The American Spectator

Reader Mail

(Page 4 of 16)

Wouldn't you once like to see a movie about Diana who is the oldest of five girls in a family with two hard working parents who had not even graduated from high school and although both worked full time, never grossed more than $10,000 per year in their lives -- and nevertheless, Diana and any sister who wants to go are headed for college at their own expense because Mom and Dad taught them how? Albeit they will not attend a major Upscale University or spend their entire time binge drinking, protesting and worrying about whether or not they are pregnant?

How about a movie about Leon whose older brother dropped out of high school to support the family after his father ran off with his secretary, who is going to college because his brother says life will go on the same as if their two-timing rat of a dad were still there?

Or even a movie about Mary Jane, who doesn't want to go to college at all and who is resisting the pressure from guidance counselors, teachers, aunts, uncles, cousins, girl friends and hoi polloi of all sorts and is firmly intent on attending secretarial school with the aim of following her idolized Auntie into a high powered law firm and traveling the world helping the boss negotiate deals with the Czechs and the Poles and the Germans?

p>Why do all teenage movies have to be about Popular Kids going to High End Universities and meanwhile Dumping Their Girlfriends/Boyfriends or committing crimes? br> -- Kate Shaw br> Toronto, Canada /p>

Wait... there's a documentary about American teenagers out there? Mayhaps I should go and catch up on this, it sounds amusing. Granted, high school is still a pretty recent memory for me, it wasn't all that long ago as I graduated in '97. And honestly, I've never looked back. I could probably relate easily to almost all of the characters as mentioned here, except for the jock. I myself never really got into sports; I was always focused on the hard sciences and quite the geek. I can especially relate to the character of Jake and his difficulty with finding a girlfriend. And I'm not sure if it's Bowman's judgment, or if he's relating the young freshman girl's judgment, but you can rarely do better than the nerds. By the way, any fathers with angst over their young daughter's choices in men, provide gentle encouragement to date the nerds and the geeks. We're the best men they're going to find in high school, we don't have a reputation to keep up. And, in general, we're more considerate, more mature, and more honest. And the most likely to be successful.

p>Still, Mr. Bowman makes a good point. We've all been through high school, we really don't need a documentary that's trying to make us all feel like there's something to be learned here. Or perhaps the documentary that is suggesting that high school was actually, you know, important in the long-run. I think the best lesson for anyone, anywhere, who's coming out high school is pretty simple. In five years, neither you nor anyone else is actually going to care. Try to keep that in mind. br> -- Charles Campbell br> Austin, Texas /p> p> As I have shared with my students for the last 15 years or so: "You are going through the second most difficult age of your lives." When they inquire, as they always do, "What's the first?" I reply honestly, "Being the parent of someone your age."

topics:
Education, Trade, John McCain, Bill Clinton, Television, Business, Sports, Religion, Movies, Law, Supreme Court, Military, Iraq, Iran, Russia, NATO, Africa, Oil