Posted on 07/09/2006 4:52:38 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued
Let me speak to you about dumbness because that is what schools teach best. Old-fashioned dumbness used to be simple ignorance: you didn't know something, but there were ways to find out if you wanted to. Government-controlled schooling didn't eliminate dumbness - in fact, we now know that people read more fluently before we had forced schooling - but dumbness was transformed.
Now dumb people aren't just ignorant; they're the victims of the non-thought of secondhand ideas. Dumb people are now well-informed about the opinions of Time magazine and CBS, The New York Times and the President; their job is to choose which pre-thought thoughts, which received opinions, they like best. The élite in this new empire of ignorance are those who know the most pre-thought thoughts.
Mass dumbness is vital to modem society. The dumb person is wonderfully flexible clay for psychological shaping by market research, government policymakers; public-opinion leaders, and any other interest group. The more pre-thought thoughts a person has memorized, the easier it is to predict what choices he or she will make. What dumb people cannot do is think for themselves or ever be alone for very long without feeling crazy. That is the whole point of national forced schooling; we aren't supposed to be able to think for ourselves because independent thinking gets in the way of "professional" think-ing, which is believed to follow rules of scientific precision.
(Excerpt) Read more at spinninglobe.net ...
I asked what documents would be acceptable. They suggested that I present the documents from the local schools to which I send my children.
< speechless>
Great point. Don't judge the speech you just heard for yourself. We'll tell you what the person just said, what they meant, and what the broader implications are.
I never thought about that. Great point.
Apparently. Could that person be a public school graduate? Notice the lack of logic.
And when was the "add a keyword" feature added?
I don't believe in "Well child visits" for my six and eight year olds anyway.
My wife was gently raked over the coals when we began homeschooling. The questions the doctor asked were vaguely antagonistic. But if I was there I would have told him to screw. From my wife's accounts, he seemed to have that "I'm a doctor so you should take my advice" attitude.
Anyway, six years later he's asking different questions. I think he's noticing the difference between our kids and his grandkids.
Funny thing is, I bet his grandkids will go on to be very "successful" adults, at least as measured by contemporary standards. But that won't include the cost of self-alienation, and all the psychic agony that comes with it.
Personally, I was fortunate in that I had my mid-life crisis at age 22. I had graduated from engineering college with a high-paying job offer and a beautiful girlfriend. Yet I was deeply depressed. I could relate to that old Talking Heads song, "this is not my beautiful wife/ this is not my beautiful house." I had been beoming more confused and depressed as the college years wore on.
Upon graduation, I got out of engineering (which I had no interest in; I was only in it for the money) and my girlfriend dumped me (a blessing, since she was an atheist). I spent the next ten years sorting stuff out. But I am much happier now for the experience. I don't laugh at mid-life crises at all. I remember the pain far too well. I'm fortunate that I got mine out of the way early on. Most people seem to suppress the pain for decades.
Don't judge the speech you just heard for yourself. We'll tell you what the person just said, what they meant, and what the broader implications are.
Yes. Also, most general news stories and controversies too. Controversies the news media helped contrive. Like man causes global warming. And stories such as, a memo quoting democrats fixing the bench is trivial and little reported while questioning/suggesting that the memo was illegally obtained is made the important story.
Have you ever seen a chubby homeschooler? ;-) I have one. He's in great health, though. Just got back from Boy Scout camp.
"We have enemies on Free Republic, roo."
They're affectionately known as trolls.
What I found particularly facinating is the claim that the Public Schools in Prussia (later to become Germany) contributed to the rise in Naziism and both World Wars.
THAT'S something you won't find in the history books.
I like the way you think. It's difficult to overcome the mindset that the current public school system is the way it should be because we were all raised with it and it was considered normal. Public school parents are very defensive when confronted by homeschoolers but when they confront homeschoolers, they can be very obnoxious. They don't seem to think twice about questioning us but react quite strongly when presented with the same attitude they use on others.
Last time I spoke to my sister-in-law she was talking about the k-12 program and asking why my family didn't qualify to sign up for it for "free". I told her in order to qualify my children would have to be in the public school system for one year. She could not understand why I would not put my children into public school for "just one year".
Maddening, especially since it's so effective.
It sent a chill down my spine when I read it in his book, The Underground History of American Education. The link goes to the book which can be read in its entirety for free. The guy puts his money where his mouth is.
This is the first time I've heard him mention his children. It must break his heart that he sent them to public school. I also didn't know that his wife ran for school committee (!). What an amazing story! I wish he had included the details in his book where he recounts his run-ins with the malignant school bureaucracy.
I ran for school committee myself when I was in my late '20s, in retaliation for my "education." It was torturous, but well worth the effort. One of my favorite memories was when I recounted the history of compulsory schooling laws in Massachusetts when a hostile audience member asked if I knew how the compulsory attendance laws originated. I don't know whether he knew the answer to his own question, but I bet he regretted asking it because I filibustered him, holding the grumpy school-philes hostage for 15 minutes. 8-)
A week later a woman who was in the audience wrote a letter to the editor saying how fascinated she was with the facts that I presented. You never know how something like that can change a person's life.
It's all about hearts and minds.
The establishment is born of authorities de-individualizing people into collectives. Almost everything is tainted by it. It must be deconstructed simultaneous to the building of a civilization predicated on individualist critical thinking. We already know that free-market competition is the most efficient method of exchange and uplifting to individuals and society. Human efforts in science and business have dwarfed all other methods for bringing individuals and societies evermore prosperity and health.
An individualist business/science/art civilization will replace (not reform) a political/religious/philosophy anti-civilization.
Here's the kicker: She was accusing me of medical neglect. Yet, she and the other doctors in that office consistently made mistakes. We've never been able to find a good pediatrician. I miss the days when there was one family doctor who did it all.
I had an even worse problem with the dentist's office. They were criticizing me for "only bringing them once a year." That I'm supposed to bring them in twice a year. Please note, not one of my children has ever had a cavity, and my oldest is 10. They also kept trying to bully me into x-rays by saying they needed them once a year. I had to sign forms refusing the x-rays. Now they claim we owe them a load of money. We did some checking, and it appears they've charged our insurance company for things like braces... for our 5 year old. Note: None of our children have braces.
We always had trouble finding a good dentist, too.
That's why I tell my kids, "it's more important to be good than to be smart."
Answer this question Publik Skool defenders: why is it that you don't trust the government to buy your groceries, but you trust them to educate your children?
But of course, bubble headed suburban mom will say "the publik skools in my area are Graaaate! Yer an elitist (what a sh-tkicker says when they are losing an argument) snob!"
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