![]() |
"To arrive at a just estimate of a renowned man's character one must judge it by the standards of his time, not ours." - Mark Twain
Just saying. OT: Not angry at Obama, but I don't believe any of his actions have warranted the Nobel Peace Prize. |
Quote:
Quote:
|
Quote:
During the early history in America, there were actually very few "freemen". Even many white settlers were "indentured servants", who had to work a number of years on a farm or in a household before they could become free. They could not marry or have children without permission. In Europe, "serfs" (at one time a large class of society) belonged to the lands they worked, and were not permitted to leave. They and the land they worked were owned by someone else. No one at the time would be so crazy as to say that slavery was a wonderful thing, but few would have called it an atrocity. Washington and Jefferson were both land owners, and slaves worked on their farms. Times have changed since then, and we have learned a lot, but we have also forgotten a lot as well. |
It's obvious that American schools have failed, considering how ignorant some folks seem to be reguarding the history of thier own nation. Washington and the founding fathers were some of the best people this country ever produced. The freedoms you enjoy today are because of them, and the blood, sweat and tears they shed. The constitution and the bill of rights that protect you, was written by those men you despise so much.
Is the US perfect? No, of course not, but it can improve. Afterall, it's the great experiment. Has it made mistakes in the past? Yes, no country is perfect in that reguard. Still, it atempts to correct those mistakes as best it can, no other country does that. Some folks nationalistic self hate is misguided. |
Quote:
|
Quote:
You are obviously a smart individual samurai, which is why I enjoy our discussion, even if we come from different ends of the political spectrum, but please. That's all I can say. |
Quote:
In contrast, I knew and had classes with some repulsively left-wing professors and students, some of whom indoctrinated my own brother, who to this day is still a leftist who believes all kinds of crazy things, such as Bush was behind 9/11. Before university, he was center-right. After university, he was hard left, and I even saw which classes and professors were mostly responsible. Those same leftist counter-culture types got him into drugs and drinking, which he is still struggling with today, 15 years later. Finally, I do recruiting for JET at the university each year, so I see what is still going on there somewhat. You should have seen it last year, when I attended the career fair there during the elections... the radicals were out in full force. But beyond my own experiences, you should read some of the books on the subject... Amazon.com: Indoctrination U:The Left's War Against Academic Freedom (9781594031908): David Horowitz: Books Amazon.com: One-Party Classroom: How Radical Professors at America's Top Colleges Indoctrinate Students and Undermine Our Democracy (9780307452559): David Horowitz, Jacob Laksin: Books PS: I bet many of the kids in this thread got at least some of their anti-American views from their teachers... Guys, am I right? |
Quote:
Personally, I don't know what the educational system is like in the US, but last year, I had to help out 2 Americans that came to France for an exchange. One was from Texas and the other somewhere in the centre of the US. I was pretty shocked at how bad they were doing in their Math and Chemistry classes in their first year of the Bachelors degree, yet they told me they had very good grades back home. I had to help them for about a month to catch up to the French standard. Luckily they were very intelligent, otherwise it would have taken much longer. So, I don't know what they learnt in America, but when it came to classical Sciences, they sucked! |
Quote:
|
Quote:
Link: YouTube - WH Spokeswoman Anita Dunn: 'Mao Tse Tung is My Favorite Political Philosopher' |
Quote:
|
god i love political debates... I will freely admit that any of my comments on here should be taken with a grain of salt... for I am undoubtedly bias towards the left a bit..
I used to be right wing, republican type...(almost red-neck).. however, you can't close off your eyes to the atrocities commited under the Bush administration, which is why my political views had to shift... now I don't bother to support a party, that is one of the fundamental flaws with america. people think "oh, i need to set myself to a party - republican or democrat"... when really, we should, all of us be approaching each situation or issue individually and find the best solution for it.. not just going off what some political establishment has deemed suitable this is why i like this thread. i am shocked it hasn't digressed into some huge flame war, so i thank you all who've posted in here for keeping it civilized. :cool: :rheart: |
the left/right para dime is pretty horrible.
