Speaking of stupid people...

delcrossv said:
Sorry, that's baloney. Mt kids get a far better education in private (parochial) school for HALF THE PRICE of what my local school district spends per student.

Monopolies (government or otherwise) ALWAYS deliver worse product at a higher price.
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Because private schools get to pick their students. Public schools get all the kids kicked out of private schools for fighting, or using drugs, or not maintaining a sufficient GPA, etc., etc. Or turned away because the private school can't accommodate a student's disability...

Public schools have to take everyone.
 
delcrossv said:
Sorry, that's baloney. Mt kids get a far better education in private (parochial) school for HALF THE PRICE of what my local school district spends per student.

Monopolies (government or otherwise) ALWAYS deliver worse product at a higher price.
Click to expand...

As is often said, I wish I could give that a hundred likes.

Competition breeds excellence. Never will happen though, when you have a monopoly on the shaping and bending of minds.

Unfortunately, the gov't forces you to also pay for public education whether or not you use it. Imagine if all people had school choice to go where they get bang for their buck, with their own money, just like all the other choices some champion.
But then how would the public schools pay for all those "administrators" and dead wood.
 
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I caused a world of fuss when I was hired in a Supermarket before my 16th birthday. Using the old fashioned register is easy but you do have to be able to count. Some children are curious and want to learn. There's tons of educational content if one wants it. Hell, I even learn stuff here, everyday. Others just want to play games. Games are entertainment and there's a place for that...
 
That all changed when Miami said that there could be no discrimination in private schools. That was the early '70s.

Anita Bryant was the orange juice lady and Dade Christian School was huge. That all changed.
 
I am not now nor have I ever been a parent, and I reject this mock African "It takes a village.." nonsense. The problem with too many kids today is that they are under parented. And too many parents are using the public schools as a daycare center.
Here in NJ the number of school budgets and levies that are being rejected has been steadily rising, the cause is usually senior citizens. Fixed income, property taxes too high, no kids in the schools, parents shrugging off their responsibilities.
Visit an inner city school, see how many kids are the offspring of welfare mothers, met their father-sperm donor, if you prefer-once, teenage girls who are intimately acquainted with the welfare forms.
The late Albert Shanker once noted that no answer can be cheap or simple in the growth field of para-education, whose planned obsolescence leaves General Motors in the dust. The New Math, Look-Say Reading, anyone.
When was the last time anyone discovered a new or overlooked principle of marksmanship ?
If someone is a lousy wing shot with Grandpa's old hand me down store brand double barrel, do you think handing them a Winchester Model 21 is going to turn them into a champion ?
P
 
STUPID

This thread would be hilarious if it wasnt so pitifuly true. Now the 'coin shortage' Our local store no longer will give out change--:rolleyes: Ok- today my bill was $45.35, I gave the girl $45.00 she looked at the money and said it wasnt enough-- I put the 35 cents on a credit card, thus costing them $3.00, or 3% -- she said , you cant do that, I said I just did-- she was still looking at the money when I left. :D
 
JS Esq. said:
Because private schools get to pick their students. Public schools get all the kids kicked out of private schools for fighting, or using drugs, or not maintaining a sufficient GPA, etc., etc. Or turned away because the private school can't accommodate a student's disability...

Public schools have to take everyone.
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Tail wagging the dog. BTW one of my kids has a severe learning disability and I paid for private special education for him as well as the public school offering was abysmal.

Were it not for the monopoly, there would be (and are) private schools for every kid.
 
tdan said:
The sister of the clerk in Acorn's gun shop works the counter at my local McD's. I ordered a sausage McMuffin that came out to a dollar fifty something. I gave her two bucks and then waited for my change. She finally picked out four dimes and some pennies. I came back a couple of days later and ordered the same item. Same girl and this time she was definitely having trouble figuring out my change. Finally she came up with four dimes and the pennies. OMG........she did not know how to combine a quarter, a dime, and a nickel to come up with 40 cents. This was truly sad........... and we have politicians fighting to keep the kids from going back to school.
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WOW! A light bulb just went on over my head! Reading the above post, I think I've now figured out why we're being told there's a "change shortage"! The young folks running these registers don't know how to make change, so "They" fabricated a shortage, hoping we'd all just "round up" for charity. Bingo! No Change Needed! :D

I actually bought my lunch at a drive through earlier this week, (well, I do that about everyday), anyway, it came to $5.60, and I gave the guy $6 bucks. He placed in it the drawer, froze for a second, turned to me and said "We're having a change shortage, you don't really need your forty cents do you?" :confused:

Me, after making sure that's what I really heard, "Why yes, I do in fact need my forty cents. Why don't you just call it $5 even and give me that one back?" He handed me my 40¢ back.

I can't believe that little **** actually asked me that question! What has happened to this world? Everything is off kilter!
 
