Usa Thread

[allistar]

I was watching the opening ceremonies last night on NBC and as the athletes from Finland passed, Bob Costas for some reason mentioned that the former head of Nokia was fined around $100,000 for speeding on a motorcycle. I don't know if that means he approves the U.S. having the same kind of system; a sliding scale for both taxes and fines, increasing the amount paid for those that are worth more. Or, did he just do the numbers on his own worth to see what he would be paying if the U.S. had the same kind of sliding scale system that Finland has and he committed the same offense that the former head of Nokia committed.

[unit731]

Why is Mitt Romney in England?

 

Every conservative knows the Brits are Socialist Communist

so why is Mitt patronizing the enemy?

 

 

"LONDON–Mitt Romney raised at least $2 million in a fundraiser here that brought to light awkward connections between the candidate’s high-profile supporters and an interest rate-rigging scandal."

LINK

 

Someone needs to pay attention to those prescription drug commercials on the tele!

 

 

 

Two Million Dollars ! Fund raising. Money. Money. Money.

 

 

Damn those socialist communist capitalists.

Why would those socialist communist capitalists want to buy off Romney?

[Steve]

http://news.yahoo.com/mississippi-learning-why-states-students-start-behind-often-064000563.html

Mississippi Learning: Why the State's Students Start Behind -- and Stay Behind

[Bangkoktraveler]

"LONDON–Mitt Romney raised at least $2 million in a fundraiser here that brought to light awkward connections between the candidate’s high-profile supporters and an interest rate-rigging scandal."

LINK

 

Someone needs to pay attention to those prescription drug commercials on the tele!

 

 

 

Two Million Dollars ! Fund raising. Money. Money. Money.

 

 

Damn those socialist communist capitalists.

Why would those socialist communist capitalists want to buy off Romney?

 

So can we say the Republican treasure chest

is being filled by Communist/Socialist money?

 

Is Romney going to France?

[unit731]

http://news.yahoo.com/mississippi-learning-why-states-students-start-behind-often-064000563.html

Mississippi Learning: Why the State's Students Start Behind -- and Stay Behind

 

"JACKSON, Mississippi -- Gov. Phil Bryant wants to end Mississippi's statewide system of seniority-based teacher raises. Instead, the Republican governor wants each of the state's 151 school districts to design their own system to pay teachers according to student performance."

 

LINK

 

It's the teachers fault that those kids can't learn. And those pesky teachers unions that don't allow kids to learn. Absolutely nothing to do with lack of nutrition, lack of pre-school, or any mandatory kindergarten.

[Flashermac]

Blasphemy! Judge teachers by performance? Shoot the fascist pig!

 

Even in California, once teachers had acquired tenure (after 3 years), it was almost impossible to get rid of them. I taught high school for one year in Santa Barbara county. During that time I saw some fantastic teachers. But I also saw some absolutely awful ones, teachers who clearly were in the wrong job. But they had been there for years and would be until they retired. Pay was based on educational level plus the number of years teaching. Job performance had nothing to do it. About the only way you could get fired was by some serious misconduct.

 

As a high school student myself, I had a chemistry teacher who failed most of his students. I'd received a B+ from my previous chem teacher, but this one gave me a D, even though my grades on his exams averaged a C+. The guy had promised his "lab boy" an A for helping him, then gave the kid a B. The highest grade in all of his classes was a B-. My D put me in the upper 20% of the grades he gave. The teacher used to tell us how he had graduated from high school and been drafted into WWII. "You guys have it made," he assured us. I wonder how many boys he said that to died in Vietnam. He certainly killed my interest in chemistry.

 

p.s. I went to a private kindergarten at the Methodist Church. There were no public school kindergartens in the dark ages. My mother tells me my first grade teacher was quite pissed off that I could already read and write. I do  remember spending a lot of time standing in the corner as punishment.

[Steve]

I'm not convinced the problem is mainly bad teachers. I don't know if there are many people who go into the profession thinking its an easy paycheck for doing nothing. The profession has a reputation for being a tough one. Its known as a thankless job with students are far more violent and rude and far less prepared than previous generations.

