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Opinion on Public School System?

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Hayabusa Rider

Admin Emeritus & Elite Member
Jan 26, 2000
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So let me see

Because the POA says under god, that makes the public school pro-christian? Well my daughter was told that anyone who believes in anything than blind, random evolution is a wrong. Not only that, but it was made quite clear that anyone that believed in a god was stupid. Now that is a far more athiestic statement than pro-christian. BTW I am agnostic, and I found that offensive. This is a common occurence. Pro Christian? No nativity scenes in front of the public schools here. No religious gatherings allowed on public property. Now you may agree with that, but to call the public schools because of the pledge is being dishonest
 

gopunk

Lifer
Jul 7, 2001
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Originally posted by: CadetLee
America was founded with a Christian background...I wonder if people are beginning to forget that..or don't want to accept it..or whatever.

neither, why does it matter?

If you say keeping "under God" makes the school pro-Christian, why is there little (if any) mention of Creationism? As someone posted above, it wasn't even open to discussion..go figure.

so you tell me what "under god" is there for... just look at what the butchered pledge (not the original pledge) means. it means we are a nation UNDER god. if that's not pro-religious, i don't know what is.

 

MainFramed

Diamond Member
May 29, 2002
5,981
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Originally posted by: CadetLee
America was founded with a Christian background...I wonder if people are beginning to forget that..or don't want to accept it..or whatever.

If you say keeping "under God" makes the school pro-Christian, why is there little (if any) mention of Creationism? As someone posted above, it wasn't even open to discussion..go figure.

agreed :)
 

gopunk

Lifer
Jul 7, 2001
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They already do. That's kind of what this thread is about. I have many gripes about the government, and having people tell my (future) children *what* to think and that they are *wrong* to think otherwise just boils my blood. I don't mind spirited debates between the students and faculty, but as long as it doesn't affect their future.

i completely agree

Change must be made slowly by educating the masses. You have to people make their own decisions, while educating them to make informed ones. Just cutting off their power will leave you with ignorant, violent people.

all i can say is that you're an optimistic person :)

btw, the trick is to make them think they still have their power :D
 

gopunk

Lifer
Jul 7, 2001
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Originally posted by: Hayabusarider
So let me see

Because the POA says under god, that makes the public school pro-christian? Well my daughter was told that anyone who believes in anything than blind, random evolution is a wrong. Not only that, but it was made quite clear that anyone that believed in a god was stupid. Now that is a far more athiestic statement than pro-christian. BTW I am agnostic, and I found that offensive. This is a common occurence. Pro Christian? No nativity scenes in front of the public schools here. No religious gatherings allowed on public property. Now you may agree with that, but to call the public schools because of the pledge is being dishonest

hey, it says "under god". you tell me what you think that implies.

and i'm sorry your daughter had some crackpot teacher, but that's not a common occurence.
 

Darien

Platinum Member
Feb 27, 2002
2,817
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Seeing as how the topic has changed to stuff about religion, I suppose it's too late to add my 2 cents, but here's at least a penny's worth:

1. Classes generally move forward too slowly.

2. Limited selection of courses that I could take when I was in high school. For example, it would have been nice to have the option of taking Latin or an east asian language. There wasn't even a philosophy course or programming course offered. Why is it that an english class got 10 computers when they weren't even used!?

3. Very humanities based. The high school I went to...the minimum science requirement was 1 year of a life science and 1 year of a physical science. Math requirement: up to algebra II I believe.

4. Too much BS work. Worksheets on lots of "blah" aren't going to help me learn -- it's just busy work so the teacher can just go on the phone and chat about some extra-cirricular event. I had a teacher who made us write down huge vocabulary lists and define the words during class, while he talked to other basketball coaches about the team's performance.

5. Electives were rather weak. I can honestly say I learned nothing from the 6 semesters of computer classes I took. WTF is up with calling us "techies" and making us throw out the library's trash!? There were a few others I took, such as art. That one was taught by the football coach who couldn't even draw very well
rolleye.gif


6. Opinions on teachers didn't really mean much to the district, it seemed. The school I went to didn't require any reviews of the teachers from the students. The teachers don't really ask for any criticism from the students either. Very, VERY, few did.

