Allanea
24-11-2005, 11:12
Allanean Education: A Primer
Disclaimer
The Constitution of the Confederate States of Allanea, as interpreted by that nation’s topmost legal scholars, does not allow for any form of centralised educational standard in most things. Therefore, no such standard exists. However, several major trends exist which are common to education systems throughout Allanea. They are outlined in this article.
Length
Most states of Allanea specify free public schooling available up to 18 years of age. However, since an Allanean is considered an adult at sixteen, it is legal for the students to leave at that age. Aproximately 52% of all students do just that, either proceeding to work or to attend a variety of professional courses offered by various corporations in Allanea (aimed obviously on producing qualified labor for such corporations, and normally conditional on the course taker agreeing to work for the providing corporation after it’s completion. This is one of the methods by which Allanean Pharmaceuticals procures workers for its methamphetamine factories.)
This schooling normally begins at six years of age, and rarely do state authorities provide for kindergartens. In fact, the Allanean states of New-Idaho, Yurka-City, and Zara-Khrista have provisions specifically prohibiting the local governments from operating any educational facilities for children below six years of age. The Confederate States Supreme Court has ruled to interpret that, when applied to alien races, as ’to mean the biological equivalent of six years of standard human development’.
As for mandatory school attendance, it is generally understood in Allanea that parents have the right to homeschool their children or to send them to private schools. However, it is mostly illegal [the states of Allanean Florida, and Merkaz excepted] to avoid giving your child an education whatsoever, and even there very few people would actually do that.
Content
Since Allanean education is run on a decentralised system, few general statements can be made about it’s content. However, certain key assertions can be made that would be true of most if not all Allanean schools. Here they are, as follows:
Humanities are Key
While of course Allanean schools teach physics and mathematics, those are not viewed as key disciplines. However, the humanities are. An Allanean student who completed high school is expected to know basic Latin, to be familiar with Shakespeare and Kipling, and to know enough History to explain not just who Thomas Jefferson was, but also who William Franklin was. Civics is also taught.
Allanean Values
To tie in with the civics part, an Allanean is equally expected to be tolerant in the extreme. Allanea is based on the principle of a libertarian – pseudolibertarian, actually – society, where everything is legal as long as it harms nobody else. But this idea wouldn’t hold together for long if the Allaneans weren’t taking care to maintain a society that’s tolerant to the extreme in the social, as well as legal arena. That means that’s it’s considered impolite (even if it is done by some people) to condemn people for their particular brand of weirdness. Just as it is considered really atavistic in the real world to make bigoted statements against African-Americans, Jews, or Muslims, it’s equally a socially unacceptable idea for an Allanean to make such statements agaisnt Scientologists, Trekkies, or nudists.
Sports
Team sports – football, soccer, and baseball – are not part of most school’s activities in Allanea, as they are seen as too collectivistic. Instead, individual sports are favored, especially such as related to firearms. Since basic defensive training is already part of the curriculum, sports such as IDPA, Practical Rifle, and, rather uniquely to Allanea, video game tournaments are part of it all. The place that the school’s football team would be filling in a real-world school is replaced, in Allanea, with the school Practical Rifle team – sometimes in conjunction with the Counterstrike team.
Major institutions of note
Institutions of General Education
While every state maintains a network of public schools, a very large percentage of Allaneans do not send their children to them, some due to considerations of quality, others due to concerns of religion or politics. Many feel – remembering the power of the Federation of Sentient Peoples’ manipulation of educational system – that a powerful government educational system is a recipe for disaster in the long run. As such, 12.5% of Allanean children are homeschooled, and 15% attend private schools of various stripes. It is interesting to note that roughly 10% of all private school attendees actually study for free.
