Thursday, August 20, 2009

Government Health Care Will Be as Bad as Government Schools

We are occasionally visited by a troll who drops a comment and then leaves. Nodrog is not famous for his ability to maintain civil discourse, so when one of his rude remarks is deleted by “an administrator” he returns with another riposte, threatening never to come back.

Yesterday was either the second or third occasion he behaved in such a manner. This time the unpleasant comment was a fallacious claim about home-schooled children being taught fundamentalist earth science - i. e., that the world is six thousand years old. I’m paraphrasing, but that was his general idea.

I know dozens of homeschooling families, and none of them believes or teaches Nodrog’s curriculum. To put it as kindly as possible, his notions were inaccurate about the majority of homeschoolers. Thus, the comment went to the trashcan where all the other deliberately provocative remarks go to reside.

There is much debate lately about HR 3200, that horrendous (one thousand-plus pages) health care allocation program that Congress hopes to foist off on us. I am on page 453 or so and it doesn't look good. Did you know the IRS will be an important agent in your health care service?

If you want to know what health care will look like in ten years, just examine the current learning level in your state schools, even after the infusion of all that "No Child Left Behind" bureaucratic boondoggle.

An acclaimed public school teacher, John Taylor Gatto, does not believe in public schooling, and for a very good reason: he was a teacher himself -

He climaxed his teaching career as New York State Teacher of the Year after being named New York City Teacher of the Year on three occasions. He quit teaching on the OP ED page of the Wall Street Journal in 1991 while still New York State Teacher of the Year, claiming that he was no longer willing to hurt children. Later that year he was the subject of a show at Carnegie Hall called “An Evening With John Taylor Gatto,” which launched a career of public speaking in the area of school reform, which has taken Gatto over a million and a half miles in all fifty states and seven foreign countries. In 1992, he was named Secretary of Education in the Libertarian Party Shadow Cabinet, and he has been included in Who’s Who in America from 1996 on. In 1997, he was given the Alexis de Tocqueville Award for his contributions to the cause of liberty, and was named to the Board of Advisors of the National TV-Turnoff Week.

IMHO, that ought to be the National Throw Out Your TV Week, but it will take a few more years to this idea to gain sufficient traction.

Here’s what Mr. Gatto has to say about compulsory schooling:



Our son was home-schooled for the first six years, and I’m glad we did it, though looking back there are some things I would change.
- - - - - - - - -
Actually, those things have changed, but it was too late to be of benefit for our son. As a gregarious person, he could have used the socialization of other home-schooled children. No, definitely not the “socialization of the school yard”. I remember only too well the brutality of small children in large groups who are supervised by too few teachers too busy talking to one another to observe anything but the loudest problems.

So he would have benefitted from being around other children who loved to learn but that wasn't possible in our rural environment where all the other children went to school. Today many more kids are learning at home in our county.

He did finally get the socialization he wanted in the last years of college. High school was not quite a waste of time; he went to a small, rural school and his teachers were experienced and available to their students. Since it was a private school, they didn’t have to go through the pedagogical indoctrination of unionized public school teachers. They made less money, but they’d already done interesting things with their lives so they were of an age to mentor their charges.

Ironically, his AP Biology teacher was the retired head of a college Biology Department who just liked to keep his hand in teaching. He’d seen it all and warned his charges about the pitfalls of “higher” education.

Aside from the lack of other home-schooled students, our son thrived on home learning. It wasn’t until he had to do group work in 7th grade with kids who were “too kewl for school” that he ran into anti-intellectuals. That was an education in itself.

So were bullies. When he was in the first private school, he happened upon a group of his fellow 8th graders who'd locked one of their classmates in a closet. He could tell by the boy's yelling that he was freaking out in the dark. He interfered, which made everyone mad, including the victim. When he got home he was still appalled, and recited the school's code of honor to me. I asked what he was going to do.

That evening, he tried to get in touch with the headmaster and the director of the lower school. Neither was available. He was determined not to return to school until the issue was addressed. After much consideration, he drew up his POINTS OF BEHAVIOR AT _____ SCHOOL. He did not mention the incident or the people involved, he simply outlined in large font the school's rules (which had been devised with input from the student body of course. Everything had to be "fair"). He made a number of copies of his declaration and taped them at eye level to all the entrance and exit doors of the various buildings in the lower school.

