There was not much compassion either

No sadness or empathy about Waco, Serbian war, war in Iraq and Afghanistan. No  rage towards murder of innocents. No passion really.

Kevin, I do not want to sound patronising  though but many young adults here seem to be 'undeveloped' in the area of good, solid human emotions. They are indeed 'poor spirits'. I am not insisting all of them are but  there is surely a  tendency.  Otherwise they would understand how clisheed they sounded.

This is from a grumpy man:)

by Mark Sashine (51 articles, 19 quicklinks, 244 diaries, 3462 comments) on Friday, January 18, 2008 at 8:57:52 AM
 

"Undeveloped" --- I agree

Thanks for reading.

Part of that is a mission to try to uncover the why for voting for either of the candidates who are called "leading candidates" or "frontrunners" now. Why are young people drawn to any of these candidates?

What worries me is these are people who will be the future leaders of America. This is the next generation of politicians and policymakers in America. These people who are volunteers and campaign organizers working on chapters of the campaigns will decide what America does twenty or thirty years from now.

I cannot allow them to be so impassionate, discompassionate, uneducated, and misled. I also cannot allow them to have zero imagination for what could be changed here in America. All of their visions for change are so stunted by reality, a reality that each of their candidates (in this case Hillary) could change or shape because as president they could be that powerful or inspirational.

by Kevin Gosztola (212 articles, 114 quicklinks, 70 diaries, 811 comments) on Friday, January 18, 2008 at 9:15:10 AM
 

One significant aspect if I may

No arts- no development. The role of arts in the humans development is enormous- arts develop personality. How many of them had seen the Goya's ' Horrors of war'? How many had seen ballet? How many had discused great artists like  Renoir or Monet? How many read  ' The confessions of Nat Turner' Ok, how many of  them  read  ' Common Sense' on their own?

Without this, without  the cultural foundation you get a Zombie.

You have your hands full, Kevin, I have to say. I have a son  and he is in Peace Corps and I see how  very good basically young people suffer because they  just... have not ever been introduced to humanity through arts.

by Mark Sashine (51 articles, 19 quicklinks, 244 diaries, 3462 comments) on Friday, January 18, 2008 at 9:25:29 AM
 

Kudos

Great reading and comments. I'd like to add that I have always equated the Arts with not just personality, but with human dignity. Expression allows people to build and voice their self-worth.

The young are like young of past genreations. They too are duped like adults. 59 million got Bush elected, only a fraction were the young. The building of social capital in our young is lacking. I believe this stems from technology(which decreases social interaction), lack of parental guidance, and education vs. indoctrination.

If schools don't have your children reading great literature like "common sense", "the rights of man," the age of reason," "peoples history of the united states" then it's the job of parents to see they do. however, it pleases me to read more and more highschools are using Howard zinn's "peoples history of the united states" as their history texts.

by william eldridge (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 10 comments) on Friday, January 18, 2008 at 12:38:48 PM
 

Not in this Red State

In this Red State I went to school in (Indiana), we used good ol' McGraw-Hill textbooks.

Corporatized learning to make your mind go numb.

And if that wasn't enough to make you dumb in the brain, teacher wouldn't talk about history but instead ask us to fill in worksheets by copying and pasting the words or phrases that needed to be filled in onto a piece of paper.

We called it "busy work." And it does nothing for the mind. You don't learn---you memorize. And you don't critically think---you end up hating thinking.

"Busy work" didn't beat me. But it sure has beaten others.  

by Kevin Gosztola (212 articles, 114 quicklinks, 70 diaries, 811 comments) on Friday, January 18, 2008 at 1:50:56 PM
 

When my son was studying here

I was amazed by the low level of the ' cutural awareness' of the teachers here in the area of liberal arts.  English teachers did not know other books by Jack London but  Call of the Wild.  Paintings, the whole are of those were never discussed.  Ballet- oh, boy.  Opera- not a chance.  The so- called diversity classes  teaching about other people were a joke.   I always laugh when they mention Dostoevsky as a most popular Russian writer here: he  is one of the most tough writers to read even in Russian, not to mention  English. Hey, how about ' Moby Dick', had anyone ever read this one in original. I recently discovered a magnificent work by Charles Upham about Salem Witches trials and  I ran like crazy to the High School and hollered that that book was to be studied by everyone. Not a chance. 

Of course, arts develop a sense of dignity, sure. Where the  Hell is this sense when our current Pres does not know even English language?Maybe we all wait for Harry Potter to solve our problems?

by Mark Sashine (51 articles, 19 quicklinks, 244 diaries, 3462 comments) on Friday, January 18, 2008 at 2:05:28 PM
 

They Sound Pretty Savvy and Smart

Actually, Kevin, her supporters sound pretty savvy to me. Your comments did nothing to diminish their points. And as for being antagonistic, you were. That's the whole point of your exercise as you stated in the beginning. Though not in so many words.

You do seem to be one of those haters. It's a pity.

by fou (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 90 comments) on Saturday, January 19, 2008 at 10:16:08 AM
 

Thanks

But I never told them to quit support Hillary so...?

by Kevin Gosztola (212 articles, 114 quicklinks, 70 diaries, 811 comments) on Sunday, January 20, 2008 at 5:54:38 AM