Category Archives: Education

June 13, 2015 · 3:37 pm

More on preemptive nuclear strikes…. OMG

Here’s a quick follow-up to the Mark Dice post the other day about his fake petition to nuke Russia video.  RT  (Russia Today) reports doing a man-on-the-street fake petition, by approaching Moscow pedestrians and trying to acquire their signature agreeing to nuke America.  Most of the Russians reportedly refused to sign the petition and expressed outrage at the suggestion:

http://rt.com/news/266848-russia-nuke-america-poll/

I’ll leave it to you to ponder this, but in the Dice video, what alarmed me the most was that not a single person actually took the time to read the petition – they just signed it.

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June 7, 2015 · 1:10 pm

I Still Blame the Communists | The Weekly Standard

I Still Blame the Communists | The Weekly Standard.

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Filed under Culture Wars, Education, General Interest, History, Politics

May 19, 2015 · 4:47 pm

Another sighting of Lenin’s ghost

Lenin’s ghost roams the halls of academia, with another haunting being sighted:

Is having a loving family an unfair advantage?

Yes, by reading to your children, this lunatic suggests you are giving your child an unfair advantage, so posits philosopher, Adam Swift…  More to come on this subject of presenting ideas to destroy civil society and families under the guise of “social justice” and other deception by college campus Marxists and sundry left-wing whackos, I just need to check my white privilege at the door first and review the approved list of words I can use that aren’t hurtful or hateful -maybe tomorrow I’ll write it….

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May 19, 2015 · 1:21 pm

Lemmings at the cliff’s edge…

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May 15, 2015 · 6:13 pm

Aquamarine vs. turquoise

Finally, here is a post on factions, that’s so simple even a 5 year-old can understand the problem.  Adults might get stuck in their rigid ideological beliefs. All beliefs are not morally equal – some when carried to extremes have horrific consequences for millions of innocent people, while others can do remarkable good for the entire world.  That is the TRUTH.

Let’s say you believe very strongly that a color is aquamarine and I believe equally as strongly that that color is turquoise.  Being that we both believe a different thing, many avenues are there for us to choose.  We could argue and get so angry that we end up hating each other and never speak to each other again.  I could feel so strongly about my belief that I kill you.  We might even  kill each other fighting over who is right. I could even decide that it’s not enough to just kill you, but because you’ve convinced your whole town that the color is aquamarine, it’s necessary to kill all of them too.

Of course, on the less extreme side we might agree to consult an outside expert on color to settle the matter, perhaps, we could call the Crayola Company, after all they’ve been naming colors since 1885 in Easton, PA, near where I grew up.

We might argue, passionately and often, clinging to our beliefs (as President Obama accused those rural people in PA), but in the American tradition, we could agree to disagree and at some point, shake hands and say, “Let’s go have pizza!”  Presented to most 5 year-olds, the vast majority will agree that it’s stupid to kill other people just because we disagree, on the other hand most adults refuse to even listen to differing opinions.  Maya Angleou, renowned poet, expressed it exactly right:

“Hate, it has caused a lot of problems in the world, but has not solved one yet.” –
http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/26244-hate-it-has-caused-a-lot-of-problems-in-the

So, in America, being a country forged together by a people committed to INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM, we have The Declaration of Independence to ensure our God-given, unalienable rights are not infringed upon:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Sadly, in America our political partisanship swirls dangerously to extremes – where hate has swelled to such a level  that many Americans choose to receive all of their news from sources that align with their political views.  The hate and extremism goes so far that even the President of the United States works to divide Americans into hostile camps.  Distrust turns Americans into furtive enemies, partisans avoiding those who hold an opposing view, with ideological walls being girded to lock out all who dare to disagree.  Even codes are enacted in our universities to silence opposition.

We must tear down these partisan walls!  We must work to find common ground, or we can not face the threats beyond our borders.  President George Washington warned about the dangers of extreme partisanship in his Farewell Address:

“I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the State, with particular reference to the founding of them on geographical discriminations. Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party generally.

This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but, in those of the popular form, it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy.

The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty.

Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight), the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.