 

Kids are woefully unprepared and parents of all income levels think their kids shyt don't stink. I and others have posted numerous articles of parents who will back their child when they're obviously wrong. I gaurantee you that grandmother who was teased on the bus would not have been believed by any of the parents were it her word. Most of us on here grew up in a generation where adults were believed instead of the kid. If my teacher said I did that was that unless I had overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

 

With regards to Mississippi, they seem to be ignoring a method (pre kindergarten preperation) that has proven results.

 

Also, no matter how good a teacher is, if you get a bunch of unprepared kids there is notihng you can do about it. Especially in poor areas where you not only have kids who are behind their age level but parents who coddle their children and blame the teacher for any thing and don't believe their child is bad when they are told he or she is.

 

Today's parents aren't as good as before. I think that's the main problem. My guess is the overwhelming majority of people who go into teaching these days have a genuine love for children and teaching. Every indication is that its a profession to be avoided with the stress meter for it being fairly high. There is a whole generation of poor and working class and even some middle class parents who see preparing their child for school is sitting them down in front of the cartoon network. Also, throw in the fact that a great number of them are raised in single parent homes where that parent simply has no time to prepare them as much as they would like.

 

There are so many things that could be tied to getting American kids prepared and educated: drug use, crime, teen age pregnancy, etc. Poor girls who are educated tend to go to college and avoid pregnancy. Poor boys who have hope and a good education tend not to join gangs, commit gun crimes or smoke crack.

[dean]

Unless I'm mistaken, Mississippi is the poorest state in the nation, which includes what it spends on its students. I doubt if the lawmakers there are talking about increasing the amount spent on education, just re-apportioning the current amount that is spent. The best thing that a parent in Mississippi could do for the academic welfare of their child would be to move to another state. I would agree that television is used to much to pacify kids. My 4 year old cried when he thought I was getting rid of cable, including the Cartoon Network. Yes, I do take him to the library at least once a month to check out books to read. He and his mother go back to Thailand next summer and that will be the time to get rid of all cable in the house.

[Flashermac]

Back in the 1960's I had a classmate who had a devil of a time getting into the University of California. He'd graduated from high school in Little Rock, Arkansas. He then enlisted in the Navy to get the GI Bill (no longer around). When he got out, he applied to UC. He was shocked to be told his high school was only accredited to the 10th grade and they would not recognise his diploma. He had to go to a junior college for two years, and then transfer to UC.

 

Quite frankly, there is no way I would teach in US public schools today. As CS says, discipline has gone to hell ... and many parents take their child's word over the teacher's.

 

But look at Thailand. Most parents take no interest in their children's education and pull them out as soon as they have completed the mandatory 9th grade. For all the public talk about wanting their children to get an education, I simply do not see it. When only the 6th grade was required, most parents pulled them out of school at that. It is not simply a matter of money, since Abhisit's government made public education free from nursery school through the 12th grade. There is no real appreciation of education among working class Thais. I doubt that it is much different in poor rural areas of the US.

 

 

[kamui]

Unless I'm mistaken, Mississippi is the poorest state in the nation, which includes what it spends on its students. I doubt if the lawmakers there are talking about increasing the amount spent on education, just re-apportioning the current amount that is spent. The best thing that a parent in Mississippi could do for the academic welfare of their child would be to move to another state. I would agree that television is used to much to pacify kids. My 4 year old cried when he thought I was getting rid of cable, including the Cartoon Network. Yes, I do take him to the library at least once a month to check out books to read. He and his mother go back to Thailand next summer and that will be the time to get rid of all cable in the house.

 

Education system in Mississippi:

 

In 2008, Mississippi was ranked last among the fifty states in academic achievement by the American Legislative Exchange Council's Report Card on Education, with the lowest average ACT scores and sixth lowest spending per pupil in the nation. In contrast, Mississippi had the 17th highest average SAT scores in the nation. According to the report, 92% of Mississippi high school graduates took the ACT and 3% took the SAT, in comparison to the national averages of 43% and 45%, respectively.

 

In 2007, Mississippi students scored the lowest of any state on the National Assessments of Educational Progress in both math and science.

 

Mississippi is currently ranked at the bottom of the American Human Development Index.

Wikipedia