You are hereForums / Issues / Church and State / Public education - anti-intellectual
Public education - anti-intellectual
What's this hate-on the current GOP and their mouthpieces at FOX "News" have against education? It's mind boggling to me....Here's a theory (a little "out there" and certainly open for debate),,,,but is a valid explanation of one accepts the fact that they aren't all stupid themselves and in a race to see how far below other industrialized countries in education America can get.
http://www.truth-out.org/why-teaching-people-think-themselves-repugnant/1329847441
<<.....................This is one reason why they hate any notion of public education, which harbors the promise, if not the threat, of actually educating students to be thoughtful, self-reflective and capable of questioning so-called common sense and holding power accountable. Of course, some progressives see this as simply another example of how the right wing of the Republican Party seems to think that being stupid is in. But there is more going on here than the issue of whether right-wing fundamentalists are intellectually and politically challenged. What makes critical education, especially, so dangerous to radical Christian evangelicals, neoconservatives and right-wing nationalists in the United States today is that, central to its very definition, is the task of educating students to become critical agents who can actively question and negotiate the relationships between individual troubles and public issues. In other words, students who can lead rather than follow, embrace reasoned arguments over opinions and reject common sense as the engine of truth. What Santorum and his allies realize is that democracy cannot function without an informed citizenry and that, in the absence of such a citizenry, we have a public disinvested from either thinking reflectively or acting responsibly. There is nothing more feared by this group of fundamentalists than individuals who can actually think critically and reflectively and are willing to invest in reason and freedom rather than a crude moralism and a reductionistic appeal to faith as the ultimate basis of agency and politics......>>
CC, are you familiar with Bob Altemeyer's book The Authoritarians? It's an online book of which I've read some passages, but haven't taken the time to read it all. He's a fellow Canadian, a retired Psychology professor from the University of Manitoba. He discusses the fact that there are both left and right wing authoritarians, but the left wing version isn't significant in North American politics, particularly after the downfall of the Soviet bloc. Authoritarians are by nature that way, as well as subserviant to what they see as a proper authority. They tend to see things as black or white while non-authoritarians see things as having shades of gray. Beliefs (religious, political, etc.) are of primary importance, and they usually are reluctant to consider or read about anything that might contradict them. For example, I've read that Sarah Palin refuses to read anything (such as about evolution) that aren't in accordance with her beliefs.
It's a fascinating book. http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~altemey/
I'm not familiar with it, but I'll check it out. Thanks. :o)
<< For example, I've read that Sarah Palin refuses to read anything (such as about evolution) that aren't in accordance with her beliefs. >>
Yes....That's pretty obvious....Even to the point of rewriting history books to suit their beliefs rather than reflect reality....Scary!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/16/texas-schools-rewrites-us-history
<<Now Dunbar is on the brink of fulfilling a promise to change all that, or at least point Texas schools toward salvation. She is one of a clutch of Christian evangelists and social conservatives who have grasped control of the state's education board. This week they are expected to force through a new curriculum that is likely to shift what millions of American schoolchildren far beyond Texas learn about their history.
The board is to vote on a sweeping purge of alleged liberal bias in Texas school textbooks in favour of what Dunbar says really matters: a belief in America as a nation chosen by God as a beacon to the world, and free enterprise as the cornerstone of liberty and democracy.
"We are fighting for our children's education and our nation's future," Dunbar said. "In Texas we have certain statutory obligations to promote patriotism and to promote the free enterprise system. There seems to have been a move away from a patriotic ideology. There seems to be a denial that this was a nation founded under God. We had to go back and make some corrections."
Those corrections have prompted a blizzard of accusations of rewriting history and indoctrinating children by promoting rightwing views on religion, economics and guns while diminishing the science of evolution, the civil rights movement and the horrors of slavery.
Several changes include sidelining Thomas Jefferson, who favoured separation of church and state, while introducing a new focus on the "significant contributions" of pro-slavery Confederate leaders during the civil war.
The new curriculum asserts that "the right to keep and bear arms" is an important element of a democratic society. Study of Sir Isaac Newton is dropped in favour of examining scientific advances through military technology.
There is also a suggestion that the anti-communist witch-hunt by Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s may have been justified.
The education board has dropped references to the slave trade in favour of calling it the more innocuous "Atlantic triangular trade", and recasts the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as driven by Islamic fundamentalism.
