PUBLIC MARKS from jasontromm with tags young & school

I'm starting to think that if Jesus Himself came back to earth, there'd be no shortage of people around who would criticize his every move. I guess that's just the way we've become. When I managed to convince the hateful, horrible members of the Westboro Baptist Church to call off their planned "protests" outside the funerals of the little Amish girls in Pennsylvania, I didn't expect to get a ticker tape parade or anything. In fact, I wasn't looking to do anything at all except figure out how to use my radio show to thwart these people from hurting the Amish mourners any further.

Michigan State Senator Beverly Hammerstrom, a Republican, has introduced a bill requiring all girls entering the sixth grade to receive a vaccination that protects against cervical cancer. Under the bill, Michigan would become the first state in the nation to require the vaccine for school entry. Since the virus that causes cervical cancer can be sexually transmitted, some parents say giving it to young girls presupposes that they will engage in premarital sex -- and may even encourage such behavior. ()() I'm against mandatory vaccinations in general and this vaccination in particular. It doesn't have a proven track record like the chicken pox vaccination. It's almost impossible to prove that it's working to protect the general population.

The nerd has persisted as a consistent character of high school practically since the invention of group education. We see him with frequency in our own lives, and in pop culture, too. The nerd reliably makes an appearance in every teen-targeted blockbuster, novel or comic. But now, the stereotypically male nerd is almost exclusively female. No longer is nerdiness -- diligence and commitment to school -- so derogatory a characteristic. In fact, now, it is socially prized, but just in young women. Male nerds? No more. ()() I'm afraid my daughter might be slipping into this new category of girl geek.