My education rant

msinc said:
...... Meanwhile 1/3 of the money I make goes to finance all this......
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I live in a city with a major University and a large hub of government. It's amazing how many 'workers', from tenure senior professors, six figure administrators, to the lowest floor sweeper, get paid for 40 hours but really work 20 or less. They're not even particularly shy about it. It comes from their sense of entitlement.... plus both the governor and state legislature are evil (they feel) and "out to get them", this is how they fight back. Stick it to the man. FORWARD!!!
 
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Once upon a time I worked for 14 years at one of those contractors...I couldn't stand it. Thankfully, they weren't my primary source of income so I retired early. We had this project manager that {absolutely no B.S.} showed up about 2 days a month!!! He was a 90K a year man. The company makes their profit by marking up his hourly rate. So, to pay him $46.00 per hour {or whatever it was} they charge the govt. about $90.00, it's called the "loaded rate". As long as the govt civil servant project engineer didn't complain the company wasn't about to. And we all wonder why or how this country is 17 trillion {with a T!!!} in debt????
 
It is amazing on how numb people are getting today! Basic life skills are not being taught! I had a similar experience ! Picked up a item around $ 1.25 and another for around $1.00 , So even with my poor math skills I know that is less the $3.00 :O She say that will be $4.95 :O I question that say how much is $1.25 and $1.00? She says $4.95 that's what the register says ! In a snotty tone says you want me to recheck it Duhhh She does and guess what? LOL No common sense today with a lot of people!
 
Speaking of Gov't. stupidity, I retired because it was so bad. My job was to work with the contractors on Gov't. contracts to make sure the items specified in the contracts were correct and were delivered. I did that job for over twenty years but then the bean counters were put in charge. They insisted that all of the paperwork had to be done according to their specifications. A simple one paragraph "Statement of Work Objectives" wouldn't work anymore. A contract package which was 10 to 15 pages long turned into a document 100 to 200 page long. Nothing had changed except the paperwork required by the bean counters. The bean counters would judge the success or failure of a contract upon how well the paper work was done, not on whether the Gov't. receive what is had written the contract for or not. It was so bad that a contract where all of the money was spent and the Gov't. received absolutely nothing and this contact was considered to be a successfully managed contract because all of the paperwork was done correctly!
 
Now, let us be fair to today's recent high school graduates. Because they most likely learned Common Core Math, the answer to $10.47 minus $8.42 is a purple dinosaur and five rocks of crystal meth. How was the poor kid supposed to reference his answer to your request for correct, no pennies change?
 
It's been deteriorating for several years. In the 60's when I got out of the service and returned home, my mother was a 5th grade teacher. One evening I offered to help her with grading some test papers. She originally gave me a stack of math papers, but then when I was dumbfounded by them, just laughed and told me I wouldn't know how to grade the. It was "New Math", and you needed a numberline to get the calculation correct. It was the mose round about way to get a math answer I ever saw. She told me these kids will be lost in business and that she complained to the school board about it, but it was mandated and she had to teach it. We made sure our children memorized the times tables, and knew how to add and subtract in their heads, and make change. I had a young lady at a grocery store check out that I gave the correct coins to which was more than the purchase price, she got out her cell phone for the calculator app to figure it out.
 
In the 70s Captain Kirk, Spock, and the gang ran around clicking open a small gadget and talking into it. How many of you, today, don't have a cell phone?

Did you ever see the episode where several of the crew of the Enterprise went back in time and had to carry money, buy things, and get change? They were terrible at it.

Forty years ago tv predicted we'd be where we are today. Just imagine where we'll be in another 40 years.
 
kpap said:
To the op, why would you give the cashier such a ridiculous amount that makes no sense. Just so you could get a kick out of it. You do realize this is a cashier and not a rocket scientist. JMHO
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It's not ridiculous. Why should I want 98 cents change when I can include the 2 cents in my payment and get a full paper dollar back? I hate carrying coins and get rid of them every chance I get.
 
I went to those same schools 50 years ago but I came away with certain life skills like how to write a check, balance a checkbook, and yes, counting change. When is the last time someone actually counted your change back to you instead of just dumping a wad of bills and coins in your hand?

Typo correction courtesy of Old Bear. Apparently typing isn't one of the life skills I learned!
 
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meaneyedcatz said:
Numbers have always been hard for me (mathematically). But when I got my first job I ASKED and learned about making change.

Todays cash registers will tell the employee how much to give back!!!!

I can empathize with those who don't "get it" but I cannot stand laziness and not even trying to learn.
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Some cash registers provide the change in a little slide goody...
 
I entered the public school system in 1951, graduated in 1964 and received a far better education than most kids do today. Your statement doesn't hold water in any kind of a bucket.
I'm itching to make other comments but will restrain myself.
 
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zzzippper said:
It's not ridiculous. Why should I want 98 cents change when I can include the 2 cents in my payment and get a full paper dollar back? I hate carrying coins and get rid of them every chance I get.
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If you don't like carrying coins (neither do I), and making change with folks who suffer difficulty with simple math irritates ya, why antagonize yourself with paying cash?
 
I'm not going to enter a school debate, but I will say that any parent in America who allows their child to grow up without being proficient with simple math (absent some type of learning disability) no matter how poor the school is, has failed their child and should hang their head in shame.

Really, there is zero excuse for that kind of neglect.
 
BigBoy99 said:
Call me a curmudgeon but my cell phone hangs on the kitchen wall and has a long curly cord!!! I have neither need nor desire to have a cell phone.
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i resemble that remark..................NO cellphone. ipod. tablet, bluetooth, atm card, facebook, twitter, etc.....

how do i get along.....JUST FINE.....
 
pawngal said:
I entered the public school system in 1951, graduated in 1964 and received a far better education than most kids do today. Your statement doesn't hold water in any kind of a bucket.
I'm itching to make other comments but will restrain myself.
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RIGHT ON !!!

there was then and now............i'll take then and when i'm 104 i'll still be 2 steps ahead of now.....
 
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