Of especial note is the Allanean Education Corporation, an offspring of the system of private schools set up by the famous filmmaker (and fraud) Cecil B. Demented. It still maintains a large following, even despite the fact the founder, Demented, has been posthumously exposed in his true capacity as a fraud – though it did lose a large portion of it’s appeal. It provides the same curriculum as common in public schools, promoting it’s services by claiming to be the ‘same, but better’, and having a 27% higher achievement average than public schools.
Equally famous – though much smaller – is the Robert Edwards Lee Military Academy, owned in part by Emperor Napoleon IV and in part by Alexander Kazansky, Allanea’s former president. It trains the students of the Greater Prussian (mostly, Allanean) upper class following the old Prussian traditions of education, where paramilitary disciplinary drills are followed with Latin, Greek, and economics lessons.
Finally, the Boy Scouts of Allanea is of special note. This voluntary organisation unites children starting at the age of 12 and up to 18 (even though the latter are not legally ‘children anymore’). If you’re of school age, then you can be a Boy Scout (or Girl Scout). The Association has, however, what most people outside Allanea would consider a sinister twist.
Where a modern Boy Scout in a sane country would learn basic fieldsmanship and the operation of a longbow (if that), a BSA member would be trained in advanced infantry tactics, throwing hand-grenades and defusing anti-infantry landmines (as well as planting them). The students are shown a variety of films such as Red Dawn, Violent Cop, or Postman. The purpose is not merely to instill patriotism, but also to (and this is explicit) desensitize the Boy Scouts to violence. Generally, Allaneans do not feel violence is morally wrong – rather, they believe, it is morally neutral, like sex. Just as sex is not really okay when you do it with your best friend’s girlfriend, violence is not really okay (to put it mildly) when you hold up a liquor store. It is perfectly okay, according to an Allanean, to use violence to Protect The Motherland From Evil Communists [tm] – and that’s just something that the Boy Scouts, or at least the ‘adult ones’ could be called upon to do.
Under it’s bylaws, the Boy Scout Association is directly under the command of the Honorary Scoutmaster-General (the President of the Confederate States), who is authorized, in the case of emergency, to order the Scouts into battle. When a 12 to 16-year old enters the Scout Association, his parents sign a detailed contract – everything in Allanea is accompanied by some contract or another - allowing it. However, no Boy Scout or Girl Scout younger than 16 has ever been deployed in combat, even during the Fourth Edolian War, where Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts participated.
Institutions of Higher Education
Generally, Allanea lacks higher education institutions of international acclaim. However, an exception to this rule is the University of Concord, Allanean West Virginia, famous for not only it’s biology and genetics department, but also of it’s Psychology and Experimental History faculties, and the huge psychological experiments they sometimes stage, such as for example the famous Martian Muffin.
Otherwise, of key importance is the Port-Allanea Academy of Classics, which, despite its name, is an ordinary – well a very good – university, preparing and unleashing upon an unsuspecting universe dozens of thousands of educated – and thus, even more insane and dangerous – Allaneans every year. Think of it as an Allanean UCLA.
Federal Standards
While, generally, and as specified above, the Confederate Government is prohibited from setting up any form of standard regarding education, several ways around the law have been found to allow for this. First, under the Militia Maintenance Act 2507, the Confederate Government mandates and funds marksmanship, tactics, and various paramilitary training at schools at the Federal expense. Second, under the Uniform Testing Promotion Act 2704, passed with major Congressional opposition, the government created the National Uniform Test System [NUTS], whose purpose is ostensibly to create a general test, which is required to pass to be employed anywhere by the Confederate Government, including the military. This being so, all public schools in the country, and most private ones, now prepare the pupils to pass the NUTS tests – four consecutive tests, one in civics, one in literature, one in history, and one in the sciences. A young Allanean sixteen years of age is expected to be familiar with the basics of history, the meaning and text of the Federal Constitution, the works of Shakespeare, Kipling and Nabokov, and basic algebra and physics.
Also, under the Education For The Poor Act 2706, the Confederate Government provides a tax rebate to anybody who sends his child to a private school or homeschools him, providing the education meets a certain quality test.
