Important Question for All

Intolerance........... at every level of mankind.

Intolerance keeps......
politicians from compromising to do what is right
religions from even trying to understand one another
people hungry throughout the world
countries from trusting each other
Publics from liking Privates and vice versa

In the immortal words of Rodney King "Can't we all just get along?"

Originally Posted by titletownclown

I do agree with your observations regarding the status of China's military technology; however, with today's rapidly developing technologies and the unrest in N Korea and the Middle East I still feel it's a "concern" that should be on our radar.

No question. Particularly with all of the commercial and industrial interests and stakes that our countrymen hold in Southeast Asia. A military shutdown of that region would be a devastating loss of capital for our country.

Here's what we have so far:

Bandit29
Islamic extremists

Habib
1. The genocide, mass murders, and essential child enslavement found in the failed and quasi-states in Africa.
2. The effects of globalization. (See Post 13)
3. The Islamic "Reformation."

Frances Bavier
In politics - the influence of money on our legislators.
In religion - intolerance, born of bigotry.
In science - the search for total understanding of our own DNA (the answer almost certainly holds the key to eradicating so many diseases and conditions).
In economics - our (America's) national debt.

titletownclown
Poverty amongst the exploding populations of 3rd world nations.
Rogue nations' ability to develop nuclear weapons.
China (See Post 12)

Hearsay
The loss of sustainable fresh water supplies at various points around the globe
Halting the spread of social post-modernism, or the "truth-is-what-you-make-of-it" crowd
Radical militant Islamic Extremists
For Americans, the inability to choose which children to educate and not educate in order to keep up with the world becoming flat, economically.

STRIKE3
Poverty
Equal Opportunity - minorities and women
Terrorism
Corporate Greed
Education

GusMcRae
This nations energy dependence.
Partison Politics (party over country)
Islamic Extremists.
This nations obesity.
Childhood obesity.
Lack of quality labor (my Fathers generation of worker).
TMI society.

Jumper Dad
Intolerance........... at every level of mankind.

Great stuff... let's not get too tied down to specifics just yet, let's keep the list growing.

I agree with Hearsay regarding education. But, first I'll say that I am biased in that my wife is a teacher in the public schools. Every year without exception there are 3 or 4 "very disruptive" students to put it nicely that inevitably end up holding the entire class back due to the unending attention that must be given to those disruptive students. In the public schools too much emphasis is put on trying to mainstream students that will never achieve academically and too little is put on helping the gifted students to excel. While I don't believe in denying an education to anyone, we need to be more attentive to the needs of our gifted youth. If you look through the CFDA (Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance) you will find that the VAST majority of federal funding is directed toward helping the lower rungs of the education ladder and VERY little is directed toward "gifted" programs.

Originally Posted by Fastbreak

Great stuff... let's not get too tied down to specifics just yet, let's keep the list growing.

My bad. I was typing my post when your post posted.

Originally Posted by Hearsay

Its not an egalitarian concept, to be sure. However, I believe over the next 100 years, in order to remain globally competetive, I believe we will have to identify which children can be challenged to succeed at continually higher levels in scientific and technological ideas, and which children have limited skills and ambitions that are better suited toward "trade" or "service" educations. Its a simple question of scarcity of resources. There are only so many educators and resources availalbe and qualified to continually push the bar higher. We spend so much time "bringing up the rear" for the sake of equality that we under-utilize and under-prepare those who would become the idea generators of tomorrow.

The fact remains that not all potential and talent levels are the same.

In terms of criteria, that really becomes the question. I am not the one to answer it. It is identified at a fairly early age (middle school). There will be cross-overs (late bloomers). However, I have bought into the discussion of this afforded by Friedman in his book "The World Is Flat".

I agree. I see another problem with education today. We know that potential and talent levels are not the same for various reasons. It seems to me that our system today expects all student to progress the same...it's impossible. What bothers me is, it seems our gvt, principals, teachers and society as a whole want to cram a college education down every students throat. In the meantime it's making students that know they're not college material think they are second class or not as important as a college grad. Imagine a nation full of college grads. What if every student wanted to be a lawyer, doctor or pharmacist? Who would do the work? I think students can be identified by the 5th grade where I live. It may sound communist, but I think they should be catagorized then. If we start the students that are identified as "non college" in the 5th grade on vocational/technical training, by the time they graduate high school they should be prepared to at least do something.

Originally Posted by titletownclown

My bad. I was typing my post when your post posted.

No problem Bro... it's all good, and for what it's worth I agree with your previous post 100%.