So, beyond my stating it is a parental duty in a civil society to train your children to respect the rule of law.  George Washington tells you that it’s a duty to discourage extremist politics – the duties are required to be a good citizen.  I wrote a post in 2013 titled, “The duty of a wise people”. on this subject.

There was a time, not so long ago, when American school children were routinely taught about this speech and  American principles.  Sadly, today I suspect many school children don’t even know who George Washington was. And mentioning The Constitution, too often and too loudly, will get your name on a Homeland Security watch list as a right-wing extremist…

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Filed under American Character, American History, Culture Wars, Education, General Interest, Politics, The Constitution, The Media

May 8, 2015 · 9:21 pm

The power of free thinking

To understand the power of free thinking, I recommend reading , “My Bondage and My Freedom” by Frederick Douglass.  Here is a free gutenberg.org version, but I have it downloaded on my kindle, so here is the free kindle version too.

Frederick Douglass was born an American slave in 1818 in Maryland and he died a champion of human rights, an abolitionist, a writer, renowned orator, but most of all a FREE man in 1895. (short bio here).

Douglass relates how as a slave, learning to read was forbidden, but a white mistress undertook teaching him to read for a short time, before being reprimanded by her husband.  From that point on, Douglass embarked on a secret, dangerous mission to educate himself:

“Seized with a determination to learn to read, at any cost, I hit upon many expedients to accomplish the desired end. The plea which I mainly adopted, and the one by which I was most successful, was that of using my young white playmates, with whom I met in the streets as teachers. I used to carry, almost constantly, a copy of Webster’s spelling book in my pocket; and, when sent of errands, or when play time was allowed me, I would step, with my young friends, aside, and take a lesson in spelling. I generally paid my tuition fee to the boys, with bread, which I also carried in my pocket. For a single biscuit, any of my hungry little comrades would give me a lesson more valuable to me than bread. Not every one, however, demanded this consideration, for there were those who took pleasure in teaching me, whenever I had a chance to be taught by them.”

Douglass, Frederick (2009-10-04). My Bondage and My Freedom (p. 85). Public Domain Books Kindle Edition.

Douglass heard some white boys mention a schoolbook, The Columbian Orator, and determined to acquire a copy.  He bought a copy for fifty cents.  The Columbian Orator was a popular 19th century schoolbook filled with speeches and essays, geared to promote republican virtues (in other words, good citizenship,  if you are living in a republic like the United States of America) and patriotism.  To quote Douglass:

“I had now penetrated the secret of all slavery and oppression, and had ascertained their true foundation to be in the pride, the power and the avarice of man. The dialogue and the speeches were all redolent of the principles of liberty, and poured floods of light on the nature and character of slavery. With a book of this kind in my hand, my own human nature, and the facts of my experience, to help me, I was equal to a contest with the religious advocates of slavery, whether among the whites or among the colored people, for blindness, in this matter, is not confined to the former. I have met many religious colored people, at the south, who are under the delusion that God requires them to submit to slavery, and to wear their chains with meekness and humility. I could entertain no such nonsense as this; and I almost lost my patience when I found any colored man weak enough to believe such stuff.”

Douglass, Frederick (2009-10-04). My Bondage and My Freedom (p. 87). Public Domain Books. Kindle Edition.

He continued:

“Once awakened by the silver trump of knowledge, my spirit was roused to eternal wakefulness. Liberty! the inestimable birthright of every man, had, for me, converted every object into an asserter of this great right. It was heard in every sound, and beheld in every object. It was ever present, to torment me with a sense of my wretched condition. The more beautiful and charming were the smiles of nature, the more horrible and desolate was my condition.”

Douglass, Frederick (2009-10-04). My Bondage and My Freedom (pp. 87-88). Public Domain Books. Kindle Edition.

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Filed under American Character, American History, Education, Food for Thought, General Interest

April 14, 2015 · 4:05 pm

Minding Your Manners

Wow, it took a major psychological study to conclude that what used to be considered a parental duty, to teach your child how to behave, really is the most important “skill” you can teach your child according to this article in the British Daily Mail:

“Self control is the most important lesson a parent can teach their child: Study says skill has a major influence on children’s lives

Really, here it is:

“The new research in published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

The researchers who led the study found that children with high self-control – who are typically better able to pay attention, persist with difficult tasks, and suppress inappropriate or impulsive behaviours – are much more likely to find and retain employment as adults, spending 40% less time unemployed than those who had a lower capacity for self-control as children.”

