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2 hours ago, Res said:

Homeschooling is a definite privilege; I know we can't afford for either my husband or I to stay home.

Also, although I've heard of many successful homeschooling stories (including two of my kids' cousins), teachers are generally better qualified than parents, and will generally have a wider range of resources and experiences. Teachers are already undervalued and underpaid and the perception that homeschooling is better for kids perpetuates this. 

I can't deny I haven't thought about it, though!

When I went to a really bad school, my mother would homeschool me when I got home. When I moved to another school, I was actually ahead of them because of my Mother's teaching. I have always had a found respect for it after that point. 

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1 hour ago, Res said:

I've given serious consideration to moving back to the UK, but the requirements to bring my husband along are pretty stringent these days. And having moved country once, I know how tough it can be. And at least I moved between two countries with a common language, and with a support system in both. Immigration/refugee issues frustrate me hugely because it's never something anyone takes up lightly. It's a huge deal and for the people with valid visas to have been turned away at the borders... most people have no idea how much money and effort went into obtaining those visas. 

While I do think homeschooling has it's benefits, is it bad for the child social abilities? I mean, the reason it's good to school is not only to learn, but also to interact with others, and develop social skills.

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31 minutes ago, Fly_or_Die said:

While I'm very relieved to be avoiding public education under DeVos, I'm still a bit uneasy -- she IS now in charge of federal student loans, after all.

IMO we should definitely feel uneasy for future generations; and I'm not speaking as a parent here, but as someone who believes a country only thrives when all its population is as educated and healthy as possible.

9 minutes ago, Augestein said:

When I went to a really bad school, my mother would homeschool me when I got home. When I moved to another school, I was actually ahead of them because of my Mother's teaching. I have always had a found respect for it after that point. 

My kids' cousins also tested ahead for their re-entry into public high school! And to be honest I feel as if I would have benefited from homeschooling myself, so I definitely see the appeal. But it's definitely asking a lot of parents to homeschool, and I do believe many parents simply aren't qualified.

2 minutes ago, Water Mage said:

While I do think homeschooling has it's benefits, is it bad for the child social abilities? I mean, the reason it's good to school is not only to learn, but also to interact with others, and develop social skills.

The U.S. in particular has a lot of homeschooling groups where kids can still go on field trips, make friends and socialize. I've known homeschooled kids with more friends than I managed to have in high school. 

There's also the argument that if a child is in a bad environment, it has the opposite effect of developing their social skills. Bullying amongst middle and high school kids in particular (moreso than in elementary schools) has lifelong psychological effects. Many homeschooled kids I've personally known either had learning disabilities or were being bullied. This is actually why I think I would've done better being homeschooled, since high school had the opposite effect of socializing me (sixth form college, age 16-18, was great, though) and it's taken me years and years to undo some of the damage high school did. 

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46 minutes ago, Fly_or_Die said:

While I'm very relieved to be avoiding public education under DeVos, I'm still a bit uneasy -- she IS now in charge of federal student loans, after all.

Disappointed that no other Republican Senator chose to vote against her, although I suspect those two GOP Senators that *did* vote against her only did so because they knew no others would. Even if Trump wanted a school-voucher proponent as Secretary of Education, could he at least have picked somebody qualified to lead a national school voucher program?

I think they voted so they didn't lose their jobs by their electorate. It very much was gesturing - they voted in her favor before the confirmation hearing.

Edited by Lord Raven
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8 hours ago, Res said:

and I attended university back when tuition fees were only just being introduced (I missed the cut-off for free tuition by a year or two; they were still low when I attended, though).

I assume you lived in England, since tuition fees at least for Scottish citizens remains payable by the government for an albeit vastly smaller country because of the way they choose to spend their budget. Though I'm not sure how in jeopardy the free tuition will be in the future.

5 hours ago, Lord Raven said:

When Trump supporters talk about draining the swamp, are they referring to putting a long-time Republican donor in charge of a department? So you'd rather see cronies that are out of touch with government and the working class over legitimate outsiders? Or did you guys want to see the world burn?

I kinda saw it as just "liberal elites" when they were talking about draining the swamp. But it's not like they actually care, they are willing to be partisan hacks.

Edited by Tryhard
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7 minutes ago, Tryhard said:

I assume you lived in England, since tuition fees at least for Scottish citizens remains payable by the government for an albeit vastly smaller country because of the way they choose to spend their budget.

I did indeed! I was accepted at Edinburgh and nearly chose to study there, but even then I would've had to pay fees, as an English citizen.

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13 hours ago, Water Mage said:

While I do think homeschooling has it's benefits, is it bad for the child social abilities? I mean, the reason it's good to school is not only to learn, but also to interact with others, and develop social skills.

I met the daughter of a teacher who had been homeschooled all the way up to High School before joining the public school system.  She was a little naive about some subjects and terms but she was also comfy in her own skin and blended in with ease.

