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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Jan 11, 2018 - 09:01am PT
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ps and Yes, Reilly, you are trash, but you knew that.
Why, because I happen to have different opinions than you, or because your insecurities don’t allow you to discuss things as an adult? Or don’t you support teachers vs runaway administrations?
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Jan 11, 2018 - 09:10am PT
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White Supremacy? Is your reading comprehension that bad? What does that have to do with this thread, not that we’ve ever ‘discussed’ that topic.
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Lituya
Mountain climber
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Jan 11, 2018 - 09:12am PT
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Tut, not sure how that equates to "white supremacy." Please explain. (Or not.) My 2A reference was related to the terrifying leftist group-think in which blank slates like you are immersed. If the UC system is producing drones like you then, at some point, the rest of us will need to defend ourselves.
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Chaz
Trad climber
greater Boss Angeles area
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Jan 11, 2018 - 09:14am PT
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It's the Twenty-First Century, Reilly.
You can't be wrong without having something wrong with you.
Anyone who holds a differing opinion on anything is a "...phobe", a "...tard", or an "..ist".
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plund
Social climber
OD, MN
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Jan 11, 2018 - 09:23am PT
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And remember....anyone not one the Left Coast or Right Coast is a 'podunk' who can't possibly know anything.
How'd that coastal elitism work out in the last election?
You hold up as an example worth emulating (the CA Univ system)an establishment that actively limited free speech and discourse...whether or not YOU deem it 'hate speech' is immaterial. Was that to protect the shockingly vulnerable and sensitive ears that might have heard it, or to ensure that an opposing viewpoint (again, regardless of how offensive YOU might find it) is squelched? Whatever happened to the old "sticks and stones" saw? Are words now considered physical articles, like truncheons and jackboots? Talk about an entrenched elite cabal protecting itself...
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Jan 11, 2018 - 09:32am PT
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Both the left and the right wallow in their own hypocrisies while attacking "the other side." The net result is to increase authoritarian tendencies, eliminate middle ground for compromise, and so doom not only the chances for solving real problems, but the foundations on which democracy depends.
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plund
Social climber
OD, MN
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Jan 11, 2018 - 09:55am PT
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Thanks, rgold, for the gift of brevity. Wish I could have successfully articulated so much in so few words.
StOOpid hOOmins is right....we should all remember that when any of us start believing our feces are odor-free....
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Chaz
Trad climber
greater Boss Angeles area
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Jan 11, 2018 - 10:18am PT
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When you advocate murder in response to speech, you're the one who's out of line.
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Chaz
Trad climber
greater Boss Angeles area
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Jan 11, 2018 - 10:25am PT
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Sorry, my time machine is stuck on 2018.
You're the one who thinks it's OK to murder someone for holding a different opinion.
The "Nazis" you see exist only in your imagination.
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Chaz
Trad climber
greater Boss Angeles area
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Jan 11, 2018 - 10:38am PT
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Different opinion, different belief, and you're going to murder someone over it.
Genius.
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Lituya
Mountain climber
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Jan 11, 2018 - 10:42am PT
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Tut, you need to calm down a bit. Clearly you've been manipulated into believing a threat that isn't real. Don't like Nazis? I doubt you'll find anyone here who does. And wouldn't it be better to adhere to the tenets of free speech than "punch someone in the face," or dress up in black and smash a bunch of storefronts? You should feel free to mock and marginalize whatever ideology you want. But calling anyone who disagrees with you on any topic a "white supremacist" or a Nazi--and punching them in the face--is just juvenile. And, re the latter, criminal.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Jan 11, 2018 - 10:42am PT
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KT, I consider myself a progressive, and so I suppose part of the "left wing," and I agree with your comment that there is no hypocrisy in decrying white supremacy and nazis.
The trouble is that both the left and the right have increasingly tried to make their case on the basis of the most extreme examples, like the unbuttoned teachers salaciously depicted upthread. Milo Yiannopoulos is an outlier---too toxic even for Breitbart---and refusing him a platform is an exercise in common decency, but many reasonable proponents of conservative viewpoints have been shouted down in the halls of academe as well, and that is not only deeply hypocritical, but undermines every important thing an institution of "higher learning" ought to stand for.
Focusing on egregious fringe examples like the despicable neo-nazi movement can obscure from view the vast array of important societal issues that also need to be addressed and which can only be solved by way of cooperation amidst groups which somehow have gone from being intellectual rivals to mortal enemies. The dizzying rapidity with which this discussion about teaching devolved into polarized name-calling illustrates the problem we face as a democracy as well as anything.
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Bad Climber
Trad climber
The Lawless Border Regions
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Jan 11, 2018 - 01:38pm PT
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Thanks, DMT, for a noble effort at thread realignment! I share your sentiments wholeheartedly. One of my favorite students from a couple of years ago was a young man in one of my transfer-level comp classes. He did well, worked really hard, came in often for one-on-one conferences, and passed with a "B," if I recall correctly. Since I frequently went through semesters without granting any "A's," this kid was a solid standout. His goal in life? Phreakin' kick-ass welder. I'm sure he's making a great living right now. I have a block of metal with "THUG" cut out with a cutting torch that he gave me as a parting gift. Honor the trades!
