Standards, anyone?

[Guest]

 

[Black Tulip]

Creaming off the top 15% for grammar schools could work for the 15% and the 85% but that it provides the 85% with a sense of failure at age 11.


Og, pontificating.

Og,

The above quotation is true sadly enough. But it could very easily be different.

If educational systems learned to start with what people already know or can do and build on that. That way you can even get adults with a lousy school history to enjoy learning. Not to mention the effect is has on their self esteem.
Instead most schools take the failures and the can't do as a starting point.

Look at how a paper is graded. I bet most of you never saw anything other than the number of wrong answers instead of the number of points you earned with your work. [At least that is how it works in the Netherlands.]

Of to preach my beliefs.

 

[minsue]

Re: Ketchup

Franklin didn’t actually invent lightening, but he did play a key role in its development.

GROANS...

 

[Gary Chambers]

...If educational systems learned to start with what people already know or can do and build on that. That way you can even get adults with a lousy school history to enjoy learning. Not to mention the effect is has on their self esteem. Instead most schools take the failures and the can't do as a starting point.

Look at how a paper is graded. I bet most of you never saw anything other than the number of wrong answers instead of the number of points you earned with your work. [At least that is how it works in the Netherlands.]

Of to preach my beliefs.

Go for it BT. I've come to the conclusion the biggest function schools serve is to hold people back. We can't have the plebes actually learning anything or they may start challenging authority and getting ideas above their stations.

Home schooling is becoming more popular where I live, and kids who receive it soar past their peers. Also it's been a known fact for years, that one of the major causes of low marks is utter boredom. The brightest students just turn themselves off to all the infantile crap, so the Peter Principle starts even before they get through grade school.

A year or so ago, I was asked to teach journalism at university level. I gave it a shot. The first thing I did was start treating students as adults: no more roll calls, just come and go as you please and get your work done or you'll get no mark. I also switched exams to open book tests. The students (paying customers) loved it, and so did most of my teaching peers, but the administrative types would prefer I return for guest lectures only, if at all.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Re: Okay, you asked for some standards of living

You can have peace, or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both at once.

I don't understand this. You mean that to be free we have to be at war? Or to be peaceful we all have to be in jail?

---dr.M.

 

[shereads]

Re: Re: Okay, you asked for some standards of living

I don't understand this. You mean that to be free we have to be at war? Or to be peaceful we all have to be in jail?

---dr.M.

Well, yes. When Eastern religions talk about "inner peace," they mean peace that is attained in jail.

I think Lockheed coined that thing about not having peace and freedom at the same time. It's on the pens they hand out to Congressmen.

 

[champagne1982]

Re: Re: Women and children first

[. . .]What might be the implications - economically, politically, socially - if every adult on the planet became temporarily sterile, and for one year the human birthrate dropped to zero?

Actually, the birthrate wouldn't drop to zero until approximately 40 weeks after the date the sterility took effect. Conceivably, there'd be a negative population growth to go along with that stat. Would we be further ahead? Sure, providing we didn't all die out with just that year's non-progeny left to carry on the species . . .

 

[SeaCat]

You can have peace, or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both at once.

I belive that what the author is trying to say here is that you can have peace, ie. a stillness in hostilities, but to have it you have to give up some of your freedoms for this. You have to be ever vigilant for someone trying to move against you in some way. To be this vigilant you have to give up some of your freedoms. (But NOT to the point of the newly created American Freedom Act!)
Everybody is at war in one way or another with someone else. Wether it is with another country, or more importantly against a person or persons trying to take away your freedoms.
Here in America we are engaged in multiple wars at this time. Some are well known, such as our wars in Afganistan and Iraq, some are less known. Those which are less known are to me the more important ones. No I am not talking about our war against drugs. (A total joke if you ask me, but no one in the government is asking me.)
We have a war against Obesity.
We have a war against intolerance, fought by many groups, many of which are intolerant of the others.
We have a war between the races.
We have a war against Ignorance, which will never be won.
We have a war between the sexes.
We have a war against sex. (If you don't believe that look at all the laws regulating sex. Not too mention the laws regulating sex and nudity in movies)
We have a war between, against, and for religeon. (Where do you think many of the laws pertaining to sex are coming from?)
Hell, come to think about it we have a war about just about anything you can think of. What is a war? War is any time hostile actions are taken against a group of people who believe in one idea or another. If you don't believe there are hostile actions taken against many ideas just walk down the street carrying a sign with your favorite idea on it and you will soon be confronted by someone who is angered by that idea. Is that not a hostile act?
Whoops, time to get off my soapbox before it gets crushed under the weight of my ideas.

Cat

 

[Gary Chambers]

Re: Re: Re: Okay, you asked for some standards of living

Well, yes. When Eastern religions talk about "inner peace," they mean peace that is attained in jail.

I think Lockheed coined that thing about not having peace and freedom at the same time. It's on the pens they hand out to Congressmen.

A wealth of info this lass. Jail seems an occupational hazard for prophets, but I imagine most congressmen (congresspeople?) get confused like Doc, and without a patron saint like the one erotica writers have to lead them from the darkness, some probably select the wrong door. It sort of explains a quote from the Vietnam War years. I don't recall its origin, but I remember it wound up on a Chad and Jeremy folk rock platter: "There can be no peace without war."

It's correct when you think about it, like saying there can be no heaven without a hell, but a genuine obscenity nevertheless. Now I'm wondering if it originally came from a congresswombat inspired by the free pen.

 

[TryAnything]

XI. Stupidity should be painful to the stupid, too!

XII. Stupid people shouldn't breed.

XIII. Help control congenital defects, stop listening to country music.

 

[SeaCat]

Okay, some mroe from my favorite author.

By the way I am quoting from the notebooks of Lazarus Long as written by Robert Anson Heinlein.

