is our kids getting more dumber?

[sonicshoulder]

dic·tio·nary

Pronunciation: \ˈdik-shə-ˌner-ē, -ˌne-rē\

Function: noun

Inflected Form(s): plural dic·tio·nar·ies

Etymology: Medieval Latin dictionarium, from Late Latin diction-, dictio word, from Latin, speaking

Date: 1526

1 : a reference source in print or electronic form containing words usually alphabetically arranged along with information about their forms, pronunciations, functions, etymologies, meanings, and syntactical and idiomatic uses

2 : a reference book listing alphabetically terms or names important to a particular subject or activity along with discussion of their meanings and applications

3 : a reference book giving for words of one language equivalents in another

4 : a computerized list (as of items of data or words) used for reference (as for information retrieval or word processing)

[Guest Jules]

I don't know about anyone else's kids, but my daughter's a friggin genius.

[Lammycat]

Within boundaries of the definition, I don't think anyone is born "dumb". Therefore if our kids "is gettin more dumb", maybe the people teaching them are gettin more dumb. The world in general has changed exponentially in the last 15-20 years yet is seems cirriculum has not. I honestly think some educators can't hold the attention of kids these days because they're jamming irrelevant shit down their throat 8 hours a day. Below is a simple equation:

 

 

stupid mom + dont give a shit dad x scared educator/hours on Facebook = DUMB KID

Curriculum changes more often than you think. It's a circular pattern in education. If the people teaching kids are getting more dumb I guess it follows that whomever taught the teachers failed them, and so on. Cramming irrelevant shit down their throats 8 hours a day? This is based on what?

 

Scared? How so? Sounds like a lot of cliched crap to me.

[Guest Speed Racer]

jamming irrelevant shit down their throat 8 hours a day

 

Which courses that you took were irrelevant? I found my English, math, history and science classes to be very helpful. Did you not, for some reason? Gym was a welcome break of activity in the day, Latin and Norwegian were fun and helped me with my English reading and grammar as well, in addition to teaching me about cultures foreign to me. Consumer Education and Health, while boring, certainly taught me a few things I didn't know. Driver's ed - well, I might have been one of six kids paying attention, but I've NEVER stopped on train tracks. And all that's excluding the bulk of my college experience, too.

 

So, which parts of that were shit?

[sonicshoulder]

Which courses that you took were irrelevant? I found my English, math, history and science classes to be very helpful. Did you not, for some reason? Gym was a welcome break of activity in the day, Latin and Norwegian were fun and helped me with my English reading and grammar as well, in addition to teaching me about cultures foreign to me. Consumer Education and Health, while boring, certainly taught me a few things I didn't know. Driver's ed - well, I might have been one of six kids paying attention, but I've NEVER stopped on train tracks. And all that's excluding the bulk of my college experience, too.

 

So, which parts of that were shit?

Sounds like our opinions may have been formed from two different experiences with education. I went to a small public school, they didnt offer Latin,Norwegian,Consumer Education, or drivers ed. Health and gym were mandatory until 8th grade and not an option from that point on unless you failed them. I would have loved options like you were given. I had no idea any high schools in America offered Norwegian! I thought we were taught a little about a lot,a veritable student assembly line.

[Guest Speed Racer]

Sounds like our opinions may have been formed from two different experiences with education. I went to a small public school, they didnt offer Latin,Norwegian,Consumer Education, or drivers ed. Health and gym were mandatory until 8th grade and not an option from that point on unless you failed them. I would have loved options like you were given. I had no idea any high schools in America offered Norwegian! I thought we were taught a little about a lot,a veritable student assembly line.

 

Ah, I took Norwegian at my Norwegian-heritaged college. But everything else was high school. Consumer Ed., Health and Gym (7 semesters!) are all required by Illinois state law, thank GOD.

 

I'm still interested to know why school was irrelevant, though.

[sonicshoulder]

Ah, I took Norwegian at my Norwegian-heritaged college. But everything else was high school. Consumer Ed., Health and Gym (7 semesters!) are all required by Illinois state law, thank GOD.

 

I'm still interested to know why school was irrelevant, though.

School is not irrelevant. My senior year when I had to take a ninth grade level science class because science was mandatory and I took Physics 1(the pinnacle of my schools science electives) as a junior...that was irrelevant.

[Guest Speed Racer]

I honestly think some educators can't hold the attention of kids these days because they're jamming irrelevant shit down their throat 8 hours a day.

 

How long was that ninth grade class, anyway?

[sonicshoulder]

Curriculum changes more often than you think. It's a circular pattern in education. If the people teaching kids are getting more dumb I guess it follows that whomever taught the teachers failed them, and so on. Cramming irrelevant shit down their throats 8 hours a day? This is based on what?

 

Scared? How so? Sounds like a lot of cliched crap to me.

