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22588. judithathome - 9/9/2007 2:10:21 PM Way too stubborn...now, he WANTS to be an in-patient for rehab. 22589. Magoseph - 9/10/2007 3:09:31 PM
HAU OLI LA HANAU KEONI!
22590. judithathome - 9/10/2007 6:59:49 PM That's the cheeriest thing that has happened for him today, Magos! He was supposed to play in a golf tournament with the Big Boss from Denver but woke up to horrific thunderstorms and it's STILL raining. It was called off and he's very blue so I showed him your message and he said to tell you Mahalo! 22591. alistaircoNnor - 9/10/2007 7:04:29 PM Posting from a playstation... just to prove it can be done... wont make it a habit 22592. Ms. No - 9/11/2007 4:48:19 PM Happy Anniversary to the MOTE!!! 22593. alistairconnor - 9/11/2007 5:04:04 PM Ah yeah I remember now... Happy birthday to us.
Gee that was strange posting with a Playstation... I felt like Stephen Hawking (though not as smart.) 22594. judithathome - 9/11/2007 8:16:42 PM I don't even know what a PlayStation is...I thought you meant you were on a laptop at topless bar or in a sandbox at a playground. 22595. Ms. No - 9/11/2007 9:54:37 PM A sign of the modern age: surfing porn on a laptop while sitting in a topless bar. 22596. judithathome - 9/12/2007 1:00:43 AM Yeah...and taking part in "grief porn" by sending blanket emails to people asking them to turn on their headlights on 9/11 to "memorialize" the date.
Why not give X-amount of dollars to the survivor's fund or support a fire station with donations or contribute hours to the Red Cross or anything except the totally empty gesture of turning on your car lights for a day...when the newer model cars have automatic lights turned on whenever the car is in motion, anyway?
Why immortalize the date with an empty gesture instead of using your brain to vote for candidates who will make a difference instead of those who seem destined to win because they have more money? Why not work for change within your own community and see to it that candidates who don't support what you believe in get defeated?
Why not make 9/11 mean something more than an empty gesture you can make once a year to make you feel you are really showing what a great American you are? 22597. Ms. No - 9/12/2007 6:43:35 AM Because we Americans far prefer maudlin sentimentality and treacly pap to substance.
Don't mind me I'm feeling curmudgeonly after a conversation in my Euro-history class pointing out that in 1930 a 4th grade education still produced a more literate and better spoken person than fully 80% of the students in California State Universities.
The dumbing down of America is damn depressing. 22598. judithathome - 9/12/2007 7:06:06 AM No effin' shit!
I can't believe the number of people I've met who aren't aware of nine tenths the authors I recognize...AND have read...and I'm talking about people who have been to college. Which I have not, by the way...
I'm not an educated person by any means but I know who Descartes is and what he said...in Latin...and I know that the "s" is silent in his name.
It's astonishing to me that high school graduates can hardly carry on a conversation these days. It's demoralizing. 22599. judithathome - 9/12/2007 7:08:22 AM No effin' shit!
And how is THIS for a perfect example...HA! 22600. prolph - 9/12/2007 9:06:14 AM cheer up my grandaughter has just started macgill she is taking
chemestry. however montreal is not her start; right here in sunny
california she had enough honor credits that macgill has given
her two senesters credi t ( we are deligted because thats a lot of
mony) canada is now no longer less than usa $ 22601. Ms. No - 9/12/2007 4:57:03 PM Big congrats to your grandaughter, Patsy! That's quite an achievement. 22602. Ms. No - 9/12/2007 5:17:11 PM Jude,
What I can't figure out is why we ever made such a change. One of my professors says it started in the 60's when they slacked off on a focus on grammar and structure. I don't know how much of that I accept since I was certainly diagraming sentences in the 70's.....but I now don't recall if that was for my English class or my Latin class and right there you can see that I didn't have a standard education.
22603. prolph - 9/12/2007 9:08:35 PM thanks msno but my point was there were many teens
who can read and write and cary on a conversation
22604. concerned - 9/12/2007 9:14:34 PM It's astonishing to me that high school graduates can hardly carry on a conversation these days. It's demoralizing.
You're just not speaking their language:)
22605. arkymalarky - 9/13/2007 3:10:03 AM in 1930 a 4th grade education still produced a more literate and better spoken person than fully 80% of the students in California State Universities.
I don't disagree (don't know enough to), but it started with mandatory education through high school. As late as when I started teaching kids could drop out in 8th grade. The brainiacs generally weren't the ones taking that option. In addition, no attention was paid to the abysmal condition of black schools during segregation, and when integration in high school and colleges began, mostly in the early '70s, a huge gap that had been easy to ignore previously suddenly became impossible.
The top students in most any school perform at more advanced levels--and a higher percentage of them do so--than at any point in the past.
And a lot of people who lament the situation wrt literacy are weak in other areas like math and sciences, and many math and science people feel like those whose focus is in the liberal arts are below par, all as things become more compartamentalized and specialized in college. There's also a focus on different literature, and everyone has gaps in their reading or focus on different types of material. For the past five years, I did virtually no reading that wasn't non-fiction research or legal material. Education is now so broad and scatter-shot it's very hard to generalize about it any more. What we're neglecting most, imo, especially compared to other countries, is preparing students for skilled work. 22606. arkymalarky - 9/13/2007 3:12:38 AM Patsy's granddaughter is an excellent example of what kids are doing. And I'm particularly proud of AR, because we pay for students to take the AP test, and I read the other day that our pass rate has increased faster than any other state in the country. And it's not a cheap test, but more kids are interested in the courses, and even if they don't pass (most don't) they are SO much more prepared for college. 22607. Ms. No - 9/13/2007 5:24:38 AM Arx,
I'm with you 100% on our failure to train students for skilled trades. I like what I understand of the UK system --- you take a test at the end of whatever educational milestone and that determines whether you go for more academic education or to a trade school.
Nobody needs a BA to sell real estate or beome an insurance adjuster. It doesn't take a four year degree or even a two year AA to perform standard clerical work or even most office administration.
The trend now, of course, is that you can't even get some of the most rudimentary jobs without a BA. I have a problem with that for a couple of reasons not least of which is that it devalues a college education. Also, it shows a complete lack of understanding and evaluative process for most of the entry-level jobs being offered.
You don't need a degree in accounting to start as an AP/AR clerk. You don't need a degree in accounting to be a Full Charge Bookkeeper. What can't be learned on the job --- and I've yet to see what about any of that can't be since I did it --- can easily be taught in a couple of weekend seminars or in a single semester class at the local JC.
It has depressing effects on salary, as well. Employers are requiring degrees that they don't need, but they haven't adjusted starting salaries to reflect that they're now requiring a more highly trained work force. So the pool of applicants is working harder and paying more to achieve placement in positions that are not offering any compensation for their efforts.
Additionally, state universities are becoming degree factories. You have to have a degree to GET a job but most folks know you don't have to have a degree to DO the job and so it's of less and less importance to ensure that the hoardes of people now coming into the colleges are really getting the education that their diplomas say they are.
Or maybe I have an inflated idea of what university degrees used to really mean about the academic achievements of graduates.
I'm starting (starting??) to ramble as 9 o'clock hits and the last of the caffeine in my bloodstream gives up the ghost.
I guess I should've posted all this in the Slow Thread?
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