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What's Going On at My School

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My high school is now implementing a "graduation project" that is the epitome of the socialist, collectivist mindset present in the public school system. This transcends forced community service, to include "team building" activities and "environmental and social responsibility labs". This is the type of crap they are trying to force-feed people (myself included) as the only way to become a productive member of society. Ironic, isn't it? Collectivism as the way to production.

For more details:

http://snipurl.com/gradproj

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We've had a couple of posts about this recently. If you have to do it in order to graduate, there's not much choice there. The only thing I could suggest is to actually do the project and play by their rules, follow instructions, etc., but illustrate why the project is wrong.

Or, outside of the project, try to get students and parents to protest it.

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I don't understand the problem. Here are the requirements:

1. An individual research project requiring mentor contacts, logs and a research paper.

2. A "personal and social responsibility lab" including civic engagement, environmental responsibilities, global awareness, as well as character and ethics issues.

3. A unique "outdoor education of 21st-century skills lab."

1 and 3 are perfectly legitimate requirements, in which i can't imagine how there could be a problem.

Number two, as it appears in this article, it's also pretty much an open question: You can simply collect data in this "lab" to prove that the first three things are nonsense (you just have to ask people the right questions-like "In what specific way are you affected by what former vice president and current activist, Al Gore, claims is a change in the Earth's climate?" I guarantee a 90% I don't know./Idon't care., or "Do you believe every American should be forced to serve between nine and 24 months as an unpayed worker for the US Government, in the name of civic engagement, as members of both the Democratic and Republican Parties have proposed in the past?", or "Do you think American taxpayers should be forced to pay more money to the United Nations, to pay for their programs in the Third World. to promote Global Awareness? etc.)

And the character and ethical issues are fine.

What am I missing? Are the teachers forcing you to do something different?

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I don't understand the problem. Here are the requirements:

1. An individual research project requiring mentor contacts, logs and a research paper.

2. A "personal and social responsibility lab" including civic engagement, environmental responsibilities, global awareness, as well as character and ethics issues.

3. A unique "outdoor education of 21st-century skills lab."

1 and 3 are perfectly legitimate requirements, in which i can't imagine how there could be a problem.

Number two, as it appears in this article, it's also pretty much an open question: You can simply collect data in this "lab" to prove that the first three things are nonsense (you just have to ask people the right questions-like "In what specific way are you affected by what former vice president and current activist, Al Gore, claims is a change in the Earth's climate?" I guarantee a 90% I don't know./Idon't care., or "Do you believe every American should be forced to serve between nine and 24 months as an unpayed worker for the US Government, in the name of civic engagement, as members of both the Democratic and Republican Parties have proposed in the past?", or "Do you think American taxpayers should be forced to pay more money to the United Nations, to pay for their programs in the Third World. to promote Global Awareness? etc.)

And the character and ethical issues are fine.

What am I missing? Are the teachers forcing you to do something different?

Now that I re-read it, the article doesn't give much detail, most likely a by-product of its age. The principal explained that "21st Century Skills" are not technological, economical, etc. Rather they are "team building", "group education", "interpersonal networking" and other collectivist ideas. The "30 hours of out-of school work time" must be unpaid, in an environment with persons experienced int his field, and must be recorded. The purpose of the "Responsibility Lab" is to specifically do a project that will benefit the community as a whole. I will learn more next week, when the principal is holding a community-wide assembly.

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