OFFICIAL REPORTS, DEDUCTIVE REASONING AND COMMON SENSE

[Kinman]

I was a labor representative almost all my working life, from grievance steward to assistant business manager and everywhere in between. Unions were the first to get organized when it comes to Political Action Committees. We had drives every year, the business I worked with was at its peak 80% subsidized by the Feds, it was good. I think I worked my first fifteen years before I felt that I was being punished for something I didn't do, like being the oldest kid in the family. We had successful negotiations and managed to stay above the Cost of Living, nothing greedy 3% wage increases a year during Carter's administration was doing pretty good, rather than a set amount...better to go with a percentage of the CPI. Things changed with Reagan and although I agreed with him when it came to PATCO and their grandstanding president holding out for more when the last and final was amazing to us commoners...they held out for more and got their hands bit off and I will say properly, as much as it pains me to say it. Greed...
Anyway what I am trying to get to is that when we were doing our drive to raise funding for our PAC, based off an employees dues, etc. I had guys refuse to donate to the PAC, which was their right....don't get me wrong. I would tell them the only reason you are getting the wage your currently getting is because of the organization working with congress and getting our point across. These guys would tell me "My daddy voted Republican, my granddaddy voted Republican and I vote Republican." Well sir, everyone is entitled to their opinion but unfortunately those guys weren't the ones laid off when Reagan's programs of "Privatization" took hold and caused us nearly a 40% reduction in the workforce in order to keep the main line open and avoid everyone else taking a major reduction in pay. We were fortunate that we had not been Greedy and had not overshot an acceptable living wage, some systems failed completely, they even tried privatization of some Fire Departments to miserable effect. Out of this same era came prisons for profit and we know how that works out...It all but destroyed the local ambulance service.

 

[Bekeart]

Wondering about Math Skills

Currently only 54% of adults in the USA can read above the 6th grade level and 21% are functionally illiterate. Given that it is hardly surprising that people who were unwilling to learn such a valuable mental tool don't have the ability of critical thinking. Failure to learn to read is a huge failure in the critical thinking department.

Bring out the pie charts, the graphs and the TV and tell em what ever you want

Tried to find similar information about Math competency.
No Luck.
So the following example of misunderstood math;

The Truth About A&W's Third-Pound Burger and the Major Math Mix-Up | A&W Restaurants

The Truth About A&W's Third-Pound Burger and the Major Math Mix-Up

By now you've probably heard the story: once upon a time, A&W Restaurants released a third-pound burger that failed to catch on thanks to a misunderstanding of fractions. Just how accurate is this tale of math mistakes and fraction flubs? Read on for the scoop.

The firm eventually conducted a focus group to discover the truth: participants were concerned about the price of the burger. "Why should we pay the same amount for a third of a pound of meat as we do for a quarter-pound of meat?" they asked.

It turns out the majority of participants incorrectly believed one-third of a pound was actually smaller than a quarter of a pound.

Bekeart

 

[Kanewpadle]

And the root cause? Low moral and ethical standards. Lack of respect.

 

[Buford57]

Case in point from network news: people using Google's AI function to search for vitamin/nutrition info were advised to eat a small rock every morning, since they are an excellent source of minerals. Geologists were cited as the source. Actually the bot had harvested the quote from a satirical item in the Onion. Call it deductive reasoning, critical thinking or common sense, there is a human capacity to compare new information to what we've learned in the past and to question the logic behind the new statement. If the statement is illogical we can have a chuckle as the Onion intended. If we don't do the analysis we end up - pardon the pun - with rocks in our heads as well as our stomachs.

 

[MelvinWalker]

Eisenhower

Two term President Eisenhower said it best in this portion of his farewell address in 1963....Even though he was all but begged not to say this, he wrote it by hand, corrected several times and left this most important portion in the speech:

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gg-jvHynP9Y"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gg-jvHynP9Y[/ame]

 

[glenwolde]

Reminds me of my old boss. We would have a discussion about some work issue, which would raise a question. I'd be tasked with answering said question. We often had opposite opinions on how it would turn out.

If I came back and gave a verbal report that didn't come out like he had predicted he'd continue to argue his position. If I took the time to input the exact same data manually into a spreadsheet and present that, he always acquiesced.

It must be right, the computer says so. It was hilarious, and happened over and over. After some point I was just doing it for fun.

 

[chief38]

BTW, I feel compelled to mention this fact. The two smartest and worldliest people I know have never attended college. In fact, one of them barely graduated HS. He not only became an extremely successful and very wealthy man, he has the innate ability of sizing up people, businesses and politics in 2 minutes flat. He can also figure out and predict a persons real agenda even when the vast majority can't. Like me, he can do complicated math in his head.