Mule Packer said:
John, you're probably right. A couple of us have gotten a group together, including some young people in town, who are going over to this couple's place this Saturday morning and will be doing some yard work for them. The son informed me that he wouldn't be there because he "had some things to do."

I was grateful that I had left my gun in the truck or you good folks would be reading about me in the papers.
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Fill his bed with grass clippings and yard debris, then tell him "It's just a placeholder, until you got back. You can do what you want to with it now that you're back."
 
kraynky said:
WOW! A light bulb just went on over my head! Reading the above post, I think I've now figured out why we're being told there's a "change shortage"! The young folks running these registers don't know how to make change, so "They" fabricated a shortage, hoping we'd all just "round up" for charity. Bingo! No Change Needed! :D

I actually bought my lunch at a drive through earlier this week, (well, I do that about everyday), anyway, it came to $5.60, and I gave the guy $6 bucks. He placed in it the drawer, froze for a second, turned to me and said "We're having a change shortage, you don't really need your forty cents do you?" :confused:

Me, after making sure that's what I really heard, "Why yes, I do in fact need my forty cents. Why don't you just call it $5 even and give me that one back?" He handed me my 40¢ back.

I can't believe that little **** actually asked me that question! What has happened to this world? Everything is off kilter!
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Do that enough and achieve that magical 15 an hour living wage.

He "deserves" it after all.
 
JS Esq. said:
Don't know any of you personally, so not saying this applies to anyone here, but in my life experience it always seems like the people who rail against public schools the loudest are also the ones who vote against local bond measures to fund said public schools and vote for state and local politicians who promise to cut the budget. People need to understand they can't have it both ways - if we starve public schools of resources, the education will necessarily suffer. A desk, a slate board, and a piece of chalk are not sufficient to educate people for the 21st century economy.

Funny enough, the people whining about public schools are often also the ones screaming about "personal responsibility" - but never take the time to actually teach their children anything. My 6-year-old can make change - though not necessarily with the most efficient use of coins - because I taught her what the coins represent and combined that with a basic lesson in addition and subtraction.

Also, if you think things are bad now, imagine what the population was like at the time it was determined that compulsory education was a matter of national security.

I'm sure I'll get a point for this because what's considered "political" on this board is clearly more a matter of viewpoint rather than strictly based on subject matter. But, it needs to be said.
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My understanding is in many places we spend more per child than any other country and have much lower results...
 
Do good parents raise poor children?

Was something a miss in childhood?

Perhaps later education brain washed them, but a good upbringing should have prevented that?

I grew up with a "spare the rod" type house. It wasn't do whatever you feel like?


In jest someone said ban the sale of bike helmets and bring back yard darts, something about Darwin...:eek:
 
On the other hand...

...I was so pleased this very afternoon when I stopped at a roadside stand to grab some corn on the cob.

Young lady (late teen's?) said it was close to closing and corn was $3/12 ears. Cannot eat that much despite the deal and asked 'buck for 4?'

She smiled and said 'you're smart;' :) I was rather proud of her.

Be safe...be well.
 
I find it interesting because when I went through grade school (grades K thru 6) in the 1950's, the school staff consisted of 7 teachers (6th grade teacher was also principal), one school nurse, one secretary and one janitor - total staff = 10. I check on-line and currently the same school is now Pre-kindergarten to 2nd grade with a total of 13 teachers! I couldn't find any information about the support staff but I'm sure it is more than 3. I guess progress is going from 7 different classes taught by 7 teachers to teaching 4 classes with 13 teachers.
 
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Kids now are taught. But, only how to access information and pass achievement tests. They don't even begin to teach them thinking and applying that knowledge.

I bet a $100 that if I showed up at senior level high school math class and asked this question 50% would not get it.

I have a hole that is 18" deep, 3 ft wide and 2 yard long. What is its volume in cubic feet? Its a do it in your head question.

Go to the class on US Government and ask the total number of US Sent tors and Representatives there are. Name 3 Supreme Court justices.

Geography. Name the states that border your state.

My grade school had 6 teachers, each having 1 grade. The 6th grade teacher acted as thee principal. Oh, and we had a janitor.
 
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There are (and probably always have been) lots of illiterate and near illiterate folks of all ages. Back in the days when we used paper employment applications there were literally dozens (see what I did there) of folks who applied to be either stalkers, stokers, cashers, and other similarly creatively spelled jobs. Some of them turned out to be pretty good at their jobs despite the lack of spelling ability.
 
I spent a year in the hell called "public school substitute teaching" about 30 years ago.

Yes, public schools do have to take all students, but they don't need to tolerate bad behavior. I had a long term substitute assignment teaching two units of 8th grade math. In one of my classes, I had a boy who never made it to the tardy bell without me bouncing him to the Principal's office. He just wouldn't behave. His Mom complained to the Principal (no Dad at home), but after I outlined his documented bad behavior the Principal told me to keep on doing what I was doing. The Principal also offered me a teaching contract, but I was smart enough to decline.