Of course, the papers were removed by lunch time and it wasn't long before he was called before the headmaster and lower school director. He told his story. They admonished him for not coming to them with the problem. He explained that he'd attempted to do just that and since they weren't available, he did what was necessary. Of course he got the gold-plated "let the adults handle it" lecture and he nodded in all the right places. Later, a number of upper school kids quietly congratulated him for his "Edict".

It wasn't long before all the boys in his class had several group sessions about "bullying". He enjoyed the lectures and watched the victim continue to deny his situation. It was an education...

Since the opportunities to play with other kids had been limited in his early years he made an imaginary clan out of his stuffed animals. They regularly played board games and had complicated lineages I never quite worked out. Each was a different age, and some of them were adults. It worked for him, he still loves to observe family dynamics and group behaviors, and he’s still learning how to negotiate the white waters of business and personal relationships.

Like Luther, He knows full well that sometimes you have to nail the rules to the door. He also knows when to walk away politely and finally.

In his early learning, he was never told he was too young to try anything academic. Thus, he learned to read using Calvin and Hobbes and whimsical books his dad put together. He was writing novels by the time he was nine and sonnets by the age of twelve (there was this red-haired girl…but never mind).

When he was a Cub Scout, he was also reading the World War I poets. He found the book in his father’s shelves and it never occurred to him he was “too young” to read the poems; the book, after all, was quite slim, the lines were short, the words weren’t difficult. Nor was there anyone around to admonish him that Siegfried Sassoon was “too hard”.

Those poets led him to the study of war, its history, strategy and tactics. In 8th grade he wrote a thesis on the use of aviation in the European theatre in the Second World War. The carnage was painful to acknowledge, though he immersed himself far more deeply in the carnage of the American Civil War and the strengths and weaknesses of its generals.

In his last year of high school he devised an Eagle Scout project that involved interviewing the remaining Second World War vets in our county. He videotaped each interview and transcribed the results, making a book of stories. The Historical Society sold copies. By the time he'd finished college, many of the men (and one witty, wise woman) he'd interviewed were dead.

As an adult, his love of history remains. I think he's doing an informal internship at the local historical society where he lives now.

When he was nine, he found a picture of The Periodic Table. It wasn’t long before he had it as a huge poster on his bedroom wall and was making up names for the missing elements. Even back then he was absolutely sure that Chemistry was worth studying, though he couldn’t say exactly what he would “do” with it.

In maths, as he moved from the concrete to the abstract, he became a skilled problem solver, understanding that drill and memorization were sometimes essential, and that you could drop them once you were advanced enough.

Math made music literacy easier and vice versa. He plays the piano and the 6 and 12 string guitars. He spent some time in his younger days trying to figure out the chords in a few Pink Floyd tunes. “They’re tougher than they sound”, he told me. Of necessity, he also learned Bach and the Episcopal Hymnal since he was pressed into service as our church organist at age eleven. It was a necessity.

Also for fun, he tried to learn Italian on his own because he fell in love with Dante’s work in the 8th grade. I’m sure he still has snatches of “The Inferno” memorized.

In the summers, and in high school, he took university courses in French and statistics for which he was given credit when he got to college.

What surprised me most was his political interests. He followed the Bush I - Clinton campaign, though we didn’t have a TV or radio to give him the “real” news. On the morning following the election, I woke him as usual. He opened one eye and asked who’d won the presidency. When I told him the news he rolled over, put a pillow over his head and wailed “what is there to get up for?” He was probably six or seven at the time. As his sister later observed, "when he gets to adolescence, how will you be able to tell?"

While he had many interests, art wasn't one of them. Because his dad was a landscape artist himself, our son could name colors like "magenta" and "thalo blue" by the time he was three. One lovely April day we were driving to the store and I commented on the wonderful green fields and pastures everywhere. He looked up briefly from his book and said patiently, "that's yellow-green, Mom". I was sure he'd be painting in no time. Somehow that didn't happen; he just never did learn to draw well. As his dad said, he sure could draw great concepts.

Like his parents, he isn't athletic. He tried wrestling but they let girls on the team the following year so he quit post-haste. While I'm sure he had yearnings, wrestling the objects of those yearnings wasn't in his game plan.

This is just our personal story. Not everyone is fortunate enough to be able to home school their children. I wish I had been able to home-school my older children. But that was then, and that was the "excellent" school system in our "excellent" suburb. Sad.

