BRAVO!!!

Downrange,

You took the words right out of my mouth! KD a second "BRAVO". I believe teachers and administrators should be required to read John Taylor Gatto's books "Dumbing Us Down", "The Underground History of American Education" (long and appears he did his own editing but still well worth the read), and "A Different Kind of Teacher".

Schooling (notice I do not use the word educating)is the underlying cause of our country's apathy, lack of critical ability to think, and break up of the family unit. It is the MAJOR long term problem that our nation needs to fix. Without fixing this problem the government will continue to steal from us.

EXCELLENT KD !!!....

I NEVER went for that "Everybodies a Winner" bull**** either, and I raised my kids that way, if they wanted to be outstanding, then they better BE outstanding in something....otherwise, theyre average. They took my messages to heart over the years and became outstanding in at least ONE thing in their lives, which is a HELL OF A LOT more than 99.9% of their classmates ever did. Their lives today, as adults now, is much better because of it.

We know the public education system in this country is full on socialist training, if I had kids in school today, I would DEFINITELY make damn sure they went to PRIVATE schools instead of "party indoctrination" where its okay to suck at something and its okay to be a loser and where wiping your ass deserves an award of some type for "special achievement"

Not sure if I'd pass that test

EXCELLENT ticker! Christ, I don't remember seeing any problems on that particular test till I was a sophomore in High School and that was YEARS ago. Think about how eroded the system has become now is terrifying.

yes, that is exactly what has happened for the last 30 years. and now its just normal. all reward for hard work, education, honest ambition is removed.

its sickening.

Hear hear. I remember learning about compound and simple interest at the age of 7. Times have changed here to in the UK. We take exams here just before university called A_Levels and normally a student takes three subjects. Nowadays 25% of students achieve top A grades in ALL 3 exams (guess the exam boards are in cahoots with rating agencies) adn there is an outcry against universities introducing harder entry exams to discern the creme de la creme of the 25% of students who obtain top grades in all subject. And don't even get me started ont eh shools that ban competitive sports to stop the losers feeling like, well, losers.

Oh, we're way past Socialism.

Com"mu*nism, n. [F. communisme, fr. commun common.] A scheme of equalizing the social conditions of life; specifically, a scheme which contemplates the abolition of inequalities in the possession of property, as by distributing all wealth equally to all, or by holding all wealth in common for the equal use and advantage of all.

I remember sitting through "catechism" classes, and sorry folks, asking "What is this bull****???????!!!!!!!". Then when I got to University I had to listen to professors spewing ancient computer programming lore (and they still are if recent grads are any indication). I go absolutely ape**** when forced to learn lies and stupidity.

This country is finished unless we get a strongman to change direction. We're going to become a sort of France but not before we go through a serious depression. What, we get a record employment drop, and a record oil price spike ON THE SAME ****ING DAY!

did your girl's school really take away her pencils to pass out to other kids?

thats ****ing petty theft

Outersquare - yes. They all went into a big pile.

Same with the filler paper.

Karl,

Of course, your calculations on the growth of money in an index fund are accurate, in terms of future dollars, which, as you know, will be worth less than current dollars; so, the real gains are not as impressive. I think it would be worthwhile to educate on the effects of inflation at the same time. Also, the lesson would probably sink in better if you used something other than food (something we do need, even though the typical pizza barely provides more than just calories) and substitute something completely discretionary, for example, a Hannah Montana CD or XBox game.

See, in a socialist classroom, the teacher would have just "taxed" your daughter by taking 50% of her pencils.

that's ****ing communist
i know you said you raised hell, i hope you also wrote a letter CC'ed to the teacher, the principal, the superintendent, etc.

you know that cash flow question/concept, i did eventually learn about in a state school, but it was in an engineering economics class in my EE program.
Fortunately I was aware of it on my own from reading articles before the class.

I'm a college grad, former bank examiner and now mortgage banker. Let me try my hand at the questions.

6. 25.72 based on a 360 day year
8. $292.68


But I just made it to page 7 and I'm going to have to call you out as being a little bit tinfoil here. I don't think this is a grand conspiracy to dumb down the population in order to be able to pass off the governments ponzi scheme. Everything else I've read so far is right on. We are just too ****ing lazy to fully educate our children and in most cases we don't want to tell people that their children are meeting the requirements to move to the next grade.

Now I will grant you that the ponzi scheme form of government is then placed upon the American people because they are too damn stupid and ill informed to figure out what is being done to them. But I'm not sure that the elected representatives know what they are placing upon our society either. Not sure that they are smart enough to pass that test either.

And good luck getting those pencils away from my five year old when he starts school. I'm going to tell him to tell the teacher no thanks I'll take care of my own supplies.

And I do think I have a right to social security and medicare after all I have paid in. Do I think that having the right will do me any good. No because 30 years from now I don't plan on SS being available as it is now.

My father used to have the same attitude as you. He's worth a few million now and he gladly takes his check now though. He lives off his social security check mostly and says he is saving his $$$ for his grandkids, because they won't have social security checks when they get there.

