Rod Paige and the NEA
It's called "hyperbole," folks. You know, "A figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for emphasis or effect." They must not teach the literary elements in schools anymore.
I'll admit, I have little respect for the NEA when I consider how hostile they are to homeschooling or any other form of educational freedom, and how they spend their members' dues on left-wing causes having little to do with the education of our children. Then again, I'm not a big fan of No Child Left Behind (or whatever it's called) because I don't feel it is the federal government's responsibility to see that our children are educated. It's OUR responsibility as parents 1) to educate our children and 2) to hold schools and school officials accountable insofar as we delegate that responsibility to them. But we have become more like sheep than shepherds. Education bureaucrats have gotten too big for their pants as a result, believing education and child welfare are solely the state's oversight. And the NEA is in cahoots with 'em.
So they can stand a little tweaking, IMHO.
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Ok, what did I miss? To what
Ok, what did I miss? To what are you referring?
Danna =]
Here's what you missed, Danna
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/02/23/national1454EST0655.DTL
Sure, there's a place for hyperbole and off-the-cuff remarks. But in this day and age, when everything is reduced to a soundbite without the benefit of context, Rod Paige should have known better. Especially when using words like "terrorist".
Rose
It's debatable whether it was
It's debatable whether it was in good taste given the world's current climate to use the word "terrorist." And we can say as much, and he can admit as much. But it's a bigger deal than it ought to be. We don't need to police public discourse as much as we do. Let people say what they really think! Lay it out on the table! I hate fakery, I hate when people disguise their ideas in bland, misleading language. It's part and parcel of what makes politics so smarmy. Politics ought to be a battle! It *is* a battle, a battle of ideas. I think what bothers me most about the press surrounding the story is that the NEA (which is nothing more than a labor union) and its supporters in the media act as if it is some sacred cow, above criticism, merely because its members are teachers. It operates just like any other labor union, it is naturally self-interested, but because it represents educators it acts untouchable.
I am more concerned about...
...the fact that calling groups "terrorist" when that word has such a specific meaning cheapens the meaning of "terrorist" in a possibly dangerous way. Like crying wolf.
just to be clear
We ARE talking about the National Education Association, not the National Endowment for the Arts, in case someone was skimming quickly and got confused.
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