[thechat] Jan 18 peace march

aardvark roselli at earthlink.net
Tue Jan 21 10:45:00 CST 2003


> From: Martin Burns <martin at easyweb.co.uk>
[...]
> Combine the 2 thusly:
[...]

i've snipped your expertly-woven solution to the education system in
the US, and hopefully by forwarding it on to the appropriate
legislators, we'll have it in place to affect that 20% increase
you've scheduled for 2005...

seriously, solutions like this have been proposed, but that's part of
what the teachers raise a stink about (and thanks to using children
as their tools, they are a powerful lot when they protest)... job
security goes away for them, particularly the dolts, which makes it
hard to implement something that purges the incompetent... and given
john's comment about abysmal private schooling the UK, i'd be curious
to know why, if the rules are so good, they aren't used there...

[...]
> > and as a parent, that's your right, and even your responsibility...
> > unless you take them to mcdonalds whenever they want, it's not going
> > to result in them taking in any more of that food...
>
> Sure, but it's the 'at what age' point I was making... until he's old
> enough to resist the institutional pressure (where, remember, he
> spends most of his weekday waking hours), it's not appropriate.

i go back to the argument of "you're kidding yourself"... television
alone pushes harder than that on a daily basis... besides, you
already have to fight institutional pressure every day as a parent
from other, more insidious concepts -- things like morality with
which you may not agree, religious outlook, political views, etc...
i'd be *much* more concerned about that than whether or not my kid
thinks mcdonalds is fun... because, let's face it, when you factor in
kids meals and those playgrounds, it *is* fun...

[...]
> Good reading:
> http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0333901649/
>
> George Monbiot makes the point that you can't blame the corporations
> for trying. You *can* blame public services for letting them get away
> with it.

without having read the book, i tend to agree with that assertion...

--
my latest book project:
  Web Graphics for Non-Designers
  http://amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1904151159/evoltorg02-20
  ISBN: 1904151159






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