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Feb 12, 2010

Save the Man, Kill the Indian




or,"Targeted Kindergartens"

Harriet Beecher Stowe, the New York Daily Tribune, April 1, 1876:

"We have tried fighting and killing the Indians, and gained little by it. We have tried feeding them as paupers in their savage state, and the result has been dishonest contractors, and invitation and provocation to war. Suppose we try education? Suppose we respond to the desire of these young men, and give them, for two or three years, teaching and training in some such institution as the Amherst State Agricultural School...Might not the money now constantly spent on armies, forts and frontiers be better invested in educating young men who shall return and teach their people to live like civilized human beings?"

Thomas Friedman, the New York Times, February 9, 2010:

"So here is my new rule of thumb: For every Predator missile we fire at an Al Qaeda target here, we should help Yemen build 50 new modern schools that teach science and math and critical thinking — to boys and girls. If we stick to something close to that ratio of targeted killings to targeted kindergartens, we have a chance to prevent Yemen from becoming an Al Qaeda breeding ground."



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Jonathan Dresner - 2/13/2010

"Soap and education are not as sudden as a massacre, but they are more deadly in the long run." -- Mark Twain, "Facts concerning the recent resignation."