Notes on Twilight and Other Civic Duties

cooper — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 20:51:35 +0000

While your chillin with the hot chocolate after your five mile run deciding if you really want to stand in line for a movie from a series of books geared toward adolescent girls, girls whose limited fantasy revolves around doing it with a vampire (the thinly disguised bad boy, different boy, prince charming, we all love so much), and while you’re pondering why books geared toward females still steer girls to a fantasy world where, unspoken or clearly understood, the girls want nothing more than to romanticize about doing it with “that guy”.

I haven’t read the books nor do I have the time or desire to do so, and despite my admitted lust for Heathcliff I gag when I see the term “breathless anticipation” used to describe the feeling teenage girls had on awaiting this movie premiere.

I’m totally down with immortality though, but I suggest another book for your daughter.

American Government 2008: Continuity and Change . Sure it’s expensive, but she may come out the other end a little wiser, and with something more than a vampire fetish.

NEW STUDY FINDS AMERICANS, INCLUDING ELECTED OFFICIALS, EARN A
FAILING GRADE WHEN TESTED ON AMERICAN HISTORY AND ECONOMICS ( pdf link)

More than 2,500 randomly selected Americans took ISI’s basic 33question
test on civic literacy and more than 1,700 people failed, with the average score 49 percent, or an “F.” Elected officials scored even lower than the general public with an average score of 44 percent and only 0.8 percent (or 21) of all surveyed earned an “A.” Even more startling is the fact that over twice as many people
know Paula Abdul was a judge on American Idol than know that the phrase “government of the
people, by the people, for the people” comes from Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.

No shocker here, if you’ve spent time around the humans in this country lately.

If you’re so inclined you can take a quiz on civic literacy at Our Fading Heritage.

“Our children should learn the general framework of their government and then they should know where they come in contact with the government, where it touches their daily lives and where their influence is exerted on the government. It must not be a distant thing, someone else’s business, but they must see how every cog in the wheel of a democracy is important and bears its share of responsibility for the smooth running of the entire machine.”

Eleonore Roosevelt

peace

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Notes on Twilight and Other Civic Duties