'Since we decided to homeschool and eventually unschool our boys, I get asked a lot of questions. It's understandable, as the lifestyle we have chosen definitely goes against the grain of societal norms. Even I had a lot of trepidation and found myself asking some of the very same questions.
It took me over five years to fully settle in the ideas and, truth be told, I still question myself at least once a year. Over the eight years plus since we started to homeschool, my perspective through research and experience has grown considerably. This perspective has allowed me to address the most commonly asked questions.'
-- School's never out for 14-year-old Zoe Bentley. Nor is it ever in.
'The perky teen from Tucson, Ariz., explores what she likes, when she likes as deeply as she chooses every day of the year. As an "unschooler," Zoe is untethered from the demands of traditional, compulsory education.
That means, at the moment, she's checking out the redwoods of California with her family, tinkering with her website and looking forward to making her next video on her favorite subject, exogeology, the study of geology on other planets.
"I love seeing the history of an area," Zoe said. "Maybe a volcano erupted and grew taller over time, or wind eroded rock into sand dunes, or a meteor hit the ground and made a crater. Finding out how these and other formations formed is something I just really like."
'Can you imagine being a kid today with iphones, ipods, mp3 players, computers, the internet, Facebook, Twitter, computer games, texting, email and thousands of cable channels? How could some old fashioned teacher who keeps everyone stagnating at the same slow pace, reading the same old theoretical text books, hold a candle to the exciting cutting edge of technology that constantly stimulates the brain and soul hungry for change, growth and knowledge?
When you get right down to it, children are antsy in school because they’re anxious to make a quantum leap while they’re being forced to stay seated in a chair and look at a blackboard as someone drones on and on about stuff they will never need or use in their lifetime. Why not steer them in the right direction since they’re amped up to go into hyperdrive instead of cutting off their life force by “curing” their “hyperactivity?” '
"Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains." : Jean-Jacques Rousseau - (1712-1778) Political philosopher, educationist and essayist -Source: The Social Contract
One Nation Under Financial Stress
In June 2008 the American Psychological Association conducted its annual nationwide survey: Stress in America, "to examine the state of stress across the country and understand its impact.” Not surprisingly, the survey found that money and the economy are the two primary sources of stress for eight out of ten Americans. Additionally, many confided that they are suffering from stress related physical and emotional symptoms.
Women appear to be particularly vulnerable to the rising levels of financial stress and are reporting higher levels of stress compared to men. Close to half of the Americans surveyed are very concerned about their ability to provide the basic necessities for their families.
“Stress in America continues to escalate and is affecting every aspect of people's lives — from work to personal relationships to sleep patterns and eating habits, as well as their health,” says psychologist Russ Newman, PhD, JD, APA executive director for professional practice. “We know that stress is a fact of life and some stress can have a positive impact, however, the high stress levels that many Americans report experiencing can have long-term health consequences, ranging from fatigue to obesity and heart disease.”
Excerpts from Stress in America
How Stress Impacts Americans Physical and Psychological Health
"Recognizing the physical and mental toll of stress, more than eight in 10 people (86 percent) recognize that stress increases their likelihood of becoming sick and has a very strong negative impact on a variety of conditions including depression (51percent), heart attack or stroke (48 percent), high blood pressure (42 percent), cancer (30 percent), obesity (32 percent) and insomnia (36 percent). Adults feel that stress also impacts their ability to make decisions or get things done at least once a week (21 and 30 percent respectively).”
In 2008, more people reported physical and emotional symptoms due to stress. More people report feelings of irritability or anger (60 percent compared to 50 percent in 2007), fatigue (53 percent compared to 51 percent in 2007), and lying awake at night (52 percent compared to 48 percent in 2007) as a result of stress.
Other physical symptoms of stress include: headache (47 percent); upset stomach (35 percent); muscular tension (34 percent); change in sex drive (19 percent); teeth grinding (17 percent); tightness in chest (16 percent); feeling dizzy (15 percent); change in menstrual cycle (10 percent); and erectile dysfunction (10 percent).
Other psychological symptoms of stress reported include: lack of interest or motivation (49 percent); feeling nervous or anxious (49 percent); feeling depressed or sad (48 percent); and feeling as though you could cry (40 percent). --end of excerpts
According to a 2008 USA Today/Gallup Poll "40 percent of the adults surveyed felt afraid and 53 percent felt angry about the economy.”
“Debt may be harming the health of up to 16 million Americans",according a recent poll from the Associated Press and AOL. "Bankruptcies, foreclosures and other economic woes are boosting demand for mental-health services. Money woes can trigger insomnia, anxiety and depression, rob you of time to get exercise and cook healthy foods, and make it harder to afford regular medical care.”