The article mentions yoga and martial arts and naturally nanny state “preschool interventions”, but it doesn’t mention good parenting at home.  Take it from me, a stay at home mother who raised four children, or watch that Duggar family on TV with their 19 kids – it’s all about setting a routine, setting rules (expectations of behavior) for your home, and daily reinforcement.  And most of all being a good example, but hey, “preschool interventions” neatly takes the parents out of the self-control training equation….

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March 10, 2015 · 10:03 am

Why we are doomed

These are college students.

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March 3, 2015 · 10:13 am

Willful ignorance: Bondage for the modern era?

Sometimes, well, let’s make that often, progressive politics appears to be very much a “cut off your nose to spite your face” childish temper tantrum.  The ongoing flights of these social justice loco birds’ loopy reasoning can leave you dazed, dizzy and decidedly dumbfounded, but be brave and wade through the entire linked blog post, “Why Grammar Snobbery Has No Place in the Movement”, discussed in a piece, “Proper English Grammar is Now Racist”, at The American Thinker this morning.

The grammar snobbery post comes from Melissa A. Fabello, a self-described social justice warrior and an English teacher.  Let’s bow our heads and pray that none of  our children or grandchildren end up subjected to her politicized propaganda that setting standard  English  as the standard is a form of class privilege and inherently oppressive.   Ms Fabello’s arguments on ‘”privilege” appear, not surprisingly, on a blog called “Everyday Feminism”.  She writes:

But there’s a difference between understanding standard grammar and demanding it, between believing there’s a time and a place for so-called “proper” English and ridiculing anyone who steps outside of what you deem “acceptable.”

There’s a difference between appreciating language and being a snob.

And the last place that we need grammar snobbery is in social justice movements.

And not just because getting hung up on the correct use of homonyms or subject-predicate agreement is distracting to the job at hand, but also because purporting one form of English as elite is inherently oppressive.

In Fabello’s view, “it’s important to note that any time we create a hierarchy by positioning one thing as “better” than another, we’re being oppressive.” ( all bold-faced statements are hers, not mine).  Yes, the American march to mediocrity follows the beat of some decidedly off-beat drummers.  Obviously, she was not reared by my mother, the strictest teacher on there’s a right way to just about everything in life, from how to fold your underwear to how to help your neighbors.

Patricia L. Dickson, author of The American Thinker piece mentioned  above, sums up this bizarre alter-universe of progressive political thought:

“The entire article is a futile attempt to justify the failure of the public school system. The author is using the soft bigotry of low expectations under the guise of social justice.”

Some of the very practices American slave owners used to keep their black slaves submissive now appear to be sold as “empowering”.  In the words of Frederick Douglass, a writer whom Ms Fabello should study closely:

“Slavery does away with fathers, as it does away with families. Slavery has no use for either fathers or families, and its laws do not recognize their existence in the social arrangements of the plantation. When they do exist, they are not the outgrowths of slavery, but are antagonistic to that system. The order of civilization is reversed here. The name of the child is not expected to be that of its father, and his condition does not necessarily affect that of the child.”

Douglass, Frederick (2009-10-04). My Bondage and My Freedom (p. 29). Public Domain Books. Kindle Edition.

Laws were enacted in some states forbidding slaves to learn to read or write, in the belief that their education was a threat to the slavery system (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/slavery/experience/education/docs1.html).

Learning standard English, if not the language in the home, should be viewed as an opportunity toward advancement, just as acquiring any other foreign language can open many doors too.  Promoting willful ignorance in the name of “social justice” will keep many black children locked in poverty, hopeless and  dependent on the largesse of government welfare programs – from cradle to grave.  Perhaps, that is the intention.  Is this bondage for the modern era?

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Aside

Modernity meets the Amish

G. Murphy Donovan’s latest article at The American Thinker, “Arrested Development and the Internet” discusses a book, Mind Change, written by a British neuroscientist, Susan Greenfield, the Baroness Ot-Moor, who also sits in the House of Lords.  He writes:

“Susan Greenfield’s Mind Change is a courageous broadside at cyber culture, a dose of reality therapy for the Internet, social networks, video gaming, cyber gadgets, and the damage they might do to malleable, developing minds.

The key word is minds, not brains, mind you. You can think of your brain as a mind only if it has a personality. Clearly, cyber millennials have brains, but Susan’s lament suggests the jury might still be out on adult personalities. Greenfield is concerned for the most part about the growth of self, not cells.”

More than a decade ago, the internet seemed to me to be like the Wild West, vast open space to explore, few rules, and no defined culture.  We allowed our children to roam free in this new terrain with very little supervision, guidelines, or guidance.  Sure, commercial entities sprang up offering pricey services to serve as electronic internet babysitters for our children – parental controls.  The video gaming landscape ran red with blood and mayhem, where murder and violence fed every psychopathological and sociopathological trait, in the imaginary persona young people (mostly boys) took on in ever-increasingly violent  “role playing”.

The American cyber “culture” never developed as a “culture” in the sense of people connected together by traditional ethnic/religious/social values and therein lies the danger.  Political propagandists, big business entities , and many far left academics built a Potemkin village, where we and our children lead imaginary lives.

That criminal entities and terrorists should find safe haven operating on the internet should not come as a surprise.  Islamic fascists seized the internet technology as a cheap means to take their movement global, actually creating a unique internet culture, utilizing high-tech videography to sell their rebranding of a 7th century death cult.  Of course, back in the 90s, American left-wing pols warned of right-wing zealots forming militias using the internet to communicate, collude and conspire too.  And a plethora of criminals, deviants, and assorted organized criminal elements all found the internet an appealing new terrain to exploit too.

I have not read Greenfield’s book, so I followed GMD’s links in his article and then googled Greenfield to read a bit more about her and her book.  In this The Telegraph article, “Susan Greenfield: “I’m not scaremongering”, Tom Chivers writes:

“Susan Greenfield is keen to make it known that she is no technophobe. “I’m not a Luddite, I’m not Amish. No scientist could be a technophobe – I couldn’t do what I do if I were a technophobe.”

The issue has come up because for years, she has been warning about the dangers (and the possible benefits, she would be careful to add) of screen technologies. She is – fairly or unfairly – associated with newspaper headlines such as “Social websites harm children’s brains: chilling warning to parents from top neuroscientist” and “How Facebook addiction is damaging your child’s brain”.”

Greenfield’s asserting that she isn’t Amish nor a technophobe led me to think about a book I’m currently reading, “Amish Peace: Simple Wisdom for a Complicated World”, by Suzanne Woods Fisher,  which offers some interesting insight into this discussion of technology’s impact on children’s developing minds.  Growing up in PA and being PA Dutch (although not Amish), I thought of the Amish as being backward and  to borrow Greenfield’s description, “technophobes”.  Well, here’s what I’m learning – the Amish aren’t technophobes.  The Amish were some of the earliest embracers of  solar power. They have practical, debated positions on new technology within their churches:

“The acceptance of the scooter reflects an Amish-style “selective modernization.” When something new reaches into the Amish community, the church leaders might give it a period of probation, weighing out its long-term effects, and each church district comes to its own conclusions. And, always, the church leaders consider where a change could lead the younger generation. They try to see beyond the immediate benefits of change to the effects it could have down the road. How could this new technology or gadget tempt someone away from the church? Or to disobey God?”

Fisher, Suzanne Woods (2009-09-15). Amish Peace: Simple Wisdom for a Complicated World (p. 39). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Fisher continues:

“The Amish consider the long-term consequences of something new and how it will affect the community’s welfare. They appreciate comfort and convenience but realize it’s not the ultimate reason for our being here. They make decisions with higher purposes in mind. Before accepting or buying a new technology, have you ever thought, what will this lead to? Consider making today’s purchase with your ultimate goals in mind. Look around your house. How many gadgets do you see that promise to save you time, effort, or money? Have they lived up to their promise? The Amish have a saying: Once drawn, lines are hard to erase. Where do you draw the line on what technology is acceptable for your family and what isn’t? How does recognizing that “line” (or priority) simplify decision making?”

