So I'm sitting here watching the news...

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MSGT9410

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Fox News, as usual.


2 teachers in Seattle have "banned" LEGOS in order to teach the EVILS OF PRIVATE PROPERTY.


Um... What? I guess these people haven't heard a word of John Locke, someone whose ideals played a major role in the founding of this country.


Does anyone else feel that this kind of borderline Soviet ideology in this nation's children's classrooms is definitely a bad thing when it comes to our right to possess private property, especially when it comes to firearms? Why the hell would teachers be training tomorrow's leaders such things?
 
Community-property only? How communistic of them. I teach graduate research courses in a college. My first challenge to the students is, "...forget everything you have ever heard, read or believed. Your opinions no longer mean anything. Convince me, based on valid, reliable data that what you allege is a plausible explanation." Based upon what valid research, i.e. "Best Practices" have these teachers based this decision?
 
I couldn't find it on Fox's website, but a quick Google search turned up this:

Some Seattle school children are being told to be skeptical of private property
rights. This lesson is being taught by banning Legos.

A ban was initiated at the Hilltop Children's Center in Seattle. According to an
article in the winter 2006-07 issue of "Rethinking Schools" magazine, the
teachers at the private school wanted their students to learn that private
property ownership is evil.

According to the article, the students had been building an elaborate
"Legotown," but it was accidentally demolished. The teachers decided its
destruction was an opportunity to explore "the inequities of private ownership."
According to the teachers, "Our intention was to promote a contrasting set of
values: collectivity, collaboration, resource-sharing, and full democratic
participation."

The children were allegedly incorporating into Legotown "their assumptions about
ownership and the social power it conveys." These assumptions "mirrored those of
a class-based, capitalist society -- a society that we teachers believe to be
unjust and oppressive."

They claimed as their role shaping the children's "social and political
understandings of ownership and economic equity ... from a perspective of social
justice."

So they first explored with the children the issue of ownership. Not all of the
students shared the teachers' anathema to private property ownership. "If I buy
it, I own it," one child is quoted saying. The teachers then explored with the
students concepts of fairness, equity, power, and other issues over a period of
several months.

At the end of that time, Legos returned to the classroom after the children
agreed to several guiding principles framed by the teachers, including that "All
structures are public structures" and "All structures will be standard sizes."
The teachers quote the children:

"A house is good because it is a community house."

"We should have equal houses. They should be standard sizes."

"It's important to have the same amount of power as other people over your
building."

Given some recent history in Washington state with respect to private property
protections, perhaps this should not come as a surprise. Municipal officials in
Washington have long known how to condemn one person's private property and sell
it to another for the "public use" of private economic development. Even prior
to the U.S. Supreme Court's 2005 ruling in Kelo v. City of New London,
Connecticut, which sanctioned such a use of eminent domain, Washington state
officials acting under their state constitution were already proceeding full
speed ahead with such transactions.

Officials in Bremerton, for example, condemned a house where a widow had lived
for 55 years so her property could be used for a car lot, according to the
Institute for Justice. And Seattle successfully condemned nine properties and
turned them over to a private developer for retail shops and hotel parking, IJ
reports. Attempts to do the same thing in Vancouver (for mixed use development)
and Lakewood (for an amusement park) failed for reasons unrelated to property
confiscation issues.

The court's ruling in Kelo, however, whetted municipal condemnation appetites
even further. The Institute for Justice reports 272 takings for private use are
pending or threatened in the state as of last summer. It's unclear if Legos will
be targeted. But given what's being taught in some schools, perhaps it's just a
matter of time.
Click to expand...


http://news.lugnet.com/mediawatch/?n=2281
 
Great more hippies teaching our children. If I ever have kids I am so finding a way to homeschool them.

A ban was initiated at the Hilltop Children's Center in Seattle. According to an
article in the winter 2006-07 issue of "Rethinking Schools" magazine, the
teachers at the private school wanted their students to learn that private
property ownership is evil.
Click to expand...

