Re: An Article sure to raise a septics eyebrow..
 

The students aren't the morons, the people who set the curriculum are morons. I have said in the past that we did not cover geography or history outside the US when I was in school (although there were electives available if you went out of your way to take them -- I didn't have room in my schedule for them). In Texas kids are required to take an entire YEAR on Texas history.... IMO one semester would suffice, freeing the other to study world history.

Morons are more often made, not born.

Re: An Article sure to raise a septics eyebrow..
 

Yeah, but Texas is it's own country, dontcha know :D

No such thing as a state history class when I went to school, we mentioned Lincoln was born here while we were studying US history.

Re: An Article sure to raise a septics eyebrow..
 

We did the state history thing in fourth grade. High school meant a year of Civics, a year of US History, a year of World History and a year of Modern History (20th century).

Re: An Article sure to raise a septics eyebrow..
 

That's strange. Modern European history and Classics were both requirements at my High School.

Re: An Article sure to raise a septics eyebrow..
 

We did a Shakespeare play every year in English. We had a year of the classics also: Chaucer, Beowulf etc. This was mandatory, not elective. We didn't get into electives until Junior year and even that depended on whether you had fufilled your requirements for your program-college, business or general.
Had a deal for two years with another gal in my class, she helped me with Algebra :eek: and Geometry and I helped her with English-if it wasn't in prose, she didn't understand it, although she was a smart cookie.

Re: An Article sure to raise a septics eyebrow..
 

Americans have their own personal struggle with the IRA. What divides us is whether to fund a Roth IRA or to go with a traditional IRA.

I hate to break this to you, but the first thing that an American typically thinks of when hearing "IRA" is "retirement plan," while a "black-and-tan" conjures up visions of a pint that combines Guinness with lager.

Northern Ireland is not on the radar for most of us. That's largely a British-Irish regional problem that doesn't have significant implications for Europe, let alone the world, so aside from a few "Irish" Americans, not many people here think about it.

(Incidentally, my understanding is that a lot of the money that funds the UDA and other loyalist paramilitaries comes from Canadians of Scottish ancestry. I'm not sure why no one ever seems to complain about this.)

My eyebrows are not raised, but Ms. Lessing sounds like an old coot suffering from Attention Whore Syndrome. I suppose that's the sort of self promotion that helps to sell books and generate free publicity, but I would hope that you would know better than to lessen someone else's tragedy just because it amuses you.

My high school required one year of world history and one year of US history to graduate. I added a year of European history, as well as three years of French, one year of German and one year of Latin, and I was not the only student to enroll in those courses (although, to be fair, many others did not take them.)

What is required and available varies greatly upon where one goes to school, and Texas is well known for having one of the weakest secondary educational systems in the country. I have no doubt that some of the schools are fine, but the primary fixation across the state seems to be on the Holy Trinity: football, football, and football.

Re: An Article sure to raise a septics eyebrow..
 

IIRC, Ms Lessing was interviewed following the announcement that she had won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Hardly attention-seeking.

And I did not see any evidence of her being 'amused' by 9/11.

You are out of order :thumbdown:

Re: An Article sure to raise a septics eyebrow..
 

um... i don't know about anyone else, but thats not breaking news.... maybe the news i should break to you is that the majority of us don't care what the average American thinks about the IRA, just what those with money or political power think of it...

Re: An Article sure to raise a septics eyebrow..
 

Ahh the "Operation Pheonix" rumours.

Re: An Article sure to raise a septics eyebrow..
 

Generally, people accept awards by commenting on the award and thanking those who granted it, not by trying to denigrate the evil of 9/11 by dragging in a local territorial conflict that is wholly different.

9/11 was an attack on the western world as a whole, and a symbol of a new era of asymmetric warfare that uses orchestrated media-oriented events that are designed to kill thousands of people, influence foreign policy, and create theater on a global level. Rightly or wrongly, the IRA is a local sovereignty movement, similar to groups such as ETA in terms of scope. It's not great for those who have to deal with it, but it unlikely to mushroom into something broader or more international in nature. It is these broader political implications that make events such as 9/11, 3/11 and 7/7 different from these local movements -- it's not the body count, but the broader long-term implications for global politics.

The amusement reference was directed to the OP, who clearly thinks that this sort of infotainment is worth a laugh. I'm not upset about that, but I suspect that the OP won't be getting nominated for a Nobel Prize in sensitivity.

Re: An Article sure to raise a septics eyebrow..
 

do you work for Fox news? :D

Re: An Article sure to raise a septics eyebrow..
 

I'm a raving lefty, actually. But I spend enough time outside the pub to separate fantasy from reality. Give it a try, you might find it useful.

Re: An Article sure to raise a septics eyebrow..
 

WTF!

Re: An Article sure to raise a septics eyebrow..
 

very clever response, i give up. You've outsmarted me....

Re: An Article sure to raise a septics eyebrow..
 

and by the way, the IRA are very real to me, having been personally affected by both the Docklands bomb and one of the manchester bombs.

But then, i think thats what makes things important to us in the end..