US schools and the Pledge
Apr 6th 2007, 3:30 am
#92
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Re: US schools and the Pledge
So whenever you meet someone who does not fully participate in the electoral process (and it must happen a lot, since we're talking about more than two thirds of the electorate) are they also subjected to rather self-righteous lectures about being true citizens?
Apr 6th 2007, 4:21 am
#94
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Re: US schools and the Pledge
In which case you are comfortably in the minority in the USA, going by the voter turnout for the last midterms (37% for the house election, 30% for the senate). Clearly there are a lot of people here who are sadly lacking in the upstanding morals department.
Since when? You said it yourself in the same post - it's an opportunity, not an obligation.
So whenever you meet someone who does not fully participate in the electoral process (and it must happen a lot, since we're talking about more than two thirds of the electorate) are they also subjected to rather self-righteous lectures about being true citizens?
Since when? You said it yourself in the same post - it's an opportunity, not an obligation.
So whenever you meet someone who does not fully participate in the electoral process (and it must happen a lot, since we're talking about more than two thirds of the electorate) are they also subjected to rather self-righteous lectures about being true citizens?
That said...Americans do not turn out to vote in the numbers they should. In many countries voting is mandatory and a fine is levied if you fail to vote. Just shows that the U.S. isn't the only country with an apathetic voter population.
Last edited by dakota44; Apr 6th 2007 at 4:23 am.
Apr 6th 2007, 8:05 am
#95
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Re: US schools and the Pledge
If you want good schools don't live in the Charlotte/Mecklenburg school district. The schools are bursting at the seams and there is not enough funding. Try the Fort Mill/York County schools in SC. Only a few miles from Charlotte and by all accounts they have the best school system in SC. Plus the property taxes are much cheaper there.
Ft. Mill elementary is frozen enrollment due to exceeding capacity. Gold and Riverview are nearly at capacity, so expected to freeze enrollment. Clover district allows paddling, according to my research.
Seems the infrastructure cannot support this massive growth in Charlotte/Union County/Lake Norman/York County.
Don't know how much longer the lower tax benefit will be in South Carolina (compared with North). With the number of tax referendums I see coming down the pike to build roads, new schools (again, b/c of the huge growth), I think the gap is narrowing. School millage is still removed from SC prop taxes, but the increased sales tax and these referendums are going to make it a wash soon, imo.
Apr 6th 2007, 8:09 am
#96
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Re: US schools and the Pledge
Apr 6th 2007, 8:40 am
#97
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Re: US schools and the Pledge
But didn't include that phrase until around 1952, iirc. Extremists added it in there.
No, I don't like this part of the Pledge at all.
Apr 6th 2007, 9:01 am
#98
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Re: US schools and the Pledge
I'm very sorry that you are so negative and hateful in your mind and heart to a country that allowed you to do what you so wanted to do, turn your back on it, not participate in changing its government and bad mouth it at every opportunity you are given. I'm also so very sorry that you are being forced to return to a country that you hate.
Apr 6th 2007, 9:55 am
#99
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Re: US schools and the Pledge
Conservative pundit Ann Coulter -- widely condemned last month for referring to N.C. Democrat John Edwards as a "faggot" -- is coming to Matthews on May 10 to speak at a conservative Christian seminary.
Coulter's use of gutter language drew protests even from fellow conservatives, including GOP presidential candidates Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Mitt Romney.
But Southern Evangelical Seminary invited her anyway.
"Who among us hasn't said something intemperate from time to time?" school President Alex McFarland said in a statement. "The bottom line is that (her) book `Godless' is a powerful one, and the message she will be bringing, `The Consequences of a Godless Nation,' is a message that needs to be heard."
The book's full title is "Godless: The Church of Liberalism." Tickets are $55.
For details, go to www.eplanettravel.com and click on "Veritas Lecture Series." The first 100 people to pay an additional $100 can attend a private reception afterward.
The seminary, which teaches a literal interpretation of the Bible, was co-founded in 1992 by then-Calvary Church Pastor Ross Rhoads. After her slur about presidential candidate Edwards, a former U.S. senator from North Carolina, some newspapers dropped her syndicated column.
Coulter's use of gutter language drew protests even from fellow conservatives, including GOP presidential candidates Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Mitt Romney.
But Southern Evangelical Seminary invited her anyway.
