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Politics : Support the French! Viva Democracy! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: gamesmistress who wrote (711)	4/29/2003 6:03:22 AM
From: zonder	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 7826

So far, Americans can learn, and move, and change faster than any other nationality in the world. The question was never whether Americans can learn. If you would like to say Americans are in general knowledgeable about the world as well as science, philosophy, etc, I would be interested to hear your case. Comparative test results, as well as anecdotal evidence suggests that while America has extraordinary opportunities in education, Americans on average are not knowledgeable about the world they are living in. This could be a thing of personal interest (some subjects like economy and philosophy making their "eyes glaze over" as you have put) or the system that lets students get away with a minimum understanding of the sciences, or other reasons I may ignore.

To: gamesmistress who wrote (711)	5/11/2003 1:41:29 PM
From: 49thMIMOMander	Respond to of 7826

Gina, maybe something serious to think about: K-12 is only a small part of life, and in terms of topics like, maybe, "philosophy and economics" during an age where kids still need to pick up the basics leading to those issues. That is, the more important question is the sources of information, debate,etc during the adult years. The USA-dilemma, that this is handled by the major commersial TV-channels in USA, inbetween the oversized, obese commersials, and ruled by them. (latest figure, 7 minutes actual news during 30 minutes of "news") However, news are just one aspect, more important is public debate, documentaries,etc. Usually reaching some kind of peak in relation to elections as well as to "the news". Note that this includes "the whole family" as a family usually also talks, debates things, as well as relatives, friends, neighbors, work,etc. Also note that this is nothing "new", but the object of long time serious debate in USA, and even a very important, fundamnetal public debate at all levels of EU. Even a constitutional issues, as many "modern" (well, post-enlightment, at least) consitutions have paragraphs of "informed citizens". In some nations "the only fundamental protection" against mono-commercial media-and-"information"-channels. That is, works against regular propaganda too.. That is, the issue of "Public Service" Some skilled constitutional lawyers combine this with the task of the nation to inform the citizens about upcoming elections. Not to forget the commercial costs of political advertisements, compared to "public financing" One fundamental aspect is obviously also one-person - one-vote vs one-dollar - one-vote. (while few outside USA bother with funny stuff like "free dollar-speech") Ilmarinen That is, the tradegy of PBS on their begging sprees, and C-SPAN fighting for some space in local cables, although founded by the cable industry and congress. (funded by one cent per cable box, although the major task is covering congress)