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Here is a link to a 2009 Gallup poll. State of the States: Importance of Religion According to this poll, NH is the second-least religious state in the country (as measured by number of respondents who answered "yes" to the question "Is religion an important part of your daily life." All of New England is in the Top 10 Least Religious states; 4 of the 6 are in the top 4.
Your incoherent post blames all the world's problems on the premise that one being aware of the world they live in is the cause if it all. I really don't know where or how to expand on how absurd your post was.
Being a global citizen does not equate to being anti-American nor anti-God. It also isn't the cause of AIDS nor alcoholism.
once again you are incorrect and no my thoughts are not incoherent, your reasoning is.
Oh and on us being "global" citizens I'll let this man say a few words..
"In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the man's becoming in very fact an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag, and this excludes the red flag, which symbolizes all wars against liberty and civilization, just as much as it excludes any foreign flag of a nation to which we are hostile...We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language...and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."
Theodore Roosevelt 1907
We have been "global" we have wantonly opened our borders and our schools to the "world view" and it has cost us jobs. It has cost us sovereignty, it has all but bankrupted our finances. In the ever increasing to be "global' and politically correct we have thrown out ethics in favor of fuzzy wuzzy feel goodism. SO much so that teachers have to defend their decision to implement a code of modesty in dress in public schools because we have adopted "world" standards, instead of the AMERICAN standards we once upheld. You are quite correct if you think those standards are based on Judeo-Christianity, and those standards worked, they made America a shining star among the worlds nations. People flocked here to be AMERICANS. Were some things harsh? Yep, here's a news flash, life is harsh, life's lessons can be harsh. We no longer teach that, we teach Barney loves everyone ideology in a world where Barneys friends really wants to blow us to smithereens.
Your kids don't know squat about American history unless it is painted to make the founders look like evil incarnated. They know the flaws, but little of the heroics's. They are told that these were rich greedy white European men but not that these men ( and women by the way ) risked fortune, comfort, rank and life to fight for and build this nation.
This nation was not a GLOBAL community but rather the Benefactor of other nations, you can speak of global economy all you want but without America, many other nations would have little or NO economy. It is because of us our largest competitors exist at all. The fact of the matter is we have already been far to kind to a world that not only has not repaid us for the many times we have come to the rescue, but has spat in our faces when we have hit rough times.
A growing number of people crossing our borders today, whether by land air or sea are no longer interested in becoming Americans, they merely want to feast on our carcass, stripping away whatever meat is left on the a nation that is dying , mortally wounded by the foolishness of it's own people, who have let down their guard and have fallen asleep on the watch.
IB does not simply create an awareness of other nations and cultures, it is blatantly anti-American and the integrity of 'critical thinking' in courses like Theory of Knowledge has already been polluted. The stage is set when students are programmed in the early elementary ed years to give only expected responses when commenting on advertisements, films, etc. They are trained early to respond in a very limited way. This is mind control.
Promoters and those who accept IB are either anti-American or ignorant. With students coming out of NH schools and schools around the US 'educated' in this way, how many will actually be willing to serve our country (in the traditional sense)? What will our national holidays like Memorial Day, Veteran's Day be but merely reasons to barbeque?
And - I am truly shocked at the knee jerk reaction to simply mentioning God. NH used to be the home of some of the most independent thinkers, but not any more. What has happened in the past 10 - 15 years? Education has reinvented itself.
IB does not simply create an awareness of other nations and cultures, it is blatantly anti-American and the integrity of 'critical thinking' in courses like Theory of Knowledge has already been polluted. The stage is set when students are programmed in the early elementary ed years to give only expected responses when commenting on advertisements, films, etc. They are trained early to respond in a very limited way. This is mind control.
Promoters and those who accept IB are either anti-American or ignorant. With students coming out of NH schools and schools around the US 'educated' in this way, how many will actually be willing to serve our country (in the traditional sense)? What will our national holidays like Memorial Day, Veteran's Day be but merely reasons to barbeque?
And - I am truly shocked at the knee jerk reaction to simply mentioning God. NH used to be the home of some of the most independent thinkers, but not any more. What has happened in the past 10 - 15 years? Education has reinvented itself.
I got some bad news for you Lisa, Memorial Day is basically just that, few go to parades, or seek reflection of the lives given for this nation. Few even bother to thank a surviving vet.
And if you think you get reactions mentioned God, maybe you should be me awhile
As for curriculum, lets just get back to the academics, as classic as they come, for a foundation (remember I am talking elementary level). Without the tools of solid classic liberal arts and problem solving foundation, how can students truly think critically? What is the basis of future comparisons, questions, examinations? The educational foundation of today is usually described as 'relevant' but that is open to interpretation.
My oldest is only in 5th grade so maybe the horrors of the NH public education system have yet to reveal themselves to me... but even here in the evil liberal outpost of New London, she routinely brings home assignments that develop and support critical thinking skills. Her bi-weekly current event summaries are to be on the local, state, or national article of her choice. In addition to the basic who/what/where/why/when how, she also must include a few sentences on her opinion of the story/situation and WHY she feels that way.
Her spelling and vocab assignments are pretty non-threatening -- a lit of 20 non-offensive words. Spell them 3 times, write them in sentences, etc.
Reading and language arts is full of comparative analysis and learning to support an argument clearly and concisely with facts and logic.
Math is taught differently than how I was taught (there are new "methods") but the kid can add, subtract, multiply and divide 6-digit numbers, do fractions and percentages, and basic algebra and geometry. The word problems are not overly precious; they seem pretty balanced to me.
