BOB MOYLAN was thinking about Help! Ideas Needed. and keyed into 
cyberspace:
BM>Jane Kelley (On 08 Mar 98) said this..? to Mark Probert
BM> JK> I'd say that the clues are sadly lacking among the educators
BM> JK> these days who have made such mistakes as insisting upon books
BM> JK> such as "Heather has two mommies" instead of insisting that the
BM> JK> kids be able to read them.
BM> Where, exactly, is this particular book being used and how is it
BM> integrated into the curriculum?
It was used in the NYC schools for a while. The powers of darkness, 
however, had it removed.
BM> JK> Or the complete insane ones who developed the theory that kids
BM> JK> should not compete or be graded on their efforts.
BM> There is little or no relationship between letter or other types of
BM> grades and the effort put forth by any student.  Letter grades just
BM> as often reflect how well a student is able to regurgitate (often
BM> without understanding) the material that has been presented.
Interestingly, the school psychologist at Josh's school told me that 
while the SAT, etc. scores are going down, the functional intelligence 
of the kids and population is going up.
BM> JK> Yup.  We can than them for the nasty fact that Intel, Microsoft,
BM> JK> and Boeing have to hire foreign students whose parents and
BM> JK> educators saw fit to teach them some good old fashioned
BM> JK> discipline. 
BM> Oh please, I am sure that those corps. have you on their list of
BM> consultants and that you are privy to their hiring practices.  If
BM>you  are going to throw out statements like that, the very least you
BM>could  do is give a reference that supports it.
Do not hold your breath.
BM> JK> I was also present at a session where some McDonald recruiters
BM> JK> informed us that they went after older people in this nation
BM> JK> because kids no longer were able to perform well in the
BM> JK> workplace. 
BM> What are the standards to 'flip hamburgers'?  What would you suggest
BM> be added to the curriculum to enable these kids to be better burger
BM> flippers?
Another gym course, or two. Perhaps we could teach them to be 
ambidextrous burger flippers.
BM> FWIW I took my son to his all time favorite 'junk food' palace, Taco
BM> Bell, the other evening.  Their computers were down which meant the
BM> pictograph cash registers were not working.  Guess what Jane, the
BM> oldest person in the place was throwing tacos and burritos together,
BM> high school kids were manning the counter and the drive through.
BM> They were doing a good job of serving customers and and figuring the
BM> right amount including the 'restaurant' tax on each order.
BM> I think you have bought into the hype about those kids who make no
BM> investment in their own learning, who learn little, and can't fill
BM> out a job app for McD' as being representative of ALL students.
Jane is the master of sweeping generalizations.
BM> JK> Our children are not prepared to compete.
BM> I'd think that even you could figure that one out Jane.  They will
BM> support themselves, just as the post civil war (remember that one?)
BM> generation, the WWI generation, the WWII/Korean generation and the
BM> Vietnam war generation have done.  The older generation ALWAYS
BM>pisses  and moans about the younger generation.  It's remarkable how
BM>often  that older generation has been wrong.
Consistency.
               The Few. The Proud. The Chosen.
                     markprobe@aol.com
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