Astonishing column in Sat. Indy Star...

[Bzzzz]

I normally blow off the Faith & Values page as too often, shall we say, Falwellian, but this just blew me away...

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070602/LIVING09/706020433/1111/LIVING09&GID=QBcT7NCsDBGJ7uNMYmdyQ0BIHImkWGLNJxKbWUBozi8%3D

[Buzz Clik]

1. Can you give us a better clue into your reaction -- was it negative or positive?

[Bzzzz]

3. Ummmm...

IMO...It is the church's job to teach religion. It it the parent's job to teach morality.

[Buzz Clik]

4. I agree with your opinion, but do you really think the author is endorsing something else?

The final paragraph says it:

Finally, I say to my colleagues in religion: We need to be educators, not moralizers. We need to be opening schools that teach crucial skills, not phony biblical values. We need to be forming ties with public schools to cut the dropout rate and to expand access to challenging classes for the bright.

[BrotherBuzz]

7. Tom Ehrich is viewing a much larger picture and suggests we are all riding on the same bus

If society isn't moving forward together, if we aren't improving our lives together, it's not going to be a very rich life for any of us.

I'm guessing the "pick and choose" Fundy bible thumpers could find scripture to support that idea, but I doubt they will. "I got mine; to hell with you" is good enough for them.

[Buzz Clik]

8. When did "Buzz" and its derivatives become such a popular screen name?

:evilgrin:


P.S. I agree with you.

[BrotherBuzz]

11. How cool is that?

:rofl:

[rockymountaindem]

2. Living in fundie land in Colorado Springs, I've found that the Episcopalians

are usually good eggs.

[Warpy]

5. I'm astonished, but I've found most Episcopalian priests

to have a good grip on reality. For those who don't click on blind links, a few choice paragraphs:

"Of those who do advance to college, three out of four are unprepared for college-level work. Of those who do finish college, half are business majors who possess disposable skills for jobs that might not exist in 20 years. Technology entrepreneurs are desperate for young, talented people who can create and imagine, not another army of spreadsheet jocks.

"Meanwhile, income distribution is tilting more toward the super-wealthy, whose work in fields such as hedge fund management, mergers and acquisitions, finance and law has minimal positive impact on industrial innovation, technology and product development, where creation of jobs occurs.

"More and more information technology is going into entertainment. Watching "CSI" on a hand-held device is no proxy for inventing medicines, transit systems or energy sources."

and the conclusion,

"Finally, I say to my colleagues in religion: We need to be educators, not moralizers. We need to be opening schools that teach crucial skills, not phony biblical values. We need to be forming ties with public schools to cut the dropout rate and to expand access to challenging classes for the bright."

[eringer]

6. Future Growth for Blackwater

After reading this article, maybe its not too far fetched to think that, in about 20 years, rich folks will be living in "green zones" right here in the good old USA. Look for Blackwater to become publicly traded soon. Maybe we can buy a few thousand shares now and afford to live in a green zone trailer park in Oklahoma when we grow old.

[patrice]

9. The very last word of the article validates your conclusion.

The author had me until that last word "bright". Education needs to be more appropriately challenging (to me - in the Dewey-ian sense) to ALL, all abilities, all talents, all AGES.

The author of this piece is about Competition, NOT Revolution. Which BTW concerns me because of the job networking that goes on and will grow amongst present, past and future members of the "good old boys" club, such as Blackwater.

[BrotherBuzz]

10. Maybe that was a poor choice of words...

but he's advocating an inclusive educational environment, rather then exclusive. He wants to raise the educational bar for all people, and leave nobody behind.

[patrice]

12. That will be fine with me as long as it is education appropriate

to the needs and the development of all individuals, not the machine.

Year-round, around the clock, any and all ages in autonomously directed curricula that liberates.

If you are interested in this topic you might enjoy John Dewey's Schools and Society, and Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed.