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Old 11-04-2011, 12:12 AM
 
28,107 posts, read 63,380,777 times
Reputation: 23222

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Quote:
Originally Posted by nullgeo View Post
Re ... can't believe it has taken so long for the world to begin confronting our culture's unsustainable foundation on consumerism. .
Consumerism is another peeve of mine...

For years, Americans were chastised for their low savings rate... now, when Americans are saving more than ever we are being told we need to spend

I've never been one to have the latest and greatest of anything... many of my possessions are cast-offs...

My hobby is restoring old machinery that is often much better than the junk bought to replace it...

Way off topic here...

The city had a low income energy program that installed compact fluorescents... in theory... what could be wrong with that?

In practice, the replacement 4 pin bulbs cost as much a $18 at the local stores and are classified as hazardous waste so they require special handling...

So a low income person that could buy a box of 4 light bulbs for $1.89 is now looking at spending 20 times the price for one of the new bulbs.

Same thing when they had a program to swap out mercury thermostats... mercury thermostats last forever... they are sealed units and in many cases the only type of thermostat compatible with older millivolt heating systems...

The new ones have caused so many problems and many require batteries that need to be replaced forever going forward...

The local school on the chopping block just had hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of renovations done over this last summer... all new roofs, added skylights, new PA system and classroom updates...

I asked the district why they would spend all this money just to close the school and the answer I received is the money had already been budgeted and the contracts awarded.

Sometimes it really boggles my mind where we are going as a society.
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Old 11-04-2011, 09:13 AM
 
Location: San Diego
50,057 posts, read 46,562,994 times
Reputation: 33895
Quote:
Originally Posted by majoun View Post
But you probably voted for the school board members who supported those policies.


a couple and I was very disappointed with a change in their advertised policies

This makes me wonder - with the current economy making private schools unaffordable for many of those middle class or formerly middle class parents, their kids will probably show up again in said public schools.

big time, but that is ok if the busing program remains shuttered.

In that case then some should be closed and the money should be used to build schools in the neighborhoods where there is more demand.
That was what they were trying to do but between the Teachers Unions and the upheavals at the meetings it was cancelled. So, here we are again. No money and the only other idea is to beg for more.
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Old 11-04-2011, 09:41 AM
 
Location: SCW, AZ
8,225 posts, read 13,302,159 times
Reputation: 7862
I, as a overseas-born freak of nature who was barely a student with "fair" grades all across, can easily tell you distractions impede focus, do we agree?
If so, lets consider the things that might actually be affecting these little b@st@rds:

- Cable TV with crap load of channels
- Multiple gaming consoles with gazillion games
- Computers with Internet. That alone spells "doom" (no pun intended YTG)
- iPhones, cell phones with unlimited texting (another brain-numbing feature for the new generation)
- Bad economy, lack of money, forcing parent to work harder, longer and ignore their kids, even the rich ones. No, latina babysitter couldn't help in that area.
- Bad diet, crappy food no good for the brain.
- Due to pretty much all factors above and due to some others, kids today, especially those who are less privileged get hardly any consistent and proper physical activity. When you are youngling, lack of physical activity is bad for the brain.
- They are typically isolated from others which makes them less and less social. Information grows when it is shared in proper time.
- Too much irrelevant, entertainment based technology, yields lazy unfocused and spastic kids, that is the bottom line.
Don't blame high schools teaching multiple languages, my generation did very well, despite how I turned out.
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Old 11-04-2011, 06:16 PM
 
624 posts, read 1,242,503 times
Reputation: 623
Public schools waste money...they have plenty of it.
Students who do not read or write in English do not perform well.
Administrators want all teachers to pass all students.
Many parents want teachers to pass their child for sitting in a chair and showing up most of the time.
All students are told that they are going to college.
Many students get a free lunch and breakfast at their public school even if they are not poor.
Schools are afraid to discipline kids.
More teachers have been arrested for sexual misconduct than years before.
PE and elective classes are being being downsized because all students are going to college.
Self-esteem is more important than the truth.
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Old 11-04-2011, 06:22 PM
 
Location: Police State
1,472 posts, read 2,399,534 times
Reputation: 1232
All of this will magically go away if we repeal Prop. 13.

/sarcasm
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Old 11-04-2011, 07:08 PM
 
Location: San Diego
50,057 posts, read 46,562,994 times
Reputation: 33895
Quote:
Originally Posted by TurcoLoco View Post
I, as a overseas-born freak of nature who was barely a student with "fair" grades all across, can easily tell you distractions impede focus, do we agree?
If so, lets consider the things that might actually be affecting these little b@st@rds:

- Cable TV with crap load of channels
- Multiple gaming consoles with gazillion games
- Computers with Internet. That alone spells "doom" (no pun intended YTG)
- iPhones, cell phones with unlimited texting (another brain-numbing feature for the new generation)
- Bad economy, lack of money, forcing parent to work harder, longer and ignore their kids, even the rich ones. No, latina babysitter couldn't help in that area.
- Bad diet, crappy food no good for the brain.
- Due to pretty much all factors above and due to some others, kids today, especially those who are less privileged get hardly any consistent and proper physical activity. When you are youngling, lack of physical activity is bad for the brain.
- They are typically isolated from others which makes them less and less social. Information grows when it is shared in proper time.
- Too much irrelevant, entertainment based technology, yields lazy unfocused and spastic kids, that is the bottom line.
Don't blame high schools teaching multiple languages, my generation did very well, despite how I turned out.
My kids are straight A students even though they came out of these schools that have loads of bused in ESL students. Why? Because we are forced to spend hours a night working on home work. I applaud schools teaching languages. I don't applaud the schools being forced to deal with Spanish or pushing Spanish as the second language of choice. Mandarin is the language of money. Let the student and family decide what language is secondary. When the kids coming in can't speak English the family should bare some burden of the cost. Like a tutor.

Maybe if everything wasn't "free" there wouldn't be such a carrot for those coming across the border illegally.
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Old 11-04-2011, 07:27 PM
 
7,150 posts, read 10,836,109 times
Reputation: 3806
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1AngryTaxPayer View Post
My kids are straight A students even though they came out of these schools that have loads of bused in ESL students. Why? Because we are forced to spend hours a night working on home work. I applaud schools teaching languages. I don't applaud the schools being forced to deal with Spanish or pushing Spanish as the second language of choice. Mandarin is the language of money. Let the student and family decide what language is secondary. When the kids coming in can't speak English the family should bare some burden of the cost. Like a tutor.

Maybe if everything wasn't "free" there wouldn't be such a carrot for those coming across the border illegally.
You know, I don't find your position unusual. Nor do I find it hard to understand why you feel as you do. But I would point out a couple things based on what you wrote:

First, that your kids are straight A students -- attributable to hours of homework. Certainly that is significant, but there are too many other factors for such a simple blanket statement to cover the subject. For example, I was strangely very talented at taking tests when I was a youngster -- and thus scored very high in spite of being -- literally -- an almost total truant from age 12 ... thrown out of 4 of 5 high schools and never graduated ... yet got aces on most tests when I did show up to take them from time to time. No, I don't consider myself very academically brilliant. I gotta knack for common sense on tests or sumpin'

But I really zeroed in on your comment about Mandarin [being the language of money]. Forgive me for asking, but do you think that the highest purpose of education is to prepare students to make money? If you do think that, do you think that is a good reality on which to build a society?

Personally, I would prefer to see education focused on providing foundations for people to have fulfilling lives of love and health and appreciation of life's mysteries. And, to that end, multilingualism is a benefit that can be served by many languages -- not the least of which is the beautifully expressive language of Spanish.
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