BAd
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Contractor
Boulder climber
CA
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Jan 11, 2018 - 03:30pm PT
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The tradesman I have worked with over the years that enjoy art, literature and history are not Trump supporters- just saying...
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Lituya
Mountain climber
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Jan 11, 2018 - 03:35pm PT
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I think there is too much emphasis on 'college or bust' public educational curriculum. And there is too much emphasis placed on superfluous course material (and I don't mean the humanities).
Me, I think we need to return to a more votec-oriented emphasis for the majority of public high school students and teach skills that translate into employment skills.
Absolutely. Among all the primary choices for president in 2016, Marco Rubio was the only one talking about this. Too bad, because it's what we need.
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clode
Trad climber
portland, or
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Jan 11, 2018 - 03:40pm PT
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Both. Schools are hiring teacher wanna-bees fresh out of college because the school districts can pay these "kids" the least. The quality teaching that the real kids get is pretty low, overall. Not to say that some of the "kid" teachers aren't really good, because some of them are, but the school districts are overlooking the older, wiser, more experienced teachers, like my wife with a Master's degree and 19 years of experience with K-12th graders.
But having good teachers is only part of the equation. For the most part, class sizes are way too big, and kids with "special needs" are typically thrown in with the mix, so you have no kid gets ahead, as the teacher has to "dumb down" the lessons so the poor leaners can "get it". And in reality the teacher is more of a day care provider than an actual teacher. They are more busy keeping the students from killing themselves than having time for actual teaching and learning.
Finally, Betsy Devoss is not helping this situation, at all. She could not care less, as she gets money from charter schools and predatory student loans.
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NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
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Jan 11, 2018 - 03:51pm PT
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Why is it that "snowflake" has been stolen by "conservative"/right-wing/etc. people and turned into a bad thing? I think the idea that each person is as beautiful and unique as a snowflake is wonderful. It is a poetic expression that gives dignity to humans, and gives a useful metaphor for a way to find personal value as an individual that harmoniously exists in society. And yet, it is used as a mark of shame and ugliness, really as a projection of the shame and ugliness in the minds of the people who use the term in a derogatory fashion.
Sad. Who can look at a snowflake and see shame and ugliness? Let some light and some love in your hearts people :)
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hailman
Trad climber
Sacramento
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Jan 11, 2018 - 03:54pm PT
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Just realized this thread was revived by a high schooler disappointed with public education. Sorry about your education, but sounds like yer headed in the right direction! (first step is to be angry, as long as you don't disengage from trying to make things better :)
I agree with the posters here that have lamented the rise in standardized testing and loss of shop class and music electives. And the importance of good parenting...
Fact is my parents could have shipped me off to Milwaukee Public Schools where the truancy rate is through the roof (around 70%, and defined as a student that misses 5 or more days per semester). I would have been exposed to gangs and drugs. Instead I went to nice, suburban high school, met teachers that set high expectations, and got my hands on loads of AP classes. Went off to college with 40 course credits in the bag from those AP classes.
There's a nice article on programs that work well for truant students:
http://milwaukeenns.org/2014/11/17/special-report-nearly-three-quarters-of-mps-high-school-students-labeled-truants/
And to quote it:
“Few things with law enforcement actually work to lower truancy rates,” said Alan Borsuk, a public policy fellow at Marquette Law School. “What does work is engaging the kids with what they’re learning.”
Dan Herro, a teacher at Washington High School of Information Technology, 2525 N. Sherman Blvd., agrees with Borsuk’s observation. He said that whenever field trips or guest speakers are scheduled, attendance numbers are much better.
“It’s a matter of having an engaging curriculum,” Herro said. “That’s what’s going to keep them in the classroom.”
Mentoring also keeps students in their seats.
Field trips, guest speakers, mentors, music...all these things cost more money than printing a stupid standardized test. These poor teachers are caught in the crossfire of all these larger social/fiscal issues of our times.
I had the chance to tutor kids at Casa Pacifica down in Ventura Cty for two years. They were kids moving through the foster system that would have been homeless otherwise. Very common that their parents were drug addicts. It was heartbreaking work since a lot of them only stayed for a few weeks before moving on to some other point in the system. But there were some real successes as tutoring allows you to fill in the gaps from all those missed days of school.
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Lituya
Mountain climber
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Jan 11, 2018 - 09:25pm PT
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https://www.city-journal.org/html/truant-teacher-problem-15470.html
. . . using data from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, a Fordham Institute study released in September demonstrates the full extent of the absentee problem. On average, teachers miss about eight school days a year due to sick and personal leave, while the average U.S. worker takes only about three and a half sick days per annum. Worse, the study shows that 28.3 percent of teachers in traditional public schools are chronically absent—defined as missing more than 10 days of school per year because of illness or personal reasons.
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