So I guess if someone were to steal their cars they would be ok with it? Cause its their private property and thus telling the police and prosecuting someone for taking your private property would make them evil and the could not do such a thing? Does this make any sense to anyone here?
 
Professor Farnsworth: *to a group of vegetarian protestors* Unless you're having a nude love-in, get the &%*! off my property!!!

Free Waterfall Junior: Feh - you can't OWN property, man!

Professor Farnsworth: I can...because I'm not a dirty, penny-less hippie!!!

:D :D :D :D
 
'Social justice' is a CODE for 'Values of Marx and Engels' .

The smoking bans was one step of America's way of saying F you private property. The SCOTUS decision was another.
 
I would just...

like to point out the irony of
A ban was initiated at the Hilltop Children's Center in Seattle. According to an article in the winter 2006-07 issue of "Rethinking Schools" magazine, the teachers at the private school wanted their students to learn that private property ownership is evil.
Click to expand...
Private school teachers preaching the evils of private property ownership is too funny.

To to cut off the usual bashing of public school teachers that seem to find any poor excuse to show up on these forums.....

This is also probably a good place to point out our favorite presidential candidate (the much celebrated Mr. O) is the product of private schooling, that elitism and contempt for the common man (or woman) we see hints of is typical.

migoi
 
the
teachers at the private school wanted their students to learn that private
property ownership is evil.
Click to expand...
Aren't clothes and footwear private property? Why are these so called teachers not in line waiting for their Gov't issue uniforms? Do they walk to work? And where do they live? :confused:
 
It is funny but it is a Private School and as such it is O:K for it to be a Red Diaper Baby school as ex-very lefty Horowitz calls the Commie School his Commie parents sent him to in NY.
 
I know this is a little OT, but as a teacher, (my wife is Guidance at one of the local High Schools) and coming from an Education family (father was teacher, and principal, and sister is a teacher), I can say that there are plenty of things to be upset about public education. Unfortunately most people don't really know enough about what goes on in the average class room to know what that is. I hear stories about how the US Education system compares to others around the world, horror stories about poor classroom management, how poorly kids score on tests, etc. Some truth to those tales, but as Paul Harvey says, now for the rest of the story.

If you want to compare schools in the US to other nations you need to know that most other nations "track" their students. That means that at an early age students have to declare or be placed in their "track" early. That means that they would either pick a vocation to learn and to into, or if they are tested to be smart enough, they would be ok'd to go into more of a college bound track. That means by 4th or 5th grade students begin to get a more narrow focus to their education. Those who are vocational tracked would get life skills, practical type education (these are the majority of students) and the College track students would get more advanced and faster moving more advance curriculum. This means smaller more motivated, high achieving classes. Unlike the US who tries to educate everyone in everything to the same level.

As for the poor classroom management, well yes there are many teachers who cannot handle a class, but their are many of the students who come from families who don't particularly care about education, discipline, decent behavior, becoming a successful member of society, etc. I work in a decent school and for the month of Feb. I spent a little over 12 hours in disciplinary meetings, or handling significant disciplinary problems. Having students miss large chunks of class time for no particular reason, such as mom forgot to wake me up, so I missed the bus...... for four days (Yes that was an actual excuse I got last month) are quite common. I spent an average of 20 min. a day putting together "make up" work sheets, for students who missed class. In the first two and a half months of this year I had 6 students move in and lost 4 students. 3 of those 4 were amoung the 6 students that moved in.

Lots of other issues as well, you have our 1/2 inch deep 1/2 mile wide curriculum, social issues such as dealing with raging hormones, teaching politeness and manners, personal heigene, parents with unrealisticly high expectations, parents who don't care about education at all, Government Involvement/Mandates that repackage the same old ideas under a new label, and then change all of the paperwork/forms/computer programs so that you have to learn how to do your job all over again. Drug use, teen pregnancy, kids coming to school hungry, sleepy, scared, etc. The job now includes being mom, dad, therapist, friend, and in your spare time you try to teach. Many teachers hate the union but the good ones ARE NOT paid or compensated in a fair way. The union helps that, but it also helps those who don't deserve it.