|
Quote:
But when i see the inner city and midwest scores i tremble. If Americans took the citizenship test about 80% would fail. Its as bad as children not knowing who the first president was or what is the Supreme law of the land. |
Quote:
|
Quote:
Anyway, my eyes were really opened after I finally got to see and witness it firsthand when as an Assistant Teacher last year. I'd only heard other teachers complaining about it (years ago, I was in the Student Virginia Education Association when at CC), but now I understand what the problem is. This is one part of the public education system that needs to be "reformed". They need to go back to the basic ways of teaching, imo, and stop worrying about passing tests...then again, if a certain percentage doesn't pass, the school risks losing funding. The only thing I agree with as far as NCLB is concerned is that it's supposedly helping to give everyone a chance at an education...I don't feel it's right to dumb down the curriculum just so they can pass a test, or keep continuing to give them ways to pass it and all of their assignments. At the middle school I was assistant teaching at (ironically, my former middle school), the students were given various amounts of times to turn in late assignments they didn't feel like doing. One student got off his lazy bum and finally turned in a worksheet that was due at the beginning of like February or March. It was going into June. No threat of failing or anything. I sometimes wonder if I should even get into teaching since I'm so old-fashioned. Teachers are pretty much forced to "teach to the test". If the students don't get it, who cares...as long as they pass that standardized test. -_- Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
|
Quote:
In an alternative opinion, me and my fellow colleagues often cringed at election time because the STUDENTS were (and are) much more political than school policies allow teachers to be. Not only would "indoctrination" have lead to suspension or firing, regardless or which side of the aisle the teacher was, even mentioning who you were going to vote for for president or how you were going to vote on ballot measures was totally against the rules. As "authority figures" discussing politics could be construed as influencing, and was (and is) strictly prohibited. Teachers were not allowed to have political bumper stickers, wear pins or t-shirts advocating a certain cause or politician. I was a part of student government in college, so I did get to see the political views of my teachers on both sides, but for the most part the politicizing and influencing was much more strong student to student than teacher to student. But, again, every school has its own policies and environment. |
Quote:
|
Quote:
i had an English teacher like that freshman year of high school... i would write an amazingly composed paper with great relevant textual citings and he would grade me down for it because those papers did not follow his views of the book. then i'd write a couple - half assed papers in which i'd agree with his vision of the book, and miraculously i'd end up with a 90- 98% grade... needless to say i did not heed my own conclusions and wrote whatever the hell i felt the books were on about... and ended up with about an 79% in the class overall.. :rheart: also, i do believe a teacher should make an open statement to the class on each subject they talk about as to what they believe on the subject so that the students can judge for themselves knowing which way the teacher is bias towards |
Quote:
Quote:
I believe that true change in this country will come with education. Its proven time and time again Education is the key maybe solving but quelling a lot of issues in this country including racism, family planning, STD's and financial spending and general mental health. I agree with you they need to get back to basics and build a firm root structure and build on it. It pains me when i see some of blatant ignorant comments people make and granted when i get upset or pissed off i can be just as bad. But there are some that choose not to educated themselves thats just scary. Quote:
SO you went the VA educational system i hear MD and VA systems are pretty similar which is why is probably why im understanding where you are coming from. I agree just because a student passes a test does not mean they actually understand the material. They dumbdown the curriculum to make it easier for the students to pass to me thats teaching. They are so concerned about how much money they are getting in the next term that do it at the expense of education. No child left behind implemented by Bush did not work imo and did not address the larger concern and did involve parents enough but it was start. Quote:
Quote:
just for kicks here are the questions to the test. I wont post the answers but i will post the percentage of students who answered the question correctly. For the answers people can Google if they want. 1. What is the supreme law of the land? 29.5 percent 2.What do we call the first 10 amendments to the Constitution? 25 percent 3.What are the two parts of the U.S. Congress?23 percent 4.How many justices are on the Supreme Court?9.4 percent 5.Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?25.3 percent 6.What ocean is on the East Coast of the United States? 58.8 percent 7. What are the two major political parties in the United States? 49.6 percent 8. We elect a U.S. senator for how many years? 14.5 percent 9. Who was the first president? 26.5 percent 10. Who is in charge of the executive branch? 26.5 percent |
Are you saying only 26 percent knew who was the first president? Wow, that one the easiest questions.
|
Quote:
Most AZ high school students would fail US citizenship test | www.azstarnet.com ® |
I only answered 5, one more and I would've pasted the citizen test if I picked those questions.
|
Quote:
i laughed when slightly higher that 50% answered which body of water is off the East coast of the US. Seriously it should be higher much higher. |
Quote:
|
Quote:
|
Quote:
|
Quote:
|
Quote:
|
Quote:
|
Quote:
|
Quote:
|
Quote:
I am not going to discount your experience, but after all the meetings and conferences I went to with fellow teachers over the years I can tell you that if there is any method of organized liberal indoctrination going on in this country they sure never let me in on it. I had both conservative and liberal colleagues when I was a teacher, but there was an unwritten rule that politics stays off campus. To be honest we were all too busy trying to fulfill our lesson plans and scrapping money to pay for supplementals to think about filling kids' heads full of political talk. So I think statements like "the left controls the schools" are a little misleading. Even if the majority of teachers tend to be democrats doesn't mean there is an organized attack on the nation's education system. Every industry has a majority one way or the other politically. It doesn't mean indoctrination is happening. |
I couldn't help but laugh when I hear them say this on Comedy Central:
"He won the Nobel Peace prize for NOT being this guy": ![]() |
Ironically, Bush has a favorable rateing well over 70% in Africa. Nor do I think the Bush administration did anything overly horrible. The Obama admin apparently doesn't either, since most of it is still being done by them as well.
Anyhow, I don't see how thinking the US tries to correct certain aspects of itself makes my statement invalid, unless you refer to my thinking only the US does that. That's fine, though it won't change how I think on that. I still think the US bends over backward compared to other nations, reguarding things of that nature. My university days were pretty much the same as what Samurai007 mentions. Professors were not only leftest, but blantantly taught that socialism was the best way for America. I argued with them constantly, my days in private schools probably left me with a different idea on national history than those taught in the public schools. Education should be designed to allow for independant thought and an appreciation of national history. To much of it today is built along the lines of group think. |
Change takes time. Republicans say things like "You can't just close Gitmo," "You can't just end the war in Iraq," "You can't just change emissions laws," and the like, and then turn around and say "Look, Obama is doing the same things Bush was doing. He must think Bush was right." Can't have it both ways.
We both know that isn't true on many many issues. Not even a full 9 months into the presidency... I know we are living in a time of instant gratification, but the best wines don't become the best right out of the barrel. It takes time. |
Quote:
![]() OMG TEH GROUPTHINK IS COMMINGZ. LOCK UR WINDOZE PAGE TEH GLENN BECK B4 ITS 2 LATE |
Quote:
|
Quote:
Actually , he is cleaning his mess up .. even if it's so soon to jump to conclusion but I believe that obama is going to make a change .. he is a man of peace |
Quote:
|
All times are GMT. The time now is 07:37 PM. |