Quote:
Originally Posted by GoldenTruman
Sigaba, I certainly agree that this is a broad generalization. Be it shying away from a difficult class, being the yes man at the weekly production meeting because you do not want to break the status quo, not sharing your opinion at the Sunday BBQ for fear of negative feedback, it all falls in the same category to me. When the going gets tough, we seem to get away from the tough as fast as possible. I look around and see mere shells of people going through the motions rather than a society reverent on growth and sustainment.
I can see how one-sided my opinion comes across, but I just get so frustrated at the mass of people who squander away the great gift of natural United States citizenry. Doing nothing more to earn freedom than be born. All the while taking every possible chance to exploit this freedom without understanding it. You can only take out so many cookies in the jar before it is empty and needs to be re-filled. If no one is doing the re-filling then what? I am a devout Christian, but it amazes me the number of people who are in church every Sunday to “secure their spot in Heaven” yet never look around to secure their spot on Earth.
Obviously, this slave driver mentality Korea seems to take with their education is not the right course of action for our country but at least they are trying to develop a national standard. My current state cannot decide if they want education decision making to be state-wide or district-wide. I couldn’t imagine the budget and logistics for a nation-wide standard.
Take the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. The system of incentives and penalties to this act created an atmosphere of statistics manipulation and flat out cheating among teachers and schools to meet the standards. Thus drastically minimizing its’ effectiveness.
As Richard stated, the American educational system is tremendous for the affluent with marginal intelligence. Throw in the poverty stricken with no positive role model and the recipe for disaster is proof in the pudding. I do concur with Richard that personal desire plays an integral part in the equation. But as I stated in the beginning of this post, personal desire means nothing if you aren’t willing to use it.
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GT--
Thanks for your reply!
Here's a suggestion that is worth every cent you're about to pay for it. And even a little less.
Be patient with yourself and then with others.
As you get older, you may experience a moment or two in which you realize that what you thought you had figured out in the days of your youth is, in retrospect, much more complicated than you thought at the time. (If you're lucky, some of your mentors will also be your friends and you'll be able to enjoy the conversation in which you say
"Oh, so that's why you were smiling when I said that!" Or so I've heard.
)
(If you want to see this dynamic in action on the other side of the political spectrum, check out a documentary titled
Berkeley in the Sixties [1990].)