Assertion of Power

I think I have discovered what it is that pisses me off about scouts as well as many classes at school and it is this: The teacher/leader's obsessive habit to assert their authority over those under them. Basically they seem to feel the need to not just be in charge, but make sure that we, the underlings, know this beyond and reasonable doubt. I can sort of deal with this at scouts due to the fact that, me being an eagle scout, I have some authority within the troop. When I say things people listen. I can assert myself and raise myself up so that they have less power over me.

At school it is a completely different story. The teacher needs to make sure the students know that they are the teacher and as such in charge. But I see a teacher more as one who begins and leads a discussion, not as one who sits at the front of the class and drones and lectures. In my view, lecturing is one way of a teacher reassuring themselves that they are in charge. The problem with lecturing though is that, unless you have the very rare ability to make it interesting, it does not enable the person doing it to gain the respect of their listeners. Granted, if the lecturer is extremely smart and is able to lecture effectively, I would be impressed and they would have my respect. But frankly I respect teachers who are able to use Socratic satire to lead and direct a discussion in which their students are directly involved far more.

Student involvement is essential to gain respect in a classroom and frankly, anywhere. Maybe not student involvement. But this is why democracy, when used correctly, works over any other. There is, of course, leadership but there is also citizen involvement. Hence voting. We as citizens are supposed to be intricately involved in the government. This is why it has worked for so long. This is why dictatorships, fascism, communism and others like them have traditionally failed over the course of time. None of them allow for any input from those who are ruled.

This is why America has so many unhappy citizens at the moment. Because around half of its population has very little say in what goes on in the upper regions of our government. This could have very easily been predicted.

Think of America as a very large scale. One of the really old scales that had the two platforms hanging on either side of the central pole. At the beginning, the scales were perfectly balanced; there were an equal amount of federalists and democratic-republicans. Over time more parties were added, many died and disappeared, but eventually two dominant parties appeared. They fought for over a century and the scale leaned back and forth as each side added more members or lost some. Now after a very long time of adding and subtracting the scale is finally balanced, but another problem has presented itself. The balance was not built to hold this many people. It is beginning to break.

The people on the right side of the scale have a slight advantage but our founding fathers never designed this system to have so many dissatisfied citizens on the other side of the scale. In communism the other side of the scale represents deportation or death as it does in fascism. So what do we do now? All I know is that the ultimate form of citizen involvement is anarchy. But many have claimed that communism, if used correctly, could be far more successful than capitalism has ever been. I vote fuck the system and just accept each other, regardless of political party or in fact any label, and move on with life

Wealth in America

America is really screwed up, and not only that but we all accept it and move on. We do nothing to change it. America is considered a very wealthy country, the average American receives (notice I did not say “earns”) $350,000 per year. Now I don’t know about you but I don’t know of many people that are that well off. In fact I do not know anyone personally who has that much money. This means that there must be a small amount of people in this country who possess an insanely large amount of the nation’s wealth. This is, in fact, exactly the case. 10% of the population of America possesses 70% of America’s wealth. This is the exact reason that socialism always arises. The separation between the classes in America has become so great that we have almost become two separate peoples. There are the inconceivably wealthy, and everyone else.

We as middle class Americans are completely satisfied with the place we are in. The upper class always wants to get higher, and the lower class does too. The middle class in general is just thankful that it is not any lower than it is. The thing is even if the middle class were to revolt and evenly distribute the wealth about the population, the classes would reappear just as quickly as they went under the surface. There were many things that changed when the human race split off from the rest of the animals. One thing that didn’t change was the individual’s desire to dominate. Even thought we may not think so we all have this desire to some extent. We as humans also expect to receive what we believe we deserve based on our status and/or the work that we do. As such socialism will never work. But something needs to be done. Any ideas, I welcome suggestions.

