Human Nature

[101A]

I lament that out ins utes of lower learning lack trade school options for many students so that they can make some money.

+1

Good Plumbers, carpenters, electricians, steel fabricators, mechanics.......DON"T need college!!!

[MannyIsGod]

I lament that out ins utes of lower learning lack trade school options for many students so that they can make some money.

Same coin - just the other side.

[101A]

Its posts like this that make it all too easy for the asshole in me to thrive.

[MannyIsGod]

Everytime I hear someone tell a kid they have to go to college to earn a good living my head wants to explode. Our entire approach towards education in this country is fundamentally broken.

[DarrinS]

Everytime I hear someone tell a kid they have to go to college to earn a good living my head wants to explode. Our entire approach towards education in this country is fundamentally broken.

It definitely doesn't hurt. I see nothing wrong with going to college and majoring in engineering, accounting, computer science, etc. to get knowledge relating to those fields.


I don't know about you, but I want my doctor to have gone to med school. I want bridges built by people that have gone to accredited engineering schools.

[DarrinS]

But I understand what you're saying, Manny. College isn't everything.

[MannyIsGod]

Thats not what I'm saying at all. I'm saying that going to an ins ution of higher learning isn't about getting making more money but rather becoming educated. Yes, I want my doctor to go to med school and get adequate training but I would also rather go to a doctor who spent time during his undergrad taking classes outside of Biology.

[Blake]

Same coin - just the other side.

Since my wife is a high school teacher, I tend to stay on this side of the coin.

There are a bunch of idiots in her class who should be learning how to weld, or repair cars or fix broken computers instead of fokking off and messing up her Spanish class.

[RandomGuy]

Everytime I hear someone tell a kid they have to go to college to earn a good living my head wants to explode. Our entire approach towards education in this country is fundamentally broken.

That is one of the things I will be teaching my kids:

If you don't want to go to college, fine. Do something, anything.

Just don't do like my brother, who is a genius as a mechanic, but has no seeming ambition to make money at it. He has a wife and infant son, and it drives me and my family crazy that he is still earning working for some pissant garage, when he could be working for himself, or for a dealership and making some bank.

[whottt]

Perusing some blogs, I came across an argument between a leftist and a liberal religious person about human nature. The religious person made the statement that there is a universal human condition wherein humans tend to be selfish, tribal, and cruel. The leftist rejected this as right-wing propaganda and claimed instead that most instances of human cruelty are the result of Western culture and capitalism. He believed that had European civilization not spread around the globe, most people of the earth would live in peace and harmony with one another and with nature. He claimed that any instance of a non-European person acting in a selfish or cruel way reflects the contamination of Westernism upon that person's culture, and that person would not act that way had he never met white people.

The leftist went on to say that if only Western culture, capitalism, and monotheistic religion could be destroyed, the people of the earth could once again live in peace, harmony, and eco-balance.

The religious person thought this was absurd, and starting listing every other major non-Western civilization he could think of, and the ways, do ented by anthropologists, in which people in those civilization acted towards one another selfishly, tribally, and cruelly, and challenged the leftist to come up with any society that behaved otherwise.

The leftist replied that the anthropologists were contaminated with Western cultural propaganda inherent in the academy, and that since Westerners had wiped out so many civilizations, and corrupted so much history, that there was no way to prove whether perfect societies existed; if they had existed, they would have been easily wiped out by warmongering white people. He then suggested that Australian aboriginies might be close to the ideal.

I am curious whether this particular leftist was just extremely bat insane, or whether his views actually represent a significant cross-section of leftist thought.

Hmm...I've actually got a lot to say about this but I lack the time at this particular moment. For now I'll just say the leftist is an idiot for basing nothing of his perfect societies on fact(they werne't perfect at all) however he is righ that European colonialism spread a bunch of cruelty and ed up practices around the globe. Did they create all of it? No...but they damn sure spread it to places that didn't have it(at least not in the form they were exporting it) before they got there...