For those who are mulling it over, here are a few ideas to consider:

John Taylor later found, using the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale, "while half of the conventionally schooled children scored at or below the 50th percentile (in self-concept), only 10.3% of the home-schooling children did so."[71] He further stated that "the self-concept of home-schooling children is significantly higher (and very much so statistically) than that of children attending the conventional school. This has implications in the areas of academic achievement and socialization, to mention only two. These areas have been found to parallel self-concept. Regarding socialization, Taylor's results would mean that very few home-schooling children are socially deprived. He states that critics who speak out against home schooling on the basis of social deprivation are actually addressing an area which favors home schoolers.[71]

In 2003, the National Home Education Research Institute conducted a survey of 7,300 U.S. adults who had been homeschooled (5,000 for more than seven years). Their findings included:

* Homeschool graduates are active and involved in their communities. 71% participate in an ongoing community service activity, like coaching a sports team, volunteering at a school, or working with a church or neighborhood association, compared with 37% of U.S. adults of similar ages from a traditional education background.

* Homeschool graduates are more involved in civic affairs and vote in much higher percentages than their peers. 76% of those surveyed between the ages of 18 and 24 voted within the last five years, compared with only 29% of the corresponding U.S. populace. The numbers are even greater in older age groups, with voting levels not falling below 95%, compared with a high of 53% for the corresponding U.S. populace.

* 58.9% report that they are "very happy" with life, compared with 27.6% for the general U.S. population. 73.2% find life "exciting", compared with 47.3%.

That link provides information on homeschooling all over the world, not just the U.S.

For every parent who can do it, I wish you the blessings, the joys, the frustrations of teaching your own children. I wish for you the partnership with other parents as you learn how to learn and give one another enthusiasm for the journey.

I promise you one thing: it will change your life.

20 comments:

Homophobic Horse said...

The intention and function of state education is to demoralise and humiliate.

"Of course, the papers were removed by lunch time and it wasn't long before he was called before the headmaster and lower school director. He told his story. They admonished him for not coming to them with the problem. He explained that he'd attempted to do just that and since they weren't available, he did what was necessary. Of course he got the gold-plated "let the adults handle it" lecture and he nodded in all the right places. Later, a number of upper school kids quietly congratulated him for his "Edict". "

Conscientious children must be subjected to this kind of soul rape in a million different places all over the socialist world everyday.

Dymphna said...

I agree. But he knew ahead of time about what they would do and he chose that path anyway. He looks back at it not as a "soul rape" but as standing up for what he thought was right.

Though the school was private, it sure was a den of socialists. He and one history teacher were the only two conservatives in the whole joint.

And this teacher wore a tie, did not allow the boys to wear their backwards baseball caps in class, and demanded good English and proper syntax.

He was also an extremely nice guy and the kids all liked him.

Call Me Mom said...

You know one now. I homeschooled for 5 years and taught my child both the theory of intelligent design and the theory of evolution, with emphasis on the word "theory".

I completely agree that the traditional public school system is appalling and if you have read my post titled "In Loco Parentis" on the AFB blog, you know at least one of my reasons why.

Dymphna said...

Call me Mom--

Wow. Quite a post.

I'll add to your material. I knew a boy from a dysfunctional family. The kid was nine years old and obviously depressed. He was often late for school and appeared unkempt and un-fed.

The "guidance" counselor talked to the child, who admitted to feeling very sad. He was asked if there were guns in the house. WHen he told them yes -- his dad hunted to put meat on the table -- the father was told to get rid of his guns. Zero tolerance, don't you know.

The father refused to do that and so the school took its revenge by searching the kid every.single.morning.before.class.

Zero compassion and intelligence.

The mother cried. She began going to the school and holding her son's hand while they searched his belongings and his person. She ignored the school's assertion she couldn't do this and persevered, walking him to class when the personal invasion was finished.

Eventually they stopped their little game. It was just to prove they could do it.

Zenster said...

IMHO, that ought to be the National Throw Out Your TV Week, but it will take a few more years to this idea to gain sufficient traction.

Been there, done that, read the book, saw the movie, bought the T-shirt, wore it out, bought another one.

My household television was turned off in 2001 and has not been powered up for any reason ever since. As it is not digitally compatible, this boob tube will probably go to the curb as a giveaway.

I'm especially curious about Gatto's claim that America's Robber Barons were instrumental in establishing the Prussian-related public schooling apparatus that we now know today. Any relevant links would be appreciated.

Wow. Quite a post.

I agree and laud Call Me Mom for her keen (linked) dissection of in loco parentis. If anything, it has further cemented my determination to, one day, home school my own children.

As the son of a public school teacher, I have a unique perspective on these matters. My father was not just an ordinary educator in his local public school system. He was also a repeat president of the district's Parent Teacher Association (PTA), and a repeat president of the local Teacher's Association as well.

