This Town Hall article puts lyrics to the song that many educators, judges and journalists sing. Give it a read.
Now, the worst part is most American students don't even realize how horrible their public education is. Because they never learn the true and important lessons of civics, American history, economic and free market policy and so on, they have no choice between preferring or even believing one side over the other. They are only given one worldview.
This is most clearly demonstrated in my life in a lit theory class in college, in which the texts were written exclusively by female authors save for one which was written by a gay man whose subject was three women, specifically Virginia Woolf. Each text was an example from one school or set of critical theory, such as Romanticism, Marist criticism, Feminist criticism, Stream of consciousness, Realism, Naturalism et cetera, but each was always similar to the rest in that it was written by a female. The class was not a female authors class; it was a lit theory class that had been co-opted to show the brilliance of female authors without the mention that there were literally hundreds of male authors who had tackled the same subjects or methods of writing. In a word, it was absurd.
It should shock no one that college seniors at institutions across America fail tests on American civics. These are not dumb kids by any means. It is simply a matter of not being given the material, the teaching. You do not give a ten-year-old a pile of wood with some rivets and bolts and tell him to build a bridge. Therefore, it is not surprising that Americans who are never instructed on our history and triumphs of our free market system fail to appreciate those systems and consistently slide towards accepting increasing government control, beaurocracy and other socialist ideals. For further reading of this travesty, please read Cal Thomas' column. We can no longer rely on public education to give us a fair and complete tutorial on history, sociology or science. It is up to us.
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2 comments:
Bravo and well said. I just found your blog, hope you don't mind the comment.
I was very pleased to read your comments, specifically your opinion concerning censorship. I have heard many arguments addressing this issue but yours, thus far, has made the most sense. It is my opinion that the very process of making art requires the individual to challenge themselves in the presentation of their subject matter. Simply throwing a picture of an aborted fetus out there for all to see is not creative and certainly demanded no real thought or artistic consideration from the "artist." But I especially related to your point about the Greek morality and the validity of their moral decisions. I often strive to explain to others who discuss morality, values, ethics and such that these essentials need not necessarilly develope from a religious foundation.
And--on a completely unrelated note--I wanted to say that The Sun Also Rises is one of my favorite books as well. I first read it in 8th grade, and have loved it since. I would also admit that I enjoy reading the writings of David Sedaris...but he may not be of the same caliber as Mr. Hemingway.
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