Their two major cultural exports were categorizing races based on intelligence in relation to darkness or lightness of skin, and gender inequality.

You pretty much had to make your women second class citizens if you wanted to the goodies the Europeans could provide. On the one hand you can blame the Europeans for exporting it...on the other hand you can blame everyone that accepted that condition for accepting it.

Oh the leftist is right about one other thing thought not in the way he think he is, the field of anthropology is basically an indoctrination, but what makes the lefty an idiot is that he doesn't realize it's a Marxist indictrination and there are definitely a bunch of ing crazy brainwashed anthropologists, but they are like him. I am pretty sure it is the most liberal field of them all. I think I read somewhere that 30 out of every 31 anthropologists are liberal(and I have met a ton of them that are proud Marxists)....I personally think that's an overly generous ratio...I'd say it's about a thousand to one based on my acquaintances.

Western civilization didn't up Utopia...but it has spread a bunch of stupid ing dividing lines.

[RandomGuy]

Since my wife is a high school teacher, I tend to stay on this side of the coin.

There are a bunch of idiots in her class who should be learning how to weld, or repair cars or fix broken computers instead of fokking off and messing up her Spanish class.

In some (if not most) european countries, they test you around age 14 or so, and then either send you to some kind of trade school, or start preparing you for higher education.

That is partially why they kick our asses when it comes to a lot of comparisons. They compare what is essentially the upper half of their high school age population to our average population. Of course we come out looking like . I could be wrong about exactly how this works, but this is my understanding.

[Blake]

Hmm...I've actually got a lot to say about this but I lack the time at this particular moment. For now I'll just say the leftist is an idiot for basing nothing of his perfect societies on fact(they werne't perfect at all) however he is righ that European colonialism spread a bunch of cruelty and ed up practices around the globe. Did they create all of it? No...but they damn sure spread it to places that didn't have it(at least not in the form they were exporting it) before they got there...

Their two major cultural exports were categorizing races based on intelligence in relation to darkness or lightness of skin, and gender inequality.

You pretty much had to make your women second class citizens if you wanted to the goodies the Europeans could provide. On the one hand you can blame the Europeans for exporting it...on the other hand you can blame everyone that accepted that condition for accepting it.

Oh the leftist is right about one other thing thought not in the way he think he is, the field of anthropology is basically an indoctrination, but what makes the lefty an idiot is that he doesn't realize it's a Marxist indictrination and there are definitely a bunch of ing crazy brainwashed anthropologists, but they are like him. I am pretty sure it is the most liberal field of them all. I think I read somewhere that 30 out of every 31 anthropologists are liberal(and I have met a ton of them that are proud Marxists)....I personally think that's an overly generous ratio...I'd say it's about a thousand to one based on my acquaintances.

Western civilization didn't up Utopia...but it has spread a bunch of stupid ing dividing lines.

thank you, whottt

[johnsmith]

Speaking strictly from an American Contractor point of view..........AMERICA NEEDS MORE SKILLED LABOR.

We are running the out.

[whottt]

Oh one other thing about what humans do...

If it increases their chances of survival they'll get along, and if it doesn't they won't, and if it doesn't matter they usually get along and leave each other alone. It's not an either or type thing from what I've seen...it's very much a situational thing.

You'll never find a Utopia where resouces are scarce.

[DarrinS]

In some (if not most) european countries, they test you around age 14 or so, and then either send you to some kind of trade school, or start preparing you for higher education.

That is partially why they kick our asses when it comes to a lot of comparisons. They compare what is essentially the upper half of their high school age population to our average population. Of course we come out looking like . I could be wrong about exactly how this works, but this is my understanding.

Yikes, RG, I really don't like the concept of the STATE determining who will and will not go to college.

[Blake]

In some (if not most) european countries, they test you around age 14 or so, and then either send you to some kind of trade school, or start preparing you for higher education.

That is partially why they kick our asses when it comes to a lot of comparisons. They compare what is essentially the upper half of their high school age population to our average population. Of course we come out looking like . I could be wrong about exactly how this works, but this is my understanding.

