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‘The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.”
- Stephen Hawking
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Common Sense
The Progress
Editorial
April 28,2022
From the Staff
Want your children to succeed?
Raise them in church
“Teenage boys from working-class
families who were “regularly involved
in their church and strongly believed in
God were twice as likely to earn bache
lor s degrees as moderately religious or
nonreligious boys. ”
A recent article in The New York Times
cited a study that followed the lives of
3,290 teenagers and found that American
men are “dropping out of college in
alarming numbers.” All but one very spe
cific group - boys from working-class
families who grow up religious.
liana M. Horwitz, an assistant profes
sor of Jewish studies and sociology at
Tulane University and the author of God,
Grades, and Graduation, found that re
ligion offers teenagers different things
depending on their social class. “Those
raised by professional-class parents, for
example, do not experience much in the
way of an educational advantage from
being religious.” But teenage boys from
working-class families who were “regu
larly involved in their church and
strongly believed in God were twice as
likely to earn bachelor’s degrees as mod
erately religious or nonreligious boys,”
she found.
liana said religious boys are not any
smarter but religious involvement can
“buffer working-class Americans - males
in particular - from despair.” Among
working-class men, liana found, “fewer
than one in five completes college.”
College enrollment rates over the past
decade are declining, according to arti
cles in both the Wall Street Journal and
The Atlantic, a change almost entirely
driven by men. Women are now much
more likely to enroll in college than men,
and the gender gap widened significantly
in 2020.
At our own state’s flagship university,
The University of Georgia, in 2020 there
were 22,890 women enrolled and just
16,256 men.
And the recently released study found
that among male students, those who are
religious stayed in college more often
than nonreligious men.
Certainly college is not the only path
to success, but that research shows that
putting your kids in the right group of
peers does help them down the road.
Church membership is good for teens.
Along with connecting them with God,
membership in any of our local churches
can foster friendships and provide teens
with opportunities to make a difference
in not only their lives but also the lives
of others. Being involved in church
youth activities offers good life lessons,
role models and support, especially dur
ing those teen years.
Many of our local churches put a lot
of emphasis in their teen programs and
that is an asset we hope more parents
(even those who may not be believers
themselves) will take advantage of for
their kids.
When teen drama rears its ugly head
or a girlfriend breaks their heart or they
struggle with school and a job, the church
youth leaders and its members can offer
support.
A September 2020 Pew Research
Center report found that U.S. teens take
after their parents religiously. Most U.S.
teens (ages 13-17) share the religious af
filiation of their parents, the survey
found. And on the whole, U.S. teens at
tend religious services about as often as
their parents do: 44% of U.S. teens say
they go to religious services at least once
a month, almost exactly the same as the
share of their parents who say they attend
monthly (43%).
If you have moved to this area and for
whatever reason don’t have a church
home, we’d encourage you to visit our
local congregations. See our church page
on 2B-3B for more information.
Tell us your thoughts with a letter to the editor. E-mail to news@pickensprogress.com
See letter submission guidelines on the Letters to the Editor page or call us 706-253-2457.
Senior Moments
The real Golden Girls
#lbc ikljool
our furry family members
Chief and Pita have very successfully trained the author
and his wife to be attentive to their every whim.
By Mary Glass Migliaro
Winthrop College Class of 1970,
Proud Golden Girl
Many of you probably re
member The Golden Girls, a
popular sitcom that aired on
NBC from September 14,1985,
to May 9, 1992. It featured a
group of four women, Rose,
Dorothy, Blanche, and Sophia.
These were strong women of a
certain age usually referred to
as seniors or in their case,
Golden Girls. Today I am
claiming my right to be one as
well.
Recently, I attended my
(dare I even say it) 50th college
reunion! I am still amazed that
it has been that long since I was
a young girl of seventeen be
ginning my college experience.
I was not sure I would attend as
I had only been back once for
the 25th reunion and was not
keen to repeat that, but I finally
decided I would and I’m so
glad I did.
Since our college, Winthrop
College in Rock Hill, South
Carolina, was an all-female col
lege back in the day (we often
referred to it as “the nunnery”),
our reunion was a celebration
of the Golden Girls.
I was asked to serve on the
reunion planning committee
and soon immersed myself in
working with former class
mates to make sure this reunion
was the best ever.
When I got the list of de
ceased classmates, I first
checked to see if I was on it
(just kidding). As I looked over
the list, it hit home just how
fragile and tenuous our lives
truly are and how lucky we are
to still be here.
We created a poignant In
Memoriam slideshow with
music that was played allowing
us to reflect on our collective
sadness at their absence.
We also created a longer
slideshow of photos from the
college archives with music
popular at the time. It brought
back many more memories that
everyone shared generating lots
of smiles and laughter as did a
hilarious skit written by the
committee reliving some of our
experiences in “the nunnery!”
Looking back now, I realize
that those experiences and
memories are so unique to all of
us Golden Girls. The youth of
today have no idea what college
used to be like back then and
it’s a shame. I’ve since learned
they do not even have “year
books” or many of the events
that were just for us, like the
Saturday night “Old Maid
Movie” for those not going
away for the weekend to be
where the boys were.
If you have a special high
school or college reunion com
ing up, I encourage you to go.
When you see your former
classmates, you will see them
as they were when you were
young. Yes, we all get older,
have a few wrinkles, and gray
hair, but we have each other
and time will not change that.
[Mary Migliaro is a frequent
contributor to the Progress as
both a columnist and with a reg
ular parenting/family advice col
umn. She may be reached at
marymigliaro@aol.com.]
Other Voices
Training and
By Jim Brescia
If you have never had a
“pet” dog or cat, you proba
bly should skip this article.
The headline is a tipoff as to
the content.
I did not say “Training
your pet dog or cat.” There
have been thousands of
books and articles written
about training dogs and cats.
I suspect that our dog,
Chief and our cat. Pita have
read them all.
There are very few things
upon which my wife and I
disagree. One of them is that
my wife accuses me of treat
ing our pets like humans and
I accuse her of treating them
like pets. You choose your
side. There is no middle
ground here.
No non-human could
manage my behavior like
Chief and Pita do. Chief
started training me the day
we took him home from the
breeder. He was eight weeks
old. He immediately urinated
on the floor. He did it on the
tiled area.
So, this master stroke told
me that I better take him out
side often and it was a not
very subtle warning that the
next time, he could exact his
discipline on the carpeted
area. Lesson learned.
I took him outside hourly
for weeks. Getting up in the
middle of the night was diffi
cult for me but an obedient
pet “owner” does what he
must do. I hated cleaning up
my punishment if I missed a
trip outside.
I was so proud of having
trained Chief to sit. Until I re
alized that he had trained me
to give him a doggy treat
every time he sat down.
I next taught him to stop
barking randomly. Every
time he barked, I told him
“NO” and gave him a treat.
But what was really happen
ing was he barked every time
he wanted a treat.
I wish I had paid more at
tention to the section on
Skinnerian reinforcement
theory during my Psychology
101 college course. I was
bored by all of that discus
sion of the differences be
tween positive
reinforcement, negative rein
forcement and punishment.
Apparently, Chief was a bet
ter student than me.
Pita’s training of me was
not as subtle as Chief’s but
just as effective. He appar
ently took voice lessons.
He has a broad range of
vocal weapons that he uses to
shape my behavior. His
purring says “that feels good,
keep petting me there.” If I
stop before he wants me to,
he bites my hand, and not in
a playful way.
I was so proud when I
taught him to drink from a
faucet. Now he uses his ear
piercing version of meowing
to annoy me until I stop
whatever I am doing and turn
on the faucet. How do I know
what faucet to turn on? It’s
the one that he is sitting next
to. Duh.
We used to let Pita sleep
in our bed with us. But he
would stake out his place,
(usually on my wife’s side of
the bed) and then turn into a
solid block of granite. We
would need to bring in heavy
construction equipment to
move him.
My wife had to contort
her body around him and it
was causing her back prob
lems. If you do not think that
your wife is more important
to you than your dog or cat,
contact me for the name of a
marriage counselor or di
vorce lawyer.
Pita now sleeps in the
laundry room. Score one for
the humans.
Yes, my wife and I realize
that we are totally controlled
by our furry family members,
but we are willing servants.
As a veterinarian once
told me when consoling me
over the death of my dog,
“they give us unconditional
love.” Chief and Pita enrich
our lives and bring us joy at
a time when joy can be diffi
cult to find in this world. Oh,
I have to go. Chief is barking
for a treat and Pita is meow
ing/screeching at the powder
room faucet.
Coming my furry family
members.
[Jim Brescia is a regular
contributor to the Progress.
He is involved in several vet
eran groups in the area.]
WEATHER
By William Dilbeck
HI
LOW
RAIN
April 19
56
37
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April 20
65
50
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April 21
71
52
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April 22
78
54
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April 23
78
55
.00
April 24
76
56
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April 25
79
57
.00
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