Citizen Dullard
Sandra Day O’Connor did 24 years as one of the Supremes. Lee Hamilton represented an Indiana district in the House for 34 years. Reading this, I have to count myself grateful both of them are retired and no longer in much of a position to influence policy:
With young people voting at higher rates than ever before, it might seem that the founders would be pleased with our progress. Yet civic engagement requires more than voting in presidential elections every four years. A healthy democracy demands sustained citizen participation, and our schools must give students the knowledge and tools to participate.
Sadly, civic education has been in steady decline over the past generation, as high-stakes testing and an emphasis on literacy and math dominate school reforms. Too many young people today do not understand how our political system works. They lack the tools to shape their communities through their own participation.
Yeah. How dare those “school reformers” emphasize “literacy and math”? We’re trying to do some nation-building here!
I suppose I should expect no less from a pair who approvingly quote the fatheaded Dewey, one of the architects of the ruin of American education. Still, it’s the sort of damnably huge hole in logic that makes me wonder how some people get through law school, let alone ascend to rarefied heights within the Federal government. Are they hauled, kicking and screaming, by main force, do you think, or do they just save up enough boxtops and send away for a sheepskin and a bar card?
If law and logic were one and inseparable, there’d be a minimum of forty suicides a year in Congress alone, just from the overwhelming cognitive dissonance.
paulsmos »
19 September 2008 · 2:57 pm
So is it your contention that a lack of civics education is a boon? An individual that is literate and knows y=mx+b is fine and dandy, but ill equips same in the political process. These folks are no better than the idiots that vote for things because they look or sound “cool”.
Meh.
CGHill »
19 September 2008 · 3:08 pm
The guy who knows y=mx+b has a better chance of being able to replace a crankshaft pulley than your average, um, community organizer. Guess which one of these is more likely to be needed on an emergency basis.
McGehee »
19 September 2008 · 5:21 pm
When schools cannot simultaneously teach math and literacy on the one hand, and civics on the other, and do so effectively, the “reforms” that have occurred in the years since they could do it, are incontrovertibly impeached.
What is needed is education reform aimed at restoring the model that last did well all of the things asked of it in the interest of a well-rounded citizen.
To many this may seem similar to uninstalling Vista in favor of DOS 4.11, but if that’s what it takes…
McGehee »
19 September 2008 · 5:22 pm
4.01
It’s been a few years.
CGHill »
19 September 2008 · 5:30 pm
All of the DOS 4.x variants are expendable.
You want good DOS, you want 3.3, 5, or the last few incarnations of 6. (Disclaimer: I’ve not played with IBM’s DOS 7.)
unimpressed »
19 September 2008 · 9:37 pm
McGehee, read this: http://dotnet.org.za/codingsanity/archive/2007/12/14/review-windows-xp.aspx
I haven’t a clue as to how to make this show up as an actual link. You’ll just have to cut-n-paste, sorry.
unimpressed »
19 September 2008 · 9:37 pm
Oh, never mind. It’s smart enough to do it without help. :)
McGehee »
20 September 2008 · 3:55 am
I may have been thinking of 2.11, which is what my dad had to load from a floppy on his TRS-LXXX because it didn’t have a hard drive.