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Old 03-06-2009, 08:51 AM
 
3,857 posts, read 4,214,856 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Eeeee22895 View Post
We're talking January, 1993.
Miami is vastly different now from 1993. The skyline of Miami has completely changed in just the past three to four years. This place is a big International city and the gateway to South America.

 
Old 03-06-2009, 11:27 AM
 
Location: On a Slow-Sinking Granite Rock Up North
3,638 posts, read 6,167,614 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MovingForward View Post
No. The number one thing to teach children is to think about the world in a critical way. That's how innovation and creativity happen. Your idea is to indoctrinate them into never criticizing capitalism. That's just a form of fascist education. Nothing wrong with capitalism, or with the concept of the corporation, but those are human inventions, with real-life implications, and need to be held accountable and consistently improved upon. Without critical thinking skills on the part of its populace, a nation is doomed.
Agreed. Also, not limiting the definition of "critical thinking skills" to prealgebraic elementary mathematics programs that base everything on "estimates," not actual numbers, would go a long way to teaching our children how to look at all aspects of their world. The devil is in the details, and being able to look at all sides logically, and without popping a gasket at something we may not agree with first, is important for making informed decisions.

It would also solidify the principle of making sure that they are not living beyond their means via understanding that they must know EXACTLY (not approximately) what they have available before they spend, and how to not gamble on the prospect of something bigger coming along.

There is far too much emphasis now being placed on testing scores IMHO, and as a result, we are turning out little "machines" that are all too adept at coloring in the "correct" bubble rather than to be able to think things through from all sides of the problem.

Political "slant" is not my child's teacher's job. Teaching my children how to perform life skills that will help to move them forward in their lives, is what I expect them to teach. That could include how the government, capitalism, etc. are supposed to work, the history of the US constitution, how plants grow, what 2 x 2 actually is, but leave the "how best to live your life based on values" to me. That's my job as a parent. Period.

Last edited by cebdark; 03-06-2009 at 11:31 AM.. Reason: added something
 
Old 03-06-2009, 12:18 PM
 
1,336 posts, read 1,531,436 times
Reputation: 202
There was a time when conservative principles were the default; Spending within your means, expecting people to pay their own way, no crazy lawsuits, no federal bailouts. Today so many people have goine crazy. So many are accepting the crazy leftwing notions we are seeing in Washington today. The media says white is black and people are gullible enough to believe them.
 
Old 03-06-2009, 04:10 PM
 
Location: On a Slow-Sinking Granite Rock Up North
3,638 posts, read 6,167,614 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Eeeee22895 View Post
There was a time when conservative principles were the default; Spending within your means, expecting people to pay their own way, no crazy lawsuits, no federal bailouts. Today so many people have goine crazy. So many are accepting the crazy leftwing notions we are seeing in Washington today. The media says white is black and people are gullible enough to believe them.
Yes, people do seem to have the crazy notion of having to have everything they want - right now! In a nutshell, it's called "Stealth Marketing" and "keeping up with the Joneses." Sad to say the least.

As far as being "gullible," that, to me anyway, is what is commonly referred to as "The dumbing down of America."
Leftwing, rightwing, it's one and the same. If one chooses to unilaterally agree with one side or the other before looking at and analyzing all sides of a story, or leaps off on a tirade before taking the time to actually study the subject in question in whole, then I'd have to say that one usually gets what one deserves.

IMHO, people who fear getting the pants sued off of them, tend to choose the lesser of the two evils, because instead of getting infuriated enough to actually fight back (d*mn the torpedoes) they have decided to take the "least expensive" way out. In actuality, many of these lawsuits would set a precedent by going to court and actually being heard - preferably by a cranky judge; and in many cases, as a result, these foolish lawsuits would be relegated to the garbage heap to which they belong.

I'm very fond of the commercial that asks if "the shrug" should be outlawed. "Aren't all answers attainable?" Not if you're so afraid of the answer that you're willing to bow to the "chicken little factor."

As far as the media goes: Objective journalism is a thing of the past IMO. It is nothing, and I mean nothing but pure sensationalistic "entertainment" with enough flash and graphics to set off an epileptic seizure. . Whether it's the "Clinton News Network" or the "Unfair and Completely Unbalanced Spit and Scream" Fox News Network, you are only getting half the information, half of the time (and many times it's later found to be almost completely inaccurate). The same can be said for pretty much any other news network on now.
 
Old 03-07-2009, 05:42 AM
 
Location: Prepperland
19,020 posts, read 14,198,297 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jetgraphics View Post
I agree that economics education is sorely lacking in America.
However, I disagree that what is taught, as economics, IS economics science.

1. The unit of measure, currency, is a variable, not a constant.
2. No scientific measurement is possible with a variable unit of measure.
3. Usury, charging a fee, in money, for the use of money, is mathematically impossible to pay in any finite money token system (like the USA).
4. Long term usury and short term usury require ignorance of the victim to fully function.
5. Pursuant to Title 12 United States Code, sec. 411, the Federal Reserve Note (dollar bill) is an obligation of the U.S. to pay lawful money on demand. That promise was repudiated in 1933, in House Joint Resolution 192.
6. All Federal Reserve Notes are borrowed, at usury, into existence. Only when Congress increases the debt, can more FRNs be printed.
7. This insanity cannot be questioned because of the 14th amendment.
To those students who believed their parents, elders, and teachers, I would encourage to "Trust but Verify" everything they assumed was the truth.

