Civics Education in the US

I think much of this deaths by despair and diseases of despair are brought on by people trying to "keep up with the Jones'". I think when many people can't afford the things they see others with it causes them to despair. I, on the other hand, was content to go fishing.

 

Relative deprivation is a thing, but I'm sure we all feel it from time to time. We have lots of things we want to do but can't anymore. Fishing might be a good way of cooping, but I'm sure you also go home to food.

 

Maybe we need to define just which people we are talking about when we refer to "poor". I am thinking of the ne'er-do-well type who live in government subsidized housing, running around with an EBD card in their pocket and getting Medicaid for their kids. I have known these types of "poor" and they are living off my tax dollar in their subsidized apartment, watching cable TV, drinking beer, and smoking name brand cigarettes.

Which "poor" people are you thinking of?

 

The problem with conceptualizing poor people as people on welfare is that it doesn't include everyone who would fit that bill. What about people who get housing grants from the government? What about businesses that get government grants? Are those owners welfare queens? Or what about people who we would consider being "poor" but don't qualify for welfare because they make too much money? It also paints a negative picture of people on welfare. We need to conceptualize poverty in morally neutral terms. Conceptualization requires a certain level of neutrality, lest they influence any final results.

For me, it's just about income levels. That seems to be the standard, but I know there are important limits to that. Other than that? There's a new trend in asking people whether or not they have x amount of money saved away for a rainy day fund. I like that one more, but then again it might just be because it's what I like to examine.

 

I appreciate your candor and your non-confrontational way of posting. That said, I don't think one evening in the Political Forum is going to change sixty plus years of thinking. While you have given me many things to think about, I believe at this point we are going to have to agree to disagree.

Happy Thanksgiving,
Rich

 

How does public education create American citizens?

Did you ever read the Constitution?

 

"Alright boys and girls, today we're going to learn about INSERT AMERICAN TRADITION/HOLIDAY/CUSTOM AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE". That's how it's done. Teach people a common language and set of history, you make citizens. Why do you think the government educates people? To give them a better life? Nope, it's because it's a great way of making soldiers to fight future conflicts.

And yes. On multiple occasions. I also took a class on the first amendment.

 

Dont get mad at me the Constitution is simple when it comes to who is an American citizen

 

To be honest I hate arguing. I have argued on PF for years on and off. And I hate arguing. It gets nothing done. So maybe we need a new approach to talking to each other. Maybe one that is less confrontational and one that tries to get people to understand others better. I liked talking to you, it's a nice change of pace.

Happy Thanksgiving! Hope you get a drumstick!

 

One of the key ideas behind citizenship is that it requires some common culture or language to unite people. A person can legally be a citizen of a country, but they aren't a "citizen" of a country. Think double consciousness. Something has to bind those citizens together, otherwise why would you trust some other person claiming to be a "citizen" of your country? Education is one of those ways of making citizens. Why? Because it serves an important role of socializing kids into becoming citizens. I'm not thinking in an American context, though it certainly applies stateside too. I'm thinking of how France and Mexico needed to educate their citizens in order to make them citizens.

 

A person can legally be a citizen of a country, but they aren't a "citizen" of a country.

Huh?

So indoctrination..


Sounds to me like 1940 Germany.

 

A huge slippery slope what Is an a American?

Some guy running around in a dress in California?

Or a guy killing a Grizzlie bear with his own hands in Wyoming?

 

Yes, W.E.B. DuBois is a Nazi. Clearly he is the most Naziy nazi that ever did Nazi.

I can't confirm it, but I have read he is one of the founders of American Sociology. His work The Souls of Black Folks is wildly influential and one of the most important texts to understanding race. Basically Double Consciousness is the idea that a person can belong to a citizenry, but at the same time not be a part of it. Think about how even though black people were citizens of the U.S., they were denied the right to vote and denied economic liberties. That's the idea I'm quoting here, the idea that there has to be something that binds a people together, otherwise we get Double Consciousness.

 

Government schools foment dependence on government. That’s about it at this point.

 

Posts like this drive me crazy, yes blacks, women and white non landowners where citizens but not allowed to vote..

But that was the beauty of the Constitution it gave room for them to do so, taking history out of context is ridiculous/being an arm chair QB.

 

Back then people had slaves, like we have cell phones/robotics today, I can imagine in the future when A.I. demands it's own rights.

 

This doesn't apply to just black people. Ongoing debates over Immigration incorporate this idea to. A person may be a lawful resident, but may feel discriminated against on the basis on their immigration status. Another example is LGBT people. The dilemma between being in the closet but safe and being out but in danger is a good example of double consciousness.

 

How so? Or are we somehow any different?

 

Government schools are structured to produce graduates who are either dependent on government directly (through welfare or incarceration) or indirectly in what amounts to lifelong indentured servitude to the state.

I’m not clear on the meaning of your second sentence. Can you kindly clarify?

 

How does one being a criminal feel hurt for entering a country illegally?

That's the same as saying I dont know what the meaning of is, is?

 

Of course. I mean it literally. Are you and me any different than the students you describe who graduate from government schools?

Who said anything about criminals? I sure didn't.

 

You're the one who tried to navigate this thread towards blacks, I had to remind you about women and white non landowners..

Now you want to talk LGBT?

 

Kind of implying for open borders..why?

We dont have the resources natural or financial to take in a billion people who decide to cross our borders

 

No I don't believe I was, nor wanted to. I cited an example to an important concept for citizenship, and when you asked why it was relevant I told you it was still relevant by giving examples. If anything, I had to educate you because you called a Communist a Nazi.

 

No I wasn't. I said legal residents for a reason. Can you guess why?