Education is a culture we could choose to share... but don't

Cultural diversity is running rampant in the United States. Or, more accurately, most Americans claim a link to and a pride in their ethnic, geographic, religious, or other "roots."

What Americans aren't doing is becoming fluent in any culture but the one they like the best. There's nothing inherently wrong with embracing some aspect of your history, but as most Americans speak only English, most Americans only embrace or even acknowledge one culture.

We are all members of multiple cultures. Hardly anyone in the U.S. is a member of only one ethic group. The majority can trace their lineage back to multiple countries. Go back far enough and every family will find a change of religion somewhere in its history. But, many (I suspect most) people choose to identify with only one culture from their family or personal background.

Choosing one culture is not a problem. Choosing only one culture is a problem.

Why? Because it separates us and gives us notions such as "The War on Christmas," (which has spawned at least one book on the subject). A lack of multi-cultural fluency causes differences in cultural to be viewed as attacks.

One culture that we all should share (there are more) is the culture of education.

It's a fairly standard belief in the United States that going to college is a good thing. It is, but not for the reason most people cite – to get a good job. The most important thing college students can learn is how to be a part of the shared culture of education. Here are some aspects of that culture:

• be skeptical, but open-minded
• think critically
• evaluate the evidence
• if there is no evidence, do some research to find some
• respect other people's ideas
• give credit where credit is due

Anyone familiar with higher education in America might not recognize these as aspects of actual academic culture, and rightly so, but they serve as a starting point. This list is clearly not exhaustive and should apply to elementary and secondary education as well as higher education.

Americans go to public or private school, or are home-schooled because the law requires it. The law requires it because it gives Americans one basis for shared culture and understanding. It allows us to embrace our diversity without embracing separateness.

More later,
Russ

North Korea to be punished for nukes: Who decides punishment?

North Korea has tested another nuclear weapon – this one seemingly more effective than the first – and the rest of the world cries for punishment.

Well, maybe not the whole world. The countries crying most loudly for sanctions on North Korea are the countries that already have nuclear weapons. If the United Nations called for sanctions on China, France, the United States, or Great Britain, each would respond arrogantly that nuclear weapons were their sovereign right, and that no amount of sanctions (never going to happen, but play along anyway) will force [insert country with nukes here] to give up needed tools for defense.

So my question is what gives the United States and others the sovereign right to nuclear weapons, but denies that right to other sovereign nations?

I don't think nuclear weapons are a good idea no matter which country has them, but for states that have them to sanction states that develop them seems more than a little self-serving. The argument against "rogue" states such as North Korea getting nuclear weapons is that the more nukes that exist, the better the chance they will be used. GOOD POINT!

Why then, don't the United States and other nuclear powers get rid of their nukes?

Mutually assured destruction? There's got to be a better way.

Smells like hypocrisy to me.

More later,
Russ

Individual craziness or a more general trend?

NOTICE - THIS POST IS PURELY OPINION AND CONJECTURE BASED ON VERY LITTLE EVIDENCE

This local headline from the Washington Post caught my attention:

Man Doused With Liquid, Set on Fire in NW Bar

The reason I noticed is because of a trend that I have no evidence for... it's just a feeling, but it seems to me that crimes like this - extreme spur of the moment retaliation for a real or imagined slight - are becoming more common.

I think it's frustration at the decline of civilized behavior in general. People seem more likely to react in extreme ways to things that would not have bothered them before. One other example, and I don't have a link for it, is the video of a young man who went to his car to get a gun and shoot another man at a convenience store, apparently because the second man reached over the first's shoulder to get the items already purchased from the convenience store counter. An unfortunate incident all the way around, but particularly so for the young man bent on revenge – the second man was an off-duty police officer and was armed.

I know I often find myself tempted to challenge (shout at) people around me who I perceive as engaging in impolite behavior, thus becoming impolite myself and perpetuating the decline of civilized society. On the other hand, if no one points out the impolite behavior, how will it ever be corrected?

More later,
Russ