I guess I'm just looking to nail down some of the most significant issues we face, and then we'll get into kicking them around in separate threads to give each the attention they deserve.

I'm on a mission to build a solid list.

Originally Posted by SKINPIG

I agree. I see another problem with education today. We know that potential and talent levels are not the same for various reasons. It seems to me that our system today expects all student to progress the same...it's impossible. What bothers me is, it seems our gvt, principals, teachers and society as a whole want to cram a college education down every students throat. In the meantime it's making students that know they're not college material think they are second class or not as important as a college grad. Imagine a nation full of college grads. What if every student wanted to be a lawyer, doctor or pharmacist? Who would do the work? I think students can be identified by the 5th grade where I live. It may sound communist, but I think they should be catagorized then. If we start the students that are identified as "non college" in the 5th grade on vocational/technical training, by the time they graduate high school they should be prepared to at least do something.

I'm going to share some anecdotal evidence of this, just for fun, so we don't get to detailed for Fastbreak just yet.

I have a cousin who lives in Baltimore. Very bright as a kid, but had no ambition, and no work ethic for taking traditional tests, etc. Also a bit of a revolutionary, so he often told teachers where they could stick their assignments, etc. For this he earned about a 2.2 GPA in high school. Now his brothers and sisters were go-getters and all went to very good colleges. He got a ration from everyone in his family about at least going to Stroudsburg St. teachers college or some such nonsense, but instead, he went a different way. He had always been very good at little electronics, soldering boards together, good with the school media, etc. He moved out of his dad's house, and got a journeyman electrician's license. Hooked on with a large contractor as a low-level electrics guy. Now, his work was so good that he got better and better assignments for a couple years until they had him actually designing electrical blueprints more suited for an electrical engineer. Of course, he wasn't earning as much, so one day he told them to take a hike, ventured out on his own, and started his own business doing contract electrical work, fixing old ladies' VCR's at $150 per visit. Wiring for industrial electrical equipment. Whatever someone needs him for. He gets all the work he can handle and charges what he wants BECAUSE NOONE WANTS TO DO LOW-LEVEL ELECTRICAL WORK ANYMORE. Now, he's 48 years old and a millionaire. Does what he wants, when he wants. He doesn't get named to Who's Who. He doesn't get honorary degrees, speaking engagements, or named to the Board of local charitable organizations. He just makes his way in life, carving out superiority in his own little piece of the universe. My proudest moment with him, though, was when his own intelligent 16 year-old son, at a rebellious stage, pointed to HIS own background as an excuse for why he didn't need to study and go on to college. My cousin insisted that his control of his own little world would have been wasted if his son didn't go on to use it to have a bigger and better impact. His son is now in his second year at Virginia . . .

Another: went to high school with a guy named Sean. Now, our high school was located in the third richest zip code in the United States. It had a 99% graduation rate, and over 85% of each senior class went on to 4-year colleges. This was a public school. There was incredible pressure to succeed academically and incredible ambition and competition among the students to achieve. Sean got lost. He barely cleared a 2.0, didn't even bother taking any post-grad tests. But this school had a small, vocational section for community support and it included an auto garage, and Sean was Da Man when it came to fixing cars. I'm not just talking about working on the stereo systems and hot paint body work, I'm talking opening up the electronic engine controls and re-distributing power. When he graduated (barely), he's got about $9K to his name for odd jobs he took fixing cars. He takes $7500 and enrolls in a 2-year automotive technical school in Wyoming in the middle of nowhere. You've heard of ASA-Certified, this is the type of school that teaches those yahoos and puts crew chiefs into NASCAR. He graduates with distinction and in the meantime has parlayed some money he earned into about $10K. Comes back home, goes to work for a local garage, and earns a rep as a dependable car guy for all the owners of Mercedes, BMW's, and Jaguar owners who are driving the high-priced rides into the city. After about a year or two, asks one of the owners if he would put a stake into him starting up his own garage. Guy gives him $50K to do it. He starts a garage. Long story short, this former 2.0 student now owns over 50 garages in the greater Bay Area, has turned the grease work that noone else would learn to do over to somebody else, and uses his company's $750K annual distributions to him to drive all over the country to NASCAR events which he quietly enjoys in his own time.

Not everyone needs to go to college.

Energy dependence
Tightening immigration standards
Unions and how they have gotten away from their original reason for existence
Making sure that health care stays in the hands of the free market
Islamic extremism(not sure diplomacy will ever work with people who have such little value for life)
Arab/Middle eastern hatred of the Jewish people and clerics who preech and reinforce this hatred
Editorialization of the "News"

Great post Hearsay.

That would lead to one from me.