With near-chronometer precision, my parent's divorce corresponded with a move from the regional suburbs into the heart of my father's school district. Although it required me to have a special 4th period lunch in the teacher's dining room, my father saw fit to have me as his own pupil. We'll disregard the fact that I could answer nearly every question asked or had to accept B grades due to how an A would be perceived as a conflict of interest.

Is anyone familiar with how "the cobbler's children go barefoot"? I can count the times on one hand when I received any help from my father―or, for that matter, from my mother―with my homework. Let us again disregard how both of them were graduates from one of this world's finest universities. Let us also disregard how, out of four children, I was the only one to actually graduate from high school.

Even more strange is how one of my brothers attained the Dean's List at the same university that my parents attended but has not gone on to do anything with his life beyond fathering a bastard child. Said child being the immense object of affection by my parents but we shall ignore that for the meanwhile.

Strangest of all is how this entire tableau took place in one of America's most liberal communities yet still confered upon me an education which ranked among the top ten in America. I suppose it had something to do with how my English Composition teacher was a disgraced university professor. He graded me twelve out of ten points on my essay about analog versus digital brain models.

Being taught Fortran IV in high school plus having access to Univac and CDC computing platforms back then was no small consolation with respect to how today's pupils are not just stifled but mangled in order to fit whatever round peg into the square hole of modern public edumahcation. That these same K-12 and University institutions are so riddled with Cultural Marxism and communist ideologues is nothing short of terrifying.

Jedilson Bonfim said...

A couple of weeks ago I read an article about homeschooling in the dhimmi magazine The Economist, where something interesting was mentioned, regarding what Dymphna wrote about how she wishes her son had been able to socialize with other home-schooled children (and the positive consequences of that kind of socialization): the lack of age-group segregation among such kids, which is the norm in most schools, makes it easier for them to articulately talk to kids and adults of any age, since they're not told that somehow they're not "old enough" to do or talk about this or that.

This is certainly another side to what Dymphna has experienced herself by allowing her son to enjoy the freedom he did have in his education. Her comments it never occurred to him he was “too young” to read the poems; the book, after all, was quite slim, the lines were short, the words weren’t difficult. Nor was there anyone around to admonish him that Siegfried Sassoon was “too hard” are certainly a product of such freedom and the absence of preconceptions and stereotypes that kids are expected to conform to in schools.

ANTI-ISLAMIST said...

In another thread John Sobieski asked: AI, why do the people vote for such an evil woman?
Of course I could ask the same about Obama.
The west is committing cultural suicide and many apparently do not care.

- - - - -
Could the indoctrinating and inferior Swedish school System perhaps be an explaination why the Swedish voters are ready to ellect this evil woman Mona Sahlin, aka Mona Muslim?
- - - -
I myself was a pupil in the qualified Swedish shool System between 1941-1951 - in these 10 years I met ONE qualified and INSPIRING teacher - a qualified guess is that the Swedish school System in the following 60 years has not improved - and never will (?).

Proposal for new School Law in Sweden 2009
On the 16th of June, 2009, the Swedish Government presented its proposal for a new Swedish School Law, that has been in the works for many years. The Swedish Government is making homeschooling illegal, for religious or philosophical reasons, thus showing off its worst *totalitarian socialist* roots. International support to show that Sweden, as a member of the international democratic community, cannot take such a position, is needed. As Sweden is often seen as the *great social utopia of the world*, it is important for Swedish homeschoolers to win this battle. Any and all help is appreciated immeasurably.The position on homeschooling in the suggested law is a return to darkness. Homeschooling will NOT be permitted for those referring to *philosophical* or (religious) reasons according to the European convention of Human Rights! The reason given is: "…that the education in school should be *comprehensive* and *objective* [Ha, ha!] and thereby designed so that all pupils can participate, regardless of what religious or philosophical reasons the pupil or his or her care-takers may have."
The proposed law can be downloaded in Swedish from the Swedish Government homepage - HERE.
Sensible international comments about the new Swedish school law can be sent to: skollagen@education.ministry.se

There is a petition (in English) HERE. Please sign it if you want to support the weak forces of common sense in Sweden that maintain that home education stays a legal alternative to ordinary sozio-dhimmi-indoctrinating state schools.

Anonymous said...

I'd love a copy of your son's book for my military historian (12 yr. old :) ) son. Any chance of that happening?

(sorry if this is a double post, ran into a glitch in the OpenID)

Anonymous said...

