The Great Connections Seminar
Discussing ethics
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Does College Add to Human Capital?
George Leef of the John W. Pope Center for Higher Education Policy questions whether a college education adds to human capital in his article "College: Investment or Vacation?" and asks if many students need to go to college to achieve a good life. Well worth the read.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
National Education Association Loves Rules for Radicals
If anyone has any doubt where the principles of the NEA lie, they've got to see the NEA website page which not only recommends, but sells Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals.
Here's a few excerpts from their webpage:
"Alinsky spends a lot of time critiquing the idea that "The end does not justify the means." What end? What means? He feels that there are circumstances where one can and should use means that in other circumstances would be unethical. "
Nice! And the NEA is recommending this book!! These are the people teaching your children! What can they justify doing to them? What have they justified doing to them? If you have any doubt that some of these people are willing to sacrifice the interests of children to further their desire for power and their collectivist ends...whether it be indoctrination, censorship, totalitarian control, or brutality, the following will straightened you out.
The NEA website goes on, reveling in Alinsky's New Left ideology at it's most strident. They comment, and then quote from Alinksy:
Here's a few excerpts from their webpage:
"Alinsky spends a lot of time critiquing the idea that "The end does not justify the means." What end? What means? He feels that there are circumstances where one can and should use means that in other circumstances would be unethical. "
Nice! And the NEA is recommending this book!! These are the people teaching your children! What can they justify doing to them? What have they justified doing to them? If you have any doubt that some of these people are willing to sacrifice the interests of children to further their desire for power and their collectivist ends...whether it be indoctrination, censorship, totalitarian control, or brutality, the following will straightened you out.
The NEA website goes on, reveling in Alinsky's New Left ideology at it's most strident. They comment, and then quote from Alinksy:
"Alinsky, the master political agitator, tactical planner and social organizer didn't mince words...
"'Liberals in their meetings utter bold works; they strut, grimace belligerently, and then issue a weasel-worded statement 'which has tremendous implications, if read between the lines.' They sit calmly, dispassionately, studying the issue; judging both sides; they sit and still sit.'
"'The Radical does not sit frozen by cold objectivity. '"
Ah, here's the window where Alinsky throws objectivity out. That means throwing out facts, reason, logic, and rational argument. Then he continues:
"'He sees injustice and strikes at it with hot passion. He is a man of decision and action. There is a saying that the Liberal is one who walks out of the room when the argument turns into a fight.
"Society has good reason to fear the Radical. Every shaking advance of mankind toward equality and justice has come from the Radical. He hits, he hurts, he is dangerous. "
Such as the radicals of the American Revolution? No, they were paragons of restraint, care for the individual, prudence, and the Enlightenment striving for objectivity. Alinsky is not thinking of them, he is thinking of the millions brutalized and slaughtered under totalitarian communist regimes when he says:
"'Conservative interests know that while Liberals are most adept at breaking their own necks with their tongues, Radicals are most adept at breaking the necks of Conservatives."
Remember, since the ends justify the means, a "Conservative" could be anyone the Leftist Radical wants out of the way. That's how it has worked in every communist regime across the globe - it wouldn't be any different here.
"'Radicals precipitate the social crisis by action - by using power. Liberals may then timidly follow along or else, as in most cases, be swept forward along the course set by Radicals, but all because of forces unloosed by Radical action. They are forced to positive action only in spite of their desires ...'"
Celebrating and recommending Alinsky, the NEA has laid the gauntlet down - they will stop at nothing. Is there any wonder that in so many places, American education is not educating students, but indoctrinating them, straight-jacketing their minds with political correctness and destroying their ability to reason?
Once that's done, the Radical doesn't risk as much danger from resistance, as the sheep go to the slaughter.
"'Liberals in their meetings utter bold works; they strut, grimace belligerently, and then issue a weasel-worded statement 'which has tremendous implications, if read between the lines.' They sit calmly, dispassionately, studying the issue; judging both sides; they sit and still sit.'
