Q & A

Judaism may well ask modernity why its sexual ethics are so liberal. Why is the onus on religion to prove its validity against the default of secular values?

Sex and spirituality are in many ways related as sex ultimately leads to new life, new souls in the world. So even though the world treats sex like a cute game or simply a place for thrills and fun, it has a very important, fundamental, and powerful purpose. Therefore it must be approached carefully and purposefully and with dignity and self-control. The Jewish religion is very strong about this and Jews have passed down this awareness throughout the generations.

Length of school day

https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pss/tables/table_2004_06.asp

Average length of school year and average length of school day, by selected characteristics: United States, 2003–04
Selected characteristic	Average length of school year in days	Average length of school day in hours
Total	180.4	6.7
NCES typology
Catholic	179.0	6.7
Parochial	178.9	6.6
Diocesan	179.4	6.7
Private	178.4	6.8
Other religious	178.5	6.8
Conservative Christian	178.2	6.7
Affiliated	178.4	7.0
Unaffiliated	178.9	6.8
Nonsectarian	185.7	6.5
Regular	182.2	6.8
Special emphasis	184.1	6.5
Special education	195.6	6.1
School level
Elementary	179.6	6.7
Secondary	183.3	6.8
Combined	181.2	6.7
Program emphasis
Regular elementary/secondary
	178.9	6.8
Montessori	183.2	6.6
Special program emphasis	179.1	6.8
Special education	194.4	6.1
Vocational/technical	‡	‡
Alternative	184.0	6.4
Early childhood	203.6	6.2
Size (number of students)
Less than 50	181.9	6.6
50–149	180.7	6.7
150–299	179.3	6.7
300–499	178.9	6.8
500–749	178.4	6.9
750 or more	178.8	7.0
Region
Northeast	181.3	6.6
Midwest	178.5	6.7
South	180.2	6.8
West	182.2	6.7
Community type
Central city	181.6	6.8
Urban fringe/large town	180.6	6.7
Rural/small town	178.4	6.7
‡ Reporting standards not met.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Private School Universe Survey (PSS), 2003–2004.

Linked Post - The History of Public Schools in America

By the 1840s, a few public schools had popped up around the country in the communities that could afford them. However, that smattering of schools wasn't good enough for education crusaders Horace Mann of Massachusetts and Henry Barnard of Connecticut. They began calling for free, compulsory school for every child in the nation.

Massachusetts passed the first compulsory school laws in 1852. New York followed the next year, and by 1918, all American children were required to attend at least elementary school.

Next came the movement to create equal schooling for all American children, no matter what their race. At the turn of the 20th century, schools in the South, and many in the North, were segregated. The 1896 Supreme Court ruling, Plessy v. Ferguson upheld the legality of segregation. Finally, in 1954, the Supreme Court overturned its ruling with the landmark case, Brown v. Board of Education, and public schools became open to people of all races.

http://people.howstuffworks.com/public-schools1.htm

Is it racist?

I learned this Rashi in my first year of BT yeshiva and was pretty shocked by it in part because I don't find anything more attractive about white skin or Caucasian people. But I wonder if most people feel that way. Is it racist for one race to be more of something or is racism when we don't treat people as being created in G-d's image because of their race. I'll allow for the possibility that one race in general is smarter, or taller, or prettier, or more athletic. It's hard to prove such things but it could be true. Is that racist in the sense of bad? It's racist in the sense of facts based on race but that's not what we mean when we charge someone with racism. Maybe we can take rashi to mean that Sarah's looks were different and different means exotic which can mean attractive. I might be apologizing for him there but I still put it out there.

The electoral college

The biggest problem is the winner take all provision of the electoral college. It wasn't designed that way and Maine and Nebraska have proportional. But remember that the electoral college makes the votes of people in less populated states more important. Every state gets 2 votes plus the number of reps. in the House. So California gets 2 (40 million people) and Wyoming (1/2 million people) gets 2. So the college offers some protection against the tyranny of the majority.

	CA	WY
Population	39,144,818	586,107
Electoral Votes	55	3
Popular	711,724	195,369
vote
per elector

Tearing Down Abe Lincoln

by Steve Pieczenik (linked post)

http://pieczenik.blogspot.co.il/2015/07/in-spirit-of-taking-down-racist-south.html

 “I will say, the, I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in anyway the social and political equality of the white and black races—that I am not, nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor in qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a Physical difference between the white and black races. I, as much as any other man in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race” 

 If that is not the words of raging Skin Head, Neo-Nazi—then I have never heard words and feelings more racist, bigoted and inflammatory than these and other words that I can quote to you. For example, this person wasn’t happy just trying to explain that white people were superior to blacks, he then went on to propose an APARTHEID STATE –just like South Africa. Let me continue with these ignoble words that has been lost to the history of America:
 “Such separation if effected at all, must be effected by colonization….what colonization most needs is hearty will..  our interests [white people]to transfer the Africans to his native climate [Africa], and we shall find a way to do it, however great the task may be.”

 Clearly no one in their right mind would consider the aforementioned words conciliatory or pro-black. Therefore these words and many other words and deeds have shown that the man who pronounced them time and time again did so in order to curry favor with his American voting audience.Yet, now, these words represent the most heinous of attitudes that one can even imagine at any time in the short history of our nation.

 By now, most of you will suspect that I have played the same propaganda trick on you that our United States Government and state governments played on all of us while we growing up---in the name of education we received highly contrived propaganda by those in the elite schools and institutions of the northeast telling us about a fictional character who was ‘honest’, ‘noble’ and ‘caring’; when in fact his actions and deeds show a malevolent individual replete with hate and tyranny.

 Of course, I am talking about none other than our illustrious President Abraham Lincoln—or ‘honest Abe’ as we would watch Raymond Massey play this Marfan’s role in the movie that was shown in grade school again and again.

 So where did I get those verifiable quotes?

 The first denigrating the blacks comes from the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas Debates. For those of you who are historians, you may find this quotes and similar ones in the “Lincoln –Douglas Debates of 1858”, edited by R. W. Johannsen [Oxford University Press, New York, NY:1965],  pp. 162-163.
 The last quote comes from “Abraham Lincoln Speeches, Letters, and State Papers.” Vol. I, p. 458.

Great Quote

“See everything; overlook a great deal; correct a little”.

Are There More Men or Women?

"More precisely, out of 1,000 people, 504 are men (50.4%) and 496 are women (49.6%). For every 100 girls, 107 boys are born, but males have a higher risk of dying than females, both in childhood and at adult ages. So at a certain age, the numbers of men and women even out." Source: The Institut National d’Etudes Démographiques (INED)