Posted on 12/19/2002 3:08:50 AM PST by kattracks
Back in my day, we invented the Internet and we invented the personal computer. Yes, you kids today just don't compare to my generation. We were a generation of doers and go-getters. If it wasn't for our generation, why we'd still be getting our news from Dan Rather on the Teevee..."
This is why the early years of education used to be consumed with memorization...so that the later years could concentrate on critical thinking.
Who do you think laid the foundation/discovered most of that "knowledge?" It wasn't you or your kid.
Could your kid: 10 Describe how a mercury light works; 2) Describe how a doorbell works; 3) Describe the differnece between a wet cell/dry cell battery.
Only 3 of about 20 questions on a test I had to take in l954. It was a 9th grade General Science test.
Your original posts speak for themselves and mirror Zogby. Have a good day Sam.
Oh...I give up...what exactly is the purpose of high school?
Guess ole PJ went to look at that 30 second bio he scanned of Wallace.
I guess cynicom can't accept the fact that I actually KNEW those facts without having to look them up. And as proof of this fact was my claim that I read a book about the 1948 Progressive Party campaign called "Gideon's Trumpet." Guess what? I was WRONG! I found out this morning that the name of the book is actually "Gideon's Army" which means that I did NOT look up that info on the web since if I did I would have stated "Gideon's Army" not "Gideon's Trumpet" (another book).
Please forgive me, cynicom. I got the name of the book slightly wrong but it has been many years since I read it so my memory wasn't quite up to par. However, it does prove I got those Henry Wallace facts from my memory, NOT from the web. This may shock cynicom but other folks actually do read books. I can attest for sure that you (SamAdams76) definitely are a big book reader from what I've seen of your active participation in the Freeper Reading Club. Perhaps cynicom should join too since he might learn a few things.
High school principals and police chiefs don't need advanced degrees. Cops shouldn't need college degrees at all. We are graduating fleets of dumbasses: They can make a spreadsheet do addition for them, but have no clue whether the curve-fitting a spreadsheet does is valid for their application or even to ask that question. That's lame.
When I was in school, we did both. First, we got the blank maps, memorized where everything was, and then we learned all about 'em.
The same applied to important dates. We memorized first, and then got into the meat of the matter.
They don't do any of that anymore in most schools. I recently had the opportunity to look through an elementary school science textbook. Under the chapter entitled "A History of Scientific Advancement" (or something like that), there was not ONE mention of Apollo 11 or Neil Armstrong. Not one. Not even a lousy picture with a caption. The pyramids were featured prominently, though, both Egyptian and Mayan. But no Apollo program. Go figure.
Regards,
Yeah, I had similar experiences with those tests (I think it was the 1978 California Achievement Test, but don't hold me to that). It was supposed to be the "most difficult year" of that test to determine one's general knowledge on different subjects and to find out which grade level the student was at. I was routinely scoring into the college years in English and upper high school in math. Did I mention I was only in 6th grade?
Your kidding. Did you read the questions? Anyone who can read and understand a Newspaper would know the answers to those questions. My mother, who recently passed away, when 87 could still name all the presidents of the US, the capitals of all the states (which she taught my children before they went to school), and could still tell you where most of the countries in the world were located, and most of their capitals. (She had some problems with some of the "new" countries.)
She was just a plain old High School graduate, and hadn't "studied" these things for a few years. The reason college graduates cannot answer the questions is because they never knew the answers.
Hank
Brevity son..When one carries on such as your last, it tends to dilute your message. Condense it to a few lines and I will read. Read up on your history PJ.
I can say without hesitation that many of them should never have been admitted. Of the ones that were there, I would say that only half were educated well enough to attend. I used to joke that many of them should be in college, but only as janitorial help.
I recently did some consulting with a company that had hired a father (mid 50s, graduated 1963 or 1964 from HS) and son (graduated high school 1993 or so). I mentioned "Manila" as a place - Dad knew I meant "Manila, Philippines"; son asked "what's Manila?"
I am tutoring a young man in the 9th grade. What he does not know is indeed astounding and sad. Most appalling is the fact that he cannot write. He has to print everything and that is acceptable. Public school of course. Yes, he is good at computers, but he cannot write. I had to buy a large wall map, to teach him where the rest of the world is and how they live. Sad....
I'll tell you what, cynicom. I CHALLENGE you to take a History Quiz contest against me right here on the FR. Christmas Day would be a good time for me. What we can do is have other Freepers post American history quiz questions to us in REAL TIME. The winner of each quiz question is the FIRST one to post the correct answer (to prevent the possiblity of spending time to look up the answers on the Web). Then all of the winning answers posted by you and me are tallied up to determine the final winner.
So that is my challenge, Cynicom. I was planning to get drunk as hell on Scotch on Christmas Day and I may still do so since PJ drunk will still beat cynicom sober. So are you going to continue to talk the talk or will you walk the walk?
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