Jane Kelley (On 08 Mar 98) said this..? to Mark Probert
 JK> I'd say that the clues are sadly lacking among the educators these
 JK> days who have made such mistakes as insisting upon books such as
 JK> "Heather has two mommies" instead of insisting that the kids be able
 JK> to read them.
 Where, exactly, is this particular book being used and how is it
 integrated into the curriculum?
 JK> Or the complete insane ones who developed the theory that kids should
 JK> not compete or be graded on their efforts.
 There is little or no relationship between letter or other types of
 grades and the effort put forth by any student.  Letter grades just
 as often reflect how well a student is able to regurgitate (often
 without understanding) the material that has been presented.
 JK> Yup.  We can than them for the nasty fact that Intel, Microsoft, and
 JK> Boeing have to hire foreign students whose parents and educators saw
 JK> fit to teach them some good old fashioned discipline.
 Oh please, I am sure that those corps. have you on their list of
 consultants and that you are privy to their hiring practices.  If you
 are going to throw out statements like that, the very least you could
 do is give a reference that supports it.
 JK> I was also present at a session where some McDonald recruiters
 JK> informed us that they went after older people in this nation because
 JK> kids no longer were able to perform well in the workplace.
 Okay that is a possibility..  Many retired folks are looking for some
 kind of part time work that will get them out of the house during the
 day.  Not many high school kids are available to work at McD's or any
 other fast food place during the school day.
 JK> When kids cannot even meet the standards to flip hamburgers then
 JK> something is drastically wrong with what they are being taught in
 JK> school and how they are being taught.
 What are the standards to 'flip hamburgers'?  What would you suggest
 be added to the curriculum to enable these kids to be better burger
 flippers?
 FWIW I took my son to his all time favorite 'junk food' palace, Taco
 Bell, the other evening.  Their computers were down which meant the
 pictograph cash registers were not working.  Guess what Jane, the
 oldest person in the place was throwing tacos and burritos together,
 high school kids were manning the counter and the drive through.
 They were doing a good job of serving customers and and figuring the
 right amount including the 'restaurant' tax on each order.
 I think you have bought into the hype about those kids who make no
 investment in their own learning, who learn little, and can't fill
 out a job app for McD' as being representative of ALL students.
 JK> Our children are not prepared to compete.
 I think 'our children' will do just fine.  Perhaps not as well as we
 would like them to, perhaps not as well as the myth surrounding how
 well our parents and grandparents did in a different age, but just
 fine none the less.
 JK> Explain to me just who in hell is supposed to support them when
 JK> all of the WWII and post WWII humans are dead?
 I'd think that even you could figure that one out Jane.  They will
 support themselves, just as the post civil war (remember that one?)
 generation, the WWI generation, the WWII/Korean generation and the
 Vietnam war generation have done.  The older generation ALWAYS pisses
 and moans about the younger generation.  It's remarkable how often
 that older generation has been wrong.
... Life is the way it is...not the way it oughta be.			
--- PPoint 2.03
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