Since many of my topics always relate back to bad politicians I figured I would bring this up and stress the importance of it.
So many of us complain about our voices not being heard. Well, this is what is happening. Our representatives for office tell us what they support and what they want to accomplish and we base our voting decision off of that. That right there is our "voice"...who we send to office. When they go to office, if they do not make a solid attempt to do what they say they will, they should NOT be voted for again. During this last election, I did not vote for anybody that I thought was in office just wasting time or who was not proving to be making a strong effort to get something done that they promised they would. Now remember, since we have people who are ignorant in this country, we have many extreme liberals in office and in turn, we have conflicting voices in office. Now, I know what you are expecting me to say and that is "don't vote for any incumbent running". No that's not it.
FIX THE SCHOOL SYSTEMS FIRST! Vote for people who are for fixing our screwed up school system and then and only then will voting for people who will do what we want done make any sense. Here is why.
Take social security for example. How can people actually be against privatizing social security? I mean, you get to keep you OWN money and if YOU choose to do so, YOU can invest into an investment of YOUR choice. Notice the words in all caps. None of them were government. Currently, the GOVERNMENT takes YOUR money and THEY choose what do do with it and invest it in NOTHING. See the difference? So tell me WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY people are actually against privatizing. Because they are IGNORANT and do not know what the hell is going on. They don't know how it is supposed to work and they don't know why it does not work. They don't know anything about investing at all. It shouldn't be that only "financial type people" should know about it. Anybody who wants to have money at retirement should know about it. So where does this start??? The sucky public school system. Fix THAT, and I guarantee this country takes a huge turn-around once it has time to "sink in".
Our current school system is teaching the kids that we are weak, and dependant upon other people in life. They are the ones responsible for all of this mess.
So you see...even if you DO NOT HAVE KIDS IN A PUBLIC SCHOOL...you need to pay attention to what is happening there. It's just like if you were running a large business. I hate to use such a liberal company as an example but when I worked at Turner, I began as an intern. I cannot tell you how many times I had lunch with the CAO (Chief Accounting Officer), CIO (Chief Information Officer), and Senior VP's of Turner Broadcasting because they were taking a huge interest in the interns because they knew that we (well, those of us who stayed there long-term) were the future of the company. They were interested in what was going on, what we were doing, and what we were learning. We, even those who don't have any kids, need to pay attention as to what is happening with our schools. Right now, it is backed by a liberal agenda, and that is where we need to start.
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The U.S. could take a hint from Europe...their school systems are excellent, and they really focus on raising smart and well-balanced individuals. This is a quote from Jean Monnet (a pioneer in the economic development of Europe) that shows how different their basic values regarding education can be:
"Educated side by side, untroubled from infancy by divisive prejudices, acquainted with all that is great and good in the different cultures, it will be borne in upon them as they mature that they belong together. Without ceasing to look to their own lands with love and pride, they will become in mind Europeans, schooled and ready to complete and consolidate the work of their fathers before them, to bring into being a united and thriving Europe.
"Educated side by side, untroubled from infancy by divisive prejudices, acquainted with all that is great and good in the different cultures, it will be borne in upon them as they mature that they belong together. Without ceasing to look to their own lands with love and pride, they will become in mind Europeans, schooled and ready to complete and consolidate the work of their fathers before them, to bring into being a united and thriving Europe."
See folks, Bruce touched on this but our public schools systems here in the U.S. fall terribly short when it comes to personal education. I'm not talking about the three R's or PE or anything else...I'm talking about simple things that SHOULD be prevalent in our schools, particularly the elementary schools - get 'em while they're young. I'm talking about respect for your elders, basic etiquette, respect for your peers, manners (especially in public!), family values, and to encourage a strong desire in children to achieve and be personally successful. This also goes hand-in-hand with encouraging the desire to educate yourself with the intention of being a valuable, contributing member of society for the better good of your people and your country. If I had children, I would LOVE to raise them in Europe for the earlier part of their life - their school systems simply blow ours away and the kids seem to be much more well-rounded and level-headed than American children. I've personally known several people who have moved here from Europe after being in their schools for most of their early years and they were 100% more mature with a much wider world-view. Too bad we probably won't see these types of improvements in U.S. schools in our lifetime. Though I will say that Montessori schools seem to focus much more on these core values than a typical public school would, and I can only hope that the Montessori schools will have a great impact on how education is perceived in our country, though I highly doubt it since they have the "stigma" of being associated with the "alternates" of society (such as hippie-types and people with a general holistic/idealistic approach to things).
Sorry - it looks like I pasted the quote twice. :)
umm yeah.. being in the public school system.. for like TWO more months thank god.. they have their priorities mixed up. like they suck. they teach us stupid things. like how to suck at life. like i think that everyone should take the banking class. wouldnt that makes sense? to teach kids how to learn to balance a check book and learn about credit and things that ACTUALLY matter in life. what a concept. anyways.. i must go.. i just got home from florida.
Kim is absolutely correct. We should emulate the European system of education!
