-years-old and not know that 99.9999 percent of working people get up before 10 a.m.? How does she not know that if she owns her own business, that not only is she going to need an education, but owning your own business is harder and more stressful than people with employee status (that is not to say that employee status is not hard or stressful)?

I am about to have a teenager in six month, so correct me if I am wrong. Do they all think adults are stupid?

"You are so stupid for getting up early and going to work." "You are so dumb, but can you hurry up and buy me that car?"

Is this kid really this clueless to the real world? Now if she is, then I have to say that I blame the parents a little. I mean we all want to give our kids everything. We get them iPads, and laptops, and iPods (and soon cars), and whatever they want, but what we don't teach them is the VALUE. They don't know how dad and mom went to school for a long time, studied countless hours to get this degree, sacrificed a lot to get this good job, worked a long time as an associate to finally become owner, and now works even harder to buy you that over-priced thing that is going to be obsolete in two years.

I am certainly going to try to get my kids to know how lucky they are to get to go to school. It is a privilege to go to school, public or private.

I don't know. I am a guy that values education. I am a product of higher education. And we all want our kids to have more than we did. Well, I want my kids to go to better schools, hoping that it will open up different (and better) doors than I had opened to me. So when someone says they don't like school, it really chaps me.
What am I to say to someone that doesn't like school?

"Yeah, school is stupid. Its good for nothin'. You know what would be way cool....why don't you drop out of school and get a tattoo on your neck. That would be so cool."

Man, am I getting old. And crotchety.

Have a great Wednesday,

j