Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Planet of the (Conservative, Less Evolved, Fanatic) Apes
Sen. Chris Buttars of Iowa recently attempted to sponsor a bill that would require teachers to tell students that the state does not endorse evolution. But, good intentions prevailed and the bill fell through. Of course, Buttars threw out the warm, snuggly, fascist vibrations when he said (quote):
"I don't believe that anybody in there really wants their kids to be taught that their great-grandfather was an ape." - Buttars
Wow, Chris, I'm glad your up on the definition of evolution. Because it says that. Mhm. It says (non-quote):
"One day there was an ape and then BAM! it had a baby human and then life went on." - The Sen. Buttars Theory of Evolution
How's that education bill coming along?
Friday, February 24, 2006
What It Is: Schools = Useless diffusion. What It Should Be: Schools = Job Training
As a slave of the current American school system (and yes, I mean slave), I know a lot about what high schools are teaching. One thing especially, is that they have taught very much useless information. When looking at what school should be, it would seem that it would be a place that would prepare adolescents for the jobs that they will pursue. Instead, it remains a dreaded institution with underpaid staff, memorization, bullying, drug trade, and creativity smashing.
One thing that's a basis in schools is to not ask "why?". This is because most teachers don't want to (or can't) venture out of the written lesson plan by taking on new subjects. I admit though, this isn't always true. In fact, this year, I have found many teachers who gladly delve into other subjects. These people are truly good individuals who teach because they love to teach. Every high school student, however, knows of the teacher that doesn't want to be there. They bitch at students and don't seem to give off a caring, teacher-esque attitude. These people, obviously, should not teach.
Teaching, nowadays, isn't so much about giving the kids a lesson. It's more about helping them memorize facts. The better they memorize a fact, the better they do on tests, and the better they do on tests, the more funding the school gets (and the more funding the school gets, the more neat toys they can buy for the football team). This, however, seems wrong. Why should schools that have smarter students receive the most funding? Wouldn't ailing schools with struggling students need more funds to open up more programs for said students?
Just because one student gets an "A" on his History quiz, does not mean he knows anything about the subject. He knows dates, sure. He knows names, yeah. But as for answering questions like "why," that's another story. Students are taught not to ask "why" for one huge reason: because they themselves don't know why.
Confusing, I know, but if a kid doesn't know why himself, then he won't ask.
Schools are infamous for filling kids up with life skills like calculus, trig, the cell reproductive patterns in bacteria, and sentence diagrams. Also, in the hallways, kids that are less fortunate or deigned "bad" by the system struggle through dealing with abusive students (who happen to be on the football team, and the school won't compromise losing a season for some poor child), backstabbing and other problems with friends and family that they must ignore and put to the side during classes, no matter how much it troubles them.
However, high school should instead work on giving kids classes that reflect their job choices. Elementary through middle school should stick with almost the same structure, but high school should veer towards what teenagers want to go after during college. For example, in my case, I want a journalism/political science involved career, so I would be given more English classes and Government, Economy, and social science classes. But, alas, I'm forced to take silly classes like "ICP" and "Algebra II."
Oh well, maybe things will change. Maybe.
Ports & Nationalism
President Bush loves to deepen the hypocrisy. As a President that will go the extra mile to violate any suspected "terrorists" rights, Bush, however, didn't hesitate to hand over our countries ports to a UAE company.
I'm not one to discriminate, but why hand over an American port that employs Americans who need jobs over to a foreign country that is known to be a threat to security? Why not go ahead and give Saudi Arabia the White House key? These ports, all six of them, need to be held by the state and the jobs kept for Americans who need them.
"We're told nearly every day about the critical importance of the war on terror. ... That's why it's inconceivable and defies common sense to outsource the operation of our ports. ... This outsourcing causes great confusion and undermines the administration's credibility." - John Kasich
Wow, someone from Fox New actually makes sense. Somewhat.
Bush said in a recent stop in my home state of Indiana, that he wished the war on terrorism was over but it had to be kept up for the "security of the American people."
...and then he hands over our ports to a U.A.E. group.
...
Yes, I fathom the hypocrisy of these statements. The U.S. needs to keep foreign companies out of here, and our companies off of other nations.
Monday, February 20, 2006
Why go to church when you can go to school?
![](http://web.archive.org./web/20160601221140im_/http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/8089/1317/200/seperation%20between.jpg)
An interesting topic that seems to be the forefront of today's discussion is the teaching of evolution in schools. The topic hasn't appeared in my school, thankfully, but many schools around the country are experiencing this problem. It's a sad issue that could have been avoided if the American people would have had the foresight to set up an atheist government. But hold on there, let's talk about the idea of an atheist government.
To the Conservative right, an atheist government is portrayed as one that takes religious rights away from the individuals. It is shown to be lacking moral direction and Anti-Christ like. Actually, an atheist government is simply a government that does not make ideas based on religion. So, the idea of gay marriage wouldn't be looked at as "It's wrong by the Bible" but instead looked at as "This may not fit the natural, scientific form of marriage, but marriage is a social institution, not biological." For radical Christians, the idea of a religious government is fine, but only as long as it's their religion. If you're supporting one form of theocracy, than any form of theocracy should flow. However, with an atheist government, the government won't touch your religion. Don't like gay marriage? Ok, then your church doesn't have to honor their marriage or ratify it. Don't support abortion? The goverment won't make you get an abortion! Don't like learning about evolution in school? Tune them out then. You might fail the class, but at least the collective group won't have to be spoon fed unproven lies under your intolerant heel.
But back to the topic of evolution in the school system, to counter Bill Frist's comments on evolution, someone give me one way to prove that intelligent design is proveable. You can't. Try telling kids one of these things and see which one they get easier:
1.) Human life evolved from a lower life form through scientific adaptation and mutation. (Look at these facts.)
2.) A man in the sky made two people, and they conceived two children, who then mated with their mother to create more kids. Oh, and the woman came from the man's rib.
The purpose of a science class is not to discredit or credit a religion. The purpose is to teach kids science (ie, things that can be backed up with facts). If kids want to learn about intelligent design, they can sign up for a theology class, go to church, or read the Bible. However, school is not the place to force your religious views on people. Like I've said before, how would the right winger feel if they had to learn about the scientoligist view on creation? They would bitch and moan about how it shouldn't be allowed.
Please, comrades, keep religion and state strongly seperate, and don't give up the fight.
Freedom
Tre Arrow
Bill Dunne
Leonard Peltier
Marilyn Buck
Assata Shakur
Ruben Campa
Rene Gonzalez
Antonio Guerrero
Gerardo Hernandez
Luis Medina
Mumia Abu-Jamal
Luis V. Rodriguez
Oscar Lopez Rivera
Carlos Alberto Torres
Haydee Beltran
Jaan Karl Laaman
Ray Luc Levasseur
Tom Manning
Richard Williams
Sara Olson
All of these people and many more are being held prisoner for their political beliefs. Please, look up information on them and join their cause to free them and their comrades. Thank you.