There needs to be more WANT based youth education in this country. I look at the Jefferson County system with envy. Most kids know what they want to be very early in life, and I think we miss trying to put them on that path...

The mindset that money and wealth is more important than life itself. We will go to extremes to protect a person's money and wealth but taking another's life is seen as acceptable.

This goes on with crime, terrorism, abortion, poverty and hunger.

There is not a premium placed on human life. Not like we do money or wealth.

A person like Mother Theresa would barely get the response that a person like George Clooney, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Donald Trump, Brad Pitt, Madonna would receive. And that is the saddest comment on our human society in this world, today.

Originally Posted by Hearsay

Not everyone needs to go to college.

But 99% of everyone needs education beyond high school. And that education could come in the form of a technical school, vocational school, or mentoring under someone.

But a HS education alone is simply not going to cut it.

There have been many notable and relevant posts. However, from reading BGP, I would think the main issue facing us is the public- private debate.

Originally Posted by scooterbob

There have been many notable and relevant posts. However, from reading BGP, I would think the main issue facing us is the public- private debate.

Loving each other and Sharing Jesus and the plan for Salvation. I want to go to Heaven and take as many people I can with me.

Originally Posted by Hearsay

While China's military might is an obvious concern, I do not believe that the conquest of Asia, in a conventional sense would be tenable for China. Here is why:

Despite their numbers, China's air and sea technology remains inferior to both the United States and Japan. Any attempt at conventional warfare with Japan and, perforce, the United States, would keep a large segment of China's military forces occupied on their Eastern hemisphere in order to match the Pacific powers technologically.

China might be able to commit large troop movements to their Eastern borders. However, conquest of Asia would be made extremely difficult from manpower because of 2 things: 1) the impossible terrain to the south and southwest and 2) the number of people in India. India remains a technologically inferior but militarily sizeable country due to sheer population size. They cannot be taken from the ocean to the south because of the military support of the United States at Diego Garcia.

China is likely to be a world power, but Asia is an enormous land mass subject to assault from too many areas. I worry more about the economic prowess than the military.

The thing about China is that they are in a negative population growth. They have a one child policy and if you have a second you abandon them to be taken to an orphanage and adopted by families from another country (a lot of U.S. families do this). So if you have two people (a husband and wife) and they are replaced by only one child, you end up with a negative population growth. I believe that this will have a huge effect on China years down the road.

But right now they are a threat for many reasons because of their communistic leanings.

Originally Posted by Tough as Nails

The thing about China is that they are in a negative population growth. They have a one child policy and if you have a second you abandon them to be taken to an orphanage and adopted by families from another country (a lot of U.S. families do this). So if you have two people (a husband and wife) and they are replaced by only one child, you end up with a negative population growth. I believe that this will have a huge effect on China years down the road.

But right now they are a threat for many reasons because of their communistic leanings.

With their population policy in place over the past 10-20 years, China has seen an increase of boys over girls. Boys are more desirable and girl babies are being aborted more often than boys.

A few years back I read an article that said China is having a spurt in homosexual behavior and part of that reason was attributed to a simple LACK of females in their society. In fact, if I recall, the government was paying people thousands of dollars to have a girl.

It seems they are well on down that road of effects.

Originally Posted by ladiesbballcoach

But 99% of everyone needs education beyond high school. And that education could come in the form of a technical school, vocational school, or mentoring under someone.

But a HS education alone is simply not going to cut it.

Not in its current form. But my point is that prior to the high school years, we should be enrolling children in vocational, trade, and service formats that are then taught during the high school years, making post-high school training of such kind unnecessary.

Originally Posted by Hearsay

Not in its current form. But my point is that prior to the high school years, we should be enrolling children in vocational, trade, and service formats that are then taught during the high school years, making post-high school training of such kind unnecessary.

It is all politics dear Hearsay.

While absolutely you are correct what politician is going to get elected by saying we need more electricians?

For whatever reason, the media and groups lose their mind when we hear that our math scores are below the math scores of Poland or whatever country and we rush to add Algebra 6 to everyone's curriculum leaving no room for them to get an education in thinks they may really use in life.

I was tutoring a math student on matrices yesterday. I have not only never used matrices in my life, I didn't know they existed till last year.

Government
- Corruption from the local to the national level
- The two party system which has transformed itself into a game of power
- Red Tape

Nationally
- Border security
- Health / Nutrition
- Lack of understanding of economic, political, and social affairs
- Prejudice amongst ecomic classes

Globally

- Lack of cultural understanding and world events
- Genocide
- Third world countries (lack of education, resources, food, etc.)