Fisher, Suzanne Woods (2009-09-15). Amish Peace: Simple Wisdom for a Complicated World (p. 40). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

From another chapter in Fisher’s book, the backward Amish offer up the time-tested child-rearing value of character development and providing good adult role models:

“The work ethic of the Amish had already been instilled in Elizabeth, even at her tender age. The Amish are known for their precise craftsmanship, be it quilting, carpentry, cooking, or blacksmithing. Doing something well is a virtue. Even in school, children learn a concept thoroughly before moving on to the next assignment. They value thoroughness over haste, completion over speed. To the Amish way of thinking, a task takes the time that it takes. They also value giving a task the time it requires to do a job well. Elizabeth didn’t feel frustrated or impatient with herself, as so many do— including adults— while on the steep learning curve. So how do the Amish instill such a work ethic in their children? It’s not as complicated as it sounds. In fact, it’s something we all do, whether we intend to or not. It’s called modeling. Elizabeth’s community is made up of living examples— good ones—of how to work, how to live, and how to love others. She is surrounded by a covey of females: mothers, grandmothers, sisters, and cousins who pass on their knowledge and expertise about how to cook , clean, quilt, and be keepers of the home —all of the components that make up an Amish woman’s life— as naturally as sharing the air they breathe.”

Fisher, Suzanne Woods (2009-09-15). Amish Peace: Simple Wisdom for a Complicated World (pp. 84-85). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Many modern families behave like strangers living in the same house.  Look around you and it’s almost impossible to share a meal or carry on any conversation with other Americans that isn’t intruded upon by  technology – usually the cell phone, but I often see toddlers engrossed by tablets, totally oblivious to their surrounding too.  Of course, I’m not advocating we all go join the Amish, but perhaps their much maligned and ridiculed lifestyle centered on simplicity and their higher purpose of serving God offers some sage wisdom on child-rearing and technology.

Almost without exception, American parents insist education and showering their children with things are very important.  Our media bombard us with “studies” and “experts” regaling us  with catchphrases and psychobabble on how to rear our children.  In the 1980s feminists conjured up a sap to working mothers, “quality time”, to assuage their guilt over devoting more time to career than to their children.  Stay at home mothers continue to be maligned and the chattering “experts” continue to assault home-schooled children, despite consistent testing demonstrating that home-schooled children score higher on the standardized metrics used by the public education establishment.   A large percentage of home-schooling parents, just like the Amish, opt out of the public education system based on their religious beliefs, making them a prime target for the liberal academics and left-wing politicians.  They choose to actively, on a daily basis, guide their child’s character development.

The Greenfield cautionary view of  cyber-technology on the development of children’s minds  and the resulting backlash should come as no surprise.  Leftist politics pervades academia in Western civilization, where any evidence that runs counter to the politics falls prey to the knives of mainstream media and ends up buried in the obituaries as a “fringe theory”,  a notion discredited by real “experts” and if all else fails they destroy the messenger’s character.

From this stay at home mother, here are some personal observations on the development of children’s minds.  Children thrive in a structured environment, with a stable family, an established daily routine and where “rules” get daily reinforcement.  The carnage from shattered families proves lie to old 80s feminist trope that “quality of time” can make up for the lack of quantity of time spent rearing children.  Young children learn from repetition,  whether it be wanting you to read the same story over and over and over to repeating the same phrases for days on end.  Which stories and phrases you teach your child matter, because a child’s mind flows naturally to imitation.

The teen years, where children vacillate between childish tantrums and adult behavior, offer challenges to parenting, where vulnerable young minds often test new values, new beliefs and fall prey to peer pressure.  Without a firm family foundation, parental participation, and constant monitoring, the teen years are when kids minds strike out looking for an autonomous identity – who and where they receive their inspiration at this juncture matters a great deal.  If young people spend more time focused on their digital life than on real life, perhaps the common sense deduction that these “harmless” digital contacts might not be as innocuous as the cyber industry would have us believe rests as truth, not technophobia.  Sorry if your kid spends all his/her waking hours outside of school engaged in texting, using social media or playing video games, he/she isn’t reading or gaining inspiration from Dr. Eliot’s Five-Foot Shelf list of books commonly known as the Harvard Classics.

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March 1, 2015 · 7:04 am