P.R.A. :Project For The Revitalization of America

[rtwngAvngr]

We need to start this organization.

P.R.A. --The Project for the revitalization of America.


There are two suborganizations I've thought of so far

C.M.A.S. -- Coalition for the maintenance of american skillsets.

This is an organization that seeks to keep all vital skill sets alive to some degree in america, even though we've supposedly priced ourselves our of all markets.

F.O.C-- Freedom Oriented Curriculum

This is an organization that puts together curriclumns for all levels of education, free of liberal bias.

What else?

 

[rtwngAvngr]

If we hadn't dumbed down our schools and been cranking out computer programmers like india, we would still have these jobs. Corporation coulnd't stand paying a 100,000 k for a programmer, so they went elsewhere. However, if more americans had been technically savvy, it would've been a normal wage that wouldn't have made corporations purposefully develop IT capacity in other nations.

We HAVE to change the schools are we're done. I fear it may be too late already.

 

[Kagom]

F.O.C-- Freedom Oriented Curriculum

This is an organization that puts together curriclumns for all levels of education, free of liberal bias.

So, is this FOC going to have a conservative bias, then?

 

[rtwngAvngr]

So, is this FOC going to have a conservative bias, then?

Yes. Sadly pro freedom and being honest about the failures of socialism are conservative only ideals.

 

[Nienna]

We HAVE to change the schools are we're done.

I am 100% with you.

 

[Kagom]

Yes. Sadly pro freedom and being honest about the failures of socialism are conservative only ideals.

That's the most asinine thing I've ever seen you say. Conservative agendas hurt us as much as liberal ones do, whether you believe that or not. Liberals are too hedonistic and loose and conservatives are too nature destructive and strict.

I'd never support your plan and I'd like to think that many decent minded people wouldn't either (but the way we word things and show things affects all thought processes).

 

[Annie]

That's the most asinine thing I've ever seen you say. Conservative agendas hurt us as much as liberal ones do, whether you believe that or not. Liberals are too hedonistic and loose and conservatives are too nature destructive and strict.

I'd never support your plan and I'd like to think that many decent minded people wouldn't either (but the way we word things and show things affects all thought processes).

Would you support a student's bill of rights for a reasonable balance of perspectives?

http://www.studentsforacademicfreedom.org/abor.html

Academic Bill of Rights


I. The Mission of the University.

The central purposes of a University are the pursuit of truth, the discovery of new knowledge through scholarship and research, the study and reasoned criticism of intellectual and cultural traditions, the teaching and general development of students to help them become creative individuals and productive citizens of a pluralistic democracy, and the transmission of knowledge and learning to a society at large. Free inquiry and free speech within the academic community are indispensable to the achievement of these goals. The freedom to teach and to learn depend upon the creation of appropriate conditions and opportunities on the campus as a whole as well as in the classrooms and lecture halls. These purposes reflect the values -- pluralism, diversity, opportunity, critical intelligence, openness and fairness -- that are the cornerstones of American society.







II. Academic Freedom



1. The Concept . Academic freedom and intellectual diversity are values indispensable to the American university. From its first formulation in the General Report of the Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure of the American Association of University Professors, the concept of academic freedom has been premised on the idea that human knowledge is a never-ending pursuit of the truth, that there is no humanly accessible truth that is not in principle open to challenge, and that no party or intellectual faction has a monopoly on wisdom. Therefore, academic freedom is most likely to thrive in an environment of intellectual diversity that protects and fosters independence of thought and speech. In the words of the General Report, it is vital to protect “as the first condition of progress, [a] complete and unlimited freedom to pursue inquiry and publish its results.”



Because free inquiry and its fruits are crucial to the democratic enterprise itself, academic freedom is a national value as well. In a historic 1967 decision ( Keyishian v. Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York ) the Supreme Court of the United States overturned a New York State loyalty provision for teachers with these words: “Our Nation is deeply committed to safeguarding academic freedom, [a] transcendent value to all of us and not merely to the teachers concerned.” In Sweezy v. New Hampshire, (1957) the Court observed that the “essentiality of freedom in the community of American universities [was] almost self-evident.”



2. The Practice . Academic freedom consists in protecting the intellectual independence of professors, researchers and students in the pursuit of knowledge and the expression of ideas from interference by legislators or authorities within the institution itself. This means that no political, ideological or religious orthodoxy will be imposed on professors and researchers through the hiring or tenure or termination process, or through any other administrative means by the academic institution. Nor shall legislatures impose any such orthodoxy through their control of the university budget.