Public grade school will give a child a good look at the wonders and horrors of the world.  If they end up on the lower end of the food chain it can harm their social skills.  The staff quality is also important.  (I've seen teachers who ranged from those who basically treated class as recess to those who spent their check on additional school material to help the students.)  Although homeschooled kids don't have go through the public school experience they can get involved in other activities such as karate or a quality scout program which can help expose them to positive social interactions in a more stable environment.

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19 hours ago, Lord Raven said:

legitimate outsiders

What I'd like to know is who qualifies as a legitimate outsider, since I'm sure both sides have their own definition.

Conservatives view businessmen like Tillerson who have no government experience as outsiders. What do liberals view as an outsider?

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2 hours ago, CyborgZeta said:

What I'd like to know is who qualifies as a legitimate outsider, since I'm sure both sides have their own definition.

Conservatives view businessmen like Tillerson who have no government experience as outsiders. What do liberals view as an outsider?

Let's just say I don't find appointing Tillerson or Steven Mnuchin to be outsiders. I thought the point of draining the swamp was not to give power to the people who have clearly not acted in the interests of people and can attribute their actions to the 2008 market crash instead of just dialling up the oligarchy.

But you're right, "draining the swamp" or "outsiders" has a much different perspective to whoever hears it, which is why he doesn't need to be precise with the details like all of the other things he said because people who support him can hear what they want to and discard the bad parts.

One thing I do know is that if Tillerson, or any other business hawks had been appointed under Hillary, Conservatives would bitch, moan and complain at the decision and they would be right to do so. I can't tell if that's because they hate Clinton and the Democrats so much in order to justify their hypocrisy, or because they play for their own team and political hackery so much.

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@CyborgZeta Outsider, to me, is someone who pretty much has no experience or ties to politics.

So basically, none of the cabinet or not even the president. You're side-stepping the question over minor semantics, in the end. You mentioned that "people outside of the beltway" previously in the thread, which is basically meaningless because it basically means "anyone who is not in congress."

Edited by Lord Raven
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On ‎2‎/‎5‎/‎2017 at 11:39 PM, blah the Prussian said:

Aight, question. You have been speaking out in favor of allowing Fascists, who wish, in some cases, for genocide, free speech, which I disagree with. Now, though, you appear to be advocating for the censorship of professors on the left who are advocating for something as bad. For what it's worth, I agree with this, but this seems rather inconsistent.

I'm against public funding for universities that employ professors who advocate for violence against half of population. What I'm pointing out is that there is a genesis point for why the left is going violent and it's not necessarily just because of President Trump.

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36 minutes ago, Comrade said:

I'm against public funding for universities that employ professors who advocate for violence against half of population. What I'm pointing out is that there is a genesis point for why the left is going violent and it's not necessarily just because of President Trump.

You're against one professor. This has little to do with the left as a whole. You've repeatedly failed to address points in this thread that come out to contradict yours, so you shouldn't act so high and mighty against "the left." Have you been reading Breitbart for uhh the past 6 months or something?

Anyway, this happened yesterday: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/judges-block-north-carolina-law-limiting-governors-powers-45348371?cid=clicksource_4380645_1_hero_headlines_headlines_hed

I'm honestly glad that the local courts aren't letting this petty shit happen. For reference, the previous Governor of NC was a Republican and transferred redistricting powers to NC's state Congress - basically ensuring they would be in power and obstruct the newly elected Democratic Governor on every turn. The judge reversed that and allowed the redistricting to be in the Governor's hands instead without the state Congress to affect it, basically preventing an otherwise petty power play by the state legislature.

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4 minutes ago, Lord Raven said:

You're against one professor. This has little to do with the left as a whole. You've repeatedly failed to address points in this thread that come out to contradict yours, so you shouldn't act so high and mighty against "the left." Have you been reading Breitbart for uhh the past 6 months or something?

Anyway, this happened yesterday: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/judges-block-north-carolina-law-limiting-governors-powers-45348371?cid=clicksource_4380645_1_hero_headlines_headlines_hed

I'm honestly glad that the local courts aren't letting this petty shit happen. For reference, the previous Governor of NC was a Republican and transferred redistricting powers to NC's state Congress - basically ensuring they would be in power and obstruct the newly elected Democratic Governor on every turn. The judge reversed that and allowed the redistricting to be in the Governor's hands instead without the state Congress to affect it, basically preventing an otherwise petty power play by the state legislature.

I hope this means he's going to overturn NC's inhumanitarian bathroom law. I can't say that civil rights is outright disappearing, but it's at most tertiary focus for governments across the country, when it should be at least secondary focus. 

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18 minutes ago, Hylian Air Force said:

I hope this means he's going to overturn NC's inhumanitarian bathroom law. I can't say that civil rights is outright disappearing, but it's at most tertiary focus for governments across the country, when it should be at least secondary focus. 

Let's be real; civil rights should not be a focus. It's just posturing to reel in the single-issue voters and pit the working class against each other.

