"I have one life to live...let me live it as a blond"

Posted by Dobrien 9 years, 5 months ago to Education
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I was pondering about the enthusiasm for socialism and collectivism in todays youth.
One of The major causes is a lack of honest information taught to students , not studying both sides of issues or all angles I believe it is the public and the collegiate schools that promote those "ism's". Essentially students being brainwashed. These young folks and old folks who really never grew up can't connect or won't in the case of the latter , The forfeiting of their individualism and rights
but more importantly mine and of course yours.
Thinking about the sacrificing of the individual ,if these folks related that and the evidence of increased poverty and dispare (to be short with the list of failures) with their political leanings would they change their minds?

If they thought about their one life.

Then the ad campaign from the 60's popped into my head.
Is that also a result of brainwashing?


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  • Posted by $ WilliamShipley 9 years, 5 months ago
    The educational system is inherently socialist. Teachers are hired to teach and whether they do it poorly or well, they get paid the same. They don't have to worry about attracting customers, the government forces children to go to school and the governmental funding of education makes it incredibly burdensome for anyone in lower economic groups to go anywhere else. The teachers are employees of the state.

    So, naturally this is the mode of economics that they are familiar with, it's the world they live in. They teach this to their students.

    And the students get sixteen years living in a world where their needs are provided because they "deserve them". They might take out student loans but they are theoretical future things -- which should be provided for free anyway. Certainly their teachers think so. And so, socialism makes perfect sense to them. It's the way they've lived their entire life to that point.

    Some of them go out into the world and begin to see a different reality. Others of them go to work for the government or even become teachers.
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    • Posted by 9 years, 5 months ago
      Thank you for your thoughtful reply. I agree that public Ed is a gateway to socialism.
      The federal govt controls the education purse strings. Mandating this and that , virtual control over curriculum , making obsolete and " yes men" of the school boards.
      How do we put a stop to this self-perpetuating system?
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  • Posted by mmb 9 years, 5 months ago
    I think elementary Montessori education is balanced. Of course, I don't know what individual Montessorians do, but in elementary economic geography, we are taught to show the distribution of taxes, how many people it takes to create different things- a piece of toast, books, etc. This way the children get to see our interdependent economy. Giving to charity is a personal choice. Doing personal service is encouraged, but again it is personal.We make the children aware of the opportunity for charity. I think that's a good balance.
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  • Posted by term2 9 years, 5 months ago
    I find it very interesting that even Ayn Rand in AS projected that the culture had to actually crash before there was going to be any interest in individualism. That bodes very badly for the USA.

    I guess it has to get bad enough that the socialism pundits cant blame the failures on anyone else. Look at Venezuela- how bad does it have to get before they just abandon socialism. Its incredible its gone this far.
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    • Posted by $ allosaur 9 years, 5 months ago
      I'm thinking of the millions who died before Communism collapsed in Russia.
      I'm also thinking about that saying about history ignored repeating itself.
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      • Posted by 9 years, 5 months ago
        I read a story of a Russian family early in Stalin's (round up his enemies phase). The starvation, the misery, made me appalled, One thing that was clear was their would be no assistance coming, no food deliveries, no heating fuel. Oh, and there was no employment opportunities and all stores were looted by govt agents.
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  • Posted by $ SarahMontalbano 9 years, 5 months ago
    I agree that mostly we are not taught impartially. My government teacher, while she teaches us of the structure of government, seems to imply in every word that this may not be what is right and the youth can change it. Sure enough, we can, but should we? Our teachers, once they reach pension, have no incentive to teach well unless they actually have a passion for it, which are few and far between. Government standards such as Common Core have wrecked what is taught and how (with a special detriment to math, in that simple things are now taught in increasingly complicated ways- thank god my Calc class doesn't use common core). Look up the Tom Lehrer song "New Math" for an amusing take on that.

    Education is a mess. I think I got in at a point in which I can escape with some decent knowledge. I did elementary school before they boggled up the hard sciences and socialized the humanities. I've also had the benefits of some great teachers; my eighth grade English teacher introduced me to Ayn Rand and I've never looked back. (He was super proud to see me reading The Fountainhead just months after the class had finished Anthem.)
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    • Posted by 9 years, 5 months ago
      Thanks Sarah, I am thankful for your young presence on this forum. I know my statement does not fit you our many other young, but alas I believe you are in the minority.
      Question is how to change this education system designed to 'dumb down the populace.
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  • Posted by Herb7734 9 years, 5 months ago
    All advertising, at least to some extent, is "brainwashing." Its object is to get you to buy a product. It is a legitimate sales technique in that no coercion is involved. As to students influenced by teachers - that is our fault. By that I mean people who should have known better, ceded the education of our children to the progressives starting a hundred years ago, and allowed them to inculcate the children with the glories of socialism. We weren't paying attention, and for that reason, we have got a bunch of leftie militants who want to undo the individualism of capitalism in exchange for a big brother government, or a nanny state. They've had all this time to get this far. Don't expect to make it go away anytime soon.
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    • Posted by 9 years, 5 months ago
      Thanks Herb for your insight. The down fall began when the tax free foundations set their beady little eyes on the top history Professors in the country. Asking them to change the lessons
      on the rugged individual and down play their successes in this land. They were flatly refused. So they created through fellowships and endowments, professors who would toe the line for them.
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      • Posted by Herb7734 9 years, 5 months ago
        The difference between when I went to school and today is so vast that it is impossible to believe they are talking about the same subject(s).
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        • Posted by 9 years, 5 months ago
          Herb. How about this glimpse into todays public school system in St Paul Minnesota.

