[MD] French ingredient in the soup of sentiments

[Heather Perella]

Hello Arlo and others,

> [Arlo]
> Good question. In the "past", one of the
> justifications for "public education"
> was to prepare the citizenry for its duties as part
> of the body politic. The
> assumption was (broadly speaking) that a 12th year
> education was "enough" to
> prepare a citizen for voting and fulfilling their
> civic duties. Whether or not
> this succeeded, and why, is another question, but
> there can be no doubt that
> the complexities of "modern life" have grown beyond
> what Dewey and others who
> argued for public education could have envisioned.
> Understanding complex
> historical dealings with factions and regions, not
> to mention complicated
> economic questions and inter- (and intra- ) ethnic
> and religious tensions,
> requires (I'd argue) more than what the typical
> high-school diploma provides.
> 
> The Nixon debate proved that most voters vote on
> image, not substance, they vote
> on spin, style and appearance more than they vote on
> knowledge, wisdom or
> leadership. Lincoln would never be elected today
> because he was a lanky,
> strange looking man. While the media is easy to
> "blame" for this, the fault is
> our own. The media merely gives us what we demand.
> When the Cultural Literacy
> book came out, I remember the author being
> flabbergasted that more Americans
> than not did not know basic, simple historical facts
> about their country. You
> think that's changed?

     This is exactly why the Electoral College was put
in place.  The founders of this country who wanted it
were afraid that the public would not be educated
enough to put into office somebody that would be of
value to the seat elections would be for.  Yet, the
Electoral College has become nothing but an official
stamp upon who people popularly vote into office. 

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