Im always amazed at your history lessons. I am 75 and you remind me of my civics teacher in high school in California. My parents immigrated from Canada when I was 8. My father was from Russian immigrants to Canada when the Bolshevik Revolution broke out always calling themselves “white” Russians. We later learned they were from Kyiv and…
Im always amazed at your history lessons. I am 75 and you remind me of my civics teacher in high school in California. My parents immigrated from Canada when I was 8. My father was from Russian immigrants to Canada when the Bolshevik Revolution broke out always calling themselves “white” Russians. We later learned they were from Kyiv and my grandmother was Jewish and they left with her sister, husband and cousins, though my grandfather was Russian Orthodox but not one to be strongly religious. My mother was a war bride from London along with her sister - both the first in generations to leave England. My parents were to become citizens before I was 16 so I’d be included and they took classes at night (taught by my history teacher) but due to the cost and needing a lawyer to help, they never did. It was required we took Civics and passed in order to graduate - which unfortunately is no longer required. This was the first semester of my senior year in 1966. I was one of the few who got an A+. I was stunned to learn that everything I was taught was so unknown by many adults. This teacher taught us not to listen to news on T.V., but to read certain newspapers or it may have been a magazine which he gave subscriptions to those who excelled. He demanded critical thinking - read, process, and explain. He didn’t own a T.V. saying it was gibberish entertainment to numb the mind and pushed reading. He rode a bike to and from work for health and stated that gasoline engines along with industrialization was ruining our air - we already had brown smog that was clear to see at higher levels. My first Earth day was in 1970 in Los Angeles. This man greatly affected my life but it took time to realize that. Why don’t we have Civics requirements and teachers like that I always think. I worked hard to pay for my daughters to go to private school as California’s education system had eroded - in the area where we could afford to buy a home and start our family 10 years later. It also was the only place to find before and after school day care. I was able to get an absentee ballot as a working mother and sat with my daughters explaining the system, how it worked and going through the process. I laughed when I read that California amendments went from a booklet to a book. I left California in 1995. Why isn’t Civics required any longer in all schools? I’ve retired in what’s become a trifecta red state that once received accolades for having the best education system and highest educated students in the U.S., but have watched it erode with private vouchers given to those in wealthy areas with private schools and now elementary schools are closing due to lack of funding. It follows the Republican motto to keep them uneducated while the wealthy rise-and take over. I plan on buying your book if I still have funds after they attack Medicare and Social Security.
Thanks K. Marlow for your family story, and I agree with what you say.
Look to why the GOP doesn’t want segments of society to vote? What are they afraid of the people voting for— or against?
It seems to be just one more road blocked so that the people aren’t able to rise and defend themselves against injustice.
We’ve presently got the ability to peacefully prevent injustice, we just have to be aware, interested, and exercise our ability. Education is the basis for this, then vote—before it’s too late to do anything about it.
Our brethren throughout the country just won't make the effort to critically think for themselves. Shoveling prepared mashed potatoes into our mouth is much easier than making your own. And so it is with simple civics lessons or the cited 2018 article on the outrageous behavior of Kobach et al.
After the November elections, I stopped with TV for now as a news source - and only read. This newsletter is a new add for me.
My wife is mad at me because i stopped watching MSNBC (she says they need our support); and she thinks i should stop associating with my republican friends (writ-large - that's a horrible approach to moving the country ahead).
As losers in the election, we best get some humility and acknowledge the err of our ways - remove the unnecessarily polarizing stuff from our platform - and grab the pursuadables back into the fold.
By stepping away for a couple of months, and continuing to read a wide source of information - a plan of action has begun percolating and started to come into view. My personal plan of action is as follows:
(Context: I grew up in southern CA; lived there for 40 yrs; then lived in Orlando for ~10 yrs and am now in western NC for last ~20 yrs)
- Messaging is the problem - not more phone banking and not more door-knocking; we have ~5 seconds to carry our message - that means we have to understand issues well enough to distill it down to 5-8 seconds. I have several thoughts on how to do this better.
- Attend local county commission, election commission, Democratic Executive meetings - so that i see first-hand what dishonest shenanigans are afoot - and determine how I can be effective in moving the needle.
This can't be about being "right"; it has to be "effective"
Your teacher sounds like my son. He does't have a TV and rides a bike to work, only it is not work according to him, he heads the department and also teaches,he earned his PHd in 1995 We don't talk politics, except at Xmas he did say it is 1933.
Exactly right. I was under the impression civics was taught to become a citizen. I remember those old movies of years ago when you came over. Too bad just shows why many Hispanics voted the way they did, or any minorities that come to the US to become citizens. The less knowledge the better to indoctrinate instead of real knowledge on purpose. “Dumbing our citizens.