"There is a battle for the soul of education,">>
Concerned cannuck it is possible that those are the right wing’s reasons for abolishing public education!! It is beyond belief what their agenda is. Public education has served to educate millions upon millions of Americans and thrust them into middle class or rich status. What harm has public education done as a whole?? What is this war against public education about?? My guess is that the right wing feels that public education is too secular; the public schools are teaching evolution, no prayer is allowed in schools as it used to be 40 years ago and there is an introduction to teaching children about the non-traditional families ( Gay marriage), so I think these factors are motivating the right wing to abolish public education. However, I believe the benefits of public education outweigh the so called disadvantages!! I have great respect for the “Amish Community”. They avoid most facets of the larger community by adhering to their own belief system, building their own community (stores, furniture, clothing, school system, build their own homes LITERALLY, worship in their own churches, planting their own food and eating healthy and etc.). The Amish communities do not get involved in government or complain about the secular world!!-- They exercise their own faith without imposing it on anyone else!!
Why can’t Christians go about and live their lives, build their own communities, worship in their own churches, home school if they choose to, plant their own garden for healthy eating, make their own clothes if the clothes are too risqué today and teach their own values to their children without imposing their views on the larger society???!!---- I am not advocating exclusion but I am endorsing the right to exercise people’s faith the way they see appropriate but without imposing their belief system on others. If Christians feel the need to build their own community aside from the larger community, then so be it!!
But I as a Devout Christian, I am tired of listening to the cultural wars, attack on education, contraception, global warming , entitlement programs and many other social issues!! Why Christian can’t open and run facilities for moms who are in a pregnancy crisis and may use adoption as an option if the Christians are so against abortion?? (Abortion cannot be the ONLY solution to unwanted pregnancies). These people do (The right wing, tea baggers and bigots) very little to build race relations, to help their brothers and sisters in poverty and crisis (all ethnic groups) and build alliances with the larger community.
I am not trying to preach but even the bible says that we are (Christians) in the world but not of the world ( I hope I don’t offend anyone). Therefore, why are Christians trying to influence and become a part of the secular community? Yet they want to use their religious belief to impose their views on the larger society. They have stepped outside of their domain and pushing issues that are not in their rightful place to do (attempt to transform the world to their world view). I am truly disgusted with the right wing and extremist attempts to push their value system on others!!
All of the GOP candidates have adopted the teabaggers philosophy to be politically incorrect, speak very boldly and rail against anyone who disagrees with them!! They all have made an alliance to demonize the president. It is one thing to disagree with the President’s policy and another thing to attack the president’s person hood. These so called political leaders have made a mockery out of themselves; as well as, they have diminished the quality of the American political system. They are living in some ancient state of mind that America is going to go back to some monolithic society that caters to a certain group of people!! I am sure a lot of narrow vision people are petrified, full of anger with righteous indignation that the society as they know it is transforming right before their eyes!! They call this change “Un-American” because it does not feel like the homogenous society they are accustomed to. Sadly, these intolerant people will be left behind holding onto their hatred and bitterness of the world; the world will continue to move forward. I am completely baffled at what electing a black president has brought to the surface in our society!!!
Santorum and Romney will self-destruct themselves to the point of no return during the general election!! I cannot envision them moving to the middle after wholehearted embracing the extreme right. It is hard to believe that a larger society wants a theocracy or political leaders attempt to enforce a particular morality on the larger population. Therefore, I do not believe the vast majority of voters will have any confidence in what these candidates have to say. I do hope the voters wake up and come out in full force in the general election!! I have read in many articles that the young people are uninspired during this election year; this could pose a problem for President Obama.
Darling, I always enjoy your posts.
Yes....people do have that freedom (to homeschool....to choose their communities, places of worship etc....). I find it disturbing that folks wouyld want to homeschool SIMPLY to prevent their kids from learning basic things like US history (BEFORE they rewrite the history books). Ironic for a demographic that proclaims to be the standard bearer of "freedom"....wanting to make EVERYONE else "free" to learn/worship/be governed according to THIER brand of religion/Christianity. I guess when the say "freedom" what they REALLY mean is they want to be free not to hear anything that may counteract their preconceived notions or Utopian view of a world "free" from ANY views or inconvenient facts that they don't like (even if it means rewriting the bible):
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/05/conservative-bible-projec_n_310037.html
As for prayer in schools, I've always found that a weird argument...AGAIN....they are the ones to harp about parental responsibility (to the point of wanting to punish children - unfortunate enough to be born into unfortunate circumstances through no fault of their own - by ripping out the social safety net)....In a religious house....Isn't it the responsibilty of the parent to indoctrinate their own children through prayer at home and church attendance? Is it so necessary that a school be responsible for teaching religion too?....and not just any religion (that would be too worldly and open minded).....Only THEIR brand of religion.
