I have witnessed the end of humanity...

February 13, 2008, 10:35 PM

What makes us human? I personally believe it to be deeply rooted in our capacity to appreciate and culture the arts (such as music, theatre, graphical arts, etc.). Well... if the Florida legislature has their way and the Florida Board of Education continues to pass legislation like it did just recently, art will be a mystery to youths until graduating high school.

Let me explain. In a tragic case of the "God Complex" (that little conception some people get that they are indeed the all powerful creator of the universe), the Florida Board of Education managed to pass something called the P.E. Amendment for elementry level public schools. The legislature decided that it was obviously the role of the school to 'cure' children of obesity and not the previously held notion that it was the role of parents. Thus, it is now required for elementry students to take two P.E. courses a day.

"But Professor13!" you say, "This just means the legislature is taking an interest in the health of the children! Surely there is no harm in a little more exercise?!" True enough, if the only thing that would be sacrificed were a few calories.

Unfortunately, room must be made in the funding for schools for this 'benevolent' law. The 'logical' answer? Go ahead and take this time to wipe the excess sarcasm from your ear. Ears good and clean? Excellent, listen. The amendment, to fund this policy, has cut ALL the arts programs in public elementry schools. No more art. No more music. Goodbye originality. After all, kids don't want to be creative, they want to be carbon-copy learners of multiplication tables, while sitting on their marvelously fit bottoms (sorry, did it again. Clean up, I'll wait).

If this weren't enough, in March they will be voting to get the P.E. Amendment passed for the Middle School level, and afterward, highschool. In short, if you want a kid that can think outside the capabilities of a calculator, do yourself and the kid a favor, don't have him/her in the Sunshine... I mean, Standardized State, Florida.

February 14, 2008, 2:48 PM

Woah, thats really harsh! My fiance's kid brother is in a couple of artsy classes...and my fiance herself wouldn't be the artist she is today without her art class.

Thats really lame, damn you Charlie Crist!

February 14, 2008, 2:54 PM

That is, in all honesty, retarded. Kids should be allowed to choose if they want to do more PE or not, but to force it on them, and getting rid of Art, Music and (I assume) Drama, is just ridiculous. PE shouldn't be considered more important than the other subjects, it should be up to the kids what they want to do.

February 14, 2008, 2:58 PM

Thats really bad. Making more Jocks instead of creative geniuses outta kids, bahhhhh!

February 14, 2008, 3:03 PM

Hahaha, that's a load of shit. School itself is a load of shit.

Making kids take PE two times a day in school is an even bigger load of shit. Seriously, if someone wants to be fat, they should be allowed to be the size of the damn moon and eat everything in sight if they want to. It shouldn't be anyone else's problem that someone else is fat. This is what happens when you live in the US with idiots that believe everything should be picture perfect, and is reinforced by a Society stupid enough to enforce it.

Also, removing art is a smaller concern to me, but it's still retarded. Kids will always have a way to be creative, cutting them off art classes isn't really much of a problem unless it's band or something, which should at the very least stay.

February 14, 2008, 7:54 PM

God, health freaks gone crazy. Less creativity, more conformity, more annoying PE lessons. Absolutely hated them.
I think L summed it up well.

February 18, 2008, 11:03 AM

This is goddamn ridiculous. =/ As Aerith stated, it should be up to the kids what subjects they take. Lord knows I would *not* be happy if I had to take PE for another year. >.< And saying that, I'm still a skinny runt.

Quote:

Originally Posted by L

Making kids take PE two times a day in school is an even bigger load of shit. Seriously, if someone wants to be fat, they should be allowed to be the size of the damn moon and eat everything in sight if they want to. It shouldn't be anyone else's problem that someone else is fat. This is what happens when you live in the US with idiots that believe everything should be picture perfect, and is reinforced by a Society stupid enough to enforce it.

Damn straight. Just goes to show that the world has been brainwashed by this 'ideal' body image, whereas there are still people out there who don't give a damn if they have a 24 inch waist, and maybe LIKE being big?

And the part about childhood obesity being 'the school's fault and not the parents' is a load of bull. Obesity is a result of many factors, but overall it's willpower, really. You can't make somebody change if they don't want to.

February 18, 2008, 11:13 AM

That proves how retarded politicians can be. If it weren't for the arts and music, we would have never had great masterpieces like "Fur Elise". They must understand that these courses are as important as staying healthy. Sacrificing the right to think by ourselves just to lose some weight? Yeah right....

Good thing I don't live Florida

February 18, 2008, 1:08 PM

Grrr... Stupid Florida! Here's an interesting fact of which I was recently informed: Florida, though third in the US in terms of population (California and New York coming out ahead), is ranked 49th in terms of school funding! I think we have some State politicians that flunked basic arithmetic.