7. Mandatory rallies are the biggest waste of time.

8. Schools bend towards parents very willingly, ultimately passing everyone in the class. All a parent has to do is bitch and whine to get their kid a passing grade.

9. Teachers generally have very little concern and cannot really interact with students with so many restrictions imposed on them.

10. Politics. Teachers are quite underpaid, while administration is raking in the dough. When I left my high school, the district received some more money, and very little of it went to raises. A good portion of it went to the administrative side. What the teachers did was leave school exactly when school ended. Such was the way afterschool help was eliminated. There's a heck lot more political crap going on, but I don't to write a huge set of paragraphs on this...

11. Lack of integration of technology, or poor use of it. I think we've all seen examples of this.

12. High school libraries were very limited.

13. Parents aren't involved much.

Yup...that seems to be about 1 cents worth.

Have a nice day,

Darien
 

gopunk

Lifer
Jul 7, 2001
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yea i guess we should get off this whole religion thing (because it really is the least of the public school's concerns, pro or con).

i agree with the assertion that it is too humanities based. that is SO TRUE. i had the crappiest science classes in middle school, and that's hurt me quite a bit.
 

Hayabusa Rider

Admin Emeritus & Elite Member
Jan 26, 2000
50,879
4,268
126
Gopunk,
The pledge is a political statement. It had the words under god added at some point. But read the whole pledge. It is clearly allegence to the country, not to god. Are you a Christian because you use American money? Says "In God we trust" doesnt it? So now you are supporting christianity every time you spend money on porn. I dont think so. BTW, I know a woman who is a Christian teacher, who was threatened by the schools administration because when a child asked her if she went to church, she said yes. She was told that discussing or promoting religion was grounds for disciplinary action. The kid asked a question. This is not uncommon in MA. Actually this gets me pissed off. When you cant say "Yes I do" or "No I dont" because it violates the separation of church and state says something very wrong about our society.
 

gopunk

Lifer
Jul 7, 2001
29,239
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Originally posted by: Hayabusarider
Gopunk,
The pledge is a political statement. It had the words under god added at some point. But read the whole pledge. It is clearly allegence to the country, not to god. Are you a Christian because you use American money? Says "In God we trust" doesnt it? So now you are supporting christianity every time you spend money on porn. I dont think so. BTW, I know a woman who is a Christian teacher, who was threatened by the schools administration because when a child asked her if she went to church, she said yes. She was told that discussing or promoting religion was grounds for disciplinary action. The kid asked a question. This is not uncommon in MA. Actually this gets me pissed off. When you cant say "Yes I do" or "No I dont" because it violates the separation of church and state says something very wrong about our society.

well yes, what you described is wrong... two wrongs don't make a right though, we should fix both wrongs.

and yes, we should take that off our money too, it doesn't belong there.

the pledge is allegience to the country, exactly. so why are the words "under god" in there?
 

Cyberian

Diamond Member
Jun 17, 2000
9,999
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and frankly, no... the idiot masses should not be allowed to make decisions that affect my life. would you want a mass of idiots making decisions in regards to your life?
Fortunately/Unfortunately this is the way the US works.
If you have a better formula, I would love to hear it.
 

