We all have our own opinions - neither right nor wrong - just different.

no thanks I think I have a good grasp of the situation and simply disagree with her - and you I guess.

Perhaps making more of the benevolent effects of guns and downplaying (or completely ignoring) the negatives leads you too, to this conclusion.
I have said what I believe and after all the banter, shall continue to stand fast in them.

A perfect example of the kind of mindless no-fault relativism widely promoted in our educational system these days.

Ah yes, and views pounded into us by the state would be so much better.

Thank you for clarifying your point. Somehow my viewpoint just wasn't nuanced enough to pick up on the incicive logic of "whatever".

Perhaps you hadn't noticed, but the educational system is *run* by the state.

Must have been all that pounding.

I had other less mature responses for you too, MaggieL, but I thought better of using any of them. Therefore I'll continue on the high road while you may feel free to sling mud and disparaging remarks at will. I would have to respect you to care what you think of me and you have certainly not gained any and lost what little you had.

I am aware of that and I have my seperate issues with that but at least it allows us to have more than one view.

You are implying that our educational system is too soft on ideas that might not work, right? How would you fix this? Selecting one system and brainwashing our students to believe that is the "right" way (what I believe is happening anyways)? Seriously, how would you like it?

:brikwall:

No. I'm not saying the educational system is soft on ideas. I'm saying the system built on soft ideas.

Critical thinking seems to have been largely abandonded in favor that particularly pernicious flavor of sociospeak that Richard Mitchell once referred to as "Educanto". Everyone does indeed have their own opinion, but critical thinking reveals that not all opinions are deserving of equal respect.

There's a difference between "standing on the moral high ground" and "not struggling because you're in quicksand".

Does that include critical thinking of fire arms? Or only ideas that suits your opinion?

"Message refused. Return to Sender"

How so? I think the idea itself isn't bad just that it doesn't work as planned. Just like communism.

Agreed but all that leads to is 'if you disagree with me your opinion is wrong which doesn't deserve equal respect'. The bias in determining which idea is respectable ruins that whole idea.

"Critical thinking seems to have been largely abandonded "

I'm not sure what the system is like in the US, but here, students are encouraged to do a lot more critical thinking than they were perhaps twenty years ago or so. I'm pretty sure you didn't mean to infer than rote learning was more beneficial, although in some aspects I would argue that it is and should still be employed.

It's about teaching people how to learn. Some go off half cocked and don't 'get it', but others benefit greatly from it.

I don't think the system is perfect. In fact, I think it's a long way from it, but it's certainly better than it was. More inclusive for starters, and that's an incredibly important aspect in a learning environment.

In America from what I have noticed it is either you are a "democratic captitalistic" patriot or you are a commie. That may just be the white republican suburban atomosphere that I grew up in though.