Gullible

[OLDNAVYMCPO]

My wife has this long time old girlfriend who is a retired schoolteacher. The woman is so gullible, she buys into every feel good, touchy feely cause that comes down the pike. She bleeds for every perceived wrong done to every living animal, plant or human. In her opinion, every problem in the world can be solved by a donation or a 5k walk.

Today, she posted on Facebook, "share if you think veterans should be housed before any refugee!" and a picture of a supposed veteran living in his car. The scruffy looking dude is holding a sizable mounted row of medals. I don't know what he is a veteran of but the medals aren't US military awards.

Reminds me of my youngest sister, she bleeds just as readily. Years ago when she began her academic career, she was an instructor at the local college. She taught remedial English to freshmen. She was commenting at my parents dinner table how one of her students was a Vietnam vet and really suffered from PTSD. I was taken aback and asked how old the guy was. She said that he was in his thirties. This was in 1998. I guess he was a four year old draftee.

 

[snowman]

I trust that you set your sister straight?

Andy

 

[hardcase60]

I trust that you set your sister straight?

Andy

I don't disagree that attempting to explain the mathematical probability of that claim wouldn't have been the right thing to do. What I have found is that using logic and common sense on people that believe, without question, everything they are told can be a very daunting and frustrating endeavor. Not saying we shouldn't try but sometimes you are just wasting precious breath. Just my two cents. hardcase60

 

[chief38]

Our Country's Politicians have been "Bambi-izing" Brain Washing" and softening up US Citizen's for at least 50 years now. Over the last 8 years its
gotten very intense and that is one reason why we are in so much trouble.

How ANY US Citizen can turn their backs to Vet's (especially injured Vet's) is beyond my comprehension. How any US Citizen can favor illegal foreigners over its OWN tax paying people is absurd. How Americans have become so gullible, vulnerable, and moldable is part of the reason that we are on a downward spiral. "America First" is now a politically incorrect statement - and people (even members of our own families) who have drank the Kool-aide are falling victim to this phenomenon.

I am simply embarrassed (as a patriot) at how some people think, act and conduct themselves as American's - BUT TODAY, NOTHING SURPRISES ME ANY LONGER.

 

[vytoland]

lots of folks today believe that "entitlement" is indelible on their birth certificate.....

Hint = if you want/need something.........earn it.....

 

[two-bit cowboy]

There's a gal in town -- our year-round population is about 30 -- who is so afraid of a nuclear war that she has two freezers full of meat and brags that she's been stockpiling it since 2003. I doubt the bears would even touch that. She's a school teacher, too. What the heck are these folks teaching today's kids?

On the flip side I've seen more NRA hats on tourists this year than in my previous 10 years combined. I always stop 'em and say, "I like your hat." Made some great friends recently.

 

[hardcase60]

There's a gal in town -- our year-round population is about 30 -- who is so afraid of a nuclear war that she has two freezers full of meat and brags that she's been stockpiling it since 2003. I doubt the bears would even touch that. She's a school teacher, too. What the heck are these folks teaching today's kids?

cowboy, You really don't want to know what today's educators are teaching the kids. And, if you think that is scary what educators are doing to college students is ever more appalling.

I know two public school teachers and they are so clueless as to everyday life that I wouldn't want them teaching a dog to sit. I am NOT disparaging teachers or making a generalization that all teachers/college professors are bad at their profession. In today's society they may even have a tougher job than law enforcement. I have always considered myself fortunate that in jr. high and then in high school there were "shop teachers" and "Ag teachers" that taught me more than just how to sand a board or what to feed a show steer. hardcase60

 

[bigwheelzip]

... who is so afraid of a nuclear war that she has two freezers full of meat ...

Might explain to her what an electromagnetic pulse does.

 

[Dennis The B]

Got into a discussion with some teachers who are upset that Michigan is moving teachers from defined benefit plans (pensions, medical insurance), to define contribution plans. It's a phased roll-in, and folks who are already "pensioned" will continue to be covered.

However, the reason for the change is the lack of sustainability of these defined benefit plans. The lack of money goes back for years, and it's not confined to teachers. There are police officers, firemen, etc., whose pensions are all in danger, and there's just not enough tax dollars available to keep the pensions funded long term.

The usual sturm and drang by the teachers is that they're indispensable in educating children. I got the usual "I do this because it's a higher calling, and if I didn't spend my own money, little Johnny or Mary won't get lunch on the field trip."

I mentioned that if the teacher thought he/she was underpaid, to take their education credentials to the market place to test their worth. The response is always that the private market is corrupt, selfish, etc., that the closed market system of public education keeps salaries and benefits artificially high compared to similar private sector jobs, is some sort of edenic paradigm.

Their stock answer is always that the "state" is responsible for educating children. I responded that the responsibility for educating children resides with parents, not the state, and that the teachers' first responsibility was to insure that their families well-being was the prime consideration, and if teaching didn't pay the freight, then they needed to find employment which did. I certainly hope I don't roast in Hades for such sacrilege.

Altruism is fine, but it can't come at the expense of one's family's needs.

 

[Tom S.]

I think I've seen her:

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dQ9a5EFZeI"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dQ9a5EFZeI[/ame]

 

[Tom S.]

Got into a discussion with some teachers who are upset that Michigan is moving teachers from defined benefit plans (pensions, medical insurance), to define contribution plans. It's a phased roll-in, and folks who are already "pensioned" will continue to be covered.

However, the reason for the change is the lack of sustainability of these defined benefit plans. The lack of money goes back for years, and it's not confined to teachers. There are police officers, firemen, etc., whose pensions are all in danger, and there's just not enough tax dollars available to keep the pensions funded long term.

The usual sturm and drang by the teachers is that they're indispensable in educating children. I got the usual "I do this because it's a higher calling, and if I didn't spend my own money, little Johnny or Mary won't get lunch on the field trip."

I mentioned that if the teacher thought he/she was underpaid, to take their education credentials to the market place to test their worth. The response is always that the private market is corrupt, selfish, etc., that the closed market system of public education keeps salaries and benefits artificially high compared to similar private sector jobs, is some sort of edenic paradigm.

Their stock answer is always that the "state" is responsible for educating children. I responded that the responsibility for educating children resides with parents, not the state, and that the teachers' first responsibility was to insure that their families well-being was the prime consideration, and if teaching didn't pay the freight, then they needed to find employment which did. I certainly hope I don't roast in Hades for such sacrilege.

Altruism is fine, but it can't come at the expense of one's family's needs.

The problem with the teacher's pension is purely a political one, and as such, I cannot discuss it. I will say this however: Pontiac, which was one of the cities in Michigan taken over by an emergency manager, had it's employee's pension funded well above 100%, so it wasn't that the money wasn't/isn't available, more along the lines of how the people in charge delegated it. Remember, the teachers you are referring to are unionized, and their pensions were negotiated, and therefore ultimately part of their pay was diverted to pay the fund. It's OK to renegotiate the contract for newly hired persons, similar to how many companies with defined pension plans have done, but to try and sell the pension to a private investment company and thus do away with what was agreed to for decades is disturbing to say the least. I have known a lot of teachers in Michigan, and not just in the poorer districts who pay a considerable amount of out-of-pocket expenses for their students, either for supplies or other 'non covered' expenses.

 

[lrrifleman]

There's a gal in town -- She's a school teacher, too. What the heck are these folks teaching today's kids?

I was a teacher for just shy of 28 years. In the high school I taught in, there were 88 teachers, only 4 were vets. Over the years, the quality of their education always shocked me. Ninety nine percent of my colleagues had either their Bachelor's or Master's degrees (if not both, if they had them) from state colleges or universities. I was the oddity, having degrees from a private college. Most were not well versed in their subject matter. If I remember correctly, to get a "Teacher of Social Studies, K-12, Certificate", one only needed 21 or 24 credits in the Social Studies. Those credits had to span: American, European, African, South American, Chinese or Asian History, sociology, and psychology. I was over qualified, having had over 72 credits since I was a History major, not an education major.

Today, the emphasis in colleges/universities is the teaching of how to teach, not what to teach. The curriculum in most schools is now purchased and are "cookbook", telling teachers how much time to spend on unit. For the most part, today's teacher is merely a presenter of information, not necessarily a master of their subject.

 

[AZretired]

Got into a discussion with some teachers who are upset that Michigan is moving teachers from defined benefit plans (pensions, medical insurance), to define contribution plans. It's a phased roll-in, and folks who are already "pensioned" will continue to be covered.

However, the reason for the change is the lack of sustainability of these defined benefit plans. The lack of money goes back for years, and it's not confined to teachers. There are police officers, firemen, etc., whose pensions are all in danger, and there's just not enough tax dollars available to keep the pensions funded long term.



T

This is a problem that many states are having that fund the retirement of their public employees with tax money. I was lucky enough to work in and retire from a state that uses absolutely no tax money to fund our retirement. As such we have a healthy retirement fund that is able to give us cost of living increases.

 

[Rustyt1953]

 

[Kiwi cop]

Today, the emphasis in colleges/universities is the teaching of how to teach, not what to teach. The curriculum in most schools is now purchased and are "cookbook", telling teachers how much time to spend on unit. For the most part, today's teacher is merely a presenter of information, not necessarily a master of their subject.

Back in the early 70's my cousins were attending a local High School where there was an educational scandal. Students were graduating unable to read, write or add up a column of numbers.

In my own case I had a High Scholl maths teacher only a few years from retirement. He would come into the class late, put an algebra problem on the board and read the newspaper for the first 1/4 of the period before asking one of the class maths whizzes for the answer. It was not until 20 years later when completing a crash investigators course that I learned how algebra worked.

Interesting your comment about teachers learning how, not what to teach as there is some modern thinking that the internet is causing the opposite effect. When I was doing my university studies we were required to use critical thinking. Take a theory, break it down to individual components, examine each component finding reasearch both for and against, then put the theory back together again to decide if it was right or wrong.

Today Dr Google and Uncle Wikipeadia are giving answers to students, teaching them what to think and not how to think. The Internet is also responsible for the initial subject of this thread. My mother believed everything she saw on line because it was online. One e-mail she forwarded to me was on NZ Police letterhead supposedly from a South Auckland Community cop warning of a new method of carjacking (my mother lived in South Auckland at the time). Supposedly the jackers would leave a baby capsule on the footpath and hide in nearby bushes. When a motorist stopped to check the "abandoned baby" they would run out, jump into the still running car and drive off.

It looked pretty real except the phone number had a 44 International dialling prefix (NZ is 64) and our Police communications never include the IDC.

I pointed this out to my mother along with asking her if she had seen this story on the evening news. It was only the that she started to realise it was a hoax.

 

[Kiwi cop]

This is a problem that many states are having that fund the retirement of their public employees with tax money. I was lucky enough to work in and retire from a state that uses absolutely no tax money to fund our retirement. As such we have a healthy retirement fund that is able to give us cost of living increases.

This problem is not unique to the US. Where in prior decades pension contributions were paid into a pension fund, which then disburse those funds on reaching eleigibility, civil service pensions get paid into a "consolidated fund" which receives everything and then disburses it again.

The result is instead of the pension sitting and earning interest , which is used to fund administration and cost of living adjustments, it is spent annually with next years' pension payments made out of that years tax income.

It is the modern way of accounting.

 

[codenamedave]

That brings up something about the homeless vet population: How many of them are really vets? All the reporting on them is based on them saying they're a vet, with no verification. It's an easy way for a bum to get sympathy. I'm sure there are some genuine former warriors out on the streets, but nowhere near what is being reported.

It's also intimated that homeless vets are only homeless because they were mentally damaged in glorious battles for freedom. I'd guess that many of the genuine homeless vets did a few years on a comfy base and maybe never even heard a shot fired in anger; they just have the addictive personality that would've had them end up where they are regardless of what job(s) they've had, or how hard or easy they were.


As to the education system and the mind-set of the youngsters, I remember a guest on a radio show a few years ago who was a college tutor, assigned to try and get kids up to speed after they showed up at college with a "shall issue" HS diploma. He said that they all had a few things in common:

1. Readin, ritin, and rithmetic at a 7th grade level.
2. An absolutely unshakable belief that they were the smartest people on the planet.

 

[chaparrito]

cowboy, You really don't want to know what today's educators are teaching the kids. And, if you think that is scary what educators are doing to college students is ever more appalling.

I know two public school teachers and they are so clueless as to everyday life that I wouldn't want them teaching a dog to sit. I am NOT disparaging teachers or making a generalization that all teachers/college professors are bad at their profession.

Sounds to me like you are.

 

[rwsmith]

I pick and choose my causes myself.....

I'm EXTREMELY picky about where my help and support goes.

Panhandling, either on the street or from corporate offices has become legitimate enterprise. People pay other people to harass and wear you down with every pathetic or even contrived, cause. Just as bad when somebody treats me like their greatest buddy as long as I'm paying them money. If somebody starts playing on my sympathy, that's a sign for me to tell them to take a hike.

It's even worse the way that insects and parasites attack the weak and vulnerable, like older people. My MIL started getting Alzheimer's and because something for people to feed off of. I encouraged her family to step in and put a stop to it.

 

[ameridaddy]

Today, the emphasis in colleges/universities is the teaching of how to teach, not what to teach. The curriculum in most schools is now purchased and are "cookbook", telling teachers how much time to spend on unit. For the most part, today's teacher is merely a presenter of information, not necessarily a master of their subject.

Amen Brother!
I recently browsed my HS yearbook (1961) and there was a pic of the faculty and staff with names and credentials. There was not one single one with a degree in *spit* "education".
It was BS/MS mathematics, BA/MA history, BA Philosophy/PhD English, BS/chemistry/physics, etc.
Interesting too was that there were only about 80 teachers and staff, all but 5 of them men, for a public school with 2900 boys enrolled. I don't recall ever being in a class with less than 35 guys.

A couple years ago, a public school in northern Virginia hit the news, and curious, I went to their website. They had over 250 staff and teachers for only 2,200 students. School security had a director, with a separate building with a watchtower, every head of department had the title "Director" with a private secretary in addition to the use of the secretarial pool, a Director of Counseling with 10 advisors and secretaries for them, 5 vice principals, on and on ad nauseum.
Ever wonder why "education" is so expensive?
I don't anymore.