"'The Radical does not sit frozen by cold objectivity. '"
Ah, here's the window where Alinsky throws objectivity out. That means throwing out facts, reason, logic, and rational argument. Then he continues:
"'He sees injustice and strikes at it with hot passion. He is a man of decision and action. There is a saying that the Liberal is one who walks out of the room when the argument turns into a fight.
"Society has good reason to fear the Radical. Every shaking advance of mankind toward equality and justice has come from the Radical. He hits, he hurts, he is dangerous. "
Such as the radicals of the American Revolution? No, they were paragons of restraint, care for the individual, prudence, and the Enlightenment striving for objectivity. Alinsky is not thinking of them, he is thinking of the millions brutalized and slaughtered under totalitarian communist regimes when he says:
"'Conservative interests know that while Liberals are most adept at breaking their own necks with their tongues, Radicals are most adept at breaking the necks of Conservatives."
Remember, since the ends justify the means, a "Conservative" could be anyone the Leftist Radical wants out of the way. That's how it has worked in every communist regime across the globe - it wouldn't be any different here.
"'Radicals precipitate the social crisis by action - by using power. Liberals may then timidly follow along or else, as in most cases, be swept forward along the course set by Radicals, but all because of forces unloosed by Radical action. They are forced to positive action only in spite of their desires ...'"
Celebrating and recommending Alinsky, the NEA has laid the gauntlet down - they will stop at nothing. Is there any wonder that in so many places, American education is not educating students, but indoctrinating them, straight-jacketing their minds with political correctness and destroying their ability to reason?
Once that's done, the Radical doesn't risk as much danger from resistance, as the sheep go to the slaughter.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Accreditation Catch-22
See this informative article "A False Seal of Approval" by George Leef of the John H. Pope Center for Higher Education about the boondoggle of college accreditation. You might be surprised to learn that accreditation often has little to do with school quality, and mostly to do with government money.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Monday, November 9, 2009
Education in Colonial America
Read how children learned - even in the wilderness - before public education in this Freeman article.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Schiff on ridiculous college costs
Peter Schiff succinctly summarizes why college costs have gone up astronomically in the last 30 years.
(This is not an endorsement of Peter Schiff for Senate.)
Hat tip to Cloud Downey.
Ignorant and Free
In the process of researching this quote:
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." by Thomas Jefferson, I came across this entry about the abyssmal ignorance of Oklahoma high school students on the "Leftagenda" blog:
http://leftagenda.wordpress.com/2009/09/18/ignorant-and-free-you-cant-be-both/
The author criticizes "No Child Left Behind," which is a failed, statist, top-down program for raising school standards implemented by the Bush presidency. In addition to Medicare Part D, I think it is one of the worst programs implemented by the Republicans - with good intentions. My teacher friends call it "No Child Left Standing."
However, what struck me was Leftagenda's apparent failure to undertstand that the causes of our students' abyssmal ignorance reach much farther back than the Bush administration - back to the leftist university-implemented teaching programs which emphasize "social justice" over reasoning and knowledge, and egalitarian ideas of "self-esteem" over achievement.
Too bad Leftagenda is ignorant about that.
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." by Thomas Jefferson, I came across this entry about the abyssmal ignorance of Oklahoma high school students on the "Leftagenda" blog:
http://leftagenda.wordpress.com/2009/09/18/ignorant-and-free-you-cant-be-both/
The author criticizes "No Child Left Behind," which is a failed, statist, top-down program for raising school standards implemented by the Bush presidency. In addition to Medicare Part D, I think it is one of the worst programs implemented by the Republicans - with good intentions. My teacher friends call it "No Child Left Standing."
However, what struck me was Leftagenda's apparent failure to undertstand that the causes of our students' abyssmal ignorance reach much farther back than the Bush administration - back to the leftist university-implemented teaching programs which emphasize "social justice" over reasoning and knowledge, and egalitarian ideas of "self-esteem" over achievement.
Too bad Leftagenda is ignorant about that.
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