"Who among us hasn't said something intemperate from time to time?" school President Alex McFarland said in a statement. "The bottom line is that (her) book `Godless' is a powerful one, and the message she will be bringing, `The Consequences of a Godless Nation,' is a message that needs to be heard."
The book's full title is "Godless: The Church of Liberalism." Tickets are $55.
For details, go to www.eplanettravel.com and click on "Veritas Lecture Series." The first 100 people to pay an additional $100 can attend a private reception afterward.
The seminary, which teaches a literal interpretation of the Bible, was co-founded in 1992 by then-Calvary Church Pastor Ross Rhoads. After her slur about presidential candidate Edwards, a former U.S. senator from North Carolina, some newspapers dropped her syndicated column.
Apr 6th 2007, 11:43 am
#100
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Re: US schools and the Pledge
You seem to be on top of the different school districts and such, but I thought I'd mention this site anyway just in case you haven't seen it:
http://www.greatschools.net/city/Charlotte/NC
Allows you to compare basic school statistics between different schools, districts, cities, etc. Sometimes have parent reviews that might be helpful.
http://www.greatschools.net/city/Charlotte/NC
Allows you to compare basic school statistics between different schools, districts, cities, etc. Sometimes have parent reviews that might be helpful.
Apr 6th 2007, 12:00 pm
#101
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Re: US schools and the Pledge
There's always homeschooling, that way your children get educated the way you want them to and they don't have to say the pledge. Oh and while you're at it throw some ripe tomatoes at Anne Coulter for me please 
Apr 6th 2007, 12:05 pm
#102
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Re: US schools and the Pledge
there is no pledge said in my kids school. Might be the area i dont know.
Apr 6th 2007, 12:12 pm
#103
A lion in your lap
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Re: US schools and the Pledge
I'd like your source for those numbers...because, frankly, I think you're out to lunch. Voter turnout in many places was so high they had to keep polling stations open past the normal closing time so people could vote. In some areas it was low because the race was a forgone conclusion well before the pols opened. In fact, some seats were not even contested. So pony up the source please.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_...ctions%2C_2006
This one says it was "slightly over 40%"
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15621554/
It seems we can argue about the precise figures until the crack of doom, but it all seems to point to the turnout being comfortably less than 50% for the midterms.
For all Federal elections up 1960 - 2004 (shows midterms turnout generally well under 40% of voting-age population - it seems about 30% of the voting age population doesn't even register to vote):
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0781453.html
Source: Federal Election Commission. Data drawn from Congressional Research Service reports, Election Data Services Inc., and State Election Offices.
Absolutely - in Britain I believe the voter turnout is generally no better than the US.
Last edited by elfman; Apr 6th 2007 at 12:18 pm.
Apr 6th 2007, 12:30 pm
#104
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Re: US schools and the Pledge
Voter turnout is often tied to the opinion, right or wrong, that the results are a forgone conclusion in many races. That's one reason I don't like opinion polls. They tend, in the case where they predict a landslide victory for one candidate, to discourage the voters from bothering. After all, why run out to vote if you already know the likely outcome? The concept of your vote making a difference is moot. It generally won't. You look at some Congressional seats that have been held by the same clown for 15, 20, 30 years. Most folks in those districts don't bother to go to the polls. There is no need to, in their minds. I would bet that if there were term limits and you had to vote for new faces at least every two terms, voter turnout would increase.
I'm also no fan of any election results being broadcast before all polls in the U.S. close. You can bet that when Presidential elections roll around, if the election is sewn up by the time the west coast goes to the polls, people stay home. Who can blame them. Canada no longer allows any broadcasting of election results until after all polls have closed. Good idea.
But when I become Benevolent Dictator, elections won't be necessary.
I'm also no fan of any election results being broadcast before all polls in the U.S. close. You can bet that when Presidential elections roll around, if the election is sewn up by the time the west coast goes to the polls, people stay home. Who can blame them. Canada no longer allows any broadcasting of election results until after all polls have closed. Good idea.
But when I become Benevolent Dictator, elections won't be necessary.
Apr 6th 2007, 12:53 pm
#105
Re vera, potas bene.
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Re: US schools and the Pledge
My son could leave the room...or just stand...but he never minded doing the pledge...he did plan on becoming an American anyway...