Bill requires all Idaho kids to read ‘Atlas Shrugged’

reply to post by AlienScience


That was not directed at any individual ? It was a simple statement of how it is now with all this partisan craziness. Why would you think it was directed at anyone? Maybe if you read it again.

Kids need exposure to both sides, not to be controlled by one ideology. Or should I say the many facets, since there are far more than two points of view.

And the 'fake outrage' was flawless

Goedde said he doesn’t plan to press forward with the bill, but it was formally introduced in his committee Tuesday on a voice vote. He said he was sending a message to the State Board of Education, because he’s unhappy with its recent move to repeal a rule requiring two online courses to graduate from high school, and with its decision to back off on another planned rule regarding principal evaluations.

Much to do about NOTHING.

Liberals will poop kittens over this.

But they don't have issues with schools requiring liberal reading books.
Heck, the high schools around here are required to read 'An Inconvenient Truth'
even though it's a pile of horse manure. But I don't hear liberals complaining
about that.

Schools have required reading. That's the way it is.

When my daughter was stuck reading crap - like 'an inconvenient truth' - I
made sure to explain to her the ACTUAL truth .. not the propaganda in the
book. She wrote the proper papers on the books ... but we made sure she
wasn't brainwashed by agenda.

That's what parents who send their kids to school have to do.

reply to post by neo96


Yes, I did read that part. However the irony was still there. There was no outrage on my side as I don't feel it's exactly wrong for children to read Atlas Shrugged. Perhaps they should read it as a requirement in high school.

Originally posted by neo96
Climate change is real has been doing it's things for millions,billions of years

Well as long as it's not junk BS science then.

Good to know there is some consensus on climate change. And that we simply cannot sit by and watch it occur as it will not end well for us, no matter WHO or WHAT the cause is. If we can't change it, then we better adapt to it.

Rather than sit back and proclaim it all junk BS science.

Atlas Shrugged will just encourage more of the same me me me, it is all about me entitlement mentality we see in our society today, drawing us further and further apart and less as a united nation.

reply to post by winofiend


Quote the rest of it :

Climate change is real has been doing it's things for millions,billions of years, then comes an arrogant lot trying to blame man so they can pass laws, and create a totalitarian state under the false pretense of saving the people. Reminds me of Atlas Shrugged.

That is what you call 'consensus' ?

Yeah right.

Sorry given the sheer fact of already historical abuses of power by our government everyone should tell them just to shut up, and stop hijacking GW to push their agendas.

BTW .... the only concern I'd have with Atlas Shrugged or The Fountain Head being required reading is the violent and degrading sexual nature of some of the scenes in the books. Ayn Rands story lines were fine and well written. Her characters are intense and the message was clear. That's all fine. The problem is with the violence and rape and the woman wanting to be raped and being happy that they are raped. THAT is where I'd have a problem with it. I have a feeling Ayn maybe liked to 'get her freak on' and that kinda came out in some of the sex scenes ....

reply to post by buster2010

It is also arrogant to think that mankind who has been putting millions of tonnes of pollution which was growing geometrically every year for the last couple of centuries has had no effect on the climate.

Want to try again?

Considering that leaves out the Suns own natural cycles, and cycles that man thinks he knows everything to know about everything.

Man has been here for the blink of an eye, and there is quite a lot he doesn't know.

He just loves to think he knows everything.

reply to post by FlyersFan

BTW .... the only concern I'd have with Atlas Shrugged or The Fountain Head being required reading is the violent and degrading sexual nature of some of the scenes in the books. Ayn Rands story lines were fine and well written. Her characters are intense and the message was clear. That's all fine. The problem is with the violence and rape and the woman wanting to be raped and being happy that they are raped. THAT is where I'd have a problem with it. I have a feeling Ayn maybe liked to 'get her freak on' and that kinda came out in some of the sex scenes ....

Very valid concern, and I would hope that parents are encouraged to read along with their children and talk about these kinds of things. Otherwise these kids might go to the internet for help. (and we all know how well that would turn out)

Originally posted by kimar
I read Atlas Shrugged in my last year of High School on my own accord. While I enjoyed the story, its utterly unrealistic, inhuman characters pushed me to the left. It wouldn't be a lie to say that Ayn Rand helped turn me into a socialist. For that, I am forever grateful.

And the great thing about the concept and idealism of the United States? It helped define me and my philosophy. So while I abhor the "required" part, it should be a suggested read for students to contemplate and think about.

Sadly, we don't require our students to think. We require them to memorize and regurgitate without actually contemplating on the the concepts.

Kudos for you to pick up a difficult read on your own.

reply to post by jacobe001


We are a nation of individuals, joined mutually and upon our agreement of our State government -- who then join in agreement to our Federal government. So yes, it is about "me". That is the idea of a Republic. It is designed to be the best of a "united" government while still enjoying the fruits of liberty without threat of an all encompassing central government and/or dictator deciding what is best for us.

It should be, along with any number of politically and socially relevant novels. As much as I can't stand Rand and her collected works. Part of the problem is required reading is pretty much nonexistent in this country to begin with. You should not even be allowed to graduate until some of these have been read and the student can demonstrate they understood the subject matter. It is important to understand other ideas exist and why they exist.

reply to post by KeliOnyx


Agreed Keli. There is nothing wrong with an open education. Sadly as I am sure you know, it is anything but. We teach kids to memorize and regurgitate and not think. Thinking is punished as I have experienced it with my oldest and the teacher lamenting that he asks "why" too much. Needless to say, my son no longer was in that class.

If they're to be required by law to read that tripe they should be required by law to read the communist manifesto as well

The greatest problem with Atlas Shrugged and Ms. Ayn Rand is not that they have been adopted by a certain political persuasion in the last few years ... but that both are prime examples of the worst in literary hackery, junk philosophy and ideological claptrap.

It's a bad book. Rand is a bad writer, thinker and role-model. No, that's not "just my opinion" ... 1957 Published Reviews of Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged"

That's what's wrong with the text being "required" as a part of the accepted literary canon ... not some supposed fear/worship from one side or the other of the false right-left dichotomy.

IMHO

Anyone required to read Atlas Shrugged, should also be required to read Ayn Rand's biography.

She was an extremely self centered, dispicable person.

Isn't that a form of torture, to have to read that psychotic lady's book.
Aren't our children selfish, ignorant, and illiterate enough.

This lady actually idolized a serial killer amongst her other virtues.

That is a fine example in our spree killing schools!

originally posted by: Gryphon66That's what's wrong with the text being "required" as a part of the accepted literary canon ... not some supposed fear/worship from one side or the other of the false right-left dichotomy.

IMHO

It's not a false dichotomy.

originally posted by: Annee
Anyone required to read Atlas Shrugged, should also be required to read Ayn Rand's biography.

She was an extremely self centered, dispicable person.

Annee, that is probably the first time I've ever agreed with you...

Her eyes are always shifted to the side, because she is trying to hide the fact that she really worships Satan.

Some former Satanists actually accused her of being a Satanist while she was still alive.

The fundamentals of her beliefs are an introduction to Satanism.

Ayn Rand: the mother of American Satanism
friendsofjustice.wordpress.com...

The Ayn Rand-Satan Connection Revealed!
reason.com...

This is the reason why "education" is pushing this agenda:

As another man without a high school diploma, I discovered many years ago that the "educated" class is generally not educated at all, it is mis-educated. The whole purpose of American (perhaps all "western") "higher education" is obviously to bring minds into lock step with "The Agenda." As a general rule, the less official American education a person has been exposed to, the greater his/her ration of common sense.

"Education" is Spiritual Suicide