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Liberal activists and the liberal-dominated mainstream news sources genuinely believed Hillary Clinton was sure to win. Yet they were quite wrong about that, weren't they? They seemed to be in a dazed stupor following the election, followed by the massive toddler tantrum that has continued to this very afternoon. Doesn't that mean they were intellectually inferior in regards to understanding the real dynamics and concerns of how American voters felt about the way our country was governed under Soros/Obama?
Liberal violence is an extremely primitive response to not getting their way. Projecting their own nefarious deeds onto the other side is another classic strategy of left-wing activists. Accuse the enemy of what you have already been doing (like the DoJ corruption, the FBI corruption, the IRS corruption,...etc...).
You make it sound as though the people who did not vote for Trump are not American. The majority of Americans did not vote for Trump. No, it does not mean that we are intellectually inferior, it means we simply disagree.
"Violence is an extremely primitive response to not getting their way". Both parties are guilty of this.
BTW, your status "we took to the woods", I like that.
I disagree. In ability/skill-level grouped classes, curriculum and pace can be much more targeted to the students' needs without dragging everyone else down, which is what has happened in mixed ability classes - everyone but the struggling students have been dragged down. It's common sense as well as empirically true... When the highly able/skilled students are placed in a mixed ability class where all or nearly all of the students are not at their level, they don't get that "faster" more positive learning environment you yourself state is necessary for academic progress and consequently they learn much less than they could.
The SAT (Stanford Achievement Test, available for grades K-12) scores analysis directly contradicts that assertion. Read the Atlantic article I posted.
AP classes are ability grouped, and even within a fairly narrow range, there will be minor differences. MINOR, not a 5 or 6 year grade-level difference. Problem is, AP classes don't start until late high school, FAR too late for that Kindergartner already reading at a 4th grade level. Think very carefully about that.
Some people see it as "dragging everyone else down," others like me tend to think more in terms of pulling everyone else up, or at least to do more/better for the kids who are struggling for whatever reasons...
Curious, I went back and read your article and unless I missed something, there is no clear indication or conclusion with respect to your claim my assertion is contradicted. Ultimately, I am not arguing all kids be randomly grouped into classes regardless their level of academic achievement. Clearly as my own story makes clear, parents want their kids surrounded by other kids who will raise the academic bar for them rather than bring it down. Obviously, the caliber of the other kids in class make a difference. This is exactly why we moved to a school district with a high school rated 10 out of 10. I get all that.
I also understand the better education needs to start early, and this is why I believe whatever we can do to give ALL kids a good early start helps ALL kids. This means good teachers, smaller classes, good nutrition, more money spent at the lower grade levels that EFFECTIVELY improves the learning environment for ALL kids before their environmental influences begin to hijack their chances of a better education later on.
By choosing a High School rated a 10, you self-selected a school with smart kids. Your kids flourish there because they're around other smart kids. We're in a similar school district with the same results.
Grouping by ability is the way of the world. Colleges obviously don't apply a no-child-left-behind policy. And your contention that slow kids do better when paired with smart kids, I'm not so sure of that. I used to teach HS AP computer science with some ridiculously bright kids, and the scores of the others were all over the spectrum including those that flunked out. IMO, it is better to provide an environment where people can be the best they can, and weighting down a class with deadbeats isn't conducive to that.
As to your claim that, "Many A/P classes, for example, are partly self-paced", I call hogwash. I taught an AP class, and ours certainly wasn't self-paced. I just got laughed at by my kids who are in almost all AP classes when I asked them about your claim. Self-paced and AP are mutually exclusive concepts.
Much about "the way of the world" has improved over time because progress has also been "the way of the world" in many of these respects, all over the world. Used to be only the privileged got an education in many parts of the world, just for starters...
The subject of education, better education, is another one of these with no easy answers or solutions, America no exception, but at a minimum we need to clarify what we mean by "slow" kids vs "smart kids." There are kids even with all advantage who don't learn as well as others and there are kids who are very smart who don't do well in school for reasons having little to do with their smarts. Generally speaking what is clear (ask any teacher) is that when the kids in class are for the most part respectful of the teacher, paying attention rather than being disruptive, from good families that feed them well and allow them the sleep kids require, parenting, guidance..., those kids are going to do better as a rule than those in classes -- schools -- where kids simply don't have those advantages.
