Our future

[Allen]

Fifty years of illegal immigration will soon take the US over with cheap labor. Union pension funds have helped add to a real threat of financial collapse. We finally have the first black president in Washington wanting to borrow more money putting the country in a $13 Trillion debt, not that any other president has really helped, all IDIOTS. We are one cyberspace attack or shipping container with a nuclear device away from being a third world nation. My advice: Teach your children to speak Chinese. They are carrying an enormous part of the US debt.

Oh yeah, we're talking about children. I guess I was thinking there's going to be nothing left for them. Also, my wife is a teacher, so I hear about kids every day. They're not getting smarter. We live in a computer age with cellphones, text messaging, and computer games. You can't even make it in the Navy without algebra and math. JMHO Sorry for the double post.

 

[Ted Brown]

How do they say it? Spare the rod and spoil the child... Heck it did not spoil them, it killed them...

 

[ellis8500]

My wife is the database administrator for a local school system's student records database. For about two years she worked 60 hour weeks taking care of the daily duties plus preparing and filing all of the required state and federal reports. She has help now so only works 45 hour weeks. Last year she found out that the state office that receives all of the reports from all the Missouri school districts only had three employees, one being the manager. Of course, they had no time to do anything with the data, only enough time to make sure it all came in so they could pass it on to the feds. The fed dept of education is the same way. All they do is push people for the data that the laws require. Nobody does anything useful with all the data, which is really obsurd stuff anyway. A total waste of time and tax payer money. The schools were far better before the feds got involved with local education.

 

[T-Test]

I did the same as you and Mike, and never had anymore trouble with my kids. Also told them when they got grown that if they thought they could manhandle me, then I would treat them as if they were grown and no holds barred for I would win at all costs. Love my kids and have taught them respect, that is something you earn, not demand.

 

[RPM]

This just happened today at the school where the wife works. By luck she did not work today. This school is only 1/2 mile from our place. This from the local TV station web site.

KODAK (WATE) - A Sevier County middle school student was charged Monday for possession of a firearm.

The 14-year-old Northview Middle School student is in eighth grade. He was charged with one count of possession of a firearm on school property and with possession of marijuana.

A school staff member heard on Monday morning that the student brought a gun to school so administrators told the resource officer.

That officer, who works for the sheriff's office, made contact with the student and discovered a semi-automatic 9mm handgun in the student's locker in a backpack.

The sheriff's office says the weapon wasn't loaded, but a loaded ammunition magazine was also in the backpack.

The officer confiscated the gun and a small amount of marijuana.

The student was taken to the Sevier County Juvenile Facility where he's being held pending a hearing.

After a lockdown period at the school, officials say students were able to follow a regular schedule for the rest of the day.

 

[Old Rotor Flap]

Today, I was the subsitute teacher in the welding shop. I've been there before and (I think) I'm respected..... to a degree, I have some cedibility.

It's the Bell Curve thing, (did you read the book, Bell Curve?) some students are ourstanding, the majority are average and some are destined to be post office clerks..... Hey, what am I saying?... postal clerk; fifty or more grand a year, another thirty-five percent in benefits every conceivable holiday off with pay and a gold plated retirement... and all for minimun wage effort and accomplishment, especially effort. The USPS lost $8.5 Billion dollars last year and has lost billions for years........ all paid for by tax payer dollars..... But I digress.

I tell my students; This is not my future buddy, it's your future. If you want to piss away your future, have at it. It won't change my life style. If you want to earn a living, you might want to get working, not just to graduate (which the NEA guarantees you'll do anyway), but to be better, to be much better, much better than that other guy applying for that one job. Now, may I suggest you report to your welding booth and remember, practice makes permanent. Welding is PPP, Position, Practice and Product.

Some do, some don't....... and I get paid to sub regardless of which they choose.

 

[bentbaggerlen]

I have two kids, each as different as night and day. My son finished high school, joined the Army for the education, ended up in Iraq, thankfully made it home, landed a good job doing something he loves, married, has a daughter and son of his own now. Sure he had a few bumps along the way, but he's proved himself many times. Needles to say I'm very proud of him.

My daughter on the other hand... Knew everything and left high school as soon as she was able, has five kids, each with a different father, and let me tell you what a bunch of winners they were, one had a paper route, another tried to rob a 7-11 with a toy gun and left the little orange tip on it, needless to say the owner was not impressed as his did not leave the factory with a little orange cap...