Hayabusa Rider

Admin Emeritus & Elite Member
Jan 26, 2000
50,879
4,268
126
Anyway, you are right,
This is about education and not religion.
First there is no US educational system. Education is influenced by the Feds, but state run. Within the state, many areas are more or less affluent than others. For a variety of reasons, the better off areas have students that do better. I dont know how to measure teacher effectiveness though. Sometimes nothing can be done. Thats sad, but not the teachers fault. Tough call
 

AZGamer

Golden Member
May 14, 2001
1,545
0
0
Originally posted by: gopunk
Originally posted by: Hayabusarider Gopunk, The pledge is a political statement. It had the words under god added at some point. But read the whole pledge. It is clearly allegence to the country, not to god. Are you a Christian because you use American money? Says "In God we trust" doesnt it? So now you are supporting christianity every time you spend money on porn. I dont think so. BTW, I know a woman who is a Christian teacher, who was threatened by the schools administration because when a child asked her if she went to church, she said yes. She was told that discussing or promoting religion was grounds for disciplinary action. The kid asked a question. This is not uncommon in MA. Actually this gets me pissed off. When you cant say "Yes I do" or "No I dont" because it violates the separation of church and state says something very wrong about our society.
well yes, what you described is wrong... two wrongs don't make a right though, we should fix both wrongs. and yes, we should take that off our money too, it doesn't belong there. the pledge is allegience to the country, exactly. so why are the words "under god" in there?

Founded on Christian principles.... a whining 2% of the population (you) can't revise that, so you choose to ignore it.
 

gopunk

Lifer
Jul 7, 2001
29,239
2
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Originally posted by: Cyberian
and frankly, no... the idiot masses should not be allowed to make decisions that affect my life. would you want a mass of idiots making decisions in regards to your life?
Fortunately/Unfortunately this is the way the US works.
If you have a better formula, I would love to hear it.

if a school board wanted to reinstitute the correct pledge, it would not have to be put to a vote of all the parents.
 

MainFramed

Diamond Member
May 29, 2002
5,981
1
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Originally posted by: gopunk
Originally posted by: Cyberian
and frankly, no... the idiot masses should not be allowed to make decisions that affect my life. would you want a mass of idiots making decisions in regards to your life?
Fortunately/Unfortunately this is the way the US works.
If you have a better formula, I would love to hear it.

if a school board wanted to reinstitute the correct pledge, it would not have to be put to a vote of all the parents.

simply agreed
 

gopunk

Lifer
Jul 7, 2001
29,239
2
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Originally posted by: AZGamer
Originally posted by: gopunk
Originally posted by: Hayabusarider Gopunk, The pledge is a political statement. It had the words under god added at some point. But read the whole pledge. It is clearly allegence to the country, not to god. Are you a Christian because you use American money? Says "In God we trust" doesnt it? So now you are supporting christianity every time you spend money on porn. I dont think so. BTW, I know a woman who is a Christian teacher, who was threatened by the schools administration because when a child asked her if she went to church, she said yes. She was told that discussing or promoting religion was grounds for disciplinary action. The kid asked a question. This is not uncommon in MA. Actually this gets me pissed off. When you cant say "Yes I do" or "No I dont" because it violates the separation of church and state says something very wrong about our society.
well yes, what you described is wrong... two wrongs don't make a right though, we should fix both wrongs. and yes, we should take that off our money too, it doesn't belong there. the pledge is allegience to the country, exactly. so why are the words "under god" in there?

Founded on Christian principles.... a whining 2% of the population (you) can't revise that, so you choose to ignore it.

i don't choose to ignore it... wtf are you talking about?

and i don't give a rat's ass what this country was founded on... this country was founded by rich white men too, but i don't think the pledge should say "one nation under rich white men".
 

gopunk

Lifer
Jul 7, 2001
29,239
2
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Originally posted by: AZGamer
and yes, we should take that off our money too, it doesn't belong there.
<STRONG>
How do you back that statement up?</STRONG>

america never has, and never will (god willing ;)) have an official religion. therefore, i don't see why our money should assert otherwise.
 

gopunk

Lifer
Jul 7, 2001
29,239
2
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Originally posted by: AZGamer
Originally posted by: here4amission
Originally posted by: AZGamer
and yes, we should take that off our money too, it doesn't belong there.
<STRONG>How do you back that statement up?</STRONG>
and just what are you trying to prove?

Founded on Christian principles.... a whining 2% of the population (you) can't revise that, <STRONG>so you choose to ignore it</STRONG>.

actually a minority can revise it.