[Nplateau]

Re: I am an artiste

I for one appreciate Leftist politics. Maybe that's why I really liked JB. Not to mention it gets Sean's panties in a bunch, and I enjoy that too. So please MO, stick it to the Right. And while you're at it, give it to those self-serving Libertarians, too.

 

[Nplateau]

Re: I am an artiste

Oh one more thing...

I like beer. In my Socialist order, everybody would get free beer. And greens too.

 

[Nplateau]

How about just a more perfect union?

You know the greens I'm talking about. If you don't, think Berkeley. Utopia? Who said anything about Utopia? For that to happen we'd first have to get rid of the bad lawyers.

We may never have a Utopia, Dylan, but I do believe that we can have a more perfect union, and I would happily settle for that. How do we achieve that though? I think it must start with education. Here is one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite shows that illustrates my belief:

""Education is the silver bullet. Education is everything. We don't need little changes. We need gigantic revolutionary changes. . . . Competition for the best teachers should be fierce. They should be getting six-figure salaries. Schools should be incredibly expensive for government and absolutely free of charge for its citizens, just like national defense."

- Sam Seaborn from "The West Wing"

 

[Nplateau]

Re: How about just a more perfect union?

Nope not a teacher. Thinking about getting the credentials though. Wouldn't mind being an English or History teacher. California's beauracracy is a killer though. I'll have to go back to school for a year or two to get my credentials.

You're right about the lawyers. As a law school dropout I know how you feel.

 

[Nplateau]

Re: How about just a more perfect union?

I'm not sure I agree with the free enterprise system, though I am sure you have valid points especially in terms of competition for the best teachers. Though a product of California's lowly public school system myself, I still believe in the promise and potential of public eductation. What worries me, about public schools as well as privatized education through a free enterprise system, is the move away from liberal education towards vocational education. Sure we all need skills to survive in the job market, but I would much rather not train our kids to simply be cogs in the system. I would much rather not see our education system be a training ground for corporate slaves. I would like to see the emphasis return to critical thinking and analysis. Education should not be about regurgitating information you are force-fed, rather it should be about challenging that veracity of that information. More time and effort should be spent on the epistemological side of the equation.

What a state run system, I believe, is meant to do is, is attempt to ensure a level academic standard. There are already tremendous discrepencies in the quality of education from rich county to poor county. Facilities, materials, budgets for honors and AP programs, etc., but I imagine the divide would only grow if education became a for profit institution. Vouchers? That's like trying to put a bandaid on a gaping wound. The average familiy's dollars are already stretched thin, I can only imagine the problems associated with having to pay $10,000 a semester to have just one of your kids go to a good "free enterprise" system school.

It is in the national interest that we should seek a better educational model. It's not just about ensuring our future generations are competetive in the job market, but that they are well-reasoned, critical-thinking, members of an informed and educated body-politic. It is for the good of our country and our government.

Too few vote, too few give a damn, too few can begin to understand the complexities of the world in which we live in. Too many swallow whole the propaganda of the the 30-second soundbyte. Education will help solve this problem.

 

[Nplateau]

Re: I am an artiste

I see your point, but all I'm trying to say is that it is in your interest to give a damn about the next person.

 

[Nplateau]

Re: I once knew a (insert xenophobe here)

Oy vey! Gabe how do you deal with the meshugena?

 

[Nplateau]

Re: A Teacher?

Speak about not being able to see tongue-and-cheek humor. I know you're not a wacko, and I do know you to be a damn good person and fairly intelligent to boot, but I like to tease you too. I mean, dude, it's fun. You can trade barbs with the best of them, so why not? Of course, you leave yourself to be easy fodder at times, but I would be remiss if I didn't take aim at those moments. You cheeto humping freak.

America would be rather fortunate to have me as a teacher. If ever I have the opportunity to mold and assess one of your offspring, you can be assured that your child will have a teacher dedicated to inspiring their intellectual curiosity and helping them reach their fullest potential. My job would never be to ingrain them with my beliefs, but rather to help them develop the critical analysis necessary to form their own. I hope you know me well enough to realize that.

 

[Nplateau]

Re: How about just a more perfect union?

What if we divert some of the funding from the 405 billion we spent last year on defense towards education. I'm sorry to hear about the ritalin pushers, I agree it's not right.

I'm not saying we increase taxes, but maybe we spend more of what we do have towards education and less on other things.

Don't you think that the government has an obligation to provide quality education? It should be a part of our social contract.

 

[Nplateau]

Re: Good Job

Thank you.

Dude, I know you're not a Limbaugh head. I know you are more or less an independent who leans towards libertarians but is not a libertarian. You like to take each issue on its own and decide on their own merits. You ostensibly have no party affiliation, but you are a fervent member of the capitalist party, so long as you can tell it isn't hurting anyone. You believe in personal freedoms so long as the actions involved in exercising such freedoms does no damage to another. You believe that the answers do not lie on the left or on the right, but somewhere in the middle. You consider yourself a realist, and in practice attempt to be a moderate and a centrist. However, even that may be perceived to be either too far to the left or right depending on who is looking at the situation, and is not without its own flaws. My chief concern to the moderate approach is that there lacks an ideal, and compromise becomes the objective. I believe that the ideal should be the objective, and that compromise is a necessary solution to keep things running for the time being until a better compromise, that moves the situation further towards the ideal, can be reached.

I will need time to explore, dissect, think, and come to my own conclusions about the next "assignment." If I were so knowledgeable I would be working in government, alas I am not, but as a concerned citizen, I will take it as my responsibility to learn what I can so that I may argue either side with conviction and eloquence. Your point to know both sides of the argument is well taken and understood. Condescending as it may initially sound, your goal is to teach and I appreciate that.

You take a negative view to the "greens" but maybe you shouldn't. Even greened out of my gourd I remain more lucid than the average American. I have encountered many, many people who are chronically green that are more intelligent than you and I combined, and could bury either of us in a debate. Greens aren't the issue. Nor is maturity. I remain as passionately idealistic as I have ever been, and to believe that idealism is indicative of immaturity is folly, irrational, and rather obtuse. For you to point at my perceived immaturity would be an egregious case of the pot calling the kettle black.

People's Republic of Berkeley forever!!!

 

[Nplateau]

This is what it's all about...

Raising the level of debate in this country.

We all can disagree. We all can debate. We all can work together for the betterment of our nation.

God bless America!

 

[Nplateau]

Re: I am an artiste

Can't argue with that. What could possibly be better than a father and son spending time together, exploring on a bike? Not much.