This protection includes students. From the first statement on academic freedom, it has been recognized that intellectual independence means the protection of students – as well as faculty – from the imposition of any orthodoxy of a political, religious or ideological nature. The 1915 General Report admonished faculty to avoid “taking unfair advantage of the student’s immaturity by indoctrinating him with the teacher’s own opinions before the student has had an opportunity fairly to examine other opinions upon the matters in question, and before he has sufficient knowledge and ripeness of judgment to be entitled to form any definitive opinion of his own.” In 1967, the AAUP’s Joint Statement on Rights and Freedoms of Students reinforced and amplified this injunction by affirming the inseparability of “the freedom to teach and freedom to learn.” In the words of the report, “Students should be free to take reasoned exception to the data or views offered in any course of study and to reserve judgment about matters of opinion.”



Therefore, to secure the intellectual independence of faculty and students and to protect the principle of intellectual diversity, the following principles and procedures shall be observed.



These principles fully apply only to public universities and to private universities that present themselves as bound by the canons of academic freedom. Private institutions choosing to restrict academic freedom on the basis of creed have an obligation to be as explicit as is possible about the scope and nature of these restrictions.





1. All faculty shall be hired, fired, promoted and granted tenure on the basis of their competence and appropriate knowledge in the field of their expertise and, in the humanities, the social sciences, and the arts, with a view toward fostering a plurality of methodologies and perspectives. No faculty shall be hired or fired or denied promotion or tenure on the basis of his or her political or religious beliefs.

2. No faculty member will be excluded from tenure, search and hiring committees on the basis of their political or religious beliefs.

3. Students will be graded solely on the basis of their reasoned answers and appropriate knowledge of the subjects and disciplines they study, not on the basis of their political or religious beliefs.

4. Curricula and reading lists in the humanities and social sciences should reflect the uncertainty and unsettled character of all human knowledge in these areas by providing students with dissenting sources and viewpoints where appropriate. While teachers are and should be free to pursue their own findings and perspectives in presenting their views, they should consider and make their students aware of other viewpoints. Academic disciplines should welcome a diversity of approaches to unsettled questions.

5. Exposing students to the spectrum of significant scholarly viewpoints on the subjects examined in their courses is a major responsibility of faculty. Faculty will not use their courses for the purpose of political, ideological, religious or anti-religious indoctrination.


6. Selection of speakers, allocation of funds for speakers programs and other student activities will observe the principles of academic freedom and promote intellectual pluralism.

7. An environment conducive to the civil exchange of ideas being an essential component of a free university, the obstruction of invited campus speakers, destruction of campus literature or other effort to obstruct this exchange will not be tolerated.

8. Knowledge advances when individual scholars are left free to reach their own conclusions about which methods, facts, and theories have been validated by research. Academic institutions and professional societies formed to advance knowledge within an area of research, maintain the integrity of the research process, and organize the professional lives of related researchers serve as indispensable venues within which scholars circulate research findings and debate their interpretation. To perform these functions adequately, academic institutions and professional societies should maintain a posture of organizational neutrality with respect to the substantive disagreements that divide researchers on questions within, or outside, their fields of inquiry.



Op. cit., p. 50

 

[rtwngAvngr]

That's the most asinine thing I've ever seen you say. Conservative agendas hurt us as much as liberal ones do, whether you believe that or not. Liberals are too hedonistic and loose and conservatives are too nature destructive and strict.

I'd never support your plan and I'd like to think that many decent minded people wouldn't either (but the way we word things and show things affects all thought processes).

Actually no. It's true. Liberals don't believe in individual freedom, they believe in mandated equality, which is a strait jacket on freedom. They are biased in their presentation of other cultures too. The atrocities committed by anyone but whites or christians are swept under the rug to prop up the anti white, anti christian, anti freedom dogma of the left.

 

[Kagom]

Would you support a student's bill of rights for a reasonable balance of perspectives?

http://www.studentsforacademicfreedom.org/abor.html

For a balance of perspectives? Yes, yes I would.

 

[Annie]

For a balance of perspectives? Yes, yes I would.

Good for you. If you are in school, look for it's being proposed.

 

[Kagom]

Actually no. It's true. Liberals don't believe in individual freedom, they believe in mandated equality, which is a strait jacket on freedom. They are biased in their presentation of other cultures too. The atrocities committed by anyone but whites or christians are swept under the rug to prop up the anti white, anti christian, anti freedom dogma of the left.