Disclaimer
The Constitution of the Confederate States of Allanea, as interpreted by that nation’s topmost legal scholars, does not allow for any form of centralised educational standard in most things. Therefore, no such standard exists. However, several major trends exist which are common to education systems throughout Allanea. They are outlined in this article.
Length
Most states of Allanea specify free public schooling available up to 18 years of age. However, since an Allanean is considered an adult at sixteen, it is legal for the students to leave at that age. Aproximately 52% of all students do just that, either proceeding to work or to attend a variety of professional courses offered by various corporations in Allanea (aimed obviously on producing qualified labor for such corporations, and normally conditional on the course taker agreeing to work for the providing corporation after it’s completion. This is one of the methods by which Allanean Pharmaceuticals procures workers for its methamphetamine factories.)
This schooling normally begins at six years of age, and rarely do state authorities provide for kindergartens. In fact, the Allanean states of New-Idaho, Yurka-City, and Zara-Khrista have provisions specifically prohibiting the local governments from operating any educational facilities for children below six years of age. The Confederate States Supreme Court has ruled to interpret that, when applied to alien races, as ’to mean the biological equivalent of six years of standard human development’.
As for mandatory school attendance, it is generally understood in Allanea that parents have the right to homeschool their children or to send them to private schools. However, it is mostly illegal [the states of Allanean Florida, and Merkaz excepted] to avoid giving your child an education whatsoever, and even there very few people would actually do that.
Content
Since Allanean education is run on a decentralised system, few general statements can be made about it’s content. However, certain key assertions can be made that would be true of most if not all Allanean schools. Here they are, as follows:
Humanities are Key
While of course Allanean schools teach physics and mathematics, those are not viewed as key disciplines. However, the humanities are. An Allanean student who completed high school is expected to know basic Latin, to be familiar with Shakespeare and Kipling, and to know enough History to explain not just who Thomas Jefferson was, but also who William Franklin was. Civics is also taught.
Allanean Values
To tie in with the civics part, an Allanean is equally expected to be tolerant in the extreme. Allanea is based on the principle of a libertarian – pseudolibertarian, actually – society, where everything is legal as long as it harms nobody else. But this idea wouldn’t hold together for long if the Allaneans weren’t taking care to maintain a society that’s tolerant to the extreme in the social, as well as legal arena. That means that’s it’s considered impolite (even if it is done by some people) to condemn people for their particular brand of weirdness. Just as it is considered really atavistic in the real world to make bigoted statements against African-Americans, Jews, or Muslims, it’s equally a socially unacceptable idea for an Allanean to make such statements agaisnt Scientologists, Trekkies, or nudists.
Sports
Team sports – football, soccer, and baseball – are not part of most school’s activities in Allanea, as they are seen as too collectivistic. Instead, individual sports are favored, especially such as related to firearms. Since basic defensive training is already part of the curriculum, sports such as IDPA, Practical Rifle, and, rather uniquely to Allanea, video game tournaments are part of it all. The place that the school’s football team would be filling in a real-world school is replaced, in Allanea, with the school Practical Rifle team – sometimes in conjunction with the Counterstrike team.
Major institutions of note
Institutions of General Education
While every state maintains a network of public schools, a very large percentage of Allaneans do not send their children to them, some due to considerations of quality, others due to concerns of religion or politics. Many feel – remembering the power of the Federation of Sentient Peoples’ manipulation of educational system – that a powerful government educational system is a recipe for disaster in the long run. As such, 12.5% of Allanean children are homeschooled, and 15% attend private schools of various stripes. It is interesting to note that roughly 10% of all private school attendees actually study for free.
Of especial note is the Allanean Education Corporation, an offspring of the system of private schools set up by the famous filmmaker (and fraud) Cecil B. Demented. It still maintains a large following, even despite the fact the founder, Demented, has been posthumously exposed in his true capacity as a fraud – though it did lose a large portion of it’s appeal. It provides the same curriculum as common in public schools, promoting it’s services by claiming to be the ‘same, but better’, and having a 27% higher achievement average than public schools.