Gen,

Ticker is down , take a look when you have time.

Same crap here. My little girl just started Kindergarten(actually finishing up now). They did the same thing. This is one of the reasons I went with a Coverdell account. It can be used for private schooling, versus college only with 529's and UTMA and UGMA. Limited to $2000 contribution per year, but if you start immediately, you can amass a little chunk of change. I have heard rumblings they are going to reduce the contribution level. Probably due to this feature LOL This gives us the option of ditching the public schools.

I realize I have to be constantly on guard against this socialistic crap and be able to provide a counter to this influence. That is in addition to teaching the things they refuse to teach, as mentioned in your ticker. It is my responsibility, not to be abdicated to schools any way.

I gave up on Government schools two years ago, all three of my kids now attend a private Christian school that I am very happy with.

At Government school our kids are outright being taught group think/socialism. They are taught to not make decisions without consent and acceptance from the group. I have seen Gen’s exact issue with school supplies personally at two different school districts 900 miles apart. My wife threw and absolute fit with the school district over it on both occasions. When my oldest “graduated” 4th grade two years ago they had an awards ceremony and every single kid got at least one bull**** award. Many got attendance awards. Awards for making honor roll were not presented, but mailed home. When we asked the principle why he said so the other kids wouldn’t feel bad for not being on the honor roll. We got really sick of fund raisers and our kids did not participate in Govt School fund raisers since we already supported them through ridiculously high property tax rates. The school had a party for the kids that participated in one particular fund raiser. They had jumping castles and games setup all over the school starting before noon and after school only the kids that had participated in the fund raiser were allowed to attend the party. Of course no one felt left out with this event.. Right?

I think our society has been purposely and actively undermined for a long time by disparate forces for selfish reasons. It's not just the school system or the financial system, it's the bed rocks of our society being chipped at with dental tools and rock hammers. Being a parent, marriage, self reliance, etc etc etc. For just one example look at the fraud hoisted upon us by Alfred Kinsey. Decades later we find the statistics he presented were an utter lie and skewed to his own personal fetishes, yet they were accepted and taught to a generation as truth; slowly intertwined into the fabric of society.

Quote:

Who's right folks? Well guess what - if you think you have a "right" to Social Security, a "right" to Medicare, or any similar "right" that extends beyond your present value to pay for whatever good or service you wish to purchase then you are claiming a right to screw your children and grandchildren in order to cover the bill.

I think you should have the right to the money that you paid into the system, nothing more (I know it's a tax, but the government makes pretty much everyone believe that they are saving this money for you). I know that it will never happen.

My kids go to private school. The school has achievement awards at the end of the year. They have none of this "everyone gets an award" crap. My wife and I will not put the kids in public school and allow them to be indoctrinated into the states socialist agenda. If we were unable to afford private school we've already researched plans to home school the kids.

Also, to be fair on the test... there is a "use it or lose it" aspect to most people. I don't sit around discussing the parts of speech. It doens't mean that I'm dumb because I don't remember something that was taught to me 20 years ago but have literally never used since (like my boss is going to come in to my office and say "I need to know the 9 rules for use of capital letters right now!". hehe

;)

Anecdotal: I have always pointed out to my kid the stuff that passes for "public education";, then remind him that those folks are his "competition" in the "unfair" life ahead...(and yes, the very first thing to teach folks is: "Life is 'unfair'!" )

Amen KD - But no human kids for me. I've got enough problems teaching my Yellow Lab to not roll on her "kills" and funky smelling stuff and then sharing my bed.

Regarding KD's point on compound interest here's one that really shows how much of a ripoff social security is. If the day you were born your parent's put $1000 away for you and it grew at an annual rate of 10% tax free by age 65 you would have $490,371. If that $1000 was increased to $2000 the total would grow to $980,741. Social security is neither social nor secure.

Hey Gen, come on get with the program. I want my test results graded. I want to graduate with my class. I want to get my awards for attendance and music. Did I get my answers correct?

Your rant kind of hits me perfectly today. I've got my five year old, with an attention deficit disorder (diagnosed by me - my wife thinks he's gifted) graduating from the YMCA daycare preschool today. I'm sure that he'll be rewarded for something. Screw this philosophy. We go to TBall and they don't keep score then they tell everybody that they won. Hell you still get to run the bases if they actually get them out. One kid can't even hit the damn ball and we just stay there until he hits it off the tee on the tenth try. If your damn kid can't hit a ball off the tee and doesn't demonstrate a desire to be there for god sakes find him something to do that interests him. Hey its all right for 5 year olds but next season if there's not winners and losers we're not playing.

Right on as usual, Karl. I forwarded it to my wife (who is a teacher) just to have fun!

I'll take your theme a step further... the educational system and economic condition is killing the work ethic in America. My 18 year old son is finding that he has to put nearly 100% of his minimum wage earnings into his gas tank! "What's the point, Dad?" Yeah, what is the point!?