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Allow me to present an example. When studying the American Presidents; our 39th president, Mr. Jimmy Carter, was exhibited as being a much maligned figure in history and our 40th president, Mr. Ronald Reagan, as an over-rated figure. Now, personal opinion aside, the facts are the facts.
Fact #1: When Pres. Carter was in office the “Misery Index” (combining the rates of inflation and unemployment to create a barometer of the economy) was at an all time high of 21.98% which was up from 12.68% under Pres. Nixon. His last year as president the inflation rate was at 12.5% and unemployment rose 7.2%. Just as an example at the end of Pres. G.W. Bush’s presidency the inflation rate was only 8.83%. And. Finally, during Pres. Carters’ administration the prime rate went from 7% to 20% and the home mortgage rate rose to 18%.
Fact #2: Pres. Carter presided over a steady decline in American influence around the world. He atrophied the U.S. military by severe cuts in spending and through the lack of support to the Shah of Iran, a longtime American ally, permitted the Iranian Revolution by religious extremists who jailed our American diplomats. And, just to add insult to injury, presided over one of the greatest U.S. military embarrassments of the 20th century; the botched rescue attempt of said diplomats. If presidents can receive the credit for American snipers shooting pirates then they can take the responsibility for the failures as well.
Fact #3: The Carter Administration’s attempts at Mid East peace were equally shambolic. While he brought both parties to the “Peace Table” he coerced concessions from Israel in his effort to gain “peace” while asking for and receiving nothing in return from Arafat and the Palestinians other than the “promise” of a cease fire of rockets and suicide bombings of Israeli civilians. In essence Carter befriended known terrorist organizations, recognized as such by the U.S., Israel and the European Union, who in their own Charter stipulate “to hasten the judgment day by murdering all Jews”. Needless to say the rockets and bombers did not stop.
Fact #4: President Carter created the Department of Energy and the Department of Education starting the spending hundreds of billions of dollars on two of what have become the most underachieving and least innovative government bureaus in all of Washington, and that is saying something. They were created to “secure and diversify energy supplies” and to “improve the quality of and to innovate public education”. How has that worked out for us?
President Jimmy Carter rode into the White House with an overwhelming Congressional majority (61 Senators and 292 House Members) which was much larger than President Obama. Four years later he was essentially ridden out of town on a rail with the resounding electorate vote of 44 out of 50 states. At a later time we can examine the similarities of President Carter’s economic, domestic and world views and those of our current President but right now I wonder, “In what way are President Carter and his administration maligned”? The facts are the facts so, again, I ask you as educators to absolutely present all sides fairly and keep your personal opinions to an absolute minimum. Let our children come to their own conclusions through your direction in debate and research.
ocdevilsadvocate
It would seem to me, forgive my stupidity, that a well grounded student could fly through a High School like that. I have been out of the educational system for a long time, thank God, but my education was very structured by my parents. I never listened to a professors personal ideas. I was there to learn a given subject and I concentrated on that. I guess things have changed but as a business owner , I expected the same from my employees. The project at hand was of prime interest and their personal opinions about life had no place in the work force. The same should go for education. Good article though but amazing.
