[jackbenimble]

An unbelievable about of funding is spent trying to educate the bottom 20% of our population. I think we would be better off throwing the big bucks at the top 10% of our kids and getting the slower learners into trade schools and what not where they can learn how to do the jobs that Americans won't do.

[silverleaf]

They have trade schools for 3rd graders who can't read?

[BlueStateDepression]

"getting the slower learners into trade schools"

As A guy that finished 69th in a class of 356 and spent his life working with tools I take offense to that remark.

I ask you to think about what you just said the next time you are in a hospital or office building. Look above your head at the drop ceiling tiles and think for a minute what hangs above your head. Duct the size of a couch and in many cases the size of a car, wires that weigh alot more than you, sprinkler pipes as far as the eye can see, and plumbing that would squash you flat.

I ask you to think about the walls that surround you now.

How about reading prints and understanding how, and where all this stuff is installed to protect you from being squashed.

Think about your car and as you drive down a lonely deserted highway in wintertime during the middle of the night with your family inside.

Think about the plane you fly on and then think about the people you say should be sent to trade schools. The 'dumb' ones right? The "slow learners" right? The ones that are putting all this stuff above your head, the ones that maintain your car and your airplane. The ones that build your house.

Today is not your daddy's shop class homeboy!
Slow learners will not make it in todays trade schools anymore than they do in regular schools.

To show you that point I ask you to lay out for me a 13 inch x 13 inch square to round (8 inches) offset 12 inches 3 feet long.
Yeah, that is the place for slow learners huh?
Oh and please do not forget to add in your measurements for pittsburghs (male and female) and your drive connections on the square end.

Now obviously, I do not expect you to post measurements for this duct fitting. It is ficticious in nature on purpose. The point of it is to show you that sending "slow learners" to trade school is a foolish statement and does not bare any resemblance to the reality of 'shop class" today.

[HungarianGypsy]

My dad said when he was in school, if a student seemed to be behind by 8th grade they would usually go to a trade school, rather than a traditional high school.

[Xenalyte]

Hell, I'm in at least the top 5% of our population as far as smarts go, and I would have served myself much better had I learned an actual skill.

As it is, should society deteriorate and we revert to hunter-gatherer times, the only practical skill I can contribute is sewing.

[photodawg]

jackbenimble wrote:
An unbelievable about of funding is spent trying to educate the bottom 20% of our population. I think we would be better off throwing the big bucks at the top 10% of our kids and getting the slower learners into trade schools and what not where they can learn how to do the jobs that Americans won't do.

//////////////////////////////////////////

The middle of the pack go to trade schools, not the bottom 20%. The bottom 20% does not graduate from high school, has children out of wedlock in disproportionate numbers, and is rarely gainfully employed. To educate the best and the brightest, education has to be privatized. Public school has always been overburdened with a large group of "prisoners of war" who, were it not for compulsory education laws, would never set foot in the buildings. This is one of the great myths of America, that everyone benefits from a free public education. It simply isn't the case. Most countries view education as a privilege and don't force non performers to attend. In fact, they force non performers to leave. The best and brightest would stand a much better chance with home schooling over the Internet than in the public factories in existence today, taught by Godless unionized communists, exposed to the dregs of humanity in the name of the public good.

[tiki]

I was flabbergasted to learn that there are a lot of children who have one teacher or aide, exclusively for them. In one case at my grandson's school the child has a registered nurse. He is blind, can't talk and in a wheelchair and incontinent.

[Puddleglum]

An unbelievable about of funding is spent trying to educate the bottom 20% of our population. I think we would be better off throwing the big bucks at the top 10% of our kids and getting the slower learners into trade schools and what not where they can learn how to do the jobs that Americans won't do.

I agress, but here in Texas an unbelievable amount of money is also being spent on English Second Language education. And yet here even the Pubbie state legislators love, LOVE big education. I feel like Boss Hawg runs the Republican party here.