Mrs. Ridge promotes survey on sex, drugs

The Washington Times ^ | February 18, 2003 | George Archibald

[Polycarp]

A Fairfax County schools survey that asks teens if they perform oral sex, use drugs or ever have considered suicide is part of a national grant-harvesting program promoted by Michele Ridge, wife of President Bush's director of homeland security.

Mrs. Ridge is the hired national spokeswoman for Communities That Care (CTC), which developed the youth survey used in more than 400 communities nationwide to collect personal information from students to help local governments justify federal and foundation grant applications, said Michael G. Bete, president of Channing Bete Co., a Massachusetts firm that devised the data-gathering program.

[Polycarp]

Phyllis Schlafly, leader of the pro-family Eagle Forum in Clayton, Mo., a suburb of St. Louis, says "nosey questionnaires" in schools, which members of her group have fought for almost 20 years, are "a total fraud."

Mrs. Schlafly said the surveys have done nothing to stop the increase of drug use, sexual permissiveness and violence among youths.

"We already know there's a drug problem. All you have to do is turn on the TV," she said in an interview. "Whether it's 55 percent or 58 percent makes no difference."

Mrs. Schlafly called the surveys "completely unreliable. A lot of the kids think it's a big joke and they give phony answers." Similar school surveys produced by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the University of Michigan and a private company called Search Institute in Minneapolis have outraged parents in many states with explicit personal questions, she said.

"The suicide questions are most devastating: 'Tell us all the things that would make you want to kill yourself.' Isn't that an awful thing to ask a child?" she said.

pinging...anyone know anything more about this?

[Ligeia]

Background thread: Parents press board to cancel sex survey (Virginia) We in Fairfax County and elsewhere been following this story for awhile. The overreaching government is determined to abuse what few responsibilities we've allotted them.

[dead]

…a national grant-harvesting program…

I guess I’ll be working late tonight to pay for this.

I hate big government.

[RAT Patrol]

Leave it to the government to approach a problem by harming those without a problem. All kids are not the same. They should not all be addressed by the behavior of the lowest common denominator. Does ANYONE ask, "What effect will this questionaire have on kids who are NOT sexually active, NOT taking drugs, NOT prone to suicide?"

Because parents have forfeited their responsibilities to the government these kids apparently do not get counseled one-on-one and according to their individuality. The gov't just mass produces remedies for lives that are not broken. Have you ever heard the phrase, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it?" Who is the voice for the kids who obey the rules, live morally, and try to do the right thing? They're likely to save no one who has chosen a destructive path, but they could harm someone who hasn't. Kids should not be comfortable discussing this kind of stuff with each other. Do the schools still have counselors kids can go to?

Good grief. We need to rid the schools of their methods of mass-destruction.

[jjm2111]

'Tell us all the things that would make you want to kill yourself.' ...

Stoopid surveys like this.

[RJCogburn]

I would not blame Ms. Ridge or the rest primarily.

justify federal and foundation grant applications

Blame your reps in Congress and your Presidents, dems or repubs, who fund these federal programs.

[ladylib]

The only way to get rid of these surveys is a massive boycott which will render the results useless or a change in the law such as was done in NJ.

Another way would be for the kids to give outrageous answers (my favorite -- who says school isn't fun?).

[ladylib]

Of course, you could always inform the kids that their answers might result in stringent daytime or night time curfews, loss of freedom of association due to perceived gang activity on the part of police, anti-loitering laws directed at them, revocation or delay in drivers licenses or permits for minor infractions, etc., etc.

Why would a kid want to bother to take part in a survey that might impact his freedom?

[Digger]

One survey I would like to see is the IQ of the Ridges. Sorry but Tom 'water me twice a week' is the weakest link in this administration.

[dead]

You forgot about Christie Whitman, though she's far more irrelevant than Ridge.

[arly]

okay children..... How many alcoholic drinks do your parents consume on an average per day?.... Have you ever heard anyone in your home make a derogatory remark about the Government?..Gays?.... How many firearms are in your home?.. are any of them loaded?...

[arly]

Ohh I allmost forgot... how many rolls of duct tape do your parents keep on hand?...

[jmc813]

WOD Ping

[fieldmarshaldj]

*Time to get the kids the f*ck out of public schools BUMP*

[Right_in_Virginia]

"Sorry but Tom 'water me twice a week' is the weakest link in this administration."

Whatever talent Tom's got, he sure is keeping it locked away at an undisclosed location.

I hope the administration (read: President Bush) doesn't have to explain again ~1) why the security alert is raised to "orange" before his brain trust conducts a lie detector test; and ~2) how our personal safety can be left to duct tape.

[ladylib]

I worked with a woman who told her children if someone (at school or elsewhere) asked an intrusive question, they were to reply, "Ask my mother!"

[JoshGray]

There are three kinds of kids in high school, and there isn't a survey in the world going to change that: kids that are having sex, kids that aren't having sex but are wanting/trying to, and kids that are waiting for marriage.

[Tony in Hawaii]

No mention of rock 'n roll?

[Desparado]

You may think you're joking, but a few years ago, before we pulled our kids out of public school and began homeschooling; my son, in 4th grade at the time, got a questionaire at school asking "what is the worst thing your mother or father has ever done to you at home?" My son answered that the worst thing he could think of was me taking away his Nintendo for the weekend; but can you imagine the trouble that could be caused by an incriminating answer by a kid in that situation even if they were joking or embellishing as some kids do?