Scared as in meeting quotas for test scores. I take it your and educator...sorry if I offended you, sincerely.

[Guest Jules]

High School was mostly worthless. For me.

[sonicshoulder]

How long was that ninth grade class, anyway?

seemed real long, it was a good nap though. I know, should have been brushing up on the difference between plant and animal cells.

[sonicshoulder]

Maybe I should mention I was on Valiums and weed most of the time as well

[Guest Speed Racer]

So, you're not actually going to explain what you meant by your post, then?

[sonicshoulder]

So, you're not actually going to explain what you meant by your post, then?

Thought I explained it pretty good, sorry its not to your standards. Maybe Im not smart enough to have this discussion. Your probably cussing me in Norwegian as I type.

[bjorn_skurj]

High School was mostly worthless. For me.

On my end, it was not all it was cracked up to be. Being in a totally non-school sanctioned underground newspaper was the most important educational experience I had there, and we did that our own damn selves, though the school has to be credited for being a mildly oppressive force for us to rebel against.

[bleedorange]

Thought I explained it pretty good, sorry its not to your standards. Maybe Im not smart enough to have this discussion. Your probably cussing me in Norwegian as I type.

 

I count four grammatical mistakes. Was grammar irrelevant?

[Guest Speed Racer]

Thought I explained it pretty good.

 

Can you explain the phrase "jamming irrelevant shit down their throats for 8 hours a day"? Because I'm still not sure what you mean - neither was Lammycat, which is why he posed the question, too.

 

I count four grammatical mistakes. Was grammar irrelevant?

 

Don't forget, "I take it your and teacher"

[bleedorange]

Don't forget, "I take it your and teacher"

 

I couldn't even decipher that one. I assume it should be "you're a teacher"?

[Guest Speed Racer]

On the topic of all of these apparently less-than-awesome high school experiences, what would have made it better for all of you?

 

I was bored out of my skull for large portions of the day. I used to try to see how long I could hold my breath for, record the times in each class, and find a Best Of in my notebooks at the end of the day: "Wow! 1:34 in Econ!" I had to stare at the same kid's ass crack for three years in about half my classes because his last name happened to come right before mine. Paul the autistic kid used to sneeze onto my neck without covering his mouth.

 

But I got to read some decent books, and in my survey courses found topics that interested me, and I was able to go to the library and find some more books about those topics. I had a few good teachers who helped me learn how to write better, formulate arguments, and generally prepare myself for not being in high school.

 

More than anything else, I learned a lot about socialization. High schoolers are fickle and messed up, by and large, but I spent a lot of time with a lot of personalities, and by the time you're 18 you start to reaize they're not going away.

[bleedorange]

On the topic of all of these apparently less-than-awesome high school experiences, what would have made it better for all of you?

 

I was bored out of my skull for large portions of the day. I used to try to see how long I could hold my breath for, record the times in each class, and find a Best Of in my notebooks at the end of the day: "Wow! 1:34 in Econ!" I had to stare at the same kid's ass crack for three years in about half my classes because his last name happened to come right before mine. Paul the autistic kid used to sneeze onto my neck without covering his mouth.

 

But I got to read some decent books, and in my survey courses found topics that interested me, and I was able to go to the library and find some more books about those topics. I had a few good teachers who helped me learn how to write better, formulate arguments, and generally prepare myself for not being in high school.

 

More than anything else, I learned a lot about socialization. High schoolers are fickle and messed up, by and large, but I spent a lot of time with a lot of personalities, and by the time you're 18 you start to reaize they're not going away.

 

Completely agree.

[Guest Speed Racer]

Did Paul sneeze on your neck, too? Six years of that, middle through high school. Damn.

[sonicshoulder]

Sorry didnt know proper grammer and spelling was that critical on a bands website. Its funny I had this same discussion on a Gwar message board but I came out ahead in that one. I didnt know this was being graded. I typically dont pay attention to puncuation, spelling, etc. when typing...maybe Im in the wrong place.

[Guest Speed Racer]

So, you're not going to explain what you meant by "jamming irrelevant shit down their throats for 8 hours a day"?

[bleedorange]

Sorry didnt know proper grammer and spelling was that critical on a bands website. Its funny I had this same discussion on a Gwar message board but I came out ahead in that one. I didnt know this was being graded. I typically dont pay attention to puncuation, spelling, etc. when typing...maybe Im in the wrong place.

 

I always bristle at remarks like these. Is it that difficult? Nobody is grading you on anything here, but I just don't get why people don't pay attention to those things. For instance, it drives me nuts to walk down the halls of my daughter's daycare facility (a church) and see all the misplaced apostrophes. How hard is it? And why don't people care more about these things?

[sonicshoulder]

So, you're not going to explain what you meant by "jamming irrelevant shit down their throats for 8 hours a day"?

so how long have you been teaching?