The number one thing that teachers have failed to tell their students?

That the sovereignty of the American people must be preserved. THAT is the only thing that separates the U.S.A. from every other nation on this planet. So far, our opponents have successfully erased that from over 3 generations of Americans. We are ripe for being 'picked clean', and having a new "constitutional" socialist collective uber State imposed.

----------
References:
"But, indeed, no private person has a right to complain, by suit in Court, on the ground of a breach of the Constitution. The Constitution, it is true, is a compact, but he is not a party to it. The States are the parties to it....."
- - -Padelford, Fay & Co. vs. Mayor and Alderman, City of Savannah, 14 Ga. 438, 520 (1854) Supreme Court of Georgia

FEDERAL CORPORATIONS - The United States government is a foreign corporation with respect to a state.
- - - Volume 19, Corpus Juris Secundum XVIII. Foreign Corporations, Sections 883,884

"Government is not Sovereignty. Government is the machinery or expedient for expressing the will of the sovereign power."
City of Bisbee v. Cochise County, 78 P. 2d 982, 986, 52 Ariz. 1

"People are supreme, not the state."
Waring v. the Mayor of Savannah, 60 GA at 93.

"The people of the state, as the successors of its former sovereign, are entitled to all the rights which formerly belonged to the king by his own prerogative."
Lansing v. Smith, (1829) 4 Wendell 9, (NY)

"At the Revolution, the sovereignty devolved on the people and they are truly the sovereigns of the country."
Chisholm v. Georgia, 2 Dall. 440, 463

The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion;
[United States Constitution, Article 4, Section 4]

REPUBLICAN (form of) GOVERNMENT. One in which the powers of sovereignty are vested in the people and are exercised by the people, ... directly,....
In re Duncan, 139 U.S. 449, 11 S.Ct. 573, 35 L.Ed. 219;
Minor v. Happersett, 88 U.S. (21 Wall.) 162, 22 L.Ed. 627.
- - - Black's Law Dictionary
There is no other nation nor government on this planet that has a "republican form of government". Everyone else is a subject citizen of their government, even if its a parliamentary democracy.
"... the term 'citizen,' in the United States, is analogous to the term "subject" in the common law; the change of phrase has resulted from the change in government. ... he who before was a "subject of the King" is now a citizen of the State."
State v. Manuel, 20 N.C. 144 (1838)

"CITIZEN - ... Citizens are members of a political community who, in their associative capacity, have established or submitted themselves to the dominion of government for the promotion of the general welfare and the protection of their individual as well as collective rights. "
- - - Black's Law Dictionary,Sixth Ed. p.244
"SUBJECT - One that owes allegiance to a sovereign and is governed by his laws.
...Men in free governments are subjects as well as citizens; as citizens they enjoy rights and franchises; as subjects they are bound to obey the laws. The term is little used, in this sense, in countries enjoying a republican form of government."
- - - Black's Law Dictionary, Sixth Edition, p. 1425
We've been tricked to claim subjugation, despite all the evidence to the contrary on the law books.

Did you think you were born a "U.S. citizen"?
Who told you that?
It's not in the law.
"A Sovereign cannot be named in any statute as merely a 'person' or 'any person'".
Wills v. Michigan State Police, 105 L.Ed. 45 (1989)

"In common usage, the term 'person' does not include the sovereign, [and] statutes employing the [word] are ordinarily construed to exclude it."
Wilson v. Omaha Indian Tribe, 442 U.S. 653, 667, 61 L.Ed2. 153, 99 S.Ct. 2529 (1979)
(quoting United States v. Cooper Corp. 312 U.S. 600, 604, 85 L.Ed. 1071, 61 S.Ct. 742 (1941)).

"All PERSONS born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."
[14th Amendment, Section 1.]
I would want every American student to know that their birthright and heritage is to be sovereign, free and independent.

//www.city-data.com/forum/7724084-post29.html
 
Old 03-09-2009, 05:42 AM
 
Location: On a Slow-Sinking Granite Rock Up North
3,638 posts, read 6,167,614 times
Reputation: 2677
[quote=jetgraphics;7774092]To those students who believed their parents, elders, and teachers, I would encourage to "Trust but Verify" everything they assumed was the truth.

The number one thing that teachers have failed to tell their students?

That the sovereignty of the American people must be preserved. THAT is the only thing that separates the U.S.A. from every other nation on this planet. [quote]

Agreed. Learning History based on verifiable facts, not conjecture, is paramount in our children's ability to think "critically" and become more informed.
 
Old 03-09-2009, 05:45 PM
 
Location: Prepperland
19,020 posts, read 14,198,297 times
Reputation: 16747
Quote:
Originally Posted by reloop View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by jetgraphics View Post
To those students who believed their parents, elders, and teachers, I would encourage to "Trust but Verify" everything they assumed was the truth.

