American 2008 Election

[Duke87 1,070]

[hym 358]

Originally posted by: krbe It certainly easier to teach American politics in Europe than vice versa. But don't American school teaches politics and society in language classes? (I've learnt about the US and UK systems in English, the systems of Germany, Austria and Switzerland in German, and the new Baltic ones plus Russia in Economics)quote>

In my own experience (and if I understand you correctly), classes on politics/government are usually reserved for a course aptly named "Government."  In my experience, English classes were just about the language and nothing more.

[Taylor1 0]

Originally posted by: Duke87 quote>

I didn't find that funny at all what so ever..

[Meg 368]

Originally posted by: hym

In my own experience (and if I understand you correctly), classes on politics/government are usually reserved for a course aptly named "Government."  In my experience, English classes were just about the language and nothing more.quote>

About the language as in grammar and composition as well as literature.  English classes don't get into anything political, aside from a slight smattering to put Shakespeare into context, for instance, and very little of that.

[Duke87 1,070]

Originally posted by: Taylor1 I didn't find that funny at all what so ever..quote>

Well, humor tends to be rather subjective. What's funny to one person isn't necessarily going to be funny to any given other person.

So if it doesn't suit you, that's perfectly fine.

I think the key divider with this one is whether or not you liked the guy and thusly whether or not you're actually glad to be able to say "stick a fork in him, he's done." People who are fans of Giuliani probably aren't going to find it funny. People who harbor dislike for him, on the other hand, are far more likely to be amused.

[yoder7652 21]

Looks like McCain is going to be the Republican nominee. He leads in most of the polls and these are winner-takes-all states, in terms of delegates. Clinton and Obama will most likely be slugging it out until March since super duper tuesday isn't going to bestow either with enough delegates to get the nomination, since the Democrats split their delegates. Maybe I'll actually get to vote in a primary where I have the possibility to influence the Democrat nominee....Ohio isn't until the start of March.

[BurroDiablo 222]

Originally posted by: Duke87

Originally posted by: Taylor1 I didn't find that funny at all what so ever..quote>

Well, humor tends to be rather subjective. What's funny to one person isn't necessarily going to be funny to any given other person.

So if it doesn't suit you, that's perfectly fine.quote>

Made me laugh

Whats funnier though is his left canine looks like a Vampire fang

[coolotter88 2]

your other left, unless you're talking about stage left.

[krbe 193]

Originally posted by: hym In my own experience (and if I understand you correctly), classes on politics/government are usually reserved for a course aptly named "Government."  In my experience, English classes were just about the language and nothing more.quote>

I meant foreign languages--you're required to have at least two to pass high school (English + German, French, Spanish, Italian, or Japanese). Except for the impact language has had on domestic politics (which actually was quit a lot back in the days, given that Norwegian isn't a "proper" language), this was taught in Social Studies.

Originally posted by: Duke87 quote>

May I say, "rudimentary photoshopping"?

[Meg 368]

Originally posted by: krbe

I meant foreign languages--you're required to have at least two to pass high school (English + German, French, Spanish, Italian, or Japanese). Except for the impact language has had on domestic politics (which actually was quit a lot back in the days, given that Norwegian isn't a "proper" language), this was taught in Social Studies.quote>

Many school districts in the US do not require foreign languages.  (Remember each state, each county has different requirements for graduation.)   Many of the ones that do have alternatives that can be used for that requirement.

For instance, back when I was in high school, there was no foreign language requirement for graduation at all.  Currently, my nephew is meeting his foreign language requirement by taking advanced drafting.  (Don't ask me where that makes sense.  It's an option he has and he is taking it.)

in college, I met my foreign language requirement by taking FORTRAN.   Again, makes no sense but it was an option I had and I took it.

[krbe 193]

You mean you're supposed to talk with foreigners using a computer language, while you nephew is drawing nice lines?

[anarchy0029 2]

LMAO. I'm from NYC. I like that photo. And Taylor 1 needs to lighten up. Because I have seen other photos of other politicians.

