Happiness Experts
To combat clinical depression among British public school children, the UK Dept. of Education has decided to import American experts to teach British children how to be happy, The Independent has reported.
UK educators estimate that "at least 10 percent" of Britain's public school students are depressed. So they have turned for help to America--
Where 10% of the teenagers in US public schools, according to a government study, are... depressed! (See http://www.hbcprotocols.com/teens.html)
This is like Mr. Bean going to Billy Joel for driving lessons.
To lead the project, the Brits have called on Professor Martin Seligman, University of Pennsylvania, widely hailed as "the father of positive psychology." Apparently Dr. Phil was not available.
"If it [Dr. Seligman's teaching] proves as successful as it has in the US, happiness classes could become part of the regular school timetable" in the UK, The Independent says.
American public education's menu features such happy innovations as "death education"--which was a factor in the Columbine High School massacre--school nurses handing out condoms to all and sundry, and liberal doses of Ritalin for all boys who don't know how to act like girls. We can certainly teach Britain the finer points of school shootings, carving your ex-boyfriend's initials into your bare leg with an X-Acto knife, and various exotic sex acts known only to the graduates of radical happiness programs like the Massachusetts Dept. of Education's 2000 "fisting" workshop (see Bruce Shortt, The Harsh Truth About Public Schools, "Fistgate," pgs. 77-78, Chalcedon Foundation, Vallecito, CA: 2004).
Meanwhile, Dr. Seligman and his crew will focus on revolutionary concepts like role-playing games, self-esteem, and special breathing exercises. If that doesn't work, there's always Oprah.
What happens if you flunk your happiness course? Won't that make you even more depressed?
Psychologists and psychiatrists have been tinkering with Western civilization for a good century or more, but no one has noticed any great rise in mankind's sanity, to say nothing of happiness. Instead, as a British study cited by The Independent shows, people have been getting more and more unhappy.
"Twenty-five years ago the average age people fell ill with depression was 30. Today this has fallen dramatically with 14 the age at which mental illness first strikes."
How can that be? Surely we have more psychologists, psychiatrists, grief counselors, and self-esteem programs than we had 25 years ago. It seems the longer these people work on the problem, the worse it gets. Would you keep hiring a plumber who made your pipes get leakier?
Happiness is a gift from God, and wisdom lies in accepting it. Children brought up without the knowledge of God--and they're not going to come by it in a public school, on either side of the Atlantic--will be severely handicapped in their quest for happiness.
If you want your children to be happy, don't send them to public school. Keep them at home, love them, raise and school them yourselves, and make sure they learn that "My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth" (Ps. 121:2).
UK educators estimate that "at least 10 percent" of Britain's public school students are depressed. So they have turned for help to America--
Where 10% of the teenagers in US public schools, according to a government study, are... depressed! (See http://www.hbcprotocols.com/teens.html)
This is like Mr. Bean going to Billy Joel for driving lessons.
To lead the project, the Brits have called on Professor Martin Seligman, University of Pennsylvania, widely hailed as "the father of positive psychology." Apparently Dr. Phil was not available.
"If it [Dr. Seligman's teaching] proves as successful as it has in the US, happiness classes could become part of the regular school timetable" in the UK, The Independent says.
American public education's menu features such happy innovations as "death education"--which was a factor in the Columbine High School massacre--school nurses handing out condoms to all and sundry, and liberal doses of Ritalin for all boys who don't know how to act like girls. We can certainly teach Britain the finer points of school shootings, carving your ex-boyfriend's initials into your bare leg with an X-Acto knife, and various exotic sex acts known only to the graduates of radical happiness programs like the Massachusetts Dept. of Education's 2000 "fisting" workshop (see Bruce Shortt, The Harsh Truth About Public Schools, "Fistgate," pgs. 77-78, Chalcedon Foundation, Vallecito, CA: 2004).
Meanwhile, Dr. Seligman and his crew will focus on revolutionary concepts like role-playing games, self-esteem, and special breathing exercises. If that doesn't work, there's always Oprah.
What happens if you flunk your happiness course? Won't that make you even more depressed?
Psychologists and psychiatrists have been tinkering with Western civilization for a good century or more, but no one has noticed any great rise in mankind's sanity, to say nothing of happiness. Instead, as a British study cited by The Independent shows, people have been getting more and more unhappy.
"Twenty-five years ago the average age people fell ill with depression was 30. Today this has fallen dramatically with 14 the age at which mental illness first strikes."
How can that be? Surely we have more psychologists, psychiatrists, grief counselors, and self-esteem programs than we had 25 years ago. It seems the longer these people work on the problem, the worse it gets. Would you keep hiring a plumber who made your pipes get leakier?
Happiness is a gift from God, and wisdom lies in accepting it. Children brought up without the knowledge of God--and they're not going to come by it in a public school, on either side of the Atlantic--will be severely handicapped in their quest for happiness.
If you want your children to be happy, don't send them to public school. Keep them at home, love them, raise and school them yourselves, and make sure they learn that "My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth" (Ps. 121:2).
