Public education is in hot water. There are never enough funds to provide the levels of education that we have been led to expect. Teachers are being laid off. Schools are being closed. The sky is falling......
The school paradigm that we have today is essentially that same one we've had for nearly two hundred years - Kindergarten to Grade Twelve. Most districts have three grade levels, classrooms are self-contained, and, by law, kids have to attend - at least until they drop out.
Essentially, students learn all the basics (or should have learned) by the end of grade three. After that, teachers build onto the basic skills. If a child fails to adequately master basic skills by grade three, they are destined to the hard road and usually do not succeed without some interventions.
By the time a student is in about grade 10, every class is a repetation (basic subjects) of past studies. The result is a high drop out rate.
Additionally, school rapidly becomes irrelevent to students in the poorer sectors of our society when they approach high school when they notice that their peers with the greatest power and wealth get these things from the narcotics trade or other criminal activities.
Couple these phenomena with the fact that many kids are already behind the educational eight-ball before they go to school. Absent parents, gang activities, poverty - all make the transition to a closed school environment nearly insurmountable.
So - what to do. Since the school system has become the adhoc parent, health provider, food provider, etc., maybe we should start earlier. A kid should start school when toilet trained and reasonably socialized (can get along without mom for a reasonable length of time and can play with others).
Stop the notion that all kids should go to college. Only a minority of students will benefit from a four-year education at a college or university. Get more vocational training. Also, get some life skills training on how to get up and get ready for work, how to manage finances, and how to work with others.
Stop blaming the teachers. They are doing what they are told.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Don't Ask; Don't Tell
As a libertarian, I'd be likely to not really care about a person's sexual persuasion as long as they didn't want to make it an issue. What consenting adults do in the privacy of their own bedrooms.....etc. I served over twenty years in the U.S. Air Force and, although we suspected some of our own may be homosexual (this was before the term "gay" was coined). Why gay? Are heterosexuals sad? Anyway, nobody brought it up. In fact, although sexual matters were readily discussed, nobody ever had a problem if they opted out of the discussion. As an officer, I had to ride herd on the younger military members so that harmones didn't get in the way of good military order.
Now, my successors are going to be ordered to accept openly gay persons into the ranks. Time will tell how this will work in combat. We can only hope.
The second concern I have is that we continue to approach the precipice edge atop the slippery slope. Point one is that sexual behavior, from a biological standpoint, is designed to ensure that the species will survive through production of progeny. Nature, or whoever designed the system, made the act feel real good to encourage the participants. In and of itself, the act is most to satisfy the physical. The majority of humans are attracted to the opposite sex by reasons of biology. If attracted to the same sex, the reason seems to be physical pleasure and is really a conscious adaption. No one has ever discovered a "gay gene."
Point two is by tacit approval or by giving legitimacy to this life style, it's only a short hop to accepting other lifestyles. Some that come to mind include incest, polygamy, polyandry, pedophelia, bestiality, necrophelia - to name a few. Over the centuries, we've sort of agreed as a species that these things were contrary to the safety and progression of society and should not be condoned.
The question that I am left with is this - how far are we willing to go in our pursuit of pleasure before we lose our humanity. Although many of these practices may be shown to be "victimless," the purpetrator may just be victimizing himself.
Now, my successors are going to be ordered to accept openly gay persons into the ranks. Time will tell how this will work in combat. We can only hope.
The second concern I have is that we continue to approach the precipice edge atop the slippery slope. Point one is that sexual behavior, from a biological standpoint, is designed to ensure that the species will survive through production of progeny. Nature, or whoever designed the system, made the act feel real good to encourage the participants. In and of itself, the act is most to satisfy the physical. The majority of humans are attracted to the opposite sex by reasons of biology. If attracted to the same sex, the reason seems to be physical pleasure and is really a conscious adaption. No one has ever discovered a "gay gene."
Point two is by tacit approval or by giving legitimacy to this life style, it's only a short hop to accepting other lifestyles. Some that come to mind include incest, polygamy, polyandry, pedophelia, bestiality, necrophelia - to name a few. Over the centuries, we've sort of agreed as a species that these things were contrary to the safety and progression of society and should not be condoned.
The question that I am left with is this - how far are we willing to go in our pursuit of pleasure before we lose our humanity. Although many of these practices may be shown to be "victimless," the purpetrator may just be victimizing himself.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)