Education by force?

[iceaura]

No, they couldn't.
”
Yes, they could.

http://www.mykidsdeservebetter.com/l...hilds_life.asp

Those children went to public school, sent there by their parents. In places without public schools, peasant children often do not learn to read.

Your stat source there is cherrypicking, btw: the religious sects dominating the pioneer northeastern US placed great emphasis on literacy. You might ask why those same communities ever thought compulsory education was needed - an influx of immigrants who did not educate their children explains that.

It's like a law saying you have to dig an outhouse pit, and cannot just defecate in your yard. No one even thinks to pass such a law unless the new immigrants present the necessity.

Wait! So the Cambodians had public schooling, yet this didn't stop the rise of the Khmer Rouge? Weren't you contending that education prevented tyranny?

Teh Khmer Rouge was organized among the peasantry, who were unschooled, by a few elite who were. The schools they destroyed were not for them, by and large.

To claim that public schooling 'prevents' tyranny is pure speculation on your behalf.

It has evidence to back it. An uneducated people, like an unarmed people, is vulnerable.

It's also worth noting that for a government to employ force in order to coerce parents into sending their children to school *is* tyranny.

One reason I don't advocate that. The OP title is "education by force", not "forced attendance at the government's school".

Why not? Educating more people just empowers more potential tyrants,

The more people educated, the more difficult tyranny becomes.

The alternative, educating nobody, would in theory work as well against tyranny. But it's far more difficult to enforce, and not near as much fun or productive.

 

[Challenger78]

No, it's not nationalism that divides us, it's based almost solely on the number of people in that nation. In the old days, when there were very few people, a consensus was relatively easy. In modern times, with the vast numbers of people, all with differing ideas and thoughts and ideasl, unity is all but impossible.

So perhaps "Divided we stand" rather than the other way 'round?

Baron Max

So.. Vermont is seceding because It wants to be diverse ?

 

[madanthonywayne]

Should children be brainwashed into going to school? Why send them to school before they are old enough to decide if they want to go there?

We should let them stay home and watch TV until they're old enough to decide for themselves that they want to stay home and watch TV.

Is this a serious question, SAM?

 

[S.A.M.]

TV is brainwashing too. Let them come naturally to their natural unbrainwashed conclusions.

 

[madanthonywayne]

TV is brainwashing too. Let them come naturally to their natural unbrainwashed conclusions.

SAM, children are our means of reproduction. That doesn't just mean our germ plasm, it means our ideas. Our way of thinking. So of course we have not just a right, but a duty to educate our children.

 

[S.A.M.]

By force?

 

[(Q)]

The fatwa you posted imposes very tight restrictions on how Muslims can physically discipline their children.

You missed the point entirely. Congratulations.

 

[Baron Max]

..., it means our ideas. Our way of thinking. So of course we have not just a right, but a duty to educate our children.

The big kicker in that statement is your use of the word "our" ...our children? Just who, exactly, is "our" children?

If we're a warmonger, gun-totin', beer-guzzlin', mean, uncompassionate, bigoted, human-hatin', woman-lovin', old fart, capitalist ....will you allow us to educate "our" kids "our" own way?

Or are you trying to imply the all-encompassing "our" to mean "the good guys only"? And the rest of the people should kowtow to your demands?

Baron Max

 

[(Q)]

If we're a warmonger, gun-totin', beer-guzzlin', mean, uncompassionate, bigoted, human-hatin', woman-lovin', old fart, capitalist ....will you allow us to educate "our" kids "our" own way?

You clearly weren't educated yourself, then. No reference points.

 

[(Q)]

Victims of religion.

For all your anti-religious zeal, one thing you've forgotten is compassion. In the twenty-first century, it is a difficult proposition to place the full weight of blame for religious idiocy on any of the religious.

Sorry T, I laughed till I cried, and then I laughed some more. Ever think of writing comedy?

