by 
Schools are deviating further from their purpose every year it seems. What started out as an institution to promote the learning of the basics of education has seen itself forced into a pulpit for secular humanism and a place for indoctrination into the latest liberal thoughts and practices.
On the surface, one sees some really beneficial things in the liberal’s thought– it would be great if we could all share our wealth and no one could go hungry. It would be terrific if there could be no wars. The problem is that we do not live in the perfect world, and apart from Christ we will not get there. The other problem is that giving children freedom in absence of a moral standard is a recipe for destruction.
Take, for instance, what is being sold as cheerleading in the current culture. Now, I have to admit, as a teenage boy it was hard not to be tempted by the short skirts that cheerleaders wore– regardless of whether they were bloomers, panties, or whatever they had under those skirts. The fact that some of their moves made their skirts come up was not something that effected me in a godly way.
A few years after I was done with college, I was attending a high school basketball game, and I couldn’t believe that it had gotten worse. The girls came out in regular cheerleading outfits, except the panels of the pleated skirts were cut (or never connected) so that it was like getting a peep show the entire time. And they danced provocatively to some rock song… Kinda like what is recounted by Lawrence Downes (courtesy of WizBang):
It’s hard to write this without sounding like a prig. But it’s just as hard to erase the images that planted the idea for this essay, so here goes. The scene is a middle school auditorium, where girls in teams of three or four are bopping to pop songs at a student talent show. Not bopping, actually, but doing elaborately choreographed re-creations of music videos, in tiny skirts or tight shorts, with bare bellies, rouged cheeks and glittery eyes.
They writhe and strut, shake their bottoms, splay their legs, thrust their chests out and in and out again. Some straddle empty chairs, like lap dancers without laps. They don’t smile much. Their faces are locked from grim exertion, from all that leaping up and lying down without poles to hold onto. “Don’t stop don’t stop,” sings Janet Jackson, all whispery. “Jerk it like you’re making it choke. …Ohh. I’m so stimulated. Feel so X-rated.” The girls spend a lot of time lying on the floor. They are in the sixth, seventh and eighth grades.
You see, the ultimate expression of sexual liberation is a constant and pervasive concept in people’s minds that we are all sexual beings primarily– which is totally inaccurate. We are beings created to worship. However, we are being lead to worship sex, the god “Eros” or however you want to look at it.
This is exactly the battleground us as parents and teens have to face as our society continues to be saturated in not only sexual stimuli, but encouragement to parade ourselves around as if we’re here for only one purpose– self pleasure. Christians know that there is a higher calling.
Only it is worse in Sweden…
You may at least point out the inappropriety of this, while here you are labeled ‘stupid’ if you dare to say no…
Really? It’s that bad in Sweden? Here I am thinking it’s REALLY bad here in America according to the above article. You’re a Swedish transplant…is it really worth it to live there?
The quoted section is sickening, but has to be said to wake people up. Here in our small town, they have cheerleading clinics for the little bitty kids…1st graders even. I always thought cheerleading was kind of tame, that the dance teams were the really bad girls…but cheerleaders definitely are giving them a run for the money. It’s going to get to where parents of sons won’t want them participating in sports or sports-watching just because of the exposure.
It’s interesting to me that all of this seems to go hand in hand with people that want to make sure that cheerleading is considered a sport. It’s not enough, anymore, to be people there that are supposed to be encouraging fans to cheer for the home team– now they have to be acrobatics and a show of their own. When’s the last time you actually cheered for the team because of a cheerleader’s encouragement?
Well, Mary… I remember reading an article comparing the dressing “code” of Swedish and American girls at school. What your girls wear to parties, our girls wear to school. Some of them come here half naked, and I have seen many underware parts exposed on purpose… It is disgusting.
I am a transplant, but for the reason of love :). The house we live in is the house my husband was born in, and his whole family lives nearby. I would love to explore other places, provided that I won some fat millions ;)…
As it is, I have to make the best of my situation, and, as Frank Turk (centuri0n) pit it – God placed me here for a purpose…
Right. I wondered if your living there had to do with dh and his family roots. That makes the most sense! As for school clothes, I think you’re right, we’re not quite (at least in this small town in the mid-west!) to wearing party or lingerie-like dresses to school, but jeans with the crotch ripped out…you see those and did even when I was in high school…13 years ago.
MIn, actually, the last cheerleading I saw was at a rally for President Bush and the cheerleaders wore t-shirts and pretty decent skirts for college cheerleaders. I was surprised. And they did work the crowd–in the right way–to get us to cheer. But you’re right, for the most part it is a circus show.
The last cheerleading I saw live was at my college where the girls had to wear culottes (sp?) and nothing in the air. Oh, and the skirts had to be below the knee. Really a different atmosphere/feeling.
As regards what people wear to school – it is a good argument for school uniforms (which are the norm here).
Of course, when I was in school, we used to wear non regulation socks, untucked shirts and our ties in unusual ways to look cool… but at least it was all decent!
When I was in England for six months, I went to school and had a dress code. I found that it was nice to have a consistent image. A lot of private schools in the states still have one. It makes things a whole lot more manageable with declared standards rather than having to address each person separately– a whole lot more objective.