Equally famous – though much smaller – is the Robert Edwards Lee Military Academy, owned in part by Emperor Napoleon IV and in part by Alexander Kazansky, Allanea’s former president. It trains the students of the Greater Prussian (mostly, Allanean) upper class following the old Prussian traditions of education, where paramilitary disciplinary drills are followed with Latin, Greek, and economics lessons.
Finally, the Boy Scouts of Allanea is of special note. This voluntary organisation unites children starting at the age of 12 and up to 18 (even though the latter are not legally ‘children anymore’). If you’re of school age, then you can be a Boy Scout (or Girl Scout). The Association has, however, what most people outside Allanea would consider a sinister twist.
Where a modern Boy Scout in a sane country would learn basic fieldsmanship and the operation of a longbow (if that), a BSA member would be trained in advanced infantry tactics, throwing hand-grenades and defusing anti-infantry landmines (as well as planting them). The students are shown a variety of films such as Red Dawn, Violent Cop, or Postman. The purpose is not merely to instill patriotism, but also to (and this is explicit) desensitize the Boy Scouts to violence. Generally, Allaneans do not feel violence is morally wrong – rather, they believe, it is morally neutral, like sex. Just as sex is not really okay when you do it with your best friend’s girlfriend, violence is not really okay (to put it mildly) when you hold up a liquor store. It is perfectly okay, according to an Allanean, to use violence to Protect The Motherland From Evil Communists [tm] – and that’s just something that the Boy Scouts, or at least the ‘adult ones’ could be called upon to do.
Under it’s bylaws, the Boy Scout Association is directly under the command of the Honorary Scoutmaster-General (the President of the Confederate States), who is authorized, in the case of emergency, to order the Scouts into battle. When a 12 to 16-year old enters the Scout Association, his parents sign a detailed contract – everything in Allanea is accompanied by some contract or another - allowing it. However, no Boy Scout or Girl Scout younger than 16 has ever been deployed in combat, even during the Fourth Edolian War, where Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts participated.
Institutions of Higher Education
Generally, Allanea lacks higher education institutions of international acclaim. However, an exception to this rule is the University of Concord, Allanean West Virginia, famous for not only it’s biology and genetics department, but also of it’s Psychology and Experimental History faculties, and the huge psychological experiments they sometimes stage, such as for example the famous Martian Muffin.
Otherwise, of key importance is the Port-Allanea Academy of Classics, which, despite its name, is an ordinary – well a very good – university, preparing and unleashing upon an unsuspecting universe dozens of thousands of educated – and thus, even more insane and dangerous – Allaneans every year. Think of it as an Allanean UCLA.
Federal Standards
While, generally, and as specified above, the Confederate Government is prohibited from setting up any form of standard regarding education, several ways around the law have been found to allow for this. First, under the Militia Maintenance Act 2507, the Confederate Government mandates and funds marksmanship, tactics, and various paramilitary training at schools at the Federal expense. Second, under the Uniform Testing Promotion Act 2704, passed with major Congressional opposition, the government created the National Uniform Test System [NUTS], whose purpose is ostensibly to create a general test, which is required to pass to be employed anywhere by the Confederate Government, including the military. This being so, all public schools in the country, and most private ones, now prepare the pupils to pass the NUTS tests – four consecutive tests, one in civics, one in literature, one in history, and one in the sciences. A young Allanean sixteen years of age is expected to be familiar with the basics of history, the meaning and text of the Federal Constitution, the works of Shakespeare, Kipling and Nabokov, and basic algebra and physics.
Also, under the Education For The Poor Act 2706, the Confederate Government provides a tax rebate to anybody who sends his child to a private school or homeschools him, providing the education meets a certain quality test.