Long rant, sounds like I am complaining and I am really not. I love my job, helping the kids and I have no regets leaving corporate America to teach. It was the best decision I ever made. :)
 
This is why I am such a proponent of home schooling and private education. I want to control the values my child is taught. That means either teaching them myself or finding a school with similar values. That is also why I am in favor of privatizing the entire school system and going with vouchers for all. The NEA would have a much harder time hyjacking thousands of independent schools than they do hijacking our terminally ill public school system.
 
Yea both parents, uncle, aunt, grandmother; teachers.

If students worked WITH teachers most 'problems' in education wouldn't exist. God knows I sure didn't:evil: I suspect it's because education isn't appreciated, partly because it's 'free', partly because it's essentially a day-care.


And yea, the original article is disgusting. Though it's ominous that the infestation is becoming so ingrained that they don't fear being 'outed' as communists, I'm glad it's becoming open, so we don't sound like conspiracy theorists when we say, "The communists are coming!" Its like that awkward period is ending.
 
you know, I wonder how the teacher would react to her students stealing her purse, for example...I mean, its all public property, right?
 
Last few years,

since my daughter was born, and I started paying attention to this kind of stuff, I have heard from many about how freaky home-schoolers were.

I am not religious, and not paranoid, but every day, I seem closer to joining the ranks of the 'freaky' home-schoolers. My Daughter is 4 1/2 now. Kindergarten fine for next year. Finger painting and all that seems harmless. Once she goes to primary school, I think it will be at home. Will be tough on finances (lots of time at home) but well worth it. Guess we can offset the lack of social interaction with club Sports and the like. What I'm sure of, is that I don't want my daughter brought down to mediocrity, to please the Liberal machine. Remember, when EVERYONE is special, nobody is. Even a Pixar movie got that right.
 
If you want to compare schools in the US to other nations you need to know that most other nations "track" their students. That means that at an early age students have to declare or be placed in their "track" early. That means that they would either pick a vocation to learn and to into, or if they are tested to be smart enough, they would be ok'd to go into more of a college bound track. That means by 4th or 5th grade students begin to get a more narrow focus to their education. Those who are vocational tracked would get life skills, practical type education (these are the majority of students) and the College track students would get more advanced and faster moving more advance curriculum. This means smaller more motivated, high achieving classes. Unlike the US who tries to educate everyone in everything to the same level.
Click to expand...

We don't try to educate everyone to the same level. We have high-school dropouts, HS graduates, 2-year degrees, 4-year degrees, and a couple levels of graduate study.

The system of placing students on different tracks is superior to what we do. These days, high schools just pass students regardless of whether or not they know anything. Some college freshmen these days can't do basic arithmetic with the aid of a calculator that I do in my head in a fraction of a second.

In my (considerable) experience with the US educational system, American students are at a tremendous disadvantage compared to foreign students from China or (especially) India. I took as much math and science as was available to me at a large (3000 student) high school... calculus and AP science classes, as early as possible which generally meant my junior or senior year. The Indian friends I met in grad school learned that stuff about 3-4 years earlier than I did. They learned partial differential equations in high school. As a result, I struggled with some classes that they found easy.
 
Speaking of private property, I think the question is moot if this is a private school. Nothing to see here. It's not really different from Tots-for-Jesus schools. It's all brainwashing, but it depends whether you approve of the message or not. It is a personal decision of parents whether their children get this message or that.
 
You can be assured they don't like guns either. You can't acheive "Social justice" if we proles remain armed....:barf: :barf: :barf: :barf:

I saw the report on Fox last night too. However it is not really a new story. Rush Limbaugh was talking about this a couple weeks ago. Seattle, San Francisco, Hollyweird... Must be something wrong with the water on the West Coast...
 
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