Checks and balances in the US government. Government of the people, by the people, and for the people. Constitutional rights being unassailable.
All these are lies. I think it can be fixed, but it won’t be easy.
I think it can be fixed
I mean, good luck. The Principle-Agent Problem is a classic of sociology, particularly with respect to business. If you can solve it, there’s a Nobel in Economics waiting for you.
Democracy is an attempt at aligning in the interests of the plurality principles with their government agencies. But there’s obviously a whole lot of flaws with democracy generally speaking, even before you get into the particulars of the American system.
I do think that the Lockean Social Contract, as the foundation for any governmental system, is a more interesting and more well-thought-out concept to explore than the mythology surrounding the American three-branch system. Chomsky’s Manufacturing Consent does an excellent job of breaking down how a public body can be turned against its own interests. Zinn’s People’s History gives a ton of insight into the underbelly of the American political beast and how people respond to industrial and state oppression. State and Revolution does an excellent job of describing the role of the state in society and how it can best be dismantled.
But the endless debate around whether US Government works as described or intended really loses the forest of social economy for the ideological tent post trees. Fetishization of the US system only contributes to its rot and our own downfall.
Pictures of the civil rights movement are in black in white even though color photography existed for decades. They’re only in black and white to make kids think it was longer ago than it was.
Not really a lie but I’m surprised how little they covered major international events, especially wars like WWI/WWII/Korea/Vietnam, etc.
All of them were basically a 3 paragraph maximum excerpt before you went back to reading about some random local policy or societal change that didn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things.
Biggest lie though was teaching kids that secondary sources like news publishers were reliable sources of information lol. NYT and the Washington Post sucked a long time before the internet. WP especially was just straight Imperialist propaganda sometimes.
Just because they’re not a primary source doesn’t mean they can’t be biased or reporting false information.
That homework isn’t discriminatory. Not all kids have lives that allow them to do it. If you can’t cover all the bases in whole ass 8 hours I’m there a day that’s on you, not me. This is only true k - 12, college level courses are voluntary so having some homework could be considered ok.
You do have a valid argument. There are lots of children that don’t have an environment that allows them to do homework or study.
I don’t think this means we should get rid of homework. Homework is essentially practicing what was learned in the classroom. Learning is a constant process, it doesn’t automatically happen after being exposed to a topic during the course of an 8 hour day. Learning anything requires practice. (The neurons that fire together wire together.)
If little Billy did the homework and got a bunch of stuff wrong, that helps the teacher identify and diagnose the skill issue, (in theory.) If little Billy didn’t do his homework at all, the teacher has no idea Billy could be struggling to learn the material until after he has been tested. It’s a tool to help students practice, and a tool to help teachers assess and diagnose. It shouldn’t be used as part of the rubric that determines what a child’s grade for the material is at the end of the term.
No, discrimination is discrimination, school is as many hours as a full time job, if an education system can’t teach kids what they need to know in that amount of time it’s failing. Discrimination is wrong.
The United States was founded on principles of liberty and equality for all.
While I was taught that in elementary school, I was also taught about the 3/5ths compromise as early as middle school. By the time high school rolled around I was being taught about reconstruction and the corrupt bargain of 1877. I guess I’m lucky I got a good education in the north because I am aware that’s not necessarily the standard nationally.
I was also taught these things in the south, living in North Florida. As part of a 1 semester Florida history class in middle school, we also went into each of the spanish conquistadors and how they murdered their way across the continent.
Working hard will get you rewarded. When really you get dunked on with more work.
I think it’s true, but I’m very few places. In the Marines, I was able to turn hard work into promotions, and now I’m regular life, I turn hard work into extra money, but only because I work for myself. So basically it only works in socialism or if you’re at the top of the ladder.
worse than that, if you do too good of a job you will be deemed too useful to promote, so not only will you be rewarded with more work but with career stagnation
Many countries, like America, had actual economic mobility. There was a time where working hard could improve your economic status.
My family lost everything. Twice. Once to over-leveraging before a mortgage collapse in 83, and secondly to a house fire. We lived in an absolute fleabag of a moldy motel, a stereotype like you’d see on-screen, for about 10 months. The mold was so bad we had tiny mushrooms.
We got back, both times, to a stable home life in a mortgage and a fresh start. Dad paid off his home before retirement, by working his absolute ass off.
That’s just not feasible now, just one generation later.
Anyway, there was a time when hard work did get you something; so treat that as a historical thing and not a falsehood.
economic mobility
Ahh, so that’s how the economy fell off a cliff. It all makes sense now…
treat that as a historical thing and not a falsehood.
but it is a falsehood as it’s not longer correct. I agree there was a time it was true, but that time has passed and we should not be teaching it.
Listening to authority with no critical thinking will make your life easier.
They don’t even teach that in the army, dude.
Isn’t that the exact type of viewpoint the army wants in their soldiers? What are you talking about?
Lies of omission count? I was in my 40s before I ever heard of the Tulsa Massacre.
Same! And I grew up in the Midwest/south. I first heard of it from the show The Watchmen and really thought it was part of the fictional narrative until I got curious and looked it up. Terrible, and also terrible that it stayed so hidden.
I grew up in California and they didn’t teach it.
That war is the connective tissue of human history, rather than the holes in the tissue.
There is a lot more peaceful trade and cooperation in history than war, but because war is so disruptive and notable it makes the history books.
That, and war makes for better narratives.
Wow that is a really great way of putting it
Most of the things are more or less simplified for children.
I would not go as far as to call them outright lies.
Eating veggies will give you superpowers.
“then how come I never see anyone with superpowers?”
I mean, it makes you poop better, which is kind of like a superpower
That there are different “learning styles”, and that some people learn better with one over another. (Visual learner, auditory learner etc.) Same for “love languages”
What is the bullshit about that? AFAIK that is true and not everyone learns the same way.
It’s pretty much not. Literally everyone learns best by “doing”, and the other styles (reading, visual, auditory) depend much more on the content (visual graphs are good for geometry, reading is good for history etc) than the student. Also people’s responses on surveys about learning styles are very inconsistent, it’s pretty solidly disproven since about 2008
Left brain/right brain BS too. I cringe so hard every time I hear an adult talk about it.
