Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for October 25, 2008

Ok, this one is funny.   Am I allowed to compliment the author without somebody trying to chew my head off? We got a funny one. Me like.   Insults people who watch hockey games, but hey, they shouldn’t expect to be above satiric skewering just because they like hockey!

Hmmm. I thought that the point of going to college was to learn what the professors knew. Silly me. It seems that the point is to graduate somehow without really having to learn.

And, for what it is worth, I almost never really care what the “average people are interested in knowing!” The “average people,” no doubt have some very stronly held opinions, but the idea that somehow these opinions are a fountain of knowlege and expertise seems unlikely.

The sad fact is that no were in any curiculum is there teaching in what Joe Average needs in his life on a daily basis……..

And that Boys and girls is plain old common sence. A lost art within the brains of most of todays youth. The only ones that do get it are the ones where the parents at home teach it enough to counteract all the Gibberish that the kids get pumpped into them else where.

ozzimandius says: The sad fact is that no were in any curiculum is there teaching in what Joe Average needs in his life on a daily basis……..

For decades, that was taught at home by the parents - assuming they knew it themselves. The early Great Common Schools taught the basic skills of reading (via phonics), arithmetic (not mathematics), and writing, which the parents had not the time to teach, nor the particular skill, perhaps. Though, my father taught me to read when I was three, using phonics, letter blocks, a small wind-up train, and cereal boxes. And, for decades, before the college/university system developed, that was both necessary, and sufficient to build a country, and its infrastructure. Then … well, this gets extensive. It’s connected to the purposeful denigration of the american public education system, beginning in the 1840’s, by changing how reading was taught - no longer using the phonic/phonetic system, rather something called ‘Look - Say’ developed by Thomas Gallaudet to teach the deaf to read. Long story, clearly laid out by Antony Sutton in a small book, the precise title of which escapes me, but close to, The Inner Elite and Education. Yup - sounds like a conspiracy - but the evidence is clear, because it wasn’t an isolated incident - it happened all over the country, over and over again, promulgated through Schools of Education, that taught new teachers how to teach reading, among other things. ‘They’ took their clue from Jefferson and Madison who often said that “an informed populace is essential to the survival of democracy’. So - if people don’t know how to read, and can’t inform themselves, and don’t know how to think about what they read, but only ‘feel’ about it, and have to rely on that new thing called radio, and then tv for their information … the conclusions are clear. Wells and Huxley had it figured out - 1984, Animal Farm, Brave New World - not prescient, just descriptive of what they saw, also happening in other countries, particularly in Britain, under the influence of The Round Table, founded by that ol’ elitist, Cecil Rhodes. Uh-huh - THAT Cecil Rhodes - hmp - another lengthy story. Some other time, some other forum.

uhm … that should be ORwell - cawphee - need mo’ cawphee -

Ah, yes - the Republican philosophy in a nutshell. One of the things that makes America grate. Just for the record, institutions of “higher education” are supposed to provide curriculums that go beyond what Joe Kegger needs or wants to know. They are supposed to produce an elite (bad word there) that would work to better society scientifically, philosophically, and politically. Strange concept, huh?

There are kids going into college that can hardly read. I knew a woman who graduated from high school thinking we lived inside the shell of a hollow earth. She couldn’t figure out how those space ships managed to punch their way out.

James734, Did you mean, “make America great?” Or, “grate,” (as on one’s nerves.) Perhaps the pun is appropriate. Also, the plural of curriculum is curricula.

The point is not what average people are interested in knowing, it is what they need to know. That is what Edward R. Murrow tried to do - educate the masses, not entertain them. News should be about journalism and college should be about learning what you need to know, not JUST having fun.

Lets give Joe the Kegger a break. He’s just a guy trying to make a living. If he wants to improve himself he has millions of ways to do it. I have a problem with Joe though when he looks down on anyone else who is trying to better him and/or herself. I am sick and tired of seeing people like Palin, and Zipper too, apparently, expecting society to cater to the lowerst common denominator in society.

Interesting comments today, made in a civil manner. No name calling was involved, either. I’m very proud of all of you. Gold Stars for everyone.

margueritem says:

Interesting comments today, made in a civil manner. No name calling was involved, either. I’m very proud of all of you. Gold Stars for everyone.   Well, to be perfectly candid, I suspect that’s only because I haven’t time really to chime in. My first comment was made Friday night. This comment is Saturday night, almost 24 hours later. My next comment may well be another 24 hours from now, or later still.   I agree with much of what’s been said here today, and I’m surprised at who I agree with; but I also disagree with much that’s been said.   I daresay that as soon I have the time to make the kind of commentary that I’d like to make, to actually express a real disagreement, we’re likely to see the fit hit the shan – again.   I’d like to hope I’m wrong, but I don’t think so.

There’s a difference between disagreeing, and being disagreeable … perhaps for the sake of trying to be amusing/funny - which satirical jabs are often not understood, as in the old theatre definition of satire as “What closes on Friday night.” Which joke has to be explained to those who may not know that the traditional opening night in the theatre is - Friday night.

Have at it UncaA - just come out thinking, not swinging -