          Soon after authorities announced Monday that a grand jury had decided against indicting white police officer Darren Wilson for fatally shooting Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old black man,
          St Paul Public Schools Superintendent Valeria Silva tweeted:

          “No indictment for officer Wilson! Very sad day in America. How do I explain this to my black students?”

          My answer is tell ALL your students not to strong arm another human to steal their whatever. Oh and BTW students if you try to strong arm a cop you could end up dead.

          Then this.
          Earlier Monday, the district’s Office of Equity posted resources that teachers could use to talk about the case in their classrooms. The materials instructed teachers to “refrain from offering your personal beliefs on what happened” and “refrain from taking a position.”
          And this.

          The most dangerous places in St. Paul, Minnesota, these days may not be the city’s tough East Side or Frogtown neighborhoods, but its public schools.
          At Como Park and Humboldt high schools, police have been called to quell riots involving dozens of students. At Central High School, a teacher was body-slammed by a student and hospitalized with a traumatic brain injury. "Classroom invasions" by students settling private scores have become a fact of life.

          At elementary schools, meanwhile, out-of-control kids overturn chairs and attack their classmates, as teachers stand by helplessly. A teacher caught in a fistfight between two fifth-grade girls was knocked to the ground with a concussion.

          The transformation dates from 2011, when superintendent Valeria Silva launched her "Strong Schools, Strong Communities" initiative. The plan sought to engineer a dramatic reduction in the suspension rate for black students, who here, as nationally, are far more likely to be suspended than white students.
          Silva's "Strong Schools" initiative was at the forefront of the crusade for racial "equity"—a top priority of the Barack Obama administration's Department of Education. Equity in this context does not mean fairness, but racial statistical parity in school discipline rates, regardless of students' actual conduct.Silva's campaign to eliminate racial disparities had two components. First, she retained a "diversity" consultant called the Pacific Educational Group—at a cost of at least $2 million to date—to compel teachers to confront their "white privilege" and develop "a true appreciation" of their students' cultural "differences."
          The Obama administration now aims to impose Silva-style discipline policies at schools across the nation. Longtime secretary of education Arne Duncan made clear that his department considered racial differences in discipline rates "simply unacceptable" and a violation of "the principle of equity." "It is adult behavior that needs to change," he declared in 2014. The Department of Education is investigating a number of school districts on equity grounds and threatens to sue or withhold federal funds if racial numbers don't match up.

          The results of this campaign are on display in St. Paul. In the words of one teacher: "We have a segment of kids who consider themselves untouchable."

          At the city's high schools, packs of kids—who come to school for free breakfasts, lunches, and WiFi—roam uncontrolled through the halls. A City Pages article related this revealing anecdote: At Harding Senior High School, a petite female teacher—who has been attacked, threatened with death, and smashed into a shelf by marauding teens—now instructs her students to use a "secret knock" to enter her classroom to keep invaders at bay.

          At elementary schools, kids spew obscenities, beat up classmates, and upend trash cans. One parent told City Pages that on a visit to her second-grader's classroom, she saw anarchy so extreme that it took the teacher an hour and a half to read two pages to the class.
          This all coming to a school near you soon!
          No wonder teachers can't teach.. A generalization because I know their are many, many excellent teachers but symptomatic of todays collectivism. .
          Thanks for your patience reading this nasty news.
          Sincerely,
          dob
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          • Posted by Herb7734 9 years, 5 months ago
            Sad, very sad.
            My grandson, now 22 informed me that what you described is worse than here in western Florida but not by much.I used to be at the schools complaining every month or so about varied subject. I should have been accompanied by dozens more parents, but I was too involved with keeping my business going than to organize a sort of anti-PTA.
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            • Posted by 9 years, 5 months ago
              The school district above has a policy for
              non-board member opinions. To speak you must inform them of your intent, topic and your name, address phone # ,email address . You must limit your talk to 3 minutes. If you have spoken to the board in the last three months You will get to speak only if no other speakers have reserved their time . You cannot say the name of any school employee, can't say the name of the school or even talk about a subject like math or science.
              It is insanity.
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  • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 9 years, 5 months ago
    Yes...it was brain washing...I think there was more to it than a profit motive to sell hair coloring...maybe an attack on Brunettes perhaps?...or just tapping into being able to change one's appearance, which created a dissatisfaction with one's self.
    A bit far fetched maybe.

    I've always preferred Brunettes with blue eyes but don't know why.
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  • Posted by mia767ca 9 years, 5 months ago
    true...why i insisted that my children joined Debate Society in high school...forcing them to examine both sides of the argument as a normal practice for the rest of their life...
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    • Posted by mia767ca 9 years, 5 months ago
      i was in debate in high school, then later was a judge in all of my children's debates at various meets between high schools...they will debate both sides of the topic for that meet...twice pro in the morning ...then switch after lunch and take the anti side in the afternoon...that's how you learn something...to see both sides regardless of which side you support...and win on both sides...but that is also prep to become a lawyer...which i never was...
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    • Posted by $ Snezzy 9 years, 5 months ago
      Debate is an excellent preparation for life. A friend went to Phillips Exeter long ago. He said that because it was a boys' school back then, with no girls within about 3000 miles (seems like that if you have no car), the only activity worthwhile was debate team. For debate you have to really learn your history. Not just for a test, but to defend a position.

      My friend never went to college until much later in his life. (Exeter grads are supposed to attend Harvard.) Regardless, he always left people with the impression that he did have a college history degree because of how well he spoke. When he finally went to college, in his 40s or 50s, it was as a faculty member.

      Oh, at Exeter he also studied ancient Greek, and published the first translations of some obscure Greek poets.
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