Tuesday, August 22, 2006

"We dont need no education.
We dont need no thought control.
No dark sarcasm in the classroom.
Teacher, leave those kids alone".

I was listening to CBC's The Contrarians Radio Program this morning.
Jesse Brown was interviewing David Horowitz.
I'm not familiar with David Horowitz's politics, but in this interview I agreed with many things that David said.

Which is scary since he's "a faithful Republican, an enemy to the Left, and a personal friend to George W. Bush.".

But he said a few things that make a lot of sense to me.
One thing he said was that there has been war, hate, racism, corruption, and unfairness for millennia, and there will continue to be these things until the earth is a cinder.
He said that leftists refuse to believe that these things cannot be changed by public policy, and while many conservatives have religion to fall back on, a higher being to believe in that will make life better in a different "frame", leftists have made public policy their religion.
Listening to him rant with such passion made me think of myself and Serbs I know who almost have an aneurysm trying to explain the Balkan situation to people who don't even care to understand.
To his interviewer, he clearly sounded angry. Jesse Brown kept inferring that he was too "passionate" in his rant..while to me, he sounded frustrated...frustrated that people couldn't see the obvious.

Mr. Horowitz discussed the dangers of University and College Professors with radical political beliefs pushing their own politcal agendas in the classroom, and why this is wrong.
He pointed out that "Women's Studies" is really a platform for the Radical Feminist Agenda, and that someone like Camille Paglia would not be allowed to teach her theory of feminism within that frame, while in reality...students should be allowed the contrast to decide for themselves what to believe.

I agree.

Higher education is a time to explore, and to come to your own beliefs about society, ethics, politics and lifestyle choices. Students should be exposed to as many theories as possible. As time goes by, their own experiences will build on that base.
It infuriates me when I hear that a teacher has been pushing their agenda in the classroom. During teachers strikes in this city, it was quite common for some teachers to teach children about their unions grievance with the School Board.
My Stepson's class was taken to a union rally when he was in high school.
This is fucking ridiculous, and shouldn't be allowed to happen.
But it does, because agendas become so powerful, that individuals are powerless to stop them from corrupting the growing minds of students.

While many students would cry, "OH, we're not that stupid...we can think for ourselves..." don't even realize that their own thinking is streamlined if they're not exposed to many different theories and ideas.

Anyhow, I'm rambling now...but here are some links to David Horowitz, and come to your own conclusions:

FrontPage Mag
Most Dangerous Academics in America
The Leftist Campaign to Shape America's Young Minds

So while I'm a little disturbed that I agree with some of his neo-conservative theories, he's worth reading, or hearing...take what you want, and debate the rest.

That's what students should be allowed to do.