With regard to self-paced learning, call it "hogwash" if you like, and with all due respect to your laughing kids, but I was in such classes in high-school, self-paced, and I used to help students get their college degrees by way of online education, which of course is also self-paced. Unfortunately, the point is well made that it's early education that makes the difference. I know this, but my experience in high school and at the college level can be better applied in early education far as I'm concerned.
I completely agree with pretty much everything you say. My wife and I feel exactly the same. I really think though that the only people that see it are from a certain age group, we were able to see things how they once were and what they've degraded to.
I completely agree with pretty much everything you say. My wife and I feel exactly the same. I really think though that the only people that see it are from a certain age group, we were able to see things how they once were and what they've degraded to.
These things and many other just don't seem to be as important in society today as they once were.
years ago, if you made a mistake on the job, or took too much time off, you were left go....
now a days you never hear of anyone getting fired, there are no consequences for actions....
plus, the mistakes that are made within Customer Service and Data processing are just incredible.
I completely agree with pretty much everything you say. My wife and I feel exactly the same. I really think though that the only people that see it are from a certain age group, we were able to see things how they once were and what they've degraded to.
These things and many other just don't seem to be as important in society today as they once were.
I see it a little differently, but not by much...
My wife took the raising of our kids very seriously, and I personally made some serious career decisions based on getting our kids the best education we could. No doubt these attributes you list are important, and we did all we could as parents to teach our kids these attributes and a good many others I could list as well. Pretty much any good parent will agree about this and value these attributes similarly, so THAT part of society, NOT age group, agrees as do my wife and I.
There is, however, another part of society not similarly focused, not quite as fortunate to enjoy those sorts of trappings in their environment. This is the part of society we ALL need to think about even if helping those less fortunate is not too easy when it comes to helping them take advantage of at least the bare minimum basics, like good nutrition, good teachers, a safe learning environment, smaller classes. Either America shore up the bottom end or the bottom end will continue to drag down all else that makes for a healthy society for all concerned.
My wife took the raising of our kids very seriously, and I personally made some serious career decisions based on getting our kids the best education we could. No doubt these attributes you list are important, and we did all we could as parents to teach our kids these attributes and a good many others I could list as well. Pretty much any good parent will agree about this and value these attributes similarly, so THAT part of society, NOT age group, agrees as do my wife and I.
There is, however, another part of society not similarly focused, not quite as fortunate to enjoy those sorts of trappings in their environment. This is the part of society we ALL need to think about even if helping those less fortunate is not too easy when it comes to helping them take advantage of at least the bare minimum basics, like good nutrition, good teachers, a safe learning environment, smaller classes. Either America shore up the bottom end or the bottom end will continue to drag down all else that makes for a healthy society for all concerned.
what people do not seem to understand, is, helping these people you talk about would be a huge plus to society....and eliminate crime a lot....
years ago, if you made a mistake on the job, or took too much time off, you were left go....
now a days you never hear of anyone getting fired, there are no consequences for actions....
plus, the mistakes that are made within Customer Service and Data processing are just incredible.
I have to wonder from where your perspective "lives," because I certainly don't share this experience of no one getting fired, let alone never hearing about it. Quite the opposite actually, but here again it all depends on who you talk to, where "you live." And the company you work for of course...
I'm not big on personal anecdotes when it comes to such subjects. I'm more a "statistically speaking" sort of guy, but not all that long ago, I owned and operated my own company that involved the hiring and firing of thousands of people. There are most certainly consequences for employee actions, employer actions too, but I think you confuse our experiences with Customer Service and Data processing with some of these notions of yours.
No doubt we all "pull our hair out" when it comes to dealing with the phone company, our Internet provider, even the person at the supermarket register moving at the speed of snail, but lots of that frustration is due to poor training, lack of personnel, low pay and another wide host of factors that determine how good or bad a company performs in these areas.
When is the last time you walked into an Apple store for example? Pay them a visit every now an then to get a more positive experience. Generally speaking their youngsters there too; attentive, polite, and know their stuff!
years ago, if you made a mistake on the job, or took too much time off, you were left go....
now a days you never hear of anyone getting fired, there are no consequences for actions....
plus, the mistakes that are made within Customer Service and Data processing are just incredible.
Do you really believe that? I think you might want to consider that your lack of knowledge about such things happening does not mean they have ceased to occur.
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