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Originally Posted by enkeivette
We just had a Republican president who publically stated "Rarely is the question asked, is our children learning." And you're trying to somehow blame general idiocy on the Democratic party? Are you kidding me? Are you guys 12?
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"I know the human being and fish can coexist." - W
Now how can you argue with that?
I have no love for either party. I do think there have been some education policies in the last 30 years that have lead to a generalized decline in basic skills. These policies have come from "progressive" thinkers about developing young minds. In very simplistic terms the emphasis has been (changing) on self esteem and other socialization rather than finding the best ways to raise the levels of basic skills. When these kids come into the real brutal working world, here's what happens, "You're a very pleasant and well adjusted person, but you can't balance the till, form a complete sentence, fill in the blank, I'm sorry but we're going to have to let you go." Yes I know this gets far more complicated than a post. And before any of you local boys chime in with it wasn't anything like that in my school, remember you went to public schools in upper middle class Orange County; hardly a bastion of liberal education experiments.
Additionally, especially here in CA, the Teacher's Union and Party D are like peas in a pod. The Teacher's Union cares about protecting their members far beyond improving the scholastic environment. Remember how hard party D and the Teachers Union fought against a recent proposition to restrict teacher tenure to make it easier to eliminate bad teachers? In New York it's sooo bad that instead of firing bad teachers, they literally put them in rooms and leave them alone, at full pay, for not doing anything. Sounds like the UAW and their work halls of people showing up an reading the paper. I see a pattern of protecting people who don't perform or produce. . .
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I'll tell you this, no government policy concerning education, no lack of education, no reform to the education system, and no blue OR red propaganda is going to produce a stupid person. People are born stupid. Taking geography out of elementary school had no correlation with the woman who came in to Best Buy and asked me where the DVD rewinders were.
The dumming down of schools, which I will attribute to neither party (although I'm sure I could think of some hair-brianed way to justify it as an action of either party) might play somewhat of a role in general ignorance, such as: Kids who know everything about the California Missions but still believe that the flag has 52 stars. But as far as stupidity goes... that's biological. That's a result of men wanting to sleep with Jessica Simpson instead of Hilary Clinton, and many of us have been guilty of that.
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You're the propagandist. People are born with certain normal ranges of aptitude. Parents play by far the biggest role in helping children to realize their full potential, followed closely by formal education. I think culture, in the broadest sense of values and priorities held by a community in total, play the largest role achieving what we might regard as being generally intelligent. A lot of people you might think are dumb are the way they are, because they haven't been developed. I've seen this several times in my own music teaching experience where a floundering student changes from a nice easy going instructor to some what of a hard ass, and it's stunning how fast they can improve. If they were born biologically incapable, they wouldn't improve. Teachers and educational systems matter a lot.