[Magdalen] Trump, education and children

[Grace Cangialosi]

I read your post this morning, Sally, but I wanted to wait until I had a little time to think about how to answer.

I know there's always a danger in trying to "psychologize" someone from afar, but it seems to me that Trump's narcissism won't allow him to let in any information that might prove him wrong. He seems to need to say whatever will play well in any given moment, even if it's diametrically opposed to something he said previously--and we've been seeing a lot of that. One columnist today made the point that he has made 5 conflicting statements on abortion on the last 3 days!
And then, of course, there is his insistence on disregarding actual facts--and even video evidence--that contradict his version of reality.

But I am even more troubled by the number of people who are taken in by, and supportive of, his bigoted and hate-filled diatribes against everyone who isn't white, male and Christian. I am especially troubled that so few leaders, especially those in his own party, have come forward to denounce his bigotry and generally hateful rhetoric. If he ends up being the nominee, they have only themselves to blame.

As to the larger question about the quality of our educational system, I am in despair over much of it. It seems that there is no longer room for critical thinking and dialogue about important tissues nor for the art of disagreeing respectfully with different points of view.
My twin grandsons are in the local public school system, and while the early grades up to about 5th grade were excellent, it seems that everything now is about testing and getting ready for tests. This means that much of the material now is taught by rote so the kids can spit it back on the next benchmark test--whatever that is--or SOL or whatever.  We were helping Ryan study for a recent geography test, and I was appalled. There were 400+ flash cards that he could download from the school website, and most of them were multiple choice questions with no context. Some of them were outlines of individual countries to be identified, again with no surrounding  context. The only one I could identify was Italy!  And it was obvious that the students weren't expected to put the discrete bits of information together to get an actual understanding of a country.
I think we're experiencing a real "dumbing-down" in this country, and I was recently pondering whether we might actually be headed into another period like the Dark Ages. Arts education programs are being cut everywhere, local governments are cutting school funding, and too many senior citizens are refusing tax increases to fund schools, because they no longer have kids in schools.
Many really good teachers are quitting because of low pay and the way in which they are being required to teach now.
So I think we're becoming a society that is ever more gullible and receptive to the opinions and rhetoric being spouted by Trump and others. And that is a dangerous situation to be in, as we saw with the rise of Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin and their forms of government. 

They are like the Wizard of Oz--the little man behind the curtain--only this isn't a fairy tale, and real damage is being done.

Grace, turning rant mode off...for now

> On Apr 2, 2016, at 3:49 AM, Sally Davies <sally.davies at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> My question: Is he in fact "uneducated" himself and literally unaware of
> either facts or ethical issues or even political sensitivities;  or is he
> making a cynical and deliberate appeal to the millions of citizens who do,
> genuinely, appear to be uneducated and ignorant and frandly malevolent?
> 
> Education was a key "old liberal" value, then the money people came in and
> over my lifetime I've seen it become more and more vocationally driven. At
> the same time the social status of teachers has been massively degraded
> (along with their real salaries and benefits), and educational systems have
> been required to do more with less. Higher education has not become more
> accessible, in fact it seems that it's been rolled back in every way
> intellectually and financially.
> 
> The USA may be a particularly egregious example, but it seems to me that
> every industrial country now has an enormous, angry, ill
> educated rent-a-mob; uncomfortably reminiscent of the former
> Austro-Hungarian empire in the years between the world wars, or France
> before the Revolution. Except that this bigoted, hateful and ignorant Vox
> Populi is more easily expressed and extended via social media.
> 
> I've read that children in America are being deeply affected by Trump's
> shenanigans (and maybe the other republican candidates as well to the
> extent that they espouse bigoted or cruel opinions);  and it's interesting
> to me to watch my own childrens' reactions to him - as they like kids all
> over the world spend a lot of time online and the online world is dominated
> by the USA, so to them Trump is a very real and horrifying figure.
> 
> Our youth minister was recently on a tour with a group of Evangelical, but
> indisputably well educated Americans; some of whom, to her amazement, were
> supporting Trump. So it'ss not as though all of his supporters are
> uneducated, either theologically or in any other way.
> 
> As for me, I don't know if I do believe in education as a foundation for
> social progress any more. Maybe too many people are just not capable of
> benefiting from it...and those countries that have continued to invest in
> education and have achieved a higher standard, had much less economic
> inequality to start with.
> 
> Maybe we need to see a child-led campaign against Trump - let the children
> speak and give us all the benefit of their honest, clear vision. Though I
> am heartened by recent reports that his ratings overall have slipped far
> behind both the Democratic candidates.
> 
> Sally D
> 
> 
> 
>> On Saturday, 02 April 2016, M J _Mike_ Logsdon <mjl at ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>> 
>> A political analyst a few minutes ago on Chris Hayes' show on MSNBC said
>> something to the effect of, "I've followed presidential politics for five
>> decades, and all during that time there has never, EVER, been a candidate
>> -- and that includes Pat Paulsen's candidacy -- so positively uneducated in
>> regard to domestic and foreign policy as Donald Trump."
>>