"We are occasionally visited by a troll who drops a comment and then leaves."

Maybe that's because he eats, shoots and leaves.

http://tinyurl.com/mjxv5y

Rocha said...

Dymphna

Is there any doubt to it? Look at Brazil. We have universal health care and what we got? Awful hospitals were rains inside, endless corruption and now exams are done in the private hospitals because the list o do it is so big that the pacient would be dead before the exam is done. Not that it's without his merits, many top doctors work in public hospitals and do their work there. Men like Drauzio Varela and Aristodeu Pinotti worked in public hospitals.

The inverse is ALSO true. Just one exemple 5 years ago my mother had to have a foot vein "dissected" to have medicine admistered, well somehow they lost the vein and they coulnd't find another one. So they tried to get a tricky one in her neck, the men who tried to do it had did it once and were teaching 2 other who had never did it! Before they admitted their failure there was screaming, pain and a bed soaked in blood. After that i never permitted again my mother going to a Civil Service Hospital (public but way better that the real public ones). That was a nightmare to me she dosen't cared so much but after 35 years working in public hospitals i believe people got anesthesiated.

The Sentinel said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Rocha said...

As for education i really don't know the situation on USA apart from what i read about but in here i'm torn apart with two extreme ideas. As education is disregarded by the lower classes in Brazil (the lower middle up uses private schools) i fight with these two ideas:

1: Leave most of them quit, expell the problematic and teach well the remaining.

2: Force all of them to learn in such a despotic full time school.

I DO prefer the first choice BUT that would perpetuate the lower classes poverty maybe forever. It's a dream but the actual system where most children turn classes in hell and destroy the chances of the few who DO want to learn something is way worse.

Dymphna said...

Via con Dios, nodrog...commenting for the second time after promising yet again not to do so bespeaks a lack of integrity. Surely your momma told you a gentleman keeps his word, no matter how painful the experience?

Again, I urge readers to scroll through Homeschoolingand find your country.

BTW, home-schooling in Sweden’s already illegal. Are they planning even more draconian laws? Does that mean a few must be breaking the law now?

My sympathies, Anti-Islamist. The Swedish are such devout believers in law that changing may be impossible. Were I Swedish, I'd sign the petition.
-----------------

Rocha: South America’s not even covered in the wiki. Your description of your mother's ordeal will become our norm if we pass gov't health care. Anything but reform, it's allocation of resources made deliberately scarce. Bureaucratic corruption of the Food & Drug Administration is a good look at our future.

To the extent any polity controls welfare, schools, and healthcare, liberty dies. Individual freedoms are replaced by government fiats permitting invasion into all aspects of individual life.

Thus, Rocha, illiterate poor children can be safely ignored and your mother can be tortured in the name "health".
---------------
@ Jedilson Bonfim, re the lack of age-group segregation being an advantage: absolutely! My mother lived with us near the end of her life; Baron was caretaker while I worked. A close bond developed between grandmother & grandson.

Age-segregation is done for "efficiency" & to avoid unmanageable "Lord-of-the-Flies" behavior. This "socialization"' is another faith word from leftists anxious to close home-schooling. In the next county, parents are fighting to keep their local schools for the littlest children. Bureaucrats will merge ‘em all, though.
------------------
If you didn’t view that Gatto video, you're missing some interesting history on schools. Should’ve known our pedagogy has Prussian roots.

But America is such a motley mess; our ideas about schooling are as varied as our DNA. The greatest harm (of many) caused by the “war” on poverty was the destruction of family cohesiveness and thus of education. Learning “takes” best in intact families & communities that can protect their progeny.
----------------
Zenster, that is one sad story re your education & your life’s journey. Two-parent homes don’t cure everything, but divorce is the biggest tragedy for kids anywhere.

Google some of those terms re Prussian schools. Also look at John Dewey's utopian balderdash: influential on US pedagogy & mostly wrong. Especially see Ivan Illich's "Unschooling". Gatto's enthusiasts list some resources -- see the second link.
-----------------------

BTW, in 19th century England there were groups of lower class adults who gathered after work to read the classics. Northern England, mostly. The Cuban cigar workers had someone hired to read the classics to them as they worked. Both stories from City Journal; they must still be archived on the site somewhere.

People not ruined by government education love to learn.

ANTI-ISLAMIST said...