The number one thing that teachers have failed to tell their students?

That the sovereignty of the American people must be preserved. THAT is the only thing that separates the U.S.A. from every other nation on this planet.
Agreed. Learning History based on verifiable facts, not conjecture, is paramount in our children's ability to think "critically" and become more informed.
But prudence would suggest that they do not exhibit too much enthusiastic contradictory behavior before the socialist proctors. They may be diagnosed as 'mentally disturbed' and require medication to inhibit their counter socialist thought.
To socialists, one would have to be crazy to not want to be part of the collective and enjoy a worker's paradise.
 
Old 03-12-2009, 05:07 AM
 
Location: On a Slow-Sinking Granite Rock Up North
3,638 posts, read 6,167,614 times
Reputation: 2677
Quote:
Originally Posted by jetgraphics View Post
But prudence would suggest that they do not exhibit too much enthusiastic contradictory behavior before the socialist proctors. They may be diagnosed as 'mentally disturbed' and require medication to inhibit their counter socialist thought.
To socialists, one would have to be crazy to not want to be part of the collective and enjoy a worker's paradise.
Perhaps, but I don't necessarily agree that it's just socialists per se who believe that one would have to be crazy to not want to be part of the collective. IMO it a lot of it comes down to marketing in general. Ivan Pavlov may have been studying the automaticity of the digestive system in dogs prior to his discovery of conditioning, but what a discovery he stumbled on.

Therein lies the "critical thinking skills." Personally, I feel that we don't teach young people the old adage "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is" enough anymore. There seems to be a dearth in giving clear examples of how hard work and accomplishment can incent one to keep achieving in a positive sense. In other words, "I worked for it, and I deserve it" as opposed to "Everyone else has it, why shouldn't I?"

Somehow, these "life-skills" IMHO, keep getting trumped by bogus numbers in increased math and reading test scores.
 
Old 03-12-2009, 06:14 AM
 
Location: New Mexico
8,396 posts, read 9,441,352 times
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Lightbulb NUMBER ONE thing teachers should be teaching above all else....

Quote:
Originally Posted by Eeeee22895 View Post
I say it's economics and what the political parties are really about. If every child were taught something about spending within your means, America wouldn't be putting up with these horrendous giveaways and pork barrel spending we are seeing the past month from the Obama administration.

Children should be taught the basics of national economics. Corporations are NOT evil; they are the very backbone of our economic system. We should teach kids that corporations invest capital, provide innovations, make necessary goods and services, and create jobs. Government does none of these.

Children should be taught to challenge the notion that high achievers should be punished by being disporportionally taxed. Kids have an instinctive understanding of fairness. Try this exercise. Ask the students how they would like to study two hours every night, do extra credit projects, and stay after school for homework help while their classmates go home and do nothing but watch TV and play video games while eating chips and drinking soda, THEN have the lazy classmates receive the better grade? That's basically what's going on with the bailout of people facing foreclosure.

Along the same vein of fairness here's another game: Child A and Child B are running for class president. Child A promises the class that he will pay each a dollar if they vote for him. Child B just promises to work hard if elected, and pledges to try to get the whole class to work harder in school. Child A then steals a $20 bill from Child B, gives a dollar to each class member and keeps the rest for himself. Child A then tells the class how generous he is for giving them money and how Child B is selfish for not wanting to give. Yet it was Child B's money all along. The poorest kids elect Child A, because they wanted the money and didn't want to have to work hard. Child A wins.

Ask the students if they think the above scenarios were fair. Then explain to them that is exactly how the two political parties operate.

Here's a final exercise:

Two people each started a business. Person A spent money very carefully. He saved what he could then bought supplies for his business only when he had enough money. He worked hard, figured out how to draw new customers, served the customers well, and earned money. He then invested that money and opened three other stores, hired a lot of people who worked hard and satisfied the customers.

Person B didn't save enough money to buy a business but he lied about his income and fooled a bank into loaning him that money. He didn't work hard, didn't serve his customers, and didn't invest his money. Instead, he lavished his money on friends and on people who helped him lie to the bank to get money. When his business started to falter, he made up more lies, fooled more banks, and borrowed more money. Finally, he told the banks he wasn't going to pay them anymore, closed the business, and the few workers he had lost their jobs.

Teachers, you don't even have to mention political parties. You don't have to. Just tell them those things are really happening with the two political parties. Appeal to their sense of fairness, and encourage them to develop the political philosophy of their own choosing. If generations of American kids were taught wonderful lessons like this every day in class, our nation would be much more prosperous, there wouldn't be as much dependency, and above all, we wouldn't be electing the folks who caused our current economic problems to "solve" the problem.

OK...

Time for an after-action report. Tell me how that lesson plan worked in your classroom.
 
Old 03-12-2009, 12:22 PM
LML
 
Location: Wisconsin
7,100 posts, read 9,109,923 times
Reputation: 5191
Based on the past 8 years I would say that the schools need to do a better job teaching civics and U.S. History. Too many people....including those at the highest level of government....clearly did not understand the Constitution or the rights and responsibilities of the the government and the governed.
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