1 in 4 Children Utter a Brand Name As Their First Word

[sintax]

I highly recommend the latest issue of Adbusters which highlights the problems of institutionalized incarceration and indoctrination we call compulsory schooling or 'higher education'.

Further sobering facts such as the one listed in this heading are in this most recent issue, as well as thoughts about our 'educational system and society' from folks such as long time educator John Taylor Gatto, an award winning teacher in the public school system who now sees the entire system of 'education' as dysfunctional and irretrievably corrupted.

[JuniperLea]

1. sad

the deplorable state of the US educational system saddens me. so many good minds are going to waste. the education of our children is the foundation of our future as a society and a nation. if we don't set this straight, we are doomed.

[patdem]

2. So the imprint of the infant is 'pepsi' or 'coke' not mama or dada?

WoW...just truly bizzare!

[bicentennial_baby]

3. picked up a copy yesterday

haven't cracked it yet, but I definitely will today!

[bettyellen]

4. my nephew's daycare swore they didn't park them in front of a TV all day..

and yet he parroted Teletubbies talk as his first words. Six years ater he will not talk to anyone except during commmercials. He watches TV while opening his Xmas presents, and during commercials he just looks up and demands things. It's obnoxious.

[Dora]

5. Didn't Gatto leave teaching?

IIRC, he finally left teaching (left public schools, that is) because he could no longer be part of a system that he saw was failing children. He's certainly a firebrand.

Thanks for the post - I'll have to pick up the issue next time I'm at the market. I'm lucky: my grocery store has Adbusters, Mother Jones, and Yoga Journal at the checkout.

[sintax]

6. Gatto left public schools

Other pertinent info in this issue is the increase in asthma, obesity and depression in kids.

And yet our society (Particularly those of the Rabid Reich) constantly chants the mantra "Our Children are our future".

[Telly Savalas]

7. I'm calling bullshit on this.

It's the parents of a kid who elect to distinguish a "first word" from the stream of babbling that's been going on for months before that word is spoken, so the notion of a first word is dubious to begin with. But to suggest that infants are saying things like "McDonalds" and "Pepsi" before they say the much easier to pronounce words like "Mama" and "Papa" is just stupid.

Just because Adbusters says something doesn't make it true. Those folks lost all credibility when they turned their anti-marketing campaign into a cynical marketing campaign to sell shoes.

[sintax]

8. The actual

quote was first recognizable word but was too long for discussion headline.

Adbusters rocks and their assault on the education system and American culture at large is spot on.

[JohnnyBoots]

9. "Wall-mart "was my buddy's daughter's 1st word

[one_true_leroy]

10. my brother's first words... "donald duck!" 20 years ago