HOW TO REDUCE STRESS AND TRANSFORM YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH MONEY
A virulent form of debt slavery is spreading across the nation. Will we even recognize our calculated captors or simply waddle in our Stockholm Syndrome sedation? Are YOU ready? A New Era Begins...
Institutionalized state/corporate sponsored 'education' is a form of mind control...
"Scientific societies are as yet in their infancy. . . . It is to be expected that advances in physiology and psychology will give governments much more control over individual mentality than they now have even in totalitarian countries. Fitche laid it down that education should aim at destroying free will, so that after pupils have left school they shall be incapable, throughout the rest of their lives, of thinking or acting otherwise than as their schoolmasters would have wished. . . ."-- Bertrand Russell, "The Impact of Science on Society", 1953, pg 49-50
Student Loan Scam: The Most Oppressive Debt in U.S. History !
Student Loans Are a 'Legal' Racket
Racketeering: A person [or group as in organized crime] who commits crimes such as extortion, loansharking, bribery, and obstruction of justice in furtherance of illegal[or should be illegal] business activities. ...www.thefreedictionary.com/
"Student loans are the most profitable, most predatory, and oppressive debt in US history", says Alan Michael Collinge, who penned an expose of the 85-Billion dollar student-loan industry: Student Loan Scam: The Most Oppressive Debt in U.S. History—and How We Can Fight Back. Collinge knows because the book was inspired by his agonizing personal decent into student loan hell.
It's an eye opener. Student loans are yet another slick version of the age old pyramid scheme where a handful of elite insiders at the top of the pyramid partner with the government, which is controlled by the elites, to bilk the many naïve marks at the bottom of the pyramid. Nothing new here.
Who Benefits?
In 2005 Fortune magazine named Sallie Mae, the major student loan provider, America's second most profitable 400 company.
"Its CEO[Sallie Mae]topped the list of highest paid CEOs in D.C. Sallie Mae's fee income increased 228% between 2000 and 2005, while its loan portfolio rose only 82% - the difference was penalties and fees from defaulted loans. As of 2007, Sallie Mae's top two executives together made more than 500 million. Universities often have "preferred-lender" arrangements with the universities and receive kickbacks. In 1999 Sallie Mae purchased Nellie Mae, followed by USAGroup and Southwest Student Services (nonprofit student loan companies and guarantors)."
Amazon book review by Loyd E. Eskildson
College and Universities are also heavily implicated in this scam.
"The Oversight Fiasco" and Chapter 6 "Corruption of the Universities" - The most shocking part of the book. Describes how numerous personnel of the Dept. of Education are actually former Sallie Mae officers, and instances where university financial aid officials hold stock in student loan companies such as Student Loan Xpress. Also describes kickbacks, donations, luncheons, and gifts paid by student lenders to universities in return for steering their incoming freshmen to those lenders (such as putting them on "preferred lender lists"). These universities include the University of Nebraska, Johns Hopkins, the University of Texas at Austin, and many others."
Amazon book review by M. Okada
Legally these loans are predicated on Federal legislation from the mid-90's that essentially stripped away all consumer protections from student loans, thus allowing lenders to enact draconian penalties, set up a debt based “wealth extraction” machine and legally engage in loan sharking.
Consider this: Currently there are approximately 5 Million defaulted student loans. And you know with the economy headed for the greatest depression of all time the number of defaulted loans is going to skyrocket. Did you know that student loans are the only type of loan that's virtually impossible to discharge in bankruptcy?
And there's more. Student loans are exempt from usury laws, Truth in Lending laws, and Fair Debt and Collections. There is no statute of limitations for collection. The only limitation is death. There's even a financial incentive for defaulted loans. Lenders can earn up to a 25% commission for collection fees on defaulted loans.
It gets worse. If you default on your student loans, lenders can legally, without a court order, seize money from your tax returns or garnish your wages, attach your social security income and even disability -- all for repayment purposes.
According to Collinge: Loan guarantors and collection agencies are empowered to seize tax refunds, revoke state-issued professional licenses, and arrange for termination of public employment--if your student loans fall into default.
Collinge's book offers an in depth expose of the student loan Ponzi scam. The horrifying details of this organized crime syndicate are systemically enumerated for all to see.
Hidden behind the carefully crafted gottcha legalese, the sobering statistics and the mundane mechanics of a dehumanizing, exploitative rip-off operation is the untold human tragedy. Literally millions of lives have been ruined by the student loan mafia.
The bottom line: Student Loans are a socially acceptable front for creating a modern American version of indentured servitude. Student loans = organized crime.
America is "the land of the fee and the home of the slave", a parody of the last two lines in the American National Anthem, by David Icke