The rest of the students, most of them minority from low income homes, learned 8th grade math as well as I could teach it. The were all certainly better equipped to start High School.

As I stated earlier, while Public Schools need to take all students, they don't need to let bad behavior get in the way of education. If teachers aren't proactive in dealing with discipline problems, then everyone suffers. I wasn't going to allow one bad apple spoil the entire barrel.
 
We had the Information Age in the 1950s. There was My Weekly Reader, a newspaper aimed at children. A real newspaper. I recall reading about the IGY-International Geophysics Year, NORAD and the DEW Line, it's then commander, Lauris Norstad. The woman who created it thought kids could learn to read just as well by reading about factual things as fairy tales, etc.
We had historical comic books, and yes, real history. One I can still see to this day-60+ years later. It was covering the admission of Texas to the Union, the panel showed an angry Santa Ana crushing the message he had just received about it and angrily declaring "Annexation means war !"
One way to deal with troublesome students is through participatory educational experiences, such as "Gestapo agents torture resistance fighter", "necktie party of the Old West", perhaps a Stalinist style purge trial or a Mao Tse Tung style "self criticism".
 
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steelslaver; I have a hole that is 18" deep said:
18" deep, 3 ft wide and 2 yard long. What is its volume in cubic feet? Show your work.

18" deep, 3 ft wide and 2 yard long converts to 1.5 feet x 3 feet x 6 feet. Reverse the order which will be mathematically the same and you have 6' x 3' = 18 square feet and multiply that by the depth of 1.5' and the total is 27 cubic feet (or 1 cubic yard).

I had to do a lot of land area calculations when I was working. 43,560 square feet to an acre has been burned into my brain forever.
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This goes back about 25 years. I had just inherited a newly-minted 2Lt graduate of the U. S. Air Force Academy. There was a large pile of newly excavated contaminated dirt on base, and as his first task I sent him over to measure it and calculate approximately how many cubic yards it was. He failed miserably. He actually never improved and I was very happy to get rid of him later. I gave him a less than glowing OPR, which was immediately bounced back to me by the Colonel for a re-write. After all, we can't have any academy graduates getting a poor OPR.

He got transferred to a do-nothing job in Military Family Housing. That kid left the AF as soon as his required service time was up. No surprise.
 
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UncleEd said:
The young lady at the fast food place
referred to by the OP was quite correct.
Her computer register is for 6, not a
half dozen. The OP should learn to
speak the language of that fast food
chain. It is not up to the employee to
learn the OP's language.
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We all need to speak McDonalds, because the employees don't know English? Uh, OK....
 
JS Esq. said:
Don't know any of you personally, so not saying this applies to anyone here, but in my life experience it always seems like the people who rail against public schools the loudest are also the ones who vote against local bond measures to fund said public schools and vote for state and local politicians who promise to cut the budget. People need to understand they can't have it both ways - if we starve public schools of resources, the education will necessarily suffer. A desk, a slate board, and a piece of chalk are not sufficient to educate people for the 21st century economy.

Funny enough, the people whining about public schools are often also the ones screaming about "personal responsibility" - but never take the time to actually teach their children anything. My 6-year-old can make change - though not necessarily with the most efficient use of coins - because I taught her what the coins represent and combined that with a basic lesson in addition and subtraction.

Also, if you think things are bad now, imagine what the population was like at the time it was determined that compulsory education was a matter of national security.

I'm sure I'll get a point for this because what's considered "political" on this board is clearly more a matter of viewpoint rather than strictly based on subject matter. But, it needs to be said.
Click to expand...
I don't really think it is a function of money - or lack of money.
In my area the AVERAGE amount of $ spent per student is just over $6,000 per year.
The local high school 6 blocks away has roughly 2,200 students. At $6,000 per student that is $13,200,000 PER YEAR in spending for just that ONE high school. Over thirteen MILLION per year for ONE school.
That is more money than the Fortune 100 company I worked for most of my career spent to staff and maintain a dozen of the facilities that I was responsible for.
Money is NOT the problem.
My 21 year old kid graduated from that school 4 years ago - but just barely. But they absolutely bent over backwards to make sure he graduated. He refused to really put in any effort because he knew they would do whatever they had to in order to "pass" him - whether he learned anything, or even did the work - or not. He just wasn't/isn't an academic type, so he knew he wouldn't be getting a college degree. So instead took his high school diploma and enrolled in the local community college to get a 2 year certification in automotive tech, and he is now working as a mechanic.
That's all well and good, but the point is that when the schools make it virtually impossible for a kid to fail - and the kids all know it - there isn't much a parent can do to "motivate" an unmotivated kid to do better, and the schools graduate them knowing next to nothing.
 
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Years ago the National Geographic Society in Washington, DC would take a world map out on the street and ask passer-bys to show where the US was located on the map. They stopped the project when over 80% of the people asked couldn't find the US on a world map.
 
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