Comrade
Senior Member
Hobbit said:Point me out article and section that says the Federal Government has no authority over education (where's NewGuy when I need him?), and it's a good program. The education system is primarily liberal...so liberal, in fact, that students learn more about how to like themselves than they learn to add. I'm disgusted with the state of the school system and I'm glad someone out there has the desire to make it better. Here are a few (personal) examples of why education needs major reform.
- If a student hit another student at the school I went to from 7-10th grades, both students got punished for fighting. This only taught students to return violence in turn, rather than trying to solve the conflict peacefully (something I usually tried and failed to do).
Hit first and hit hard.
That's the only way to deal with violence in school. I learned this but never could really bring myself to muster up the golden rule in practice, until I did this with a bulley at one time in my life. This brough me respect and he never bothered me again. Such is human nature.
- I never did convince my 9th grade *honors* physical science teacher that a light year was a measure of distance.
You were probably beyond some H.S. teacher... in fact, by age 13 your brain was already mature and your IQ at it's peak.
I would dispute you, though, and in fact a light year varies according to the effect of gravity upon it's wavelength. There are also other aspects to it's behavior which alter it with respect to the edges of the universe and it's curvature at these extremes. However, I'm quite positive your H.S. teacher didn't argue this detail, did she?
- Two of my teachers (married to each other) had a daughter in my grade. I was beating her in the valdevictorian competition, so they took it upon themselves to try to lower my GPA, but they couldn't do it without getting fired. They sure did try, though.
That's when the superglue, the firecrackers, and other common devices of retribution come into play...er... you didn't hear that from me, lol!
- Some of my teachers knew less about the subject than I did, and I learned more from my parents, my textbook, and web sites than I could've learned in 3 times the time from those teachers.
Yep, I read plenty and actually grew bored with the textbooks in high school. My math books especially, became redundant.
- One of my English teachers in high school hated me and tried to fail me because I was a WASP (white anglo-saxon protestant) whose family was upper middle class. Several students had to get grade appeals from her because she would automatically fail any student writing about the evils of affirmative action, that the civil rights movement had gone too far, or how the Civil War wasn't fought over slavery.
I hated English.
- One of my college professors went waaaay too fast during the first few weeks and issued us a test a month ahead of the syllabus. The class average was 49%. He blamed it on the "lazy" students who wouldn't pay attention in his class and gave no curves.
I had such a teacher. That class final was the first time I became addicted to tobacco.
- At my middle school, which I was only at for one year (just got finished in time for my 8th grade year...joy! (sarcasm)), they eliminated all honors classes, so my classes had to go so slow that the kids who didn't speak English could keep up, and that includes my English class.
My little story from middle school... some bully from the 7th grade for months got on my case, and finally challenged me to some arranged meet after school to fight. I was scared shitless. There was a crowd of kids around us who were all hyped up. I slapped him in the face several times and he began to cry. Then he left. I felt bad about the whole thing, got on my bike, and started home. He and his HUGE buddy followed me and I pulled off. Then the fat ass slugged me in the stomach, and the bulley had something in his hand and punched me in the face. I actually felt good about that. He got back at me, which he needed to do. There were no witnesses, and so I was never bothered again at that school. Win-win.
Totally unrelated but I thought you'd enjoy that story.