Amazed how people just don’t want to work

forensicbuzz

Helluva Engineer
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North Shore, Chicago
was there a civil war ? WWII, Revolutionary War ? Did Stalin run Russia ? Did man land on the moon ? Did Tech get screwed out of a complete championship in 1990 ? ( ok that’s my interpretation). There is fact based history, interrupting why it took place or who was right and wrong is where the politics resides.
Sounds like you were taught dates and events. That's good for trivia contests, not much more.

Fact-based history sucks. It's boring and essentially worthless. Teaching that the American Civil War happened is worthless; that's a great way to lose the interest of 99% of the students (which it does). Who cares about memorizing dates? Worthless. Climbing into the minds of the time and understanding the culture and sociology of the people leading to the American Civil War, what the leaders and people were thinking and how that led to conflict, that's what makes history interesting and relevant. But now, we're talking about historical interpretation.

History should be taught as a living, breathing organism. History isn't just about what happened, much more important is why it happened. It's about sociology, politics, etc.; my favorite definition of history is the study of people, actions, decisions, interactions and behaviors.
 
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forensicbuzz

Helluva Engineer
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North Shore, Chicago
There’s some pretty basic history things that can be taught that are generally not up for dispute. Here’s some examples:

a. George Washington was our first President. I never met him, but I think it’s unlikely it’s not the case.
b. The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, pretty sure it wasn’t the Laotians.
c. We have a Declaration of Independence, a Constitution and you can read the words for yourself. I’m fairly certain the CIA didn’t swap them out in the middle of the night while we all weren’t looking.

Interpreting history and understanding the motives behind actions is very interesting. Teach our children the facts, not some crazy theories intended to make people feel better for their failings. When we start justifying bad behavior, because we claim it’s not someone’s fault we’re losing the essence of what we are as a nation.

We have laws and we have processes to change them. Don’t like your laws, vote for someone that will change it. As far as the rest of the world goes, there’s one place they want to live and it’s not China, Russia, France, Sweden, Finland, etc. The numbers do not lie.
See my reply above.
 

awbuzz

Helluva Manager
Staff member
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Marietta, GA
Hey Stinger, just letting you know since you expressed sincere concern. Unbeknownst to us my step son has been studying for his GED and taking practice test and tutoring. Today as a result he gave his mother an unexpected gift she truly cherishes, He got his GED ! He called and asked her for a ride to take care of some things he needed to do, because his truck is broken down. They had lunch and he then asked to go to a local vocational school, 2 hours later he exited having taken and passed the final portion of the testing. His diploma has been requested and is on the way. He studied, he paid and he passed. He also told her he wants to go to vocational school and learn HVAC.

I feel like the prayers worked and are working. I think he is seeing some of his mistakes.

Could only like this once, so I figured I'd quote it and say, Woohoo and give it 2 thumbs up!! 👍👍
 

MWBATL

Helluva Engineer
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6,119
What you said had no direct bearing on the actual data. The data has no bias. But I’m guessing you have not looked at the data and are making assumptions.
No, I have studied it somewhat extensively in the past. It is highly dependent upon different countries using the same definitions in tracking their national data, WHICH NO COUNTRY ACTUALLY DOES.

My guess is that you liked the conclusions and thus did not examine critically the underlying data.
 

Northeast Stinger

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No, I have studied it somewhat extensively in the past. It is highly dependent upon different countries using the same definitions in tracking their national data, WHICH NO COUNTRY ACTUALLY DOES.

My guess is that you liked the conclusions and thus did not examine critically the underlying data.
My guess is you didn’t like the conclusions and decided there was some kind of conspiracy at work.

The standards are pretty universally accepted and pretty much every think tank has used them for decades, starting with the CIA which first began to formulate the methodology for looking at which countries might develop social unrest or have their government overthrown.

What I don’t get is why you would reject data which is pretty straight forward. Most everyday people can tell you what the inflation rate is, or at least look it up. They can do the same for taxes, education level, life expectancy, unemployment rate, and on and on. But it sounds like you have some ideological reason why you think all these numbers are bogus and you would rather make up your own numbers.
 
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