Men are more sentimental than women, it blurs their thinking.

Certainly the game is rigged. Don't let that stop you; if you don't bet, you can't win.

There is no conclusive proof of life after death. Bot there is no proof of any sort against it. Soon enough you will know. So why fret about it?

Delusions are often functional. A mothers opinions about her childrens beauty, intelligence, goodness, et cetera ad nauseam, keep her from drowning them at birth.

A generation which ignores history has no past- and no future.

What a wonderful world it is that has girls in it!

Small change can often be found under seat cushions.

It's amazing how much mature wisdom resembles being too tired.

our enemy is never a villian in his own eyes. Keep this in mind; it may offer a way to make him your friend. If not, you can kill him without hate-and quickly.

A motion to adjourn is always in order.

Of all the strange "crimes" that human beings have legislated out of nothing, "blasphemy" is the most amazing- with "obscenity" and "indecent exposure" fighting it out for second and third place.

All societies are based on rules to protect pregnanat women and young children. All else is surplusage, excrescence, adornment, luxury, or folly which can-and must-be dumped in emergency to preserve this prime function. As racial survival is the onlyuniversal morality, no other basic is possible.Attempts to formulate a "perfect society" on any foundation other than "women and children first!" is not only witless, it is automaticly genocidal. Nevertheless, starry-eyed idealists (all of them male) have tried endlessly-and no doubt will keep on trying.

More to come, I have to make some dinner now though.

Cat

 

[TryAnything]

Time Enough For Love, great book!

 

[whispering_surrender]

XIII. Help control congenital defects, stop listening to country music.

My daughter is lovely and smart as a whip. I listened to, and performed, country music. *goes to look for kleenex*

Whisp

 

[TryAnything]

It was only offered for humor, certainly not meant to offend.

 

[whispering_surrender]

It was only offered for humor, certainly not meant to offend.

I'm only teasing hon. *laughs softly* Believe me, you'd know if I was offended! (And that doesn't happen very often.)

Whisp

 

[gauchecritic]

I'm only teasing hon. *laughs softly* Believe me, you'd know if I was offended! (And that doesn't happen very often.)

Whisp

I've never witnesses whisper being offended (on these boards) but that was before I knew she was a country girl. Have to think up some cutting Grandma's Feather Bed remarks.

Gauche

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Peace and Freedom

The way I’ve always heard it is: you can have freedom, or you can have security, but you can only have one at the expense of the other.

This was talking about government, and was positing the theory that every government takes a stand along the spectrum of absolute freedom with no security on one end, and absolute security with no freedom on the other. The US likes to maximize freedom while letting you sink or swim on your own, while communist countries maximized their citizens security (in terms of economics and services) at the expense of their personal liberties.

So this stuff is from Heinlein, huh? I'll bet he was just riffing on the freedom/security theory, because old R.L. never met a war he didn't like. He was something like John Wayne: a great artist, but when he started talking politics he made you wince. He once came out in favor of public whippings too. I grew up on Heinlein. Great author, bad social theorist.

---dr.M.

 

[whispering_surrender]

I've never witnesses whisper being offended (on these boards) but that was before I knew she was a country girl. Have to think up some cutting Grandma's Feather Bed remarks.

Gauche

*braces self*

Whisper

 

[raphy]

I've never witnesses whisper being offended (on these boards) but that was before I knew she was a country girl. Have to think up some cutting Grandma's Feather Bed remarks.

Gauche

*grins*... And on that topic... A few words of 'cowboy wisdom'...

o Work ain’t gonna do itself.
o Ride for the brand.
o You can't call yourself a gunslinger if you never sling a gun.
o Don’t hunt trouble.
o Don’t count on trouble never huntin’ you.
o Cows is stupid.
o If it ain’t broke, it don’t hurt.
o It don’t matter how she dresses or what she does for a livin’ — treat her like a lady or you’ll wish you had.
o Life ain’t like the movies: not everyone in a white hat is a good guy.
o Be nice to young ’uns — you was one yerself, once.
o It ain’t the hat, nor the boots, nor the shiny belt buckle. It’s what’s inside.
o If you’re usin’ your fists, you’re only funnin’.
o Cows is really stupid.
o Wipin’ the sweatband of your hat is a good excuse to stop an’ just take in the scenery for a spell.
o It takes a lot of hands to make a roundup.
o When somethin’ goes wrong, set back an’ have yerself a good, relaxin’ cuss — then fix it.
o Ignore that dude on the billboard sign. A real cowboy rolls his own.
o Don’t mess with another man’s gal, gun or hoss.
o Dyin’ with yer boots on is still dyin’.
o Watch yer step aroun’ brandin’ irons.
o When nature calls, check for rattlers before you unbuckle.
o An’ never take a drink unless you know what’s upstream.
o I mean cows is really, really, REALLY stupid!!!
o Next to a hoss, a dog is man’s best friend.
o Beans are good eatin’ on the trail, but not in the bunkhouse.
o Cowboys don’t cry — they just get sweat in their eyes.
o That which don’t kill me, better hunt its hole before I heal up.

 

[Svenskaflicka]

Don't carry a weapon, if you don't know how to use it.

 

[Svenskaflicka]

X?. Low standards get you more sex.

 

[Weird Harold]

X?. Low standards get you more sex.

I think that one should have first priority on number thirty if we're going to stick with Roman numerals.

 

[Svenskaflicka]

Well, I was confused on what number we were on, so that's why I added the ?-mark.

 

[Quasimodem]

A creamery near where I live produces a cheese that is marketed under the product name "XXX."

The product? " Limburger."

 

[Black Tulip]

That is a very nice cheese from the south of my country. Only to be eaten with a clothespin on your nose though.



Not sure that qualifies as xxx.