But, still I'm proud of my daughter because she has finely learned that there is no free ride in life, she's now working and going to school and will soon be a RN if all goes well, she married (ex-Army) and it seams to be working for her. It was the hardest thing to do telling her that she made her mess, and that she had deal with it. (IE no $$ from Dad) But things are now looking up for her.

 

[butch27]

Bent: Your story could be my next door neighbors story. Hope things work out for everyone.

 

[Ted Brown]

Speaking of learning to weld, I had a few guys come in and try out for a job building chassis parts... One fine fellow said would you Please just light the torch for me? And He said He was a Collage Grad... Another could not trace off a cardboard pattern to steel... Most all did not bring any gloves or Welding helmet... The guy I finally hired, because He was the only one that asked where the stool was, and had all his own hand tools and working wear with him... if you are not comfortable, you can not do a good job, at anything connected to cutting and welding... I even had two Black business men come in and say that they would pay the wages for a Black guy, if I hired him, I said I am not running a school here, and besides I want to keep all my tools and equipment... and kicked them out of my shop... There are a very few GOOD guys out there, but they are hard to find...

 

[Gerry]

KODAK (WATE) - A Sevier County middle school student was charged Monday for possession of a firearm.

The 14-year-old Northview Middle School student is in eighth grade. He was charged with one count of possession of a firearm on school property and with possession of marijuana.

Thats frightening. Not sure I could let my wife go back there.

From all your stories it seems not quite so bad here in the UK. Yep we have our share of problems, especially with the education system and attitude of a lot of todays kids, but nothing like you guys are saying (YET).
Gerry

 

[putz]

A lot of interviews start with can you pass a drug test. thins the crowd . Do you have a legal drivers license. This really cuts it down. My opinion you should have to pass a drug test to get a welfare check.JMO

 

[T-Test]

A lot of interviews start with can you pass a drug test. thins the crowd . Do you have a legal drivers license. This really cuts it down. My opinion you should have to pass a drug test to get a welfare check.JMO

Hey Putz, just keep working, millions on wellfare depend on us!!! Give them a bucket of paint, have 10 stand in the road to direct traffic, have them paint the lines on the roads, [hope none get killed?] and quit paying contractors to rip off the states and our tax dollars. Go back to the days of prisoners doing a lot of work for the states and supporting themselves, not the tax payers. It costs more to keep a person in prison [135,000.00] than I or a lot of people make in a year. Give me the free health care, education, food and see what I could do with my life.

 

[Mike]

Ron, when I see reports about children carrying weapons to schools, I wonder where in the Hell their parents are? See how silly I am? i actually thought I was responsible for raising my child.

I've said for years the welfare system could be cleaned up (and likely cleaned out), by simply requiring those healthy enough to work to actually EARN their pay. Every city and town has a large building sitting vacant. Find welfare recipients with building skills and turn that building into a day care center. For those who are not able to physically work, let them man the day care center. That way, the welfare recipients with children have a built-in day care system, so they can go out and work in our communities. Let them pick up trash along streets and roads. Let them paint those lines on roads. Let them clean graffiti off defaced structures. If they don't like doing that kind of work for welfare pay, then they can do the same thing the rest of us do when we want more money. They can go find a better paying job.

As for prisoners, well, just let me say I like some of Joe Arpaio's ideas. (I said "some", not "all".) Either get them chained up and working somewhere, or seal them in their cells where they cannot create havoc. What happened to prisons being places of punishment? Maybe if we started taking our prisons a bit more seriously, some potential offenders would think twice before risking a stay in one of them.

 

[old round fart]

OLD ROTOR LAP said:
clerks..... Hey, what am I saying?... postal clerk; fifty or more grand a year, another thirty-five percent in benefits every conceivable holiday off with pay and a gold plated retirement... and all for minimun wage effort and accomplishment, especially effort. The USPS lost $8.5 Billion dollars last year and has lost billions for years........ all paid for by tax payer dollars..... But I digress.

Well, don't know where you got your info, but it's flawed!
As a retired postal worker, I wish my retirement was "golden". The truth is you get 1.2% of the average of your highest 3 years of work. If you worked 30 years and made the $50k you imagined, you would make about $18,000 a year. Hardly "GOLDEN". The Post Office gets NO TAX MONEY. They pay the govt. millions a year to do what they do.