 

[(Q)]

TV is brainwashing too.

Tell us more, Sam. Religion is education and everything else is indoctrination, eh Sam. Milk it for all it's worth, Sam.

 

[Tiassa]

Laughter Without Soul

Sorry T, I laughed till I cried, and then I laughed some more. Ever think of writing comedy?

Yeah, but over the years I found it's far too easy to write comedy for the soulless. Seinfeld, Dharma and Greg, King of Queens, Carlos Mencia, Andrew Dice Clay, Two and a Half Men ....

As you suggest, it is easy enough to do by accident.

 

[S.A.M.]

I think you give Carlos Mencia less credit than he deserves. He represents the assimilated Hispanic. Who laughs at himself. Very important an iconography in comedy. Like the Chappelle Show, there is some social engineering going on there.

 

[Tiassa]

It would help if he's actually funny

Perhaps. Maybe if his show was actually funny, I would understand that representation a little better.

 

[S.A.M.]

My point was, its not You who is the target audience.

 

[Tiassa]

Fair enough

Fair enough, but who is the target audience?

 

[S.A.M.]

Duh, the ones who laugh at his jokes!

My fave:

"Ahmed, I dare you to hijack a plane in Los Angeles and tell a black guy you ain't going to land in Oakland," he says, during some commentary about race, the Sept. 11 attacks and the reasons why hijackers never mess with passengers on Southwest Airlines.

Mencia knows his humor, which plays strongly on racial stereotypes and against political correctness, isn't to everyone's taste. That doesn't bother him a bit.

"That's the beauty of America," he said. "If you don't like my show, change the channel. It's not a popularity contest, not on my level. ... Watch the Discovery Channel, whatever you want to watch. I really don't care.

"Don't get me wrong. I want people to like my show, I want people to think I'm funny," he said. "But I also realize that's not going to happen (with everybody). Not everybody liked 'The Cosby Show.' Not everybody liked 'I Love Lucy.'"

Basically, Mencia said, he just keeps things in perspective.

"... The other day, my mom was listening to me talk .. and said, 'What do you mean you don't care? You should care if people like you or not. I was like, 'Mom, no matter what I do, somebody is not going to like me. ... Buddha, Jesus and Mohammed could not unite the world.'

"... Those people were way better people than I am, waaaaay better than me, and they couldn't gain eternal acceptance across the board. So I'm not going to worry about it," he said.

"I'm not curing cancer. I'm just telling jokes."​

 

[Tiassa]

Too easy

Duh, the ones who laugh at his jokes!

Too easy.

Remember what commercial success means in this culture. Britney Spears is number three on the Billboard Hot 100 this week. Flo-Rida Featuring T-Pain tops the chart for the year.

Moral of the story: What's popular is not always what's good.

(Alvin and the Chipmunks clocked at #38 on the year-end album chart; Radiohead at #60. Tell me—I dare you—that the Chipmunks are better musically than Radiohead. And how is Coldplay #7? Oh, well, at least they topped Miley Cyrus—#11. Seriously, the pop charts are a cultural disgrace. Where the hell is Sharon Jones and Dap Kings?)

 

[S.A.M.]

I think its to do with the lack of classical education here. Most people would snore through "As you like it" Requires a longer attention span and there are no catch phrases.

I don't follow popular music, so I have no idea who they are either.

 

[Tiassa]

(Insert title here)

I think its to do with the lack of classical education here. Most people would snore through "As you like it" Requires a longer attention span and there are no catch phrases.

I would agree.

I don't follow popular music, so I have no idea who they are either.

Booty rap, candy pop ... &c. To the other, though:

• Alvin and the Chipmunks: "How We Roll"

• Radiohead, In Rainbows: "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi (From the Basement)"​

(Radiohead live isn't just something to be seen or heard, it's something to be experienced. "Punch Up at a Wedding", "Fake Plastic Trees", "Exit Music (For a Film)")