Yes, I am known to take things literally. In general, I like explicit, precise and logical statements.

So, if I were to say, "John Kerry is a snake," would that be a problem?  Or how about Dickens' "the law is an ass." 

Your taking issue with my admittedly hyperbolic comparison of the NEA to a Stalinist State seems to point to a desire to excise analogy and metaphor from human communication.  This would be a mistake.  Not only are they necessary components of reason and poetics but they are, actually, critical to scientific hypothesis.

Just as a seemingly harmless bear cub will grow into a grizzly that will eat you, the NEA has the genetic map of a Stalinist State.

To wit:

Jello treat gets Jefferson Parish 4th-grader suspended

GRETNA, La. A Jefferson Parish fourth grader has been suspended for taking what's being described as a look-alike drug to school.

Eight-year-old Kelli Billingsley brought homemade Jell-O cups to school at Boudreaux Elementary. Her mom says the school tested the Jell-O and determined it didn't have any alcohol in it. But the school suspended the girl for having a look alike drug.

The girl's mom says her daughter was just trying to make a treat for her friends.

The superintendent of Jefferson Parish schools says she will investigate the case.

(From: Curt Sprang, WGNO-TV, New Orleans)

Since this came out, it has been reported that the little girl will have to go through a 12-step programme and attend anti-drug classes for a year.  Her mother will have to consent to unannounced spot searches of their home by government authorities for a year.  With the NEA at the helm, our children are being conditioned to accept the preconditions of a Stalinist State.  This is one of many, many instances of such bullying insanity across the country.  Would you agree that the irrational and disproportionate exercise of power is a hallmark of a dictatorship?

From your posts, I have no doubt that we are in agreement as to the evils of communism, etc.  Analagous thinking will serve to put the defensive perimeter out a little farther.

Regarding our educational system being 5 generations removed from reality, I'll stand by that, too.  I'm thinking 5 generations is about 100-150 years.  We've been on the slippery slope in that regard since the 1910's.  Cultural collapse probably follows educational collapse by a few generations, so do the math.  If you look at elementary school curriculums and standards from the late 19th century and compare them to now, there is simply no comparison. Teachers have been educating teachers who educate teachers most of whom have never done anything but teach.  Living in the warm cocoon of government employment and benefits, they are reproducing increasing statist teachers who are intent on imposing their distorted "values" on their victim students.

(Edited by Stuart Hutchings on 12/09, 4:58am)

"Men like these, and the brilliant efficiency expert Frederick W. Taylor, who inspired the entire "social efficiency" movement of the early twentieth century, along with providing the new Soviet Union its operating philosophy and doing the same job for Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany; men who dreamed bigger dreams than any had dreamed since Napoleon or Charlemagne, these were the makers of modern schooling."