Posted on 03/12/2006 4:13:25 AM PST by Born Conservative
Hoooooeeey, thanks for the flame.
The truth is, an old boyfriend of mine wrote that.
; )
Just to be difficult with you ...... if people aren't stupid, as you suggest, why is it being reported in polls that over 80% of Americans think there is going to be a civil war in Iraq?
I think they are MOSTLY stupid.
;-)
No, he does not. The overcapacity came from politicians vieing for fed dollars. In the eighties 1500 colleges failed, but we were still plotting and scheming to get warm bodies in classes and manipulating schedules to keep faculty jobs. The real change came when underutilized English literature professors devised the idea of multiculturalism to fill their classrooms at the expense of social science requirements. First, they deconstructed the literary canon. Then they replaced history and anthropolgy with identity politics they controlled. The relaxed standards of the post WWII boom faculty were the context within which this was accepted.
I don't doubt you, but even though I'm certainly not familiar with all historical fields or interests, it does strike me as a bit overly broad in statement. I can imagine where a trivial interest just might be a significant contribution.
For some odd reason, an article I read back during the sixties leaps to mind, something to do with the economic value of slave labor in the production of sugar in pre-Civil War Louisiana. Is that the sort of thing you mean, or something else?
Oh, I'm sure I'm painting with too broad a brush, because I clearly don't read everything, or even anywhere close. What I had in mind was more the change in focus from poltical and intellecutal history to fields where the emphasis is on anything but the major ideas, significant individuals and events; for example, focusing on minorities, women, popular culture, multiculturalism, etc. I'd be the first to agree some of these things have been slighted in traditional historical work, but in my mind all of that stuff is the icing on the cake: before you worry about how women pioneers thought about sexual violence, or the peculiarities of the funny papers in the 1920s, one should have a very solid grounding in political history (what we used to call kings and battles) and intellectual history (the major ideas that have really shaped the world - almost all dead white men, as they say). Without that grounding, which undergraduates in history and even graduate students rarely get anymore, it seems to me impossible to view these other areas of historical interest in anything like a coherent framework or interpretation that keeps things in relative perspective. As important as sharecropper-landowner relations were in Jim Crow Alabama, the most important things happening in the world between 1900 and 1920 involved other people in other places.
Well, he didn't really, but he should have.
LOL!
I'll reply more later..... I should have said that the public is ignorant (not stupid, sorry)........ that is the correct word.
;-)
; )
How very odd. Not your statement, but the coincidence that I'm sitting here reading Arthur Schlesinger's little book, The Disuniting of America: Reflections on a Multicultural Society. (1991) I'm tempted to skip ahead to his chapter "The Battle of the Schools," but I won't.
I did browse through it earlier, though. There the multiculturalism he's taking on is Afrocentrism, which he seems to be calling a cult of ethnicity and mythmaking. Can't say for sure, since I haven't read it. :-)
The relaxed standards of the post WWII boom faculty were the context within which this was accepted.
Thank you for summarizing the process. It kind of begs the question others have asked in this thread: How do we fix the problem?
The positive judgment on the post war boom was education moved from higher education as an elite attainment to education by mass production. I tend to think that was a good thing with some rather nasty, unintended consequences.
Despite the irregular appearance of articles downplaying it's value, the gateway for any kind of worthwhile job or career is still an academic degree of almost any kind. Exceptions to the rule don't prove otherwise, because employers still want to see proof of that degree. Until that changes, I seriously doubt there will be any movement back to more rigorous standards.
Did 1500 colleges really fail? I remember the discussion, that universities and colleges were concerned about the empty seats and loss of state and federal funding, but had no idea that many schools actually closed. Maybe because it was more noisy, I do remember the censorship which included the fall from grace of some American classics and an assault against the use of certain sexist words. My desultory memory brings Huckleberry Finn to mind, among others. I remember the sexism because I attended a seminar wherein I was taught the proper (new) words I ought to use. :-)
Thanks for the memories.
OK, I stand by my original post, which is -- the generation that is now coming up is a bunch of great kids. They might be fed a bunch of hooey by teachers like Jay Bennish, but they will not be reprogrammed.
Sorry about the homeschool comment. I did not re-read it before I posted or would have self-zotted immediately. (I was not really going to talk about homeschooling.)
I work with kids all different ages all day long (K-12), tutoring and encouraging. It is a super generation. Don't worry about the Jay Bennishes -- the kids are bright enough to spot him miles away.
Thanks, the original burned in 1973, sad to say.
I really think you are right..Rochester was a pretty nice place back when we were kids...the only place I saw racism then was in the newspapers. It's sad to see what a mess the place has become.
To the "what to do about it" question posed later: we've always tried to discuss history, current events, and economics over the dinner table, so that the kids had that background knowledge to draw upon.
Now....... you should know I am kidding here somewhat......... I teach young boys how to hit a baseball........ they learn how to hit a baseball............. you may be just one of a few voices in the wilderness.......... but I wish your optimism is correct.
Much thanks for explaining. I agree so completely I thought the above ought to be emphasized. :-)
Hahah, you think I am nuts?? Because I think the new generation is a good one?? Because why? Here's what I think: I was a liberal; when I finally saw the light and became a conservative, my son (and husband) said - 'What took you so long?' My son was only 14. But he had been observing me, listening to my reasoning, making up his own mind.
He is not extraordinary. I see bright kids grappling with hard subjects in tutoring; I see kids like that one in Aurora daring to stand up and say, "'Scuse me, my teacher is nuts." I have tutees who tell me, "My teacher (11th grade) tells us that the American Dream is unattainable/ hogwash (reading Gatsby), but I think she is wrong," and students who come to job forums and ask our speakers -- "I want to know where to invest my money to get the greatest yield." (This is in an inner city high school). I could go on and on.
I know students at university right now who say, "The old liberal professors spew all that Marxist stuff, we write our papers to satisfy them, but we roll our eyes and laugh at them when we are together."
I just think they have been exposed to enough idiocy in the 60s generation to see it clearly.
Hang in there. It is a good work, mentoring kids. You cannot always see the results, but you are planting seeds where you least know it.
In my opinion educational governance needs to be firmly centered on local control. State and federal criteria are too remote. I have never seen parents who did not want the best for their kids, and they are very knowledgable about what their children will face. So, I think it is very good that the people of Colorado are getting an earful, and I am confident they will find ways to eliminate nonsense, somehow.
My wife and I only have 1 child; a 13 year old boy. And while he isn't homeschooled, he receives a lot of schooling at home. He's very interested in political and conservative issues, and I've been able to help him develop a pretty good BS Detector; his teachers aren't fooling him at all with their liberal gobbledegook. I do have to say that he has a fair amount of conservative teachers as well.
the government takes a huge bite of their paycheck.
Read "The Fair Tax Book" by Neil Boortz and John Linder to get an idea of just how much the government confiscates from us
Rush Limbaugh is likely the most influential person in America undoing the damage done by the government schools.
The best....
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