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9 hours ago, Comrade said:

I'm against public funding for universities that employ professors who advocate for violence against half of population. What I'm pointing out is that there is a genesis point for why the left is going violent and it's not necessarily just because of President Trump.

Let's be clear here: to compare Antifa to Liberals is flawed. Antifa are not crypto-communists, they ARE Communists, and they've been doing this for a long time. Basically, sooner or later mainstream Liberals will realize that Antifa are edgelord Anarchist jackasses and disown them. Advocating for them is due to ignorance, not malice.

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1 hour ago, Radiant head said:

between that north carolina bullshit and now the senate voting to silence warren, the gop's creepy authoritarianism is getting more and more disturbing

Yes. The amount of excuses being given are appalling.

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2 minutes ago, blah the Prussian said:

Let's be clear here: to compare Antifa to Liberals is flawed. Antifa are not crypto-communists, they ARE Communists, and they've been doing this for a long time. Basically, sooner or later mainstream Liberals will realize that Antifa are edgelord Anarchist jackasses and disown them. Advocating for them is due to ignorance, not malice.

How much later? Because let's be real: even classical liberals have thrown their hats in with groups like the Khmer Rouge, the CPSU, the Spartacists, and Laotian Socialists. By the time liberals identify flaws (to say the least), the damage these groups did to both their own countries and to the world as a whole had been done already. What will it take for liberals to condemn ANTIFA? A terrorist attack? A Clive Bundy-esque rebellion? Something equally terrible? Any group that actively encourages violence is a threat, no questions asked. 

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On 8.2.2017 at 7:43 PM, Tryhard said:

But you're right, "draining the swamp" or "outsiders" has a much different perspective to whoever hears it, which is why he doesn't need to be precise with the details like all of the other things he said because people who support him can hear what they want to and discard the bad parts.

That's exactly how it works with all those complaints about "political correctness" too for that matter. When it comes to accepting free, politically incorrect speech Trump [as well as a lot of the so-called alt.-right] is pretty much the whiniest pansy you'll ever see. And that's just the tip of the iceberg ... don't even get me started on really disgusting stuff like death threats.

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2 minutes ago, Hylian Air Force said:

How much later? Because let's be real: even classical liberals have thrown their hats in with groups like the Khmer Rouge, the CPSU, the Spartacists, and Laotian Socialists. By the time liberals identify flaws (to say the least), the damage these groups did to both their own countries and to the world as a whole had been done already. What will it take for liberals to condemn ANTIFA? A terrorist attack? A Clive Bundy-esque rebellion? Something equally terrible? Any group that actively encourages violence is a threat, no questions asked. 

lol except if it's the police doing the violence, according to liberals

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Just now, Radiant head said:

lol except if it's the police doing the violence, according to liberals

Which way do you think Black Lives Matter swings? Certainly not to the Right. Also, I have reasonable doubt  that police sow and promote violence. It's a lot easier to come about, yes, but cause it? You would be asinine to think law enforcement as a whole relishes in violence.

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2 minutes ago, Hylian Air Force said:

Which way do you think Black Lives Matter swings? Certainly not to the Right. Also, I have reasonable doubt  that police sow and promote violence. It's a lot easier to come about, yes, but cause it? You would be asinine to think law enforcement as a whole relishes in violence.

this post makes less than no sense.  putting aside that law enforcement and the state is at its core rooted in the threat of violence and the monopoly of violence for carrying out its will, there's no end to incidents of police brutality in this country

the idea that people should never be violent is privileged high horse bullshit

Edited by Radiant head
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7 hours ago, Radiant head said:

this post makes less than no sense.  putting aside that law enforcement and the state is at its core rooted in the threat of violence and the monopoly of violence for carrying out its will, there's no end to incidents of police brutality in this country

the idea that people should never be violent is privileged high horse bullshit

Oh, I'm not saying that people should never be violent, but people have to have a plan for when they stop being violent. I don't like Antifa's plan.

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11 minutes ago, Hylian Air Force said:

Which way do you think Black Lives Matter swings? Certainly not to the Right. Also, I have reasonable doubt  that police sow and promote violence. It's a lot easier to come about, yes, but cause it? You would be asinine to think law enforcement as a whole relishes in violence.

Liberals aren't in support of BLM. Liberals are the barely left-center group who decry all kinds of violence and preach peace and unity while not actually doing anything to achieve those goals. They're the people who've said 'well, let's wait and see, Trump won't be that bad' and they're often very Nice Racists.

26 minutes ago, Yojinbo said:

That's exactly how it works with all those complaints about "political correctness" too for that matter. When it comes to accepting free, politically incorrect speech Trump [as well as a lot of the so-called alt.-right] is pretty much the whiniest pansy you'll ever see. And that's just the tip of the iceberg ... don't even get me started on really disgusting stuff like death threats.

I don't know how anyone could read any of his tweets and not come to this conclusion.

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