Hypocrisy in America

I am an atheist, but I am accepting of the religions of others. Because of this I expect others with their religions to be accepting of me. Not only that but I expect them to accept the beliefs of any American because as Americans we are all free to choose whatever religion we like, if any. Not only are we free to choose our own religion but we are also free to express ourselves in any way that is not in conflict with the constitution, and if we object to the constitution we are entitled to petition for its alteration. What we as Americans are not allowed to do is to reject those from our contorted little world who do not conform to the small enclosed box that is our system of beliefs. We may not alter the constitution to exclude those with whom we do not agree. Also, as Americans, it is our obligation to uphold the current constitution, no matter its flaws, even if we are in the process of altering it. Webster’s definition of obligation is as follows: “Something that one is bound to do or forbear (as by law, conscience, or social pressure) : DUTY” and duty is defined as “RESPECT,” we, as Americans, the constitution and therefore all those under it. It is our civic duty as Americans to respect all those under the authority of the constitution, regardless of race, religion, sex or sexual orientation. Regardless of the fact that I am an atheist, I still go to church (mainly because my parents go to church and force me to go as well) but even so, I do respect Christianity and in some cases believe in it, but strictly as a philosophy. But today while the pastor was speaking on gay marriage he quoted a very interesting verse. He quoted Ephesians 5:22-31, and I can see how Christians could take that literally as “Marriage was meant to be between one man and one woman,” but then I looked a few lines below and can you guess what I saw? I saw a chapter of the Holy Bible titled “Slaves and Masters.” Using the same logic as before I can derive the following fact from the preceding statement: Slavery is okay and God meant for it to happen. But I can also be open minded and realize that just as with the first statement, there are alternatives to this. We are civilized now and we hire people to get work done. Just as slavery disappeared over the years, homosexuality has grown over the years. It is shown itself more and more over the years and it is about time that the world accepted it. Gays and lesbians are not going away, and the American (including Christians) people need to come to realize this. It is about time we lived up to our constitution and respected everyone who lives under it. Homosexuals are breaking no laws but those defined in the bible and as such should not be discriminated against by the United States government which has been separated from all religions.
The first amendment to the constitution of the United States clearly states the following: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion…” I might be mistaken but it seems to me that most of those objecting to gay and lesbian marriage are doing so because their preachers tell them that it is wrong. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not saying all Christians are against homosexual marriage. Some are the complete opposite and I commend them as such. But most of those objecting to same sex marriage are Christians, George W. Bush being one of these. It is already known that Bush is a Christian and believes in the bible, he reads it every day and has stated this publicly. On the other hand he has cleverly concealed from the public his views on certain political issues pertaining to Christianity, but his actions paint a pretty clear picture of his beliefs.
It is time that we as Americans voted not with our religion but with what is right. It is time we voted with regard for the basic morals set down for us by the founding fathers.

Education in America

I have recently come to the realization that America’s educational system has ceased to be a tool for the teaching of Americas you ad has become instead a complicated system through which one’s knowledge is showcased and verified for the sole purpose of validating one’s diploma. This is done namely to benefit prospective employers. The life of a child from the age of five to an adult at the age of eighteen is used simply to prove that what they claim to have contained within their skulls actually is there. Once you consider this it is most logical solution one could come to. If school existed with only education in mind there would a complete lack of grading, tests, no official graduation. One would simply attend until they reached their desired level of education and once they reached this point they would move on into the workforce. It would then be the responsibility of the employer to ensure the skills of the applicant.
Standardized test are yet another way to go about proving our worth to prospective places of employment. Most of the time they are used indirectly for this purpose by colleges. Because this is the case I am not sure why it is necessary to take these tests at such a young age as they are being given. I see them as a waste of time that could be used more valuably teaching the students rather than testing them over what they, in many cases, have yet to learn.
I have observed over the years the amount of stress that is applied to students to do well and I believe that not only is this unhealthy for the students but also that the stress level could be reduced dramatically if the tests were simply done away with. Ask most any teacher and the first thing they will tell you about the “No Child Left Behind” act is that it takes up too much time and it simply gets in the way. If the pressure to do well on these tests was removed and instead the students were encouraged to learn all they could and simply explore different subject in order to find what they like best. I, for one, would learn far more in school of the learning environment were not so focused on doing well on tests. Focusing instead on learning and preparing for the real tests that are yet to come in life, I believe, would be far more helpful on the road to a successful life.