This program is presented under the premise that it will give boys some idea of what it's like to raise a child. Presumably, raising a child involves inserting a key into its back to shut it the goddamn hell up. Presumably, a plastic icon is the same as a living human being.
This is the next logical step in the dehumanization process that's been under way in this country for the last fifty years. It's not enough that kids see thousands of murders on television before they're aged ten. It's not enough that girls are programmed to consider a fetus as nothing more than so much mucous, a non- living thing to be dealt with according to any arbitrary criteria. It's not enough that doctors view patients as walking moneybags, and that medical care is dispensed according to the assets of the client. It's not enough that temporary employment agencies now refer to their workers as "liveware." It's not even enough that we can now watch warfare live-as-it-happens on television.
The ersatz-baby program probably has roots in good intentions, but somehow it seems wrong. There were quotes from the instructor in the article I read. Every statement she made had to do with how much trouble babies are. The entire focus was to make sure these boys hated the very thought of bringing one of these parasitic creatures into the world. The entire focus was to reinforce the selfishness of prospective fathers. The entire focus was to ensure another generation of "deadbeat dads."
Everything in this life is hard work. Taking a crap in the morning is hard work. Sexual intercourse is really hard work. Praying is damned hard, if you do it right. Everything's hard, except sitting veged-out in front of the computer playing push-button fantasy games. That's easy.
Hard work isn't bad. Effort isn't bad. In fact, any significant accomplishment requires effort. Any truly great accomplishment requires monumental effort. That's the message that teenagers should be given. What accomplishment could be greater than to raise a child into a productive adult? What endeavor in this world is more tricky, more filled with pitfalls, more challenging? What accomplishment could be more rewarding?
Kids don't need to be reinforced in their penchant for laziness. They don't need to be told to hate anything that requires effort. They know that already. What kids need to be taught is how to be more effective parents.
Instead of giving them plastic babies, teachers should teach teenagers how to keep a diary. From as early an age as possible, kids should record every impression they can put into words. As young adults, they should be able to read the journal of their childhood, see how they felt, understand how the actions of their parents and teachers affected them. Only then will they have enough insight to be effective parents when it's their turn to loose a fresh generation into the world.
Try an experiment. Go out and ask a hundred young men what they think of fatherhood. See how many of them say, "Oh god, what a pain in the ass!" Is that the kind of attitude you want in your world? Is that the way you feel towards your own children?
Maybe I'm beginning to see a pattern here. The boomers came of age and found out that June Cleaver wasn't going to put milk and cookies on the table forever. They found that you just can't buy a Sunbeam Portable Childrearer. To their horror, they had to face the fact that effort and work hadn't been obliterated along with polio and smallpox. The boomers found that there is no other way to raise children than to work your ass off, and the boomers didn't like it one bit.
So now, goodly parents that they are, they want their offspring to realize how horrible it was to raise them. They want to make sure that their own kids don't have to face the horrible efforts they themselves had to endure.
In the end, I suppose the baby-doll program is a realistic microcosm of what's happening in the world at large. Life is plastic. Reality is programmable. Most importantly, children's emotions can be controlled with a key. Call it prozac, or ridlin, or a smack upside the head. Whatever you do, don't teach self-expression because it's bad for business.