Additionally, one of our newest citizens had something extremely worthwhile to say on the subject of voting. I hope you can find the time to watch it all. Seriously.
Well stated. I sometimes don't agree with Craig, but his message in this monologue is very important. If you don't vote, you're a moron and you have no leg to stand on when things happen you don't approve.
I loved his line about meerkats vs. badgers. Thankfully I'm a meerkat.
I'm glad people are lashing out at the "Rock the Vote" nonsense. I'm all for getting young people to vote, but we can't wait until they're 18 to decide to instill some patriotism or sense of civic duty in them. It doesn't work that way. Kids are trained in the public schools to not have opinions, to not ask questions, and to just sit quietly and do what they're told. Suddenly, when they're 18, we expect them to have opinions. That makes sense.
BTW, I now have "The times, they are a changin'" stuck in my head.
Thankfully, my own education was pretty good, but I see firsthand the results of public education when I get a crop of fresh-out-of-high-school students who have never had to think before. For example, I assigned a journal entry to my class recently: Do you feel comfortable expressing your political, moral, or social views on this campus?" I had one student say that he was having a hard time with the question because he had no political, moral, or social views,. He's just one example. While plenty of students are encouraged to think for themselves early on, by and large (based on what I see at my community college), schools are continuing the factory model for education. Sit down, shut up, do your work, and when the bell rings you go home.
Efo - It's hands-down the best political rant I've ever witnessed. :)
Kitkat - Too True. College, too. If I were to go back to college now I'd flunk all the classes because I'd give my own opinion instead of parroting back what I'd been told just to get As. :-/
Efo - It's true. And I went to an award-winning high school -- Presidential awards and all that. Maybe your views coincided with what you were taught to believe in school and you didn't see it. Mine did not, but I knew that to make the grade I couldn't have my own opinion but instead had to share that of my teachers. That's actually one of the main reasons that public schools were started in this country. The influential families that began the movement for US public schools admired the Prussian military's discipline and unquestioning attitude. They believed that modeling schools on that system would produce unquestioning citizens who were disciplined and obedient, resulting in little to no internal friction. It's a fascinating history if you ever care to look into it.
Kitkat - The system is definitely working as designed. (emphasis on those last 2 words, cuz you know how I feel about how effective it actually is as far as educating kids goes) :-P Like I said, if I went back now. . . ^_^
5 comments:
Well stated. I sometimes don't agree with Craig, but his message in this monologue is very important. If you don't vote, you're a moron and you have no leg to stand on when things happen you don't approve.
I loved his line about meerkats vs. badgers. Thankfully I'm a meerkat.
Puff Diddly. Hah.
I'm glad people are lashing out at the "Rock the Vote" nonsense. I'm all for getting young people to vote, but we can't wait until they're 18 to decide to instill some patriotism or sense of civic duty in them. It doesn't work that way. Kids are trained in the public schools to not have opinions, to not ask questions, and to just sit quietly and do what they're told. Suddenly, when they're 18, we expect them to have opinions. That makes sense.
BTW, I now have "The times, they are a changin'" stuck in my head.
KitKat,
Um, public schools teach kids not to have opinions? Where did that come from? Where on earth did you go to school?
Thankfully, my own education was pretty good, but I see firsthand the results of public education when I get a crop of fresh-out-of-high-school students who have never had to think before. For example, I assigned a journal entry to my class recently: Do you feel comfortable expressing your political, moral, or social views on this campus?" I had one student say that he was having a hard time with the question because he had no political, moral, or social views,. He's just one example. While plenty of students are encouraged to think for themselves early on, by and large (based on what I see at my community college), schools are continuing the factory model for education. Sit down, shut up, do your work, and when the bell rings you go home.
Efo - It's hands-down the best political rant I've ever witnessed. :)
Kitkat - Too True. College, too. If I were to go back to college now I'd flunk all the classes because I'd give my own opinion instead of parroting back what I'd been told just to get As. :-/
Efo - It's true. And I went to an award-winning high school -- Presidential awards and all that. Maybe your views coincided with what you were taught to believe in school and you didn't see it. Mine did not, but I knew that to make the grade I couldn't have my own opinion but instead had to share that of my teachers. That's actually one of the main reasons that public schools were started in this country. The influential families that began the movement for US public schools admired the Prussian military's discipline and unquestioning attitude. They believed that modeling schools on that system would produce unquestioning citizens who were disciplined and obedient, resulting in little to no internal friction. It's a fascinating history if you ever care to look into it.
Kitkat - The system is definitely working as designed. (emphasis on those last 2 words, cuz you know how I feel about how effective it actually is as far as educating kids goes) :-P Like I said, if I went back now. . . ^_^
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