Personally, I am spritual....and look up to Jesus Christ and his teachings....but I don't recognize Jesus Christ in the actions and attitudes of these people....I really don't.
They really have no concept of what they are doing....or of the possiblilty of it backfring on them...Enacting legislation and rewriting laws to protecting religious "freedoms" (as they see it)....opens the door for someone else to come along and promote/protect another religion (a kind they may not like....e.g. Sharia law for example). They try to change things to make themselves Authoritarian/more powerful....not realizing that others can one day turn around and use their own idiocy/gutting of age old protections, laws and checks and balances against them. Dumb and shortshighted.
The separation of church and state is to protect people from religious persecution and give them the right to worship as they wish (keep religion out of the government).....but I also believe it can actually protect religion by keeping government influence out of it too (or they would start imposing one belief system over all others (ehem....some of the Arab countries.....England at the time of the first American settlers etc...).
So much for freedom, liberty and the American way.
One other observation. In pre-revolutionary China, Russia, and even just before the Nazis got a stranglehold in Germany....there was a concerted push to denigrate, marginalize....or worse....the "intelligensia" or educated members of that society.
One must be aware that the fall of education and a reduced value for learning and knowledge in a society is sometimes the precursor of a downfall or a rather long, and bloody period for that nation and their people.
Contrary to what these folks believe....it was widespread education and opportunity, more than "Christian values" that brought about the greatness of the United States.
Concerned cannuck I enjoyed all of your feedback!! --- You said it so perfectly!!!
"They really have no concept of what they are doing....or of the possibility of it backfiring on them...Enacting legislation and rewriting laws to protecting religious "freedoms" (as they see it)....opens the door for someone else to come along and promote/protect another religion (a kind they may not like....e.g. Sharia law for example). They try to change things to make themselves Authoritarian/more powerful....not realizing that others can one day turn around and use their own idiocy/gutting of age old protections, laws and checks and balances against them. Dumb and shortsighted"
"The separation of church and state is to protect people from religious persecution and give them the right to worship as they wish (keep religion out of the government).....but I also believe it can actually protect religion by keeping government influence out of it too (or they would start imposing one belief system over all others (ehem....some of the Arab countries.....England at the time of the first American settlers etc...)."
Cannuck does the right wing not realize that their insistence on pushing their brand of religion can actually backfire on them?? To be honest, the founding fathers were not all Christians!! lol This was propagated throughout history to solidify or justify the religious right rationale for imposing their views on everyone. This is horrendous what the right wing are doing with the education system!! OMG! I don't know what to think?? but I do know that rational thinking citizens must become engaged for the long haul because these misguided fruitcakes are about to stir up real problems for Americans!!
<<Cannuck does the right wing not realize that their insistence on pushing their brand of religion can actually backfire on them?? >>
It doesn't look like it.
Also, I have a feeling that the powers that be....the ones pulling the strings behind the scenes....these people aren't really that idealistic (judging from where all this funding is coming from and where it's going in buying the US government)... They worship the almighty dollar (and themselves) way more than anything. I think they are attracted to the GOP in particular because of the mindset of many of it's followers, of conservatism, feelings of American exceptionalism and religious fundamentalism).
I don't believe the powers that be care that much about all that....or even about America quite honestly. They have their offshore accounts, huge trust funds for their kids, choice of ivy league/presitgeous schools at home and abroad, homes in various countries, cronies, government lapdogs, media darlings etc....They can be big wigs wherever they please and have enough money to ride out (or even engineer) ups and downs relatively unscathed (if not, better than they were before).
I said that education was one of the things that made America great.....I have to mention another thing. The United States have developed marketing and advertising into an art form. If they can manipulate millions and millions of people into buying all that crap (some of it really stupid)....they can certainly do the same with a worried, often untraveled/isolationistic, half informed, (if they had their way....totally uninformed/or misinformed) electorate.
The lack of respect (and empathy) that the .01% of the REAL elite of the USA, have for the American people blows my mind. It's truly insulting. The fact that they are willing to pit citizen against citizen, Chrisitan against Christian, brother against brother in order to continue widening the gap between the haves and have nots to enrich themselves to a historically unprecedented degree on the backs of the middle class (and divert attention/blame away from themselves) is criminal.
