Posted on 04/12/2005 9:51:25 AM PDT by CHARLITE
Anyone who was awake during high school English class will remember reading a story called "Harrison Bergeron." In it, Kurt Vonnegut describes society in 2081, when everyone is finally equal.
"Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else." All this equality was enforced by the Handicapper General so that average folks wouldn't "feel like something the cat drug in."
I was reminded of Vonnegut's story recently when I read about the latest target of child self-esteem mongers: red ink.
That's right. Red ink, as in the age-old color of teachers' corrections on student papers.
If handing out trophies to kids on losing teams and bestowing awards merely for passing to the next grade aren't surreal enough, some parents are now calling teachers' red marks on tests self-esteem killers because the color is too "stressful" and "harsh."
Never mind that the scarlet letters could be A's, as in "Nicely written!" or helpful suggestions for improvement. Red is dead. Long live self-esteem.
(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...
Isn't this the moral of the (IMO) very conservative "The Incredibles"?
When everyone becomes special then no one is.
Society in 2081 sounds boring.
"Isn't this the moral of the (IMO) very conservative "The Incredibles"?
When everyone becomes special then no one is."
I was thinking the exact same thing when I read this. That is what communism is all about - except the "pigs will be more equal."
Absolutely LOVED "The Incredibles" and so do my kids. My 6yr-old has commented on that line when Syndrome says that once everyone is special, than no one will be. He said it did not make any sense, but I have tried to explain to him that it makes perfect sense.
Great minds think alike!
I got that too.
I had a college journalism prof about 10 years ago who experimented w/ using purple instead of red to grade our stories. She would mark corrections and ask us to correct them and return the corrected articles to her. Well, she found when she used purple, she found the students weren't catching all the errors she wanted corrected. So she went back to red. Like it or not, red gets noticed, which is the point.
I saw that movie a while back with Sean Astin. Very disturbing but a liberals dream.
I told my six year old that if she was the best dancer in her Polish Dance troop, would it make her feel good to have everyone rewarded? Wouldn't it be better that she was the only one given an award?
Last year, my girls were the only ones who showed up at every extra-curricular activity of this troop. It is not easy to drive into the inner city of Detroit for a few of these events. Yet, both girls had strep so missed two of the regular classes.
All the children got attendance metals but mine. My older daughter was very sad but I told her that this year, we will not miss a day. It made her strive to be better.
Isn't this the moral of the (IMO) very conservative "The Incredibles"?
And of this Rush song, which I always think of whenever anyone mentions 'Harrison Bergeron'.
Too bad they don't take some of that money and some of that time and teach their kids about giving to others instead of focusing on self.
I have to wonder how much of this ... is the educrats projecting their own incompetence and insecurities on the 'poor children'. I survived bad grades when I was a kid. I doubt I was the only one.
As for Rush, I thought "Something for Nothing" on 2112 said it all. That and "Anthem". "Begging hands and bleeding hearts always cry out for more..."
Too bad they turned into libs.
Self esteem is a false pretext. Somebody proud of nothing means nothing. Achievement should always be the goal. Achievement will bring pride and that is selfless esteem.
Rush aren't libs, as far as I know. Libertarians, for sure, but not liberals. While songs like "Freewill" discuss Neil Peart's (non)belief in God, I always thought "The Trees" was a very religious song.
The educrats are looking for disorders to solve the problems as well...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1381767/posts
and I bet your girls will strive to do better next year.
Isn't that what we want our kids to do - strive to do better. That is what has made our country great, too. I worry that my kids will be "too soft", we try to encourage competition.
>>and I bet your girls will strive to do better next year. <<
You bet, my FRiend!
Life is not easy. My girls know that sometimes life is not fair either, but one should never let that get one down. Just another chapter in the book of life. If you don't like what you get on the last page, rewrite the next one.
Here is another problem. Parents who think the world rises and sets on their child.
I helped test kids for First Communion in my 7 year old's CCD class. One girl came in crying because she thought she had to tell the teacher her sins. Did the mother ask the teacher? NO. She walked out of the class with the child then returned after to bellow at the teacher about compassion and that HER child is only 7.
The teacher was a gem! When the mother brought up the child's age and how this teacher should have compassion for her fears, the teacher replied, "Every other child here is seven and in 18 years of teaching I have never had a problem like this."
The mother walked out in a huff.
There was a Simpsons episoded about that several years ago. Lisa was taking dance classes, but she was really bad, so the teacher didn't put her in any big recital numbers. When she asked the teacher to put her in anyway, the teacher said, "I can't do that, because that would mean you're getting rewarded whether you're good or bad, and that's called Communism."
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