Re: Require English/Civics of Legans & Illegals

On Wed, 10 May 2006 08:24:24 GMT, zadoc <zadoc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Mon, 08 May 2006 23:50:20 GMT, "Jeff McCann"
<NoSpam@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
<0PQ7g.300$Jf.13@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> :

|>I'm juumping into the thread late, but:
|>
|>Why don't we require civics education and English fluency for all Americans?
|>You only need spend a little time on the infobahn to realize how shockingly
|>ignorant many Americans are about their own system of government, and how
|>poorly many of us do in composition and comprehension, even by the casual
|>standards of the internet.
|>
|>One effect of "No Child Left Behind" and other attempts at educational
|>reform is that civics and history, as well as art, etc., are given short
|>shrift because these subjects aren't tested to measure the schools'
|>performance. But we ignore them at our peril. We need to train our young
|>to be citizens of our Republic, not just conformist worker drones.
|>
|>I have to wonder how the average American high school graduate would do on
|>test given to prospective naturalized citizens. I'd guess they wouldn't do
|>too well.
|>
|>Jeff
|>
This is very true, Jeff, but would it be practical to enforce.

We all know that age is not necessarily related to competence to
do anything. Yet we set "age limits" for "sexual consent",
"issuance of a drivers license", "legal drinking age" "legal
military service age" "legal voting age", and so on.

Now, of course, basing any of the above on age alone is obviously
only valid if all humans are equal & identical. I would argue
that no two humans are absolutely identical in any parameter you
want to specify.

There are probably bright twelve year olds who are more
"competent" "intelligent", " knowledgeable" "trustable", or
more "educated" than their parents or grandparents.

However, how do we test all this? Imagine the legal morass we
would get into if we allowed a 12 year old a drivers license, but
not a 35 year old.

Or for even something more "touchy" some sort of a literacy or
intelligence test for voters?

Even a very simple test, with questions such "here is a blank map
of the world, which country are you in? Here is an unlabeled
map of the US. Point out your state."

"The sun is bigger or smaller than the earth. The moon is bigger
or smaller than the earth."

"What is the approximate speed of light or electricity?"

"What is the square root of 9"

"Are there kangaroos in Austraia"?

Kangaroos? Who know? I don't believe I could even find "Austraia" on
the map. :o)
Sue


"Is it a federal offense in the US to steal coins from a public
phone"?

Make up any questions you like, but it wouldn't take a very
difficult set to eliminate a large percentage of the present
voting [or driving] population. :-)

Posting from misc.survivalism

Cheers,
Zadoc




zadoc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

.

Relevant Pages

  • What Was That?: Your Generational Guide to Understanding September 11
    ... there were no more hyphenated Americans. ... for their military to use nuclear weapons against Afghanistan, ... you were 50 years old in 1969 and remember serving in World War II ... was 90 to 100 years of age. ...
    (alt.politics)
  • Re: Arhivele theglobe.com forum Experimentul meu psychic
    ... Timmay says: ... Education is knowledge. ... rambling my same old opinions and hearing the same old same old. ... age was less. ...
    (soc.culture.romanian)
  • Re: Se Puede Leave
    ... You want to assimilate and become Americans? ... your own language, refuse to learn English, refuse to become legal ... refuse the education that is available (40 percent drop-out ... Mexican illegals are shuffling across the desert in blanket booties to ...
    (rec.org.mensa)
  • Re: Where is everyone?
    ... It was always my hope that we Americans could maintain our standard of living while assisting the rest of the world to come up to our standard of living. ... Now if there had been anyone with half a brain in any government, they might have tried to change things, but not in the USA where less government and no state control, and a complete distrust of academic analysis and education, is the de facto cultural norm. ... The real world economy has likewise grown out of control. ...
    (rec.models.rc.air)
  • Education, not welfare, helps groups rise
    ... As for Jews, they have received about one-third of all Nobel Prizes in ... These three groups may help debunk the myth of success as a simple ... means a focus on education. ... Americans and the same on math portions. ...
    (soc.retirement)