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Reepicheep's avatar

Amen. We sent men to the moon before there was a federal department of education.

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Paul Erlandson's avatar

When I was taking night classes in the mid-1980s, to get my Secondary Ed certification, I took a course at Texas A&M which dealt with structural (and sometimes political) issues involved with our nation's public school system. I remember the professor quite well, as he was a friend of my father's. I remember writing, turning in, and defending a paper which advocated abolishing our public school system. In an understated reply, the professor said something like, "Well, that is a somewhat compelling, if a bit radical, case you present."

So, getting rid of the Department of Education is right up my alley. The Constitution truly does not allow for it to have ever been created, as it is not among the enumerated powers of the federal government. It never should have existed. So, I'm hilariously happy about what might happen with this under President Trump.

I'm also going to enjoy reading your World piece, because I have a lot in common, in terms of lifestyle, with the Bryan Johnson fellow. I don't have any desire to live forever. I think "90 and out" would be great by me. Or even sooner. Better is the day of death than the day of one's birth, and all that. But I do consume about 40 supplement pills a day, and spend a lot of time in my gym. And if I don't spend at least 3 hours a day with hunger pangs, I gain weight, like a pound a day.

But I cannot hold a candle to one of my fellow vestrymen ... He has set an explicit goal of living to be 120, and dying in "peak condition." He leads a very controlled life. He is doing everything right, according to the currently prevailing science. One year, he gave up carbs for Lent, and just decided to go carb-free for the rest of his life. I'm not sure if I believe him or not. But he is rail-thin, so maybe.

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Hank Corcoran, PhD's avatar

Ivan Illich's Deschooling Society (?) may add to your compelling argument.

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Paul Erlandson's avatar

I started watching the Netflix documentary on Bryan Johnson. Best line so far, "If I had 400 Million dollars, I wouldn't be doing what you're doing."

Absolutely right.

My prediction: Bryan will end up bald and with a paunch.

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Hank Corcoran, PhD's avatar

Yes, there is a bridge from truth to beauty, a divine one.

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Jyoti Osten's avatar

I love this! My children, before we homeschooled, went to a beautiful little Montessori school with no plastic anywhere and beautiful fabrics and art. I was picking up one day and couldn’t find my son. I asked the teacher and she said “under my desk”. I looked at her funny and she looked at me like “duh!”. I found him in a little fort of comfy pillows under her desk, happily reading. Duh!

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John Sunkel's avatar

Funny, I live about 2 minutes from an elementary school named Horace Mann, but in SoCal. Just listened to Hugh Hewitt about need for reading class restructuring in reaction to Nation’s Report Card scores. Reading so critical. Little hope for innovation in public schools, but if ED is closed and states given more freedom, it may be a start towards much needed reform, but will need to happen at local level. Changing the public school culture is a battle worth fighting for our children. I confess I often think it’s impossible, but as we’re seeing change is not beyond the providence of our Lord.

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Miriam Tucker's avatar

"utopic". My new favorite word.

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John Dorsey's avatar

Sadly, the elites of our society have rejected the classical Roman architecture style which is really beautiful and have adopted the postmodern style which is quite ugly. This is why so many government buildings are ugly. I've never quite understood how anyone can see ugliness as being beautiful. I suspect it is because the progressive elites want to reject everything about the past which they view as being so oppressive and sexist and racist. And so they throw out the baby with the bathwater.

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Nichole Hosek's avatar

I learned about this last week, which encouraged me!

“President Donald Trump has reinstated a policy from his first term that favors “classical” styles for government buildings over modernist ones.”

https://www.dezeen.com/2025/01/21/trump-promoting-beautiful-federal-civic-architecture-executive-order/

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