To be against education because it actually teaches a child how to handle responsible FREE thinking is simply not American. To try and control education to fit your beliefs. To try and FORCE the preconditioning of America's youth into people who will not allow people to think differently than they do is not Constitutional. No one should use THEIR religion or other beliefs as a means to control someone else. Especially here in AMERICA where we use such acts as a way to define terrorism.
And the conundrum on top of your points is that they do this against a back-drop of "free markets cure everything" ideal.
In economic academia (the hotbed of free market thinking), there are three sources of economic growth:
.1.Savings and investment
2. Technological advancement
3. Human capital (meaning intelligence)
At least TWO (though arguably all three) of these sources depend upon education. This is why when I consider the driver behind the anti-intellectualism in the GOP, I can't help but think it's by design. The duplicity of "free markets" vs. the anti-intellectualism is simply too suspicious to me.
But then again I wear a tin-foil hat sometimes.
Well it's official folks...I just don't know what to say.....I'll let one of the leading candidates for the RULER OF THE FREE WORLD speak for himself.
"President Obama once said he wants everybody in America to go to college," Santorum said. "What a snob.”
"Oh, I understand why he wants you to go to college. He wants to remake you in his image. I want to create jobs so people can remake their children into their image, not his."
“I understand why Barack Obama wants to send every kid to college, because of their indoctrination mills, absolutely,"
"The indoctrination that is going on at the university level is a harm to our country.”
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I feel as though I've fallen down the rabbit hole and come up in some alternate unvierse modelled after Orwell's 1984.
Here's something that might make you feel a bit better CC... Rick Santorum, who couldn't get himself re-elected to the Senate from Pennsylvania, is NEVER going to be POTUS. NEVER!
So our neighbor to the north will never have to deal with this idiot making terrible policy decisions that would affect the relationship between our two countries. Like trying to turn America into another Iran (shii'te fundamentalism ruling Iran, christian fundamentalism ruling the U.S.-- same difference). I am almost ashamed to be a member of the same religion as this boob.
By the way, on another subject, my congressman (District 3 NV) Dr. Joe Heck, is a member of my parish. As with virtually all the other GOP politicians, he has railed against the Affordable Care Act, and urged repeal. Needless to say, he will not be getting my vote come November.
All logic is telling me that this man cannot POSSIBLY become POTUS....but then again, logic has failed me so much in the last 10 years when it comes to US politics so anyting can happen.
What is distressing is that every time someone has pushed the envelope to ever increasing levels of stupidity, ignorance, narcisism, hubris and dishonesty they break down barriers for others to come up and make the previous ones look good in comparison. Will there ever come a day when folks will look to Santorum and wish they had a choice that good?
What I am seeing is a total lack of reason and facts surrounding their hatred of Obama. With each little advance he makes they counteract it with increasing vehemance and outlandish accusations, downright dishonest claims (and their base is just EATING this up....they believe it with all their hearts). An Obama win could potentially bring such folks, whipped into a frenzy of fear and hatred for him (and the demographic that supports him) out of the woodwork and right over the edge. With his first term there was an immediate run on gun/ammunition sales....With a second term will we be seeing an increase of not just sales, but also gun use?
Again, this claptrap you are hearing from Santorum in the primaries will be eaten up by the base... but it won't work in the GE. So Santorum (if he is the nominee, which I doubt) will have to change his tune radically to have even an iota of a chance in November.
Do people seriously have THAT short a memory?
CC--- we are all hoping that Santorum ( fruitcake!! lol) does not get that far in these primaries!! He is a real piece of work!! I do believe there are a quite a few people with short term memory losses who will vote against their own interest!! I am flabbergasted at how things are progressing in this election process; this is the nastiest political campaign in history!! CC Canada being strong allies with America, I hope Obama is reelected so both our countries can continue to be more cohesive. A Romney or GOD forbid a Santorum win will not be a good thing!!
Ironically, a Republican government can be more beneificial financially for Canada than a Democratic one. Democrats tend to be a bit more protectionistic and careful when investing/doing business. E.G. Obama's delay on the pipeline (not rejection as the GOP and FOX would have you believe) is the most recent example. Republicans just talk about keeping/creating jobs at home when it's politically expedient (I don't think they really mean it if it's cheaper to offshore/go elsewhere)....Democrats TRY at least to appear as though they are doing something about it).
Republicans would rather have no regulations, no boundaries and no oversight when it comes to making money and doing business. Often to our benefit. But I've never been one to advocate selling one's soul to the highest bidder for cash (which, if you beleive many of the GOP these days is something Jesus would have wanted ;o)