Her school's Memorial Day ceremony yesterday brought a tear to my eye. The kids were respectful, knew why they were there, and were enthralled with the few Veterans who spoke to them. Their music teacher's husband is former USMC; each year, kids from one of the music classes calls him for memorial day and veterans day and sings patriotic songs to him.
Wow, I'm not sure those here would say I stand on some of these issues. I am not christian, I guess I would be one of the tree-huggers, worshipping mother earth. I do however feel that if you come to this country to live you need to know English. If I go to another country, they expect me to live by their culture, therefore we should expect the same in return.
As a college student, MCNPA you have lost all credibility with me when you quote wikipedia. As I was instructed on the first day of class, "it is NOT an academic resource" and anyone using it would citing a failing grade on that paper.
I provided the Wikipedia clip only as an example as it was easiest to post here to make a point. I did so because it is 100% correct. Those numbers were from the Pew U.S. Religious Landscape Survey done in 2007. That ARIS (American Religious Identification Survey) echoes similar data. Feel free to look them up.
I have been to college too and have an advanced degree. I certainly know that Wikipedia is not the gold standard. Don't be so quick to dismiss people as lacking credibility based on what you learned from your college professor. I could just as easily make the judgement that your college professor is as credible as Wikipedia.
Her spelling and vocab assignments are pretty non-threatening -- a lit of 20 non-offensive words. Spell them 3 times, write them in sentences, etc.
Math is taught differently than how I was taught (there are new "methods")
Her school's Memorial Day ceremony yesterday brought a tear to my eye. The kids were respectful, knew why they were there, and were enthralled with the few Veterans who spoke to them. Their music teacher's husband is former USMC; each year, kids from one of the music classes calls him for memorial day and veterans day and sings patriotic songs to him.
What am I missing?
NDQ, thank you for the feedback from there. Your child's school is much more traditional than our school in Hollis.
We have no spelling curriculum aside from being asked to create spelling lists at home. At first I thought this was perfect, because both my kids were spelling bee winners, so they needed substantial words to be challenged. Well, our lists have not been acceptable. At one point my son's list was sent home and he was asked to provide an easier list. We read older works at home than they read at school - and the words were taken right from the books my kids read at home. Students misspelling is not even corrected or considered when grading by teachers.
We also have no methodologies being taught about anything in a minimal instruction way with little structure. It's do whatever you choose whenever you choose. If students complete x amount of work toward a project and turn it in by a certain date, they get a certain grade. There are varying choices regarding effort and due dates which earn various grades, accordingly. Must be much easier for the teachers not to expect much.
Our vocab (only one year here) is context based - fine, but the content is consistently an anti-American view and students asked to consider such passages in answering obviously guided questions, since answers are supposed to relate back to the passages.
We had fuzzy math here for 10 years and its replacement is not so hot either. When you say your math is different and that they use alternative methods - at first we thought, fine, it's good to be able to understand problem solving in different ways but our Everyday Math curriculum was overly-constructivist(figure it out yourself style) with not enough instruction or math drills - math in elementary levels is like fitness. When the drills stop, and 'new methods' introduced, scores can suffer. Your math curriculum is the only questionable one, imo from what you describe. Here in Hollis math scores drop like a rock on HS standardized tests.
It is terrific that Veterans visit the school and the kids are taught to honor them. We used to do that but not since getting a new principal.
Here's the Hollis NCAP scores for the past 3 years in math (2007-2008-2009):
Primary: 89-92-93
Upper Elementary: 82-86-87
Middle: 85-83-79
High School: NA-51-59
That's an average of a 3 point increase across the schools in the district in math scores.
So, because this thread was a bit upsetting to me I decided to have a chat with one of my neighbors with a daughter in the school system this afternoon. She is just about to finish 8th grade and he retired USMC; when I brought up an "anti-American" curriculum he laughed and said "if they started teaching that <expletive> hippie <expletive> in school I wouldn't be standing here right now- you know that ##### is dyslexic so I frequently help her with her work so I'd know too". Maybe you've seen his house? He's got an American and USMC flag lit up 24/7 outside of his home...its hard to miss.
Are you sure you are not misinterpreting these "anti-American" vocabulary lessons?
Doesn't look like a lot of Anti-American course offerings to me. Although I sure wish my high school had offered THIS MANY Advanced Placement classes...I'd have been done with freshmen year before even starting college!
It is terrific that Veterans visit the school and the kids are taught to honor them. We used to do that but not since getting a new principal.
Lisa I believe you are mistaken, perhaps your child just missed that day? This is taken from a recent (March) local (Hollis) VFW Newsletter:
"Once again, the Hollis-Brookline Middle School has invited Veterans of the local community to visit and share with the 8th Grade Students our experiences as Veterans. If you have never attended this event before, it is a great experience not only for the veterans but also for the children who learn something from us about serving our great nation, whether at war or in peace time, and we get to learn from the children what the next generation of Americans is really like, not the media version of them or the “Britney Spears” version. The 8th Graders get to talk to us and ask questions about us before they go on a Class Trip to Washington, DC where they will lay a wreath at Arlington Cemetery, visit the various war memorials and other historic sites throughout the DC area. They will invite us back just before Memorial Day and share with us their experiences and thoughts about what we told them and how that affected their experience to Washington."
Taken from: http://www.hollisvfw.org/Newsletters/10.03%20Newsletter.doc (broken link)
So not only do vets visit; the students then go to DC, visit Arlington Cemetery, and lay a wreath. That's more than I ever did in Middle school. Granted by this point in my life I've had the unfortunate experience of attending more than too many funerals at Arlington
Last edited by BF66389; 05-29-2010 at 09:34 PM..
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