Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford of Southern Arizona Shot At Constituent Event

[ThetaDancer]

It breaks my heart that government & civics courses are (apparently) not being taught. I also feel really naive because I had no idea that these weren't completely standard, basic courses.

[Drolefille]

Originally Posted by AzTheta

Vito, is it called Government or something of the sort? Times have changed (we had typing, not keyboarding )

ETA: Ms. Clarke was consulted on the McVeigh case, and there is conflicting information on the web as to whether she actually represented him.

Illinois requires/required a constitution test in Jr. High and in High School. Passing was required to graduate each. In high school we took up some of our American History class with it. I believe we had to be able to write the preamble.

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

hey drole...BTW...no, it's not about politics, but what the article was stating is that had certain laws regarding his firearms were still in place, there would have been the possibility that he may not have caused so much damage.

That's not how causality works. Disregarding the concept that if the law had been in place so many things about reality would have been changed that this guy could have been dead, living elsewhere, or not had the experiences that exacerbated his mental illness... It's still silly. What ifs don't serve anyone here. In reality if he wanted to do damage he would have found a way. But what if he had been prohibited from carrying a gun? Well then he might have made pipe bombs. It doesn't help anything at all.

[Alumiyum]

Originally Posted by ThetaDancer

It breaks my heart that government & civics courses are (apparently) not being taught. I also feel really naive because I had no idea that these weren't completely standard, basic courses.

I wasn't aware the basics weren't taught either. IIRC we had civics of some sort twice before senior year in separate units, when Government/Economics were required classes. I've always assumed it was a state requirement, but it's never occurred to me to ask any of my friends who attended other state schools if they had the same requirement or not. I loathed Econ, but my Gov teacher was at least enthusiastic and pushed those of us that were 18 by the 2004 election to educate ourselves, then vote. Which I appreciate, since so many people don't actually know who or what they're voting for IMO.

Re: coaches as teachers...I've had few coach-teachers, but out of the three I had only one appeared to care more about coaching than teaching. The other two weren't amazing teachers, but they were perfectly adequate. They aren't all bad.