From: jcliu@four-lab4.Berkeley.EDU (James C. Liu)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: D O E S   A M E R I C A   S A Y   Y E S   T O   J A P A N ?
Date: 30 Dec 1992 22:01:46 GMT
Organization: UC Berkeley Dept. of Nuclear Engineering
NNTP-Posting-Host: four-lab4.berkeley.edu

In article <1748@emoryu1.cc.emory.edu> labrg@emory.edu 
(Ryan Montieth Gill) writes:

>			I find it rather dim for someone to say that
>	America's Problems are laying on my shoulders....Funny how the
>	nation is being run for the most part by people raised in the
>	Pre WWII era!!! I was born in the 70's...  Our education
>	system is run by the older people...50's to 60's. Why is it
>	that more Grad students are teaching Classes, taking classes
>	and getting payed crap???  
>		If the Education system is lacking
>	then fix it Don't blame it on the students... We are a product
>	of our Environment...We don't make the political system in

Ahhh, but you RECOGNIZE your own deficiencies, and yet you want to place
the blame on your predecessors?  It seems to me that you'd like to put 
all the blame on the older generation...But how about taking a little
personal responsibility?  You're smart enough to know how to post an
article, how about taking action elsewhere?  Just because you're young 
doesn't mean you aren't "sentient" enough of a human being to be aware 
of your own environment.  Yes, I was wrong to place all the blame on the
youths of America...

But, I find the youths of America always debating the logic of something 
or another with their parents.  If it ain't about a girl/boy friend, it's
about school, the car, part-time work, etc.  If kids obeyed their
parents 100% of the time like good kids and America was still going into
the gutter (not that it's not possible) then I'd be absolutely wrong.

However, the fact the your are AWARE of the problem that face the youth,
yet still blame the environment has some implication of hipocracy.  It's
somewhat akin to a teenager who sees a bunch of drug addicts who live
really loser lives yet gets sucked into the same addiction.  It's hard
for me not to think of myself and others like me as superior to the other
youths of our generation because we think for ourselves and take
responsibility for our lives and do not submit to mediocrity.

Yes, your environment shapes your values.  But the true test of human
intellect and will comes in overcoming environmental constraints.  If
you don't like the political system...change it...it may take time and
perseverance, but don't just say..."oh, it's screwed...why mess with
it."  If your parents are lax in their discipline toward you, then
impose your own strict regimen of discipline.  If your teachers or
professors aren't teaching you what you need to learn...go to a library.
Learn on your own.  

Hey guy, I'M A GRAD STUDENT.  IMHO, who the president of the US is,
who the Chancellor of my university is, who's on the supreme court, etc,
doesn't affect my life all that much.  The cheap pay they give us grad
students is designed to get us to graduate sooner so we can make 10
times as much in the real world.  Any other implication that grad students
should get paid more has some implication that one seeks a cush grad
student position for a good many years.  That's not the intent of grad
school and ...I'm already overkill in this response which has little to
do with Japanese culture.  Gomen.

Jaa, James
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