Weblog Commenting and Trackback by HaloScan.com The Barnyard: Family Reunions

Friday, July 07, 2006

Family Reunions

I think they are a great thing that have lost much in the last few decades. My paternal family has held them annually for as long as I can remember and it is always a fun time. We are not a recent immigrant family, meaning last 200 years, my family arrived in 1623 and has much native blood though the name is intact as is the family house in Boston, a State landmark and historic site. My sirname is a bit unusual so it is fairly easy to track unlike a Williams or Smith so far we have gone back to the days of William Wallace and have a family crest from Scotland, a reason for my penname, personal security. Sadly the native geneology is impossible to complete at this time.
My college student apprentice recently told me that I have a better grasp of history than his professor and that I should teach it after a discussion on Palistinian and Israeli politics. This is not to brag at all because it disturbs me greatly that a college student in poli sci would express this to me, a novice though a political and historicall junky.Has our collegiate system fallen that far behind? Yeah, I lean right politically but that has little to do with loving history, all sides of it. I had the benefit of truelly brilliant history professors and from my experience in open forums a vast majority were not so fortunate.
How do we correct this? We spend an average of a quarter million dollars a public school classroom a year, thats a lot of money. I support vouchers that would allow parents to draw their alottment of that $10,000 avg per pupil and put it into private education if they desire. Unions should be outlawed in public service on the taxpayer dime especially teachers unions because thet could care less about education of the kids, they are more concerned about their socialist welfare/pensions. That point is directed at the unions not individual teachers as my father was a teacher and continues to be mine even after his passing.

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