Just think, after one or two generations of our kids completed that type of educational process; we could be just like France!
And that is EXACTLY why we don't need to mimic the European education system.
Kim - we don't need to be like Europe. Europe is the opposite direction we want to go towards. Like Roadbuzzard said, we could end up like France. Now, he probably thinks that is a good thing. It's not! The France work week is 35 hours. Some people say thats good, those are LAZY people. What if you want to open a business. I don't care what you are doing but to get a successful business up and running it requires more than 35 hours a week. In France, you can't do that...it is regulated. Not to mention France is probably the biggest collection of bed-wetters on the other side of the pond. Just look how easily the Muslims are inserting themselves into European society through violence. Europe just takes it. We don't.
Let me just say this. Why do you think the USA has been such a world power in the past. Yeah, now we are falling economically but that is attributable to the school system. We need to revert back to the "old school" ways. Plus like Megan said, a simple financial responsibility class would be pretty useful to kids graduating high school. Especially since when they go off to college, they get blasted in the face with credit card offers from scum bag credit card companies (thats a whole other topic) and rack up thousands and thousands of dollars in debt before they even graduate college. That class would be WAY more useful than "Pre 1600 World History". They could just replace the useless "life skills" class they make students take and offer something like "real life skills" that offers more than stupid study tips.
I'm not saying we should be like Europe exactly, or France (which is NOT the only country in Europe you know). All I'm saying is that we could take some clues from the European school system...England has some of the best schools in the world and they turn out some of the best educated in influential people in history. And say what you will, but I've seen first-hand the results of a European education and they are miles ahead of our public schools systems. I am all for a financial responsibility class...I myself would probably be in a different (read: better) place right now if I had that opportunity. The funny thing is, Bruce, that you are disagreeing with me on basic principle yet you say we need exactly what the European schools do which is to teach REAL LIFE SKILLS, not just math or science or literature. Basic values such as respect, general manners/etiquette, and communication are all core principles of a successful business person.
No, I'm disagreeing because they teach socialism. True, they may teach real life skills but they are still teaching socialism...that's all.
It's just you have to be careful when saying that our schools should be more like Europe. You are basing that off of one piece of their puzzle. I'm just being picky because we would turn into a Europe-like country if our school systems were like Europes'.
And Jean Monnet was very much in favor of socialist characteristics - unions and common market. He also said "There is no future for the people of Europe other than in union." and "There is no real peace in Europe, if the states are reconstituted on a basis of national sovereignty. They must have larger markets. Their prosperity is impossible, unless the States of Europe form themselves in a European Federation." Both quotes stemming from a socialist view that everything should be common...a level playing field for all.
We are a much more individualistic society than they are.
Touche! I agree with you regarging the Socialism aspect, but still my point (yes I'm stubborn) is that we could take SOME of the characteristics of what makes European education so successful and combine them with the American outlook on independence and personal achievement/growth. Obviously we cannot take the entire model of their education, it simply wouldn't fit within our society. Another thing (besides the life skills aspect) that I like about their education system is that they don't take any crap from their students. If you don't pass, you don't pass...that's it, end of story. There are serious consequences to misbehavior, not paying attention, not completing your work, etc. This teaches the children accountability and responsibility which are essential skills to becoming a successful person, whatever your particular definition of "successful" may be. Of course sometimes this may create a negative in that the children who ARE problem children simply leave school as soon as they are legally allowed - which is usually when they turn 16. I think personally that it would be great if our country made education mandatory - that means not just until they are such-and-such an age, but that means a high school diploma! It should be illegal to simply drop out of school. 16 & 17 year old kids may THINK they know what's best for them but when it comes to education, especially if they are a struggling student, their idea of what's best is based on that particular moment, not the far-reaching future. Our schools coddle kids too much...especially if you are a star athlete - kids like that are taught that because they have one special skill, they don't have to strive for their best b/c they'll get by anyway. What the hell is that? Anyway, that's really a whole other topic. Bottom line is, we need more discipline and accountability in our school systems and more courses that will actually be applicable later in life. And if that means basing SOME aspects of our education on a European model, whether the basis of their world-view is socialistic or not, then so be it. And I really could care less what else Monnet believed or was known for - the quote in my previous post is dead-on. He's basically saying that children should be raised from birth to have pride in themselves, other cultures, their education, and their country. This makes them a positive, contributing member of society. What's so wrong with that?
I agree we can take certain aspects of it and apply to our problem. I think one thing that would help is if parents weren't afraid to put kids in their place when appropriate. Too many kids get away with too much. This also means parents need to pay more attention to. Obviously this is a society as a whole issue. The more I have to talk about this, the more I want to move to the Bahamas, open a beach bar and live between a boat and a condo.
I think laziness in life is becoming more prevalent in this society with every passing day.
I couldn't agree more!
that was a lot to go through just to get to the point that you both agree with each other. ha.
I was taught how to balance a checkbook in 7th grade at Larryville Middle School. Not sure how much good that did...
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