16th Nov 09
Darren63My name is Brad. Darren Bryant is a good friend of mine. I want to commend him for taking the time to build this site. He has asked me several times to write an article. I didn’t know where to start but after thinking about it I decided to just give my take on where we are as a country.
The biggest problem that I see in America is the education level of natural born citizens when it comes to the government. Most people can not answer simple questions about how the government operates. I could not have answered them myself 10 years ago and I’m 45.
Just ask anyone simple questions, like what are the 3 branches of government, how many seats are in the house of representatives, senate, etc. and 7 out of 10 people can not answer correctly. I was amazed at how much most people don’t know.
The same people have very strong views about what the government should or should not do. If we don’t know how the government works, then how can we expect anything to be done about it.
I also found that the most educated people are not from this country. They have just passed their citizenship test.
So what is the solution. I strongly believe that the first step is turning off the television. This box with pictures and sound has corrupted our lives more than anything else. It teaches us useless information and takes time away from our family. Think about it, the average American spends 4-6 hours a day in front of the TV. What could be done with this time. First we could be spending quality time with our family. Second we could be teaching our kids what they aren’t learning in school. It’s not the government run education system that is responsible for educating our kids, it’s our responsibility.
I could write 100 pages of problems in our country and give tons of political opinions. That doesn’t solve anything. There is no way that 300 million people are going to agree on anything. The point is that we must first start at the core of the problem and stop being so arrogant as a country and get back to basics. I believe that the current economy has given a lot of us a wake up call.
Take the time to read the Constitution, Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights. Share what you learn with your friends and family. Find out what is going on in your local government and get involved if possible. This doesn’t mean that you have to go to a march on Washington, it is just a place to start to truly understand what is going on.
Our government was intended to be small and work for us. The opposite has happened and if we don’t start taking control of it, we are all going to be in big trouble.
Hoosier Mom
November 21st, 2009 at 15:37
Having taught government and US History at the high school level, I also think that we need to take both of these subjects more serious in school. For example, students are only required one semester of government to graduate from high school. One semester! Students are only required two semesters of US History. To contrast this with other “core subjects”, students are usually reqired four years of English, two years of science and two years of math. Personally, I am making my children take four years of the three subjects I just mentioned. However, when I try to look for extra history classes, they are far and few in between. There usually are not any additional classes to supplement the required classes in either US History or government, The school offers only the required classes in these subjects and nothing else! Take a look at all the “fluff electives” offered at your average high school and notice the lack of additional choices for the serious student in government. Add to this the fact that teaching, at both the high school and university levels, is a field packed with liberals. University faculty are mostly liberal leaning and a great many of them will actually target conservative students unfairly based only on the student’s political beliefs. If a student argues their beliefs either in a discusson or paper, they can sometimes be in for unfair treatment. So, when students get to the university level where there are more in depth course offerings, they are up against a heavy liberal slant in all of their classes. I believe all of these things add greatly to the ignorance of the population in general. Education in this country is screaming for an overhaul, from the top to the bottom. Until then, it is the responsibility of us as parents to educate our children about our rich heritage. We have to educate them about our government. I suggest turning on the tv! However, turn it on to stuff that is beneficial. Turn on the news, and then discuss the stories with your children. Turn on the tv and point out the lawmakers you think are a danger to our country and explain to your children why you hold that belief. It is obvious that the schools are not properly educating our kids, so it is time we do it ourselves and pick up the slack!