The Nuns: The Original Tiger Moms

Whether they be Tiger Moms (Asian moms who apply strict discipline to their children in order to focus on expectations of excellence along with a deep respect for parental authority and devotion), or Soccer Moms (suburban moms who spend an inordinate amount of time transporting their children to various sporting events in order to foster athletic prowess), when in comes to high expectations and strict discipline using a variety of methods, which by today's educational standards would be labeled abusive, no mom beats the good sisters or " s'ters."

They had a style all their own. Their goal was to transform a classroom full (and I mean full, sometimes as many as 50 children in one class) of assorted children into respectful, God-fearing, hardworking adults.

Respect was indeed the order of the day. When a nun walked into the room, everyone stood up as a sign of respect for her position as teacher and as someone on the path to sainthood. "Good morning S'ter," we all chanted together. Woe to the sleepy student who failed to instantly stand at attention. Writing out the sentence, "I should stand when Sister enters the room," 100 times would be a fair punishment. Of course, one's punishment always had to be signed by one's parents who would deal out another lecture on respect and perhaps another punishment.

Proverbs 1:7 states that "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge..." I think that some nuns may have emphasized the importance of bone-chilling, sweat-dosing and nightmare-making fear of God, to the degree that some of their students did not encounter the image of a loving Father ( Prodigal Son Dad), until later in life. This God runs to meet us with open arms when we call on him in the midst of the effects of our self-indulgent lives. Fear of mediocrity is what seems to govern the lives of the Tiger Moms, yet fear of the Lord comes from not running from God, but to Him when one realizes the depth of one's sin and its consequences. As Chevy Chase used to say on Saturday Night Live, "I'm Chevy Chase and you're not."Well, keeping the fear of the Lord in one's mind can be as simple as saying, "You're God and I'm not."

Hard work. I was raised on it, not only at home, but daily in the classroom with the nuns. Drill, drill, drill. Whether it be multiplication tables or verb conjugations. There was no thought given to making our lessons "fun" or adaptive to different learning styles. Memorization and drill is just that, memorization and drill. And it is because of those rigorous drills that today I can do simple math problems in my head without the aid of a calculator compared to many of today's students who have difficulty doing simple computations without an electronic gadget.

Also, there was no attention paid to our little egos. We all knew who the brainiacs were and were often reminded of the fact that the rest of us were intellectually limited. Just think about all those reading groups. They were not designed to help us climb the educational ladder as much as giving stature, early on, to those who were academically gifted. Tiger Moms would applaud the nuns for this, since they believe that excellence over ego is the only thing that matters.

So that's it, I've stated my comparisons and invite you to let me know what you think.

I would strongly recommend any educator and/or mom, to read the article about Tiger Moms in last week's Time magazine. Here's the link:

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2043313,00.html

There's lots of food for thought and discussion in terms of our own experiences and those to come of future generations.

"Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it."

Proverbs 22:6

Putzing Around on my IPAD

After the presents had been opened, dishes washed and floors swept, it would finally be time for me to indulge myself in an experience that my mother often referred to as "putzing around." You know, doing absolutely nothing by doing everything. Moving magazines, newspapers and advertising flyers from one pile to another, rearranging the pillows on the couch, checking the contents of the refrigerator, petting the dog, dusting some shelves that really don't need dusting, looking over the mail, seeing if the garbage cans need emptying, etc...etc...etc. My mom was the queen of putzing around. Today's woman, however, hardly has time to just putz. We are the multi-taskers, not the putzers; scaling the heights of our professions, whether they be home bound (the Martha Stewarts of the world), or workplace bound (the Hillary Clinton types); today's woman has nary the time to putz. But, this Christmas vacation, I putzed in a very techie way. I putzed on my new IPad and loved every minute.

Why rearrange those couch pillows when I could play a quick game of Mahjong or Scrabble? It's too cold to go to the Art Institute, so instead I put together puzzles of the great masters like Monet, Vermeer, Van Gogh, and Botticelli to name just a few. I can also read sections of various newspapers, that I oh so missed doing because of the escalating subscription fees. The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and The New York Times are all free. Yahoo!! AARP and Life Magazines are also free. I just finished reading my first e-book on the Kindle app (application). It wasn't free, but it was a great way to read in bed with low light since the Ipad is back-lit and I can adjust the size of the font, which is great for a four eyes like me. I was also able to download some free classic books like Jane Austen's entire collection. I love going back to 18th century England. However, I think that only the wealthy ladies of distinction had time to putz. The rest were busy feathering those chickens and milking those cows.

I can even create on the Ipad with an app that's called "PortaPoet" that helps you write and rhyme your poetry. Here's my first:

Hope in a new year.

Now no more fear.

Just look around and cheer

And have another beer!

Putzing around with poetry for sure!

I have arranged my apps in different files and I always start my day, not putzing, but praying. I have a Devotional file with Bible quotes, C.S. Lewis quotes, Daily Mass Readings with a listing and short bio of the saint of the day. Today is the feast of St. Elizabeth Seton. In addition there's a Bible Answer Game that sings out "Alleluia" when your answer is correct and a crash of thunder when you're wrong. It's easy to read or reference various Bible translations that are free with an app called "Touch Bible." Verses are easy to find with a spin on a drum that lists the translation (NIV, ESV, WEB, etc.), book and verse. I also found a free devotional called "TODAY" that starts with a scripture reading and ends with a short prayer.

My "Heritage"app by fotopedia takes me around the world for viewing spectacular sites complete with historical information and those detailed satellite Google maps. Speaking of history, each day I can check what happened on that date centuries ago with my free "On This Day" app. Today, January 4th, The New York Stock Exchange opened its first permanent headquarters at 10-12 Broad near Wall Street in New York City. How's that for putzing around the world and through history?

My recommendation is to take some time this year putzing around with an Ipad. If you don't own one, I'm sure you know someone who does. Try it, the putzing path is worth the price.