January 13, 2019, 05:39 PM
FredwardIgnorance of Civics (And Capitalism)
I know, I shouldn't go to political discussion forums. I do sometimes, though, and I am appalled at the ignorance displayed. Many Californians, apparently, believe all states have recall for elected officials. That's just not true. Worse, many are so ignorant of civics they believe that, for example, Congressperson AOC should be recalled by a national election. IF there was recall, it would most likely only apply to those who were eligible to vote for her, that is, people in her district. I seriously doubt voters state or nationwide would be given the power to remove someone outside their districts.
I remember film strips and films in school (yes I am that old) that described various aspects of American government, such as how a bill becomes law, the Bill of Rights, the Supreme Court, etc. I also remember an actual cartoon, produced by WB I believe, that described capitalism using the graphic representation of a factory.
What the hell happened?
I dropped out of high school in 7th grade, and took a GED in the Army, then two years of community college. I hear this idiocy from college grads. One recently commented to me in person (SIL, a freakin' teacher) that France had more experience with revolution that the USA did. My only response left him dazed and confused, it was "1776."
January 13, 2019, 05:59 PM
.38supersigThe warm and fuzzies are still there. Oh, and no one gets offended.
For Economics and Civics, guess they'll learn that when they finance a Honda.
January 13, 2019, 09:39 PM
Rey HRHI like the "But the Republicans had control of the Presidents and both houses of Congress for two years!"
Ummm, no. Republicans didn't have 60 votes to thwart any filibuster threat and thus did not have control of the senate. And McConnell didn't have the balls to use the nuclear option when Trump asked him to. He thinks Democrats will play nice nice in the future and follow his lead when they have the majority.
January 13, 2019, 10:12 PM
trapper189 via Imgflip Meme GeneratorJanuary 14, 2019, 09:05 PM
Elk HunterAs I have posted before, I left home at age 17 after completing 11 years of schooling. I went into the army at that time.
Due to asinine regulations in the army I could not get promoted past E5. I had nearly 9 years in grade, had the highest GT score in V Corps, second highest in 7th army. I cam within 1 point of maxing the proficiency tests.
My GT score was 147.
I was "required" to go before the monthly promotion board to compete with other "candidates" for E6, even though it was impossible for me to be promoted, and they all knew it.
I decided to rub their noses in it and went to take the college equivalence tests. Got credit for 4 years of college. All this to indicate my level of "education" and performance in the army.
After I took my discharge we (wife and I) decided I would use the GI Bill to go to college. Took double major while working 60 hours a week at IBM.
Ended up doing a year of faculty loan assignment at Hampton University. The level of ignorance there was shocking to say the least. That was in 1990-91. The students had virtually no clue of how the federal government was organized, branches of government, etc etc.
And that was, as I said, in 1990-91. We had 2 grandsons go to school here in Prince William county. It was so bad that our daughter started home schooling the 2 boys.
When I was going to "instructor school" in the army one of the first things they told us was that in order to be a teacher, you had to know more than the students. Very true.
I would like to see something other than these exposes on TV showing the level of ignorance on the part of high school and college students.
From time to time we see some of those shows that disclose just how ignorant our college students are.
One simple example, who did the USA fight against in WW2? The TV show about that one was actually frightening when one thought about the absolutely asinine answers some of those college students provided. I am not sure some of them even knew who the president was.
Capitalism? In many of the "interviews" I have seen on various places they had no idea.
How many branches of gubbermint? Oh, Yeah! I know! Knew that from junior high school back in the early 1950s, you know back before dirt.
January 15, 2019, 05:57 PM
egregorequote:
Ignorance of Civics (And Capitalism)
Ignorance of capitalism is huge out there. I see people all the time equating the European welfare states, as well as basic services like police, fire and roads, with socialism. Wrong on all counts. Those countries may have "socialized" health care and education, but their economies are still capitalist. To pay for it all they pay a tax burden that we Americans would rebel against.