Where do you stand, On different social things Options

[Hartmann]

I am guessing that given the more left leaning of this board, the answers are fairly obvious but I was wondering where people stood on the ideas of self-reliance, government intervention, and work.

My firm belief is that people as a whole must be self-reliant, that government should stay out unless it is needed, and hard work is necessary to succeed.

Where do you stand?

I listen to my brothers talk about what they want to do and I'm amazed at their goals. Nothing to do with hard work or being self-reliant but more along the lines of American Idol and "famous". It is one thing to dream of being a baseball player when you're young but I get this impression that we are becoming more and more focused on the easy route rather than the tough but rewarding one.

[Mommy]

When I was in elementary school, I was taught under a curriculum known as the A Beka Program. It dealt with a high amount of memorization, and a lot of linking stuff together, like James referenced. If the program is instituted when the child is young, between the ages of 4 and 7, it works great. I never had trouble studying for a test. I found myself bored out of my mind in college because they were teaching us stuff I learned in junior high. The bad thing is, though, kids that came from a public school to my school did really poorly. They either failed completely and had to repeat the grade or they barely skated by with high D's and low C's. Memorization, reasoning, and critical thinking among students is a possibility, but only if we start it at the lowest level.