[Meg 368]

Originally posted by: krbe

You mean you're supposed to talk with foreigners using a computer language, while you nephew is drawing nice lines?quote>

As I said, it makes no sense.

[Barbarossa 51]

.

  Edited September 7, 2012 by Barbarossa  

[Boggy1 45]

As for languages, over here in the UK there is huge emphysis on the learning of a second language. Wales has a good number of all-Welsh schools (I went to one for the first three years of my school life), where everything is spoken and taught in Welsh. In Welsh Secondary schools (ages 11 to 19), it is compulsory to take Welsh, plus either French or German (or both in some cases) for the first three years. After those three years it was still compulsory to do Welsh, but French and German were optional. Two years after that, you can drop Welsh, French, or German, but it is compulsory to learn Spanish. This then goes on for the last two years of Secondary schooling. It's very much the same in Scotland, and even more developed in Ireland (where Gaelic is spoken by one in three people as a second language).

In other parts of the UK, language is even more important. Several hundred schools do courses in other European languages (e.g. Italian, Russian, and Polish) and often worldwide languages such as Panjabi and Urdu, etcetera. Within a few years it will become compulsory for all schools to give a course in Mandarin. Recently it has become compulsory for all Primary schools (ages 4 to 12) to give an introduction to Modern European Languages.

All European Universities accept a second language as another qualification, with many Universities highly suggesting a foreign language in the course requriments.

[coolotter88 2]

Originally posted by: krbe

May I say, "rudimentary photoshopping"?quote>

you mean..."Rudy"-mentary photoshopping right?

thank you, thank you.

[BurroDiablo 222]

Yeah, I had to do 4 years of French in High School. I acctually wanted to learn German instead since I already knew enough French, but there wasn't enough people in the classes so they scrapped it

In Scotland, Languages are compulsary for the first 4 years in High School, after that you get to drop it. If your really terrible at Languages during your first 2 years you can drop it afterwards, but its pretty hard to convince your Guidance Teacher that you don't need the subject.

[coolotter88 2]

actually, java is also a foreign language class according to most colleges. I do suppose you can communicate with other people through mathematics and the programming language.

[ilikehotdogsalot 311]

At my school, 2 years of a foreign language is mandatory for graduation. With block schedule, you can take these necessary classes in one school year. One half the year, and another the other half. It's recommended to have 4 language credits for university though. I'm currently in Spanish 3, since I took the first course while in Middle school.

[Barbarossa 51]

.

  Edited September 7, 2012 by Barbarossa  

[SILVERQUEST 0]

I thought the picture of Rudy Giuliani was funny.

All Politicians are wide open for Political Humor.

[belfastuniguy 18]

I loved learning languages.

I has to learn basic Irish and French in Primary 4/5 so would have been 9/10 and then at Grammar I was taught Latin, French and Spanish. I liked French the most however. Currently looking into learning Mandarin as language course at University.

[hym 358]

Originally posted by: SkiGeek

Originally posted by: krbe

I meant foreign languages--you're required to have at least two to pass high school (English + German, French, Spanish, Italian, or Japanese). Except for the impact language has had on domestic politics (which actually was quit a lot back in the days, given that Norwegian isn't a "proper" language), this was taught in Social Studies.quote>

Many school districts in the US do not require foreign languages.  (Remember each state, each county has different requirements for graduation.)   Many of the ones that do have alternatives that can be used for that requirement.

For instance, back when I was in high school, there was no foreign language requirement for graduation at all.  Currently, my nephew is meeting his foreign language requirement by taking advanced drafting.  (Don't ask me where that makes sense.  It's an option he has and he is taking it.)

in college, I met my foreign language requirement by taking FORTRAN.   Again, makes no sense but it was an option I had and I took it.quote>

I think it varies somewhat.  Everyone that I can think of either has to take two years of foreign language classes, is taking those classes, or has taken them.  This is based on things I've been told by residents of Missouri, Florida, and Texas.  Many of them weren't given an option of electing out of it with something like a programming class.  They were going to learn a foreign language and there was no room for trying to wiggle out of it.

