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rmur81's comments:
on Lewis & Clark's New President
Wow Scott. You got a lot to learn that I don't have time to teach you, but let me leave you with this response:
Getting rid of culture is not "tolerance." Furthermore, tolerance of culture is inadequate. Appreciation of culture is more what you should aim for.
Do you feel threatened by diversity? If you are, let me assure you, giving marginalized people a leg up is not going to force you to lose any opportunities you can't spare.
posted 2 years, 9 months ago
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on Lewis & Clark's New President
This reminds me of the tired arguments against homosexual marriage. THe one that goes, "if you let homosexuals get married, then what's to stop a man from marrying a horse."
It's simple: We have a pervasive system of institutional inequality in this country, despite the popular myth that racism is over because we have a wealthy, half-black president. There are many intelligent students of color (and low-income whites) who are eager to pursue higher education, but are prevented by shady loan policies and a lack of alternative financial avenues. Not to mention the psychological barriers that come from growing up in a culture dominated by affluent white people.
Bottom Line: If we're going to equalize the playing field, it takes outreach and action on the part of the ruling class. Otherwise, the system perpetuates the status quo.
posted 2 years, 9 months ago
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on Lewis & Clark's New President
It's not an attack. It's accountability.
posted 2 years, 9 months ago
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on Lewis & Clark's New President
As a current student of the teacher's college, I do not see the diversity the new president is talking about. While we do recieve financial aid, only about five out of the seventy or so are non-white. What will Lewis and Clark do to ACTIVELY recruit students of color, so that children have a chance to see more people that look like them in positions of authority at school?
posted 2 years, 9 months ago
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on Sex Ed
Lisa's rhetorical assertion about substance education in regard to alchohol is absolutely false. I work in a high school as a mentor/tutor, and substance education uses a fact-based approach, laying out the physiological process of intoxication, the consequences, etc.
Lisa, sooner or later, your daughter is going have to make decisions for herself AND YOU WON'T BE THERE TO TELL HER WHAT TO DO. I saw gilrs and boys like your daughter in college, and they were generally the most self-destructive because they didn't know what to do once they crossed that line. Wouldn't you rather have her equipped to weigh the options responsibly, and able to handle her choices in the most responsible way?
posted 3 years, 6 months ago
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on Sex Ed
Lisa's assertion that our students need to be empowered to make the right decisions is right on. I couldn't agree more. On the other hand, how do we empower anyone without educating them on their options and the consequences of those choices?
Mrs. Mahoney's mother learned her lesson from a teen pregnancy. Perhaps if she had been more educated on her sexual choices, she could have learned her lesson from a text book and saved herself a lot of struggle and pain.
posted 3 years, 6 months ago
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on Total Tax Makeover
Although this does raise some freedom of choice issues, I can't help but agree that your child-based tax would be a positive thing.
Good luck getting it passed though.
posted 4 years, 1 month ago
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on Total Tax Makeover
They're also elected to be leaders, by people who trust them to make good decisions.
That, and they do represent some of us.
posted 4 years, 1 month ago
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on Total Tax Makeover
If I'm not mistaken, tourism is one of our larger industries. Consider that along with the folks driving over from Vancouver (wearing down our roads) to enjoy sales tax free purchases, and all the non-resident/unemployed students enjoying publicly funded services, parks, and roads.
Why aren't they leaving any of their money here? A sales tax would not only diversify the state revenue and protect it from cyclical trends, but also create a lot of new tax-payers!
posted 4 years, 1 month ago
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on Not At School
Wait, so Catcher in the Rye and One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest aren't classics?
Listen, just because most moral conservatives get all their ideas directly from one book, doesn't mean the rest of us can't recognize the ideas presented in literature for what they are: Ideas. Not laws, not divine decrees, but ideas to consider and make your own decisions about. Would you rather your children learn about these things in a way that doesn't facilitate a discussion with you and other adults?
posted 4 years, 2 months ago
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on Not At School
So if a black kid wears a nixon mask, is that white face?
posted 4 years, 2 months ago
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on Not At School
GREAT point. Apparently we do sanction inappropriate sexual conduct among high schoolers, as long as it's affiliated with aggressive sporting events.
posted 4 years, 2 months ago
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on Not At School
Why weren't there any panelists from West Linn, where the play in question was performed and very well received?
posted 4 years, 2 months ago
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on Not At School
Like it or not, teens are having sex. They always have and always will. Even Bristol Palin.
Not having an honest dialogue about sexuality with them (through "controversial" creative works and quality sexual education) just means that teens are doing it without any guidance or perspective.
I hate to be prejudiced, but I'm willing to bet that most of the 17 pregnant girls came from either disengaged or dishonest religiously conservative households.
posted 4 years, 2 months ago
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