 

[Differen T]

Right on Putz.

We've been blessed, we never had kids. I tell people I never wanted kids 'cause I was afraid they might turn out like me.....
Therefore, I'm not in a position to say how I would have handled kids, but my thoughts are like yours.
If you call child protective services, I hope you like your new home more than did this one.
Mom and I will send you a post card from Hawaii on your birthday because without you around, we can afford to live there.

Two of the nicest people I ever knew when I was young were a childless couple. Elsie took her mother, friends and me to the Tuesday afternoon movies. I saw New York city for the first time and have many other wonderful memories of time spent with them. I was fortunate to grow up in a small town when that was a good thing. There was stability in our lives. We had 92 in our graduating class and most of them spent their childhood in a two parent, only one working, household in the same house. The neighbors knew you so you had better behave yourself or your parents would find out quickly. I know the whole country wasn't this way, but I do think that no matter what the economic situation parents were far more caring about how their children were raised and seen by their neighbors. Over the years this has changed, too many parents are too self centered. Buy the kids happiness as long as they let you alone to do your own thing seems to be the standard for parenting today. Things that were a real treat while growing up have become so commonplace today that they are not appreciated by anyone and expected by our kids. Most parents have left parenting to unsupervised TV, the schools and the streets. Discipline and respect start at home, or should I say should start at home.

I didn't have my first child until I was 36 and on the second time around. Maybe because I had some rough sailing I took parenting very seriously, but so did my wife. We have raised two sons and a daughter who are hard working, caring young adults, but it was the toughest job either of us ever did. We had our trips to the principal and tried to handle each case based on the facts and what would best teach the child a valuable lesson about life. There were times the school was right and there were times the school was wrong, but at no time did we ever leave the child with the impression that we fixed the problem just because we went to the school. I would love to brag about my kids, but I am still very concerned about the world today and how it will affect their futures.

Our educational system needs to be changed, it was designed to educate kids brought up in a social system that does not exist today. I don't claim to have the answers, but one thing I am sure of isthat we must remove all sports and most after school activities from the educational system. Schools are for education, let the community run the other types of activities. Not only will our kids get a better education, we will also get a reduction in our property taxes.

It is easy to point fingers and assign blame to someone else, but improvement begins in the family, then the community and the schools. :soapbox:

 

[putz]

Different T I thought you said you where in a small town? I had 23 in my graduating class and that was 3 towns going to one school.

 

[Differen T]

Different T I thought you said you where in a small town? I had 23 in my graduating class and that was 3 towns going to one school.

I guess I think of it as small because we were the smallest school in our area. I friend of mine went to a school that graduated five, he was the only boy and two of the girls were identical twins. Our area has also grown in the last 50 years. Back in the day all of the small towns had farms between them. Then 25 years ago I moved to the country, now I live in suburbia and I haven't moved. Thank God the trees grew up around my old school bus woops: I mean wood shed) on the back 40.

 

[Mike]

Talking about small classes, my graduating class was "only" 676.

 

[TubT]

Talking about small classes, my graduating class was "only" 676.

I attended two high schools. One had only 60 students in grades 7-12. We had to suit up every boy in the school to put a football team on the field. But our average class size was 12 students. I knew every teacher, where they lived, their kids, etc.

The second one had 200 students in grades 9-12. There were 60 kids in my graduating class (the 11th and 12th grades were always larger, due to it being a boarding school). Again, I knew almost everything about each of my teachers.

Our schools were best when they were small and local. If I were king, I'd abolish these huge schools and put an elementary school on every other block, a middle school on every 4th block, and a high school on every 6th block.

But, as Rush Limbaugh said so many years ago (I don't know what he says now--I stopped listening to him years ago), "Don't worry about fixing the schools. Make sure your own kids get a good education, and remember they will always need someone to sweep the floors at their businesses."

 

[jmr122848]

my opinion
99.9 % of the problems with the schools are called parents. Period. Want better schools? get better parents. Parents want to run the schools, but know nothing about teaching. the only kid in the school who matters is theirs, and yet they can't seem to get their precious darling to give a rat's petoot about learning. If doing well in school, not being a problem and LEARNING is important to momma, students will learn. if not, not. Government is not the problem, the schools are not the problem, Teachers are not the problem. all the ills of the education system can be traced to parents.
Thanks for your time and attention.
You may now return to your rat killin
Mike in ep