Rachael Ray Show & Interview of Tough as Nails Host (Mar. 10, 2021)
When I first saw commercials about the program titled, Tough as Nails, it did not appear to be appealing to me. Since watching Rachael Ray’s interview of the host of Tough as Nails, Phil Keoghan, I am now wondering whether I should watch one of the episodes of Tough as Nails?
The host, New Zealand personality, Phil Keoghan, spoke very eloquently about an issue which this retired professor has believed is a correct assessment of what is necessary to be done to solve our problems. He addressed the declining number of people who work with their hands and have an interest in the trades, but are precluded by a society which is pushing our young people to go, en masse, into academics. This movement is done at great cost to individuals (student loans) and to society. The movement to do this has been done over several decades and is reaching a pinnacle of failure for America.
As a professor, I have witnessed our college president, Dr. Dennis P. Gallon (1998-2015), develop a vocational program for training young people in the trades. My experience in growing up in Upstate New York saw something a bit different, but there are always two ways to make things better. Dr. Dennis P. Gallon needs to be given kudos, along with the wonderful faculty, both vocational and academic, which helped make it happen.
When growing up in New York eduational programs, I recall that we had dual paths and the regents exams and diplomas were designated for the college bound path. Those of us choosing college began to learn to research and write for college term papers, beginning in the sixth grade. It continued through high school, up to graduation.
Those wishing to pursue a career in the trades were not required to go through the college-bound process for regents exams and were directed to vocational skills training while in high school.
If the contemporary idea about regents exams in NY required EVERYONE in the schools to be assessed, then why is the answer to simply eliminate such exams all together? Why not pursue the dual path which once existed and has been applauded as a good example by some of my former teachers? Instead, work on issues for regents exams which parallel those about cultural differences, similar to issues with the SAT and ACT. Design the exams only for those who choose to head to college and consider the ramifications of cultural differences. Sounds difficult, for sure, but we are talking about the lives of human beings. Perhaps someone like Dr. Diane Ravitch, has endorsed similar ideas? (See Dr. Ravitch’s extensive bibliography of her writing).
On Rachael Ray’s show (Mar. 10), Phil Keoghan spoke about how, with this emphasis on college academics and dismissal of the need for the trades, we have ended up putting people in academics in a superior position to those in the trades. How true that is! I could not agree more. Keoghan’s hope is to teach and bring a change in attitude away from this thinking. Everyone plays a role in making this nation fantastic. Each one of us plays a role and nobody is superior over others. I made an attempt to try to help students understand that, but when one is alone in doing this while society is crying out for more academics and shutting down the trades, we as a nation can fail. It is time for a change.
At this college where the vocational program was built, the faculty worked to stay in touch with the needs of employers in the trades so as to meet demand for employees. I have heard about the same attempts in upstate New York, particularly in the Rochester area. But we need to do more than just this.
Thank you, Rachael Ray, for exposing this issue and bringing it to the forefront in this manner. You are wonderful and in ways beyond just cooking!
Tioga Herald 
Return Audience Show & Jamie Lee Curtis
Dear Rachael Ray,
We love your new audience shows, the set and the seating which looks so homey. Kudos to you and the crew for doing this.
When Jamie Lee Curtis was on your show and appeared to brush off the attack of the thugs from Proud Boys and other groups in their attack on our government on Jan. 6, I am sickened to hear that. She sounds like a bleeding heart liberal comparable to Al Gore who geve up challenging George W. Bush in Florida at a time when me and many other Republicans like me voted for Al Gore. He gave up, like a damn bleeding heart liberal, ‘for the good of the nation.” In effect, his giving up has made matters worse so that Trump puts a spin on his loss and gets people to attack the halls of Congress. Al Gore really did win that election and the black man who represented the congressional district where I lived in Florida was rejected. Same thing happened in the 1850s when bleeding heart liberals on SCOTUS gave a decision of “justice” so as to appease “the South [and its white supremacy groups].” I refer to the Dred Scott Decision and the documentation of that decision demonstrates the stupidity of the bleeding heart lawyers and liberals who helped keep the war going for white supremacy.
To be blunt, those thugs on Jan. 6, 2021, are traitors and they are lucky to be alive after that event because at one time in America, traitors were hung by a noose and not by vigilante Jim Crow assholes, which is what those thugs are. It is an insult to me and others in this nation who love this nation the successful democracy it has been, not the authoritarian dictatorship which Trump emboldens Proud Boys and other thugs to promote. They take away the freedom, liberty, life, and happiness of those of us who want a democracy. It has nothing to do with “politics,” as the ignorance of a bleeding heart might give us.
My representative in Congress in 2000, had balls and guts to stand up. Al Gore had no balls or guts and, as a result, Trump today takes advantage of that factor. There were many Republicans like me who had the balls and guts to stand up for Al Gore and we were trashed in the process. Was Jamie Lee Curtis one who trashed us? In spite of Al Gore, I switched to Democrat, thanks to a Vermont man named Dr. Howard Dean. Dr. Dean had balls and guts, too, but was shut out of the Democrats when he attempted to be a leader. Still. I remain a Democrat, in spite of such BSby bleeding heart liberals feeling so sorry for traitors. King Charles of England was executed due to his lack of balls and guts and wanting to destroy the British Parliament. King George III lost part of his colonial empire, due to his tough stand against the people and the British Parliament. Now, we feel sorry for the freaking Proud Boys and the thugs who attacked our Congress? What a bunch of hooey.
P.S. I don’t apologize for what I say about lawyers just because your husband, John, is a lawyer. Bleeding heart lawyers and liberals are a disgrace to this nation. I can only hope John is not a bleeding heart lawyer.
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Commentary, Television & Radio Reviews
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