What the HELL is going on with schools?

This is wrong on so many levels. I was just going to reference the article but I think I may have to tear it apart paragraph by paragraph.

Students at a Palo Alto middle school learned more than school officials ever expected when a recent "career day" speaker extolled the merits of stripping and expounded on the financial benefits of a larger bust.

Stripping is being presented as a viable career. That, in itself is wrong. It is not a career, it is not something you can expect to do your entire life. It turns into a lifestyle for the majority of people. More on this later...

The hubbub began Tuesday at Jane Lathrop Stanford Middle School's third annual career day when a student asked Foster City salesman William Fried to explain why he listed "exotic dancer" and "stripper" on a handout of potential careers. Fried, who spoke to about 45 eighth-grade students during two separate 55-minute sessions, spent about a minute explaining that the profession is viable and potentially lucrative for those blessed with the physique and talent for the job.

EIGHTH GRADERS?!?! This moron was talking to eighth graders? It was bad enought when I thought it was high school students. And if that isn't enough, let's tell these young girls about the "physique" you need. Wait, there's more....

According to Fried and students who attended the talk, Fried told one group of about 16 students that strippers can earn as much as $250,000 a year and that a larger bust -- whether natural or augmented -- has a direct relationship to a dancer's salary.

He told the students, "For every two inches up there, it's another $50,000," according to Jason Garcia, 14.

This moron just took the female brain backwards 75 years. Large boobs= $$$. I'm ready to find this guy & strangle him with my bare hands.

Principal Joseph Di Salvo, while insisting the matter had become overblown, agreed that the topic was inappropriate. He drafted a letter Thursday to parents of the school's eighth-grade students saying that, while many students were not offended by the talk, it should not have occurred.

This principal needs to be FIRED RIGHT NOW!!! Overblown my ass. If some freak told my 13 year old daughter that being a stripper was a viable career, well, let's just say I'd probably need a really good attorney. Damn right it's inappropriate! FIRED, FIRED, FIRED!!!!

"Our goal was to expose to students a variety of careers, but our intent was not strippers or exotic dancers," said Di Salvo, saying Fried will most likely not be invited back next year. "Dancing is fine, but dancing in a sexual way is not fine because of where the kids are in their lives."

Most likely won't be invited back? You can bet I'd be making sure he was never allowed near a school again.

"I believe you should be honest and open with everyone, and there is no such thing as inappropriateness," said Fried, 64, who owns a sales consulting firm. "Eighth-grade kids can digest a lot more than their parents believe they can. The mind will put it in its proper niche. I don't believe any kid was marred or harmed by any of the talks."

No such thing as inappropriateness... Are you freakin' kidding me? What has happened in our society that we are allowing our children to be exposed to so much? Yes, they'll probably see it sometime, but shouldn't that sometime be later, rather than sooner? And shouldn't the parent be allowed to say when, so they can be there & talk to their child about it? It is just never OK to suggest to a child, in any way shape or form, that taking off their clothes for money is OK. Never.

And the final quote in the article, from this idiot:

"Maybe I could have probably spent less time on exotic dancing," he said. "But I think the kids were entertained."

You aren't there to provide entertainment, you moron. You are there to speak to children about careers. In this article it also says that this man has no children. Please allow me to explain what having children does to a person.

I use myself as the example.

(Deep breath) I was a stripper. (Ugh. I really never wanted to admit that to all my blogger friends) I started when I was 23 and quit when I was 29. I was single, had actually held a "real" job (as a cosmetologist), and thought I knew what was going on. I was lucky. I didn't fall into the "lifestyle" trap: I didn't do any drugs, I didn't drink while I worked, I didn't party with bar guys (ick!). I did my job, made my money & went home. I was able to buy a house, a couple of cars & take some nice vacations.

At 29 I quit and began running the company I had previously worked for. And I was quite good at that. I expanded the business, booked more clubs, hired & fired.

And hated it. As I got older I began to really see this job. I saw the women who were nearing 40, who had been stripping since they were 18 (or younger), with absolutely nothing to show for all the years. I saw girls who should have been enjoying their first years of college throwing their futures to the wind.

I met Doug, who didn't look down on me for what I did, or had done, and who made me want more. And now I have my daughter. Who I want to give every opportunity, who I want to grow up knowing that she is an entire package: mind, body & spirit. Will I be honest with her about my past? Yes, when she is older. When she is able to understand. I am not ashamed of what I did. It made me who and what I am. But I don't want it for my daughter.

There are some people who can come out of that environment in tact. But that number is small. Believe me. I've seen it first hand. And I want more than that for my child.

Homeschooling and private schools look better every day...