No, it's not true. If either side has full power, freedom loses. Conservatives try to push in a heavily backed Judeo-Christian perspective into their politics and would rather have a certain style of thinking be the way people go. They also don't seem to care much about how our environment gets messed up. Call me ignorant and call me crazy, but that's just what I see in the news and my own community.

 

[Kagom]

Good for you. If you are in school, look for it's being proposed.

I'm in a private school. We have to go the way the school wants us to go.

 

[Annie]

I'm in a private school. We have to go the way the school wants us to go.

I believe it's circulating throughout the university system. College should not be right or left, rather geared towards getting the kids to think.

High school should be about teaching students how to find out information to think. Sigh.

 

[rtwngAvngr]

No, it's not true. If either side has full power, freedom loses. Conservatives try to push in a heavily backed Judeo-Christian perspective into their politics and would rather have a certain style of thinking be the way people go. They also don't seem to care much about how our environment gets messed up. Call me ignorant and call me crazy, but that's just what I see in the news and my own community.

The certain style of thinking conservatives favor is called freedom. It's what our country is based upon and what has historically made it so successful. Liberalism is based upon envy of the successful. Many leaders are willing to exploit that envy for their own gain. Liberals are evil envy exploiters.

 

[Nienna]

evil envy exploiters.

Nice alliteration!

 

[Kagom]

I believe it's circulating throughout the university system. College should not be right or left, rather geared towards getting the kids to think.

High school should be about teaching students how to find out information to think. Sigh.

But that'd be TOO logical.

 

[Kagom]

The certain style of thinking conservatives favor is called freedom. It's what our country is based upon and what has historically made it so successful. Liberalism is based upon envy of the successful. Many leaders are willing to exploit that envy for their own gain. Liberals are evil envy exploiters.

It's not freedom, it's some sort of messed up psychotic form that is a fake version of freedom. Why do you keep attacking liberalism? I'm not defending it. I say liberalism and conservatism are bad when put in as a whole.

 

[rtwngAvngr]

It's not freedom, it's some sort of messed up psychotic form that is a fake version of freedom. Why do you keep attacking liberalism? I'm not defending it. I say liberalism and conservatism are bad when put in as a whole.

Liberalism is a cancer in our society, and is opposed to every value that has made america great.

 

[Wolfe]

If we hadn't dumbed down our schools and been cranking out computer programmers like india, we would still have these jobs. Corporation coulnd't stand paying a 100,000 k for a programmer, so they went elsewhere. However, if more americans had been technically savvy, it would've been a normal wage that wouldn't have made corporations purposefully develop IT capacity in other nations.

We HAVE to change the schools are we're done. I fear it may be too late already.

Its only the capitalist system at work when american companies outsource jobs to India and elsewhere. They are seeking the lowest cost inputs to get the job done and in these days of globalization it's feasible.
However there is equilibrium for everything.
As the value of the American dollar drops it becomse increasingly attractive for capital to move back in.
And who wants their kid to be a plumber or machinist or auto mechanic? Mothers these days want Johnny or Sally to becoma a lawyer or doctor.
The traditional blue collar jobs are looked upon with disdain by most parents.

 

[archangel]

Its only the capitalist system at work when american companies outsource jobs to India and elsewhere. They are seeking the lowest cost inputs to get the job done and in these days of globalization it's feasible.
However there is equilibrium for everything.
As the value of the American dollar drops it becomse increasingly attractive for capital to move back in.
And who wants their kid to be a plumber or machinist or auto mechanic? Mothers these days want Johnny or Sally to becoma a lawyer or doctor. The traditional blue collar jobs are looked upon with disdain

on the outsoucing BS from the US Corpoate mentality that is killing our middle class...but to be honest I have worked middle class blue collar jobs as well as White Collar...and I see nothing wrong with auto mechanics or any other blue collar job for my kids....if that is what they want to do( we cannot function without them)...My GD was going to apply for a Military Academy after HS...now she changed her mind and will seek her BS in Criminal Justice at UNR( although this was Gpas career-it was not exactly why she choose it-he- he)...I support her all the way! And if she or any of my kids decided to go the blue collar route...I would tell them to start bitch'n to the administration now...so the outsourced jobs will be brought back! Gotta run the pasta is almost al dente!