You want to know what's wrong with our educational system? This. This story. This story is what's wrong with our educational system. A few years back, some friends of mine had to go before a university tribunal to defend their decision to teach a Faulkner short story that contained the word "nigger" -- all because some history-challenged student filed a complaint. I was angry then. But this -- well, this just makes me furious. To the New York State Department of Education: Shame on you, you sniveling cowards. Peace.
...and so the edited version of our education shows itself to everyone as to it's true nature once again. Every so often this comes up. The politically correct, sanitized version that we expect our kids to learn how to cope with the world from. It might be asked, "What are we really trying to teach here?" I dare say that I probably come up with a different answer than most. To give an example, which always sticks in my craw, is the effort of the NAACP to eliminate the Civil War references in our state flags. Here is a blatant attempt to rewrite history so that it is more "compatible" to a minority. For 13% of the national population, this one minority affects the total population all out of bounds to its representative size. I would think that the opposite should be here in feelings. Why? Because it should give union to the group, a collective standing point to say never again. A place to point and hold up as example. Their ancestors fought too. Yet this one most visible sight is being removed state by state, flag by flag. The sacrifices that all our ancestors made, for you and me, are being systematically attacked and removed from our sight. To give yet another example of this mindset, when I was in high school, my history teacher bit the bullet and told how George Washington really caught his death of cold. Riding away, near naked, horseback in the dead of winter, from his mistresses’ bed and in a hurry to keep from being discovered. No sexual references were made other than this broad statement. He nearly lost his job by some irate parents who thought that this should not be taught to our kids. It's history, it happened, but the sanitized version seems to be the only one acceptable. So when our (your) children go out and find the real world is not what was taught about and they are totally unprepared to deal with it, whose fault was it? Oh, I could diverge from this and go into teenage pregnancies, crime, drug, and ethics problems that I think stems from this demonstrated behavior that refuses to deal with real life. The teaching that it is ok to lie rather than deal with the truth but I won't. I will ask, "Just what are we teaching our children?" and "How are they going to get there without the full facts?"
Anyone up for A book-Burning! My house, around midnight. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
"Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd. This story shall the good man teach his son..., From this day to the ending of the world, But we in it shall be remember'd" Henry V, Act IV, Scene III Thomas Jefferson: statesman, philosopher, musician, architect, gardener, inventor, wait! Slave owner, Adulterer! Let us curse his name forever! Sarcasm aside, I suggest that none of us might pass the moral test levied by our ancestors two hundred years hence. Wet1, I hadn't heard that story about George Washington. Ah, so the guy was human after all! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! This prompts me to remember a story told to my junior-year Early Modern European History class. According to Mr. Bettloch, Catherine-the-Great had an "itch" which none of her courtier's were quite able to scratch. So, she ordered a large wooden contraption built with the intent of positioning an ox "just so". Well, Mr. Bettloch continued, one day the contraption broke and Catherine the Great subsequently died of her injuries. Now, I've absolutely no idea if this story is true. Come to think of it, it does sound far-fetched. Still, it was a great story to tell a class-full of Catholic boys. I doubt most of us now remember when the War of 1812 occured, but I'd bet most of us could still tell that story about Catherine-the-Great. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Michael