Homeschooling is still allowed by the Swedish Education Act Chapter 10, § 4 -- permissions to exercise homeshooling are given one year at a time to competent caretaker.
In the proposed new Education Act which now in 2009 is under consideration a proposed tightening of the law may lead to that Homeschooling disappeares as an alternative educational possibility. In the planned new law it also explicitly is stated that religious and *philosophical* reasons should not be counted as serious reasons for ex-school education in the future. If this bill goes through Sweden may, in company with Germany and her nazi-old educational laws from 1938, have the most restrictive law in Europe. The proposal is criticized internationally from a human rights perspective and by the organizations representing home-educators in Sweden and other countries.
- - - - -
- Were I Swedish, I'd sign the petition, said Dymphna!

- Must you be Swedish to oppose Swedish stupidity?
The petition (in English!) is meant also for international contribution -- so please, Madam!
- - - - -
PS
I myself was a pupil in the qualified Swedish shool System between 1941-1951 - in these 10 years I met ONE qualified and INSPIRING teacher - out of a total of more than 20.

ɱØяñιηg$ʇðя ©™ said...

Norwegian author Aksel Sandemose invented something what is in scandinavia is called Jantelagen (The Law of Jante). I haven't been thinking of these in a fairly long time until I just saw them on a swedish blog. They are supposed to only apply to scandinavians but I don't know. You tell me. Personally I doubt the laws are limited regionally to this northern place but indeed are more global. Only you can give me input on this. They're like the ten commandments - the negative version.

1. Thou shalt not think that you are something.
2. Thou shalt not believe that you are as wise as us.
3. Thou shalt not believe that you are smarter than us.
4. Thou shalt not pretend to be better than us.
5. Thou shalt not believe that you know more than us.
6. Thou shalt not believe that you are better than us.
7. Thou shalt not believe that thou are good for nothing.
8. Though shalt not laugh at us.
9. Though shalt not believe that anybody gives a damn about you.
10. Thou shalt not believe that you can teach us anything.

I hope my translation comes out fairly okey. :)

Call Me Mom said...

Well, If the petition is open to all ..Where's my pen?

One of the big problems here in the US, is that people have given up the care and education of their children practically from birth. Is it any wonder that the children don't respect their parent's knowledge and beliefs?

They are taught all day long that religion is the crutch of superstitious fools who cannot think for themselves and most parents do nothing to refute that.

Your troll, Dymphna, is clearly of that persuasion. So inculcated with anti-faith and moral relativism that they cannot even recognize the many assumptions they take on faith alone to support their views.

I'm convinced that this is at the heart of the US's refusal to acknowledge the threat posed by Islam. The MSM and our young adult population is now so thoroughly saturated with those of a mindset to dismiss all things religious as the province of fools that they cannot even bring themselves to address the idea that a religion can pose a serious threat to our country.

Baron Bodissey said...

AI --

Thanks for the tip about the petition. Dymphna and I went over and signed it.

christian soldier said...

I made the decisions to HS my off-spring from womb to High School Junior...27 hears ago....
sent o-s to private Christian school for higher maths and sciences ...and team sports...
o-s was well received by classmates and voted co-valedictorian by classmates-superseding school precedent of only one valedictorian and student must attend the 4 full years of High School there...
o-s was also accepted to two top institutions - both only accepting 1200-1300 a year...
One was recently deemed the top college in the US....
Home-School works..
C-CS

Dice said...

Cigar rollers had someone read to them because they were unable to use their hands for anything else during the course of a looooong day. The brand name Montecristo comes from it being a favorite story of theirs. Radio changed that later on.

This led to them being a well-educated lower/lower-middle class. Meet some older rollers, you'll see some of them missing fingers for opposing Castro.

ANTI-ISLAMIST said...

Could the Swedish school System perhaps be an explaination why the Swedish Nation is buggered up?
- - - - -
Hampus 7 years - stranger, or foreigner, in his own country!
The school has begun. But not for Hampus, seven years young. He became the only Swedish child in his first-F1-class at Gustaf Hellstrom's School, Kristianstad, in that schooldistrict where he belongs.
Unacceptable his family meant and keeps him at home. In the school-breaks as well as in class the other children speak their native languages, arabic and somali. Hampus could not partake in the games and felt very much outside.
- I do not want to be there, no-one is playing with me, he says.
- I walk around in circles and feel panic.
- - - - -
In a Swedish forum the situation of Hampus was discussed; here a most typical comment by "medborgare" [citizen]:
If you do not feel comfortable in a class maybe you better change - simply. Why should the school decide what language people talk? It's as stupid as if you determine what subject people may talk about. If 1 in 20 is the only one that does not understand it's weird if everyone else should adjust to him.