While he grew up in a rough section of town (as I did) he does not speak "The King's English" nor does he come off looking to be a highly intelligent man. If I had to, I'd put my money and life on his opinion's more than any others I personally know.

The other person that comes to mind has poor social skills, is gruff and speaks like he was in "The Soprano's" TV show. He cusses like a Sailor, comes off rude sometimes and quite honestly he is a bit difficult to hang around with. The trade off is he is an utterly brilliant Historian, knows every little bit about the constitution, understands what "the real agenda" is despite what is verbalized and has the ability to figure out what tthe truth is aside from what is published.

At the opposite side of the coin, I have many friends and neighbors who are college grad's, some of which hold PHD's, Masters and Bachelors degrees. I have a few professional friends as well, such as Dentists, Surgeons, Lawyers and CPA's. None can hold a candle to the two mentioned above when it comes to "smarts"! While they may be excellent in the narrow field that they are in, they are not street smart at all and grossly lack the Sherlock Holmes deductive reasoning when it comes to many maters.

I just wanted to add this to my Thread. Thank you for your interest and participation.

 

[Greyman50]

Time and age are the best teachers, how one learns from events through the years is what makes one who they are…..

 

[steelslaver]

And the root cause? Low moral and ethical standards. Lack of respect.

The root cause is often the result of a parent (37%) with a low value on education. Sometimes its 2 parents (63%). Then they send the school a complete blank sheet, with no discipline, incentive or basic ability beyond thumbing a TV remote. I challenge anyone here to take a group of 30 of them and produce very many quality students. Then they are all given 3 months off to practice being completely feral again before being handed off to another teacher.

Ignorance produces more ignorance.

I am sick of hearing about the failure of public schools. Montana has the lowest average teacher pay of any state. Yet, all my kids went to Montana public schools, graduated and are functioning members of society. One of my step daughters became an Eagle scout, the Valedictorian and a National merit scholar from a public school that had 6 kids with 4.0 GPA out of less than 70 students in her class.

Whats the difference? For one thing Montana is ranked 4th in Literacy and 15th for single parent homes. Most people here value education.

Mississippi and Louisiana have the highest percentage of single parent homes, they are ranked 46 and 47th in literacy behind California, New York and New Mexico (47th in single family homes).

When you have an ever higher percentage of parents that sit on their only real asset you will get higher and higher percentages of ignorant kids. Like horses and water, you many be able to herd them to into schools, but you can not make them think

 

[steelslaver]

Two term President Eisenhower said it best in this portion of his farewell address in 1963....Even though he was all but begged not to say this, he wrote it by hand, corrected several times and left this most important portion in the speech:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gg-jvHynP9Y

Hands down he was the last great leader this country has had.

 

[MelvinWalker]

Hands down he was the last great leader this country has had.

My late father was in his 20's when Eisenhower was President for two terms . My dad told me that he had never seen the country as good for eight years as it was during that time. No wars to speak of, strong dollar, wildy strong Air Force.

He said you could walk down the streets of any decent sized city and job offers would fall on your head. Want to work at GM? Sign here and start tomorrow.

 

[steelslaver]

Started the interstate highway system, the beginnings of space exploration, and he was truly admired by almost everyone. He never did anything to divide us

 

[LoboGunLeather]

I enjoy pointing out that half of the people we deal with are below average intelligence. I can do that without offending them because they cannot understand what I am saying.

 

[YeshuaIsa53]

Sometimes we may say something to another person we hope we can talk with in the future. In doing so, we can place a type of burden on them. We may be thought of as a liar or someone crazy. Sometimes people will go out of their way to avoid you. We may share something that will cause no harm to others, but in fact cause that person too much for them to wish to discuss. It was so little information about oneself, but revealed something they may not be happy with knowing why it was revealed. It will make us sad for sharing anything in the first place, but we cannot take it back.

Which brings me to feel the importance of knowing likeminded people in life. Nothing wrong with knowing people who would never understand.
If we give a stranger a compliment about something we notice in them that we like, we may feel a little less lonely. However, we seek to build in order to complement things. If it takes six people to complete what we need, finding them may be a long destiny of dreams.

The Meaning Behind Simon & Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence"

In the one understanding of the song, it portrays our situation and the dangers of it. Please read their understanding of the song.

 

[Rustyt1953]

First thing Monday I am going to contact the Registrar's Office to see about a refund.

 

[YeshuaIsa53]

Wonder why so many people stand on the corner preaching? It is like sharing a secret to people who do not even listen. Guess that is why we were given a light to shine, so others may see into the darkness.

 

[ladder13]

Discernment is a gift from the Creator.