As for college, I have to take either communications or a foreign language.  I can take one or the other, but no programming class gets me out of it.

[deadwoods 542]

Originally posted by: SkiGeek ...in college, I met my foreign language requirement by taking FORTRAN.   Again, makes no sense but it was an option I had and I took it.quote>

Isn't FORTRAN a foreign language? Along with PL/1, Cobol (68, 74, 85/II), Assembler/370 and all those other languages I spent so many years learning.

Currently in Australia, all primary school kids study an additional language. Both my girls started learning Japanese in Prep (pre-grade 1). Back in my day it was boring old Italian and French. Now we see a lot of asian languages; Japanese, Mandarin and Indonesian.

[patriots_1228 51]

Well, in Massachusetts, we started learning foreign languages in 6th grade, we got a term of german, spanish, latin, and french, and then in 7th we had to pick one to learn for the rest of middle school.

Everyone is required to take a language, unless they are in special education, in which case they go to SPED during the language block.

I chose german, and my high school im going to next year has one of the best german programs in the country, but i kinda wish i chose spanish because its a lot more useful in america.

[Duke87 1,070]

Originally posted by: krbe May I say, "rudimentary photoshopping"?quote>

You may, but you'd be wrong if you did. Absolutely no Photoshop was involved. Hell, I don't even have Photoshop in my computer. That was an MS Paint/GIMP joint effort.

[krbe 193]

Originally posted by: Duke87

Originally posted by: krbe May I say, "rudimentary photoshopping"?quote>

You may, but you'd be wrong if you did. Absolutely no Photoshop was involved. Hell, I don't even have Photoshop in my computer. That was an MS Paint/GIMP joint effort.quote>

Well, "rudi/ymentary" is the key here While it's a fair Paint job, it's pretty primitive GIMPing

And on languages; I've seen a Krakow school (Poland) where Japanese was taught years before English.

[Odainsaker 2,136]

In Hawaii, they formally started us on the Hawaiian language in elementary school. Like the turbulent history of English versus Spanish in many of the U.S.-Mexico border states, the relation of Hawaiian and English and the crosses in between has been a source of much social controversy, but also an arena for the islands' now astounding case studies in multiculturalism. Here in central Texas, the high school requirement was two years of a foreign language, of which I took German as there was not enough student interest to allow for the formation of the proposed Japanese class. Interestingly, a free experimental summer crash course in immersive Russian was also offered by the district, and I found it to be great fun even if it was like summer school. But still, in none of these were the current political events or political makeups in the languages' native countries really explored.

But steering back to the topic, a thought finally occurred to me: almost regardless of whom we elect, it really would seem like business-as-usual. The Republican candidates offer little that we haven't seen before (white male conservatives moralizing at us). If Clinton gets elected, the face and gender would be different, but to the rest of the world, the U.S. will still operate as the major military and economic superpower and the same old world hotspots will still be burning. However, if Obama is elected, that is a radically different image of America to present to the world, one that could catch many in the world off-guard. I can see Hillary glaring across the conference table at the Russian or Chinese leaders, and it is get-tough foreign politics as we know already. What would Obama touring the world and facing down Putin or Olmert or Ahmadinejad feel like?

Hmmm, Barak Obama spent some formative growing years in Hawaii, in a high school familiar to my parents. I wonder what he took from our quirky island home state. C'mon, maybe just a little "howzit brah" and a taste for saimin and he'll have our small vote!

[yoder7652 21]

Originally posted by: Odainsaker 

What would Obama touring the world and facing down Putin or Olmert or Ahmadinejad feel like?

quote>

 

For starters Obama said he would at least sit down at the table with Ahmadinejad....unlike the current administration which is talking about the man and his country instead of talking to...

[Barbarossa 51]

.

  Edited September 7, 2012 by Barbarossa