From: robert@slipknot.rain.com (Robert Reed)
Subject: Re: educational system (was: Re: new initiative)
Reply-To: robert@slipknot.rain.com.UUCP (Robert Reed)
Organization: Home Animation Ltd.
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 03:04:37 GMT

In article <1jgekfINNkbt@leela.CS.ORST.EDU> downsj@atlantis.CS.ORST.EDU (jason downs) writes:
|In article <C12L7y.CLs@slipknot.rain.com>,
|	robert@slipknot.rain.com.UUCP (Robert Reed) writes:
|>Surprisingly, it's exactly this sort of system that got so many of the
|>religious right upset in southern California.
|
|that's not surprising, the religious right is made up of self-righteous,
|self-centered, anal rententive dip shits. so what else is new?

Now you've got me completely confused.  Was this intended to be "tongue in
cheek?"  The views YOU'VE been expressing are consistent with the religious
right.  Does that mean that this was a self description?

|>Schools have always served the role of indoctrinating the young into the ways
|>of social acceptability of a community.  Education has always meant more than
|>filling heads with facts.
|
|yes, too bad about that, isn't it? just think, if perhaps we spent all of these
|resources in order to teach "facts", we might just produce high school
|graduates that have enough education to hold down a decent paying job, and
|take some of the strain off of higher education. what a concept.

Sigh.  As I suggested below, teaching "the facts" is not sufficient preparation
for survival in a community.  Quality circles in modern manufacturing jobs
require the ability to analyze.  Participation in our democracy requires the
ability to make informed decisions in the face of conflicting "facts."  Colleges
are getting more difficult to enter and require more capable high school
graduates.  "Decent" paying jobs will no longer go to someone who can merely
read, write, and add.  It ain't the 50s any more.

|>Education is a mind broadening experience designed to reflect community belief
|>systems of the general populace.
|
|funny thing is, it wasn't meant to reflect community belief systems, and in
|general, it still does not. whenever radical multi-culturalism is introduced,
|it is fought tooth and nail by a majority of the community. i wonder why?
|obviously because the community is made up of rich republican bigots, no
|doubt. or could it simply be that society doesn't appreciate the liberals
|attempts to indoctrinate their children with liberalism?

You talk in such broad generalizations that have such little basis in fact.
Schools have always reflected the views of their communities, to one degree or
another.  There may be particular issues that raise the ire of some community
groups, but most school boards don't have the cajones to stand very far from the
commonly held values of the community.  So I agree in general that any radical
policy may face stiff opposition when brought before a community because by
definition (i.e., being radical) it would not reflect community standards.

Now, your "rich republican bigots" sounds like more tongue-in-cheekery, but
taken at face value, it's most likely untrue.  More often school protests are
led by those who cannot afford to move their children elsewhere, for example the
South Boston bussing riots, or the fights to allow prayer in schools.  The
regious right is not synonymous with rich Republicans.  And multiculturalism is
not necessarily advocated by all liberals.  I suggest you learn what the terms
mean before you bandy them about so wantonly.

|>Parents of strong religious conviction must also teach their children ethical
|>standards, which may exceed or even conflict with society's ethics.
|
|no, parents, period, must teach their children whatever ethical standards
|that they find appropiate. teaching ethics is not the job of a government
|run institution.

Not true.  Community standards generally overide personal standards, and a
responsible community ensures that children brought up within it know what
conduct is expected of them.  Thus it is perfectly reasonable for a community to
dissuade children of a parent who teaches them that all blacks are trash that
have subhuman intelligence and should be treated with contempt.  Communities, as
social institutions which regulate the activies of individuals within them, have
a responsibility to promulgate some rules of order.  Individuals who cannot
abide by such restrictions should seek communities more in line with their
views, or seek hermitage.
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Robert Reed			Home Animation Ltd.		503-656-8414
robert@slipknot.rain.com	5686 First Court, West Linn, OR 97068

I bought some powdered water but I didn't know what to add
--Steve Wright
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