Im always amazed at your history lessons. I am 75 and you remind me of my civics teacher in high school in California. My parents immigrated from Canada when I was 8. My father was from Russian immigrants to Canada when the Bolshevik Revolution broke out always calling themselves “white” Russians. We later learned they were from Kyiv and my grandmother was Jewish and they left with her sister, husband and cousins, though my grandfather was Russian Orthodox but not one to be strongly religious. My mother was a war bride from London along with her sister - both the first in generations to leave England. My parents were to become citizens before I was 16 so I’d be included and they took classes at night (taught by my history teacher) but due to the cost and needing a lawyer to help, they never did. It was required we took Civics and passed in order to graduate - which unfortunately is no longer required. This was the first semester of my senior year in 1966. I was one of the few who got an A+. I was stunned to learn that everything I was taught was so unknown by many adults. This teacher taught us not to listen to news on T.V., but to read certain newspapers or it may have been a magazine which he gave subscriptions to those who excelled. He demanded critical thinking - read, process, and explain. He didn’t own a T.V. saying it was gibberish entertainment to numb the mind and pushed reading. He rode a bike to and from work for health and stated that gasoline engines along with industrialization was ruining our air - we already had brown smog that was clear to see at higher levels. My first Earth day was in 1970 in Los Angeles. This man greatly affected my life but it took time to realize that. Why don’t we have Civics requirements and teachers like that I always think. I worked hard to pay for my daughters to go to private school as California’s education system had eroded - in the area where we could afford to buy a home and start our family 10 years later. It also was the only place to find before and after school day care. I was able to get an absentee ballot as a working mother and sat with my daughters explaining the system, how it worked and going through the process. I laughed when I read that California amendments went from a booklet to a book. I left California in 1995. Why isn’t Civics required any longer in all schools? I’ve retired in what’s become a trifecta red state that once received accolades for having the best education system and highest educated students in the U.S., but have watched it erode with private vouchers given to those in wealthy areas with private schools and now elementary schools are closing due to lack of funding. It follows the Republican motto to keep them uneducated while the wealthy rise-and take over. I plan on buying your book if I still have funds after they attack Medicare and Social Security.
Thanks K. Marlow for your family story, and I agree with what you say.
Look to why the GOP doesn’t want segments of society to vote? What are they afraid of the people voting for— or against?
It seems to be just one more road blocked so that the people aren’t able to rise and defend themselves against injustice.
We’ve presently got the ability to peacefully prevent injustice, we just have to be aware, interested, and exercise our ability. Education is the basis for this, then vote—before it’s too late to do anything about it.
Our brethren throughout the country just won't make the effort to critically think for themselves. Shoveling prepared mashed potatoes into our mouth is much easier than making your own. And so it is with simple civics lessons or the cited 2018 article on the outrageous behavior of Kobach et al.
After the November elections, I stopped with TV for now as a news source - and only read. This newsletter is a new add for me.
My wife is mad at me because i stopped watching MSNBC (she says they need our support); and she thinks i should stop associating with my republican friends (writ-large - that's a horrible approach to moving the country ahead).
As losers in the election, we best get some humility and acknowledge the err of our ways - remove the unnecessarily polarizing stuff from our platform - and grab the pursuadables back into the fold.
By stepping away for a couple of months, and continuing to read a wide source of information - a plan of action has begun percolating and started to come into view. My personal plan of action is as follows:
(Context: I grew up in southern CA; lived there for 40 yrs; then lived in Orlando for ~10 yrs and am now in western NC for last ~20 yrs)
- Messaging is the problem - not more phone banking and not more door-knocking; we have ~5 seconds to carry our message - that means we have to understand issues well enough to distill it down to 5-8 seconds. I have several thoughts on how to do this better.
- Attend local county commission, election commission, Democratic Executive meetings - so that i see first-hand what dishonest shenanigans are afoot - and determine how I can be effective in moving the needle.
This can't be about being "right"; it has to be "effective"
Your teacher sounds like my son. He does't have a TV and rides a bike to work, only it is not work according to him, he heads the department and also teaches,he earned his PHd in 1995 We don't talk politics, except at Xmas he did say it is 1933.
Exactly right. I was under the impression civics was taught to become a citizen. I remember those old movies of years ago when you came over. Too bad just shows why many Hispanics voted the way they did, or any minorities that come to the US to become citizens. The less knowledge the better to indoctrinate instead of real knowledge on purpose. “Dumbing our citizens.