There are a lot of reasons why we keep getting our asses kicked on the global stage, but I like this let's do it.

[Blake]

Yikes, RG, I really don't like the concept of the STATE determining who will and will not go to college.

at the age of 14, you have pretty much already determined your fate.

I would also tend to think in this day and age in advanced countries that whatever job a standardized test at age 14 puts you in, that the govt will not really force you to stay there the rest of your life.....although I have nothing to confirm or deny that.

[Blake]

Oh one other thing about what humans do...

If it increases their chances of survival they'll get along, and if it doesn't they won't, and if it doesn't matter they usually get along and leave each other alone. It's not an either or type thing from what I've seen...it's very much a situational thing.

You'll never find a Utopia where resouces are scarce.

thanks again, whottt

[DarrinS]

Thats not what I'm saying at all. I'm saying that going to an ins ution of higher learning isn't about getting making more money but rather becoming educated. Yes, I want my doctor to go to med school and get adequate training but I would also rather go to a doctor who spent time during his undergrad taking classes outside of Biology.

I'm curious what people on this board consider to be the definition of "educated"?


From Merriam-Webster

1: having an education ; especially : having an education beyond the average <educated speakers>

2a: giving evidence of training or practice : skilled <educated hands>
2b: befitting one that is educated <educated taste>
2c: based on some knowledge of fact <an educated guess>

[DarrinS]

at the age of 14, you have pretty much already determined your fate.

I would also tend to think in this day and age in advanced countries that whatever job a standardized test at age 14 puts you in, that the govt will not really force you to stay there the rest of your life.....although I have nothing to confirm or deny that.

I'm glad that's not the case. If my fate was determined at 14, they would never have admitted me into college. I was a long-haired, pot-smoking, skateboarding, BMX'ing punk-ass kid when I was 14 and I didn't apply myself.

[micca]

You ing idiot. Liberals all over this board have been denouncing it.

Honestly, do you have to go to some sort of reverse college to get this dumb? One where you take courses specifically designed to make you sound mentally challenged?

Yes you're all veritable pit bulls with an anonymous face on an obscure forum but in the real world you're a poodle when faced with the likes of Jeramiah Wright.

[LnGrrrR]

Yes you're all veritable pit bulls with an anonymous face on an obscure forum but in the real world you're a poodle when faced with the likes of Jeramiah Wright.

Right... and I'm sure you're Muhammad Ali incarnate.

What's 'pitbullish' about calling someone an idiot? What, have you never been called that before? I find that hard to believe.

[micca]

this is a great example of the type of political forum post that I have been trying to allude to.

I knew it wouldnt be long before a post like this popped up.

thanks, micca

Hey no worries.

[micca]

Not the best example IMO. The problem with micca isn't so much pretentious lexicon as the farrago of pseudo-rationality, mixed metaphor and cliche. To say nothing of his bizarre punctuation and capitalization. And his total disdain for paragraphs.



Rereading what I just wrote, I have to admit it. You were right to single me out, Blake.

Ah. Whinehole your so precious I bet your mom's got all your spelling tests on the door of her fidge still, and she's right your such a special boy. Forgive me my grammar I'm sure it is some how relevant to the point at hand ,and if i wanted lessons in how to elevate the hissy fit and the rant to high art you'd be my huckelberry. However Christ and Buddah were both simple and plain spoken and they were able to heal minds bodies and souls, and elevate the connciousness of mul udes, whereas your ability seems to articulate with keeness, and great skill a mind full of .

[PixelPusher]

However Christ and Buddah were both simple and plain spoken and they were able to heal minds bodies and souls, and elevate the connciousness of mul udes, whereas your ability seems to articulate with keeness, and great skill a mind full of .

I'm not too familiar with Buddhism, but Jesus had to speak in parables to get his points across, and yet the New Testament is full of passages with the phrase "his disciples did not understand". If only Jesus could have found a way to dumb it down a little more.