(06-10-2017, 11:00 AM)Caldrac Wrote:

(06-10-2017, 09:37 AM)MalabarJag Wrote: This has been my point. Competition spawns improvement. It's not just government programs that are poorly run, look at the cable companies. Look at AT&T before they were broken up in the 1980s. Monopolies in general have no incentive to innovate and improve, and every government program is a monopoly.

Damn good point. Everybody gets special treatment now. You get a participation trophy even if you finish dead last. They have too many safety nets in school as well. In the 90's it was all about "Head Starts". Giving the kids head starts. Now it's been about "Left Behind". No child left behind. I am stealing a bit of material here from one of George Carlin's old stand up gigs but it was true back in 2007 or 2008 and it's still true today. 

This is why I am so thankful I was educated in the 80's. I graduated high school June 1990 and they were just beginning all these special programs. Man, where I went to school you thrived or you got held back. Period. The disadvantage for me was I have ADD but that wasn't widely known or talked about and I did suffer in most of my studies that didn't have to do with reading. I loved to read and still do. 

A lot of these schools and states are lowering the standards and test score requirements to get these kids out of school faster and they're lowering the overall I.Q of our country as a result of this. And when you keep it up at this level that little Jeff Daniel's bit that he did on that Newsroom or Network on HBO goes even further down the drain in rankings on a global scale. Those were real, factual numbers at the time. 

That totally blew me away, and not in a feel good kind of way. Now I want to go back and watch that series. 

This country has lot it's fire and heart of what it made great when we were building, innovating and shaping the world under so many great minds here. Now those kinds of people and intelligence get silenced, mocked or buried under piles of stupidity. It's sad. It really, really is sad.

100% agree. When you take away incentive you take away the will to do better. 

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(06-10-2017, 10:10 AM)flsprtsgod Wrote: Education begins at home. We've destroyed the American home and now we reap the results. No school can overcome the smoldering ruins of the homes in their surrounding neighborhoods.

This is true as well. It's rare you ever hear about a stay at home mom these days. Most parents in most locations are forced to work day and night to make ends meet. Barely make ends meet at that. When I was a kid in the 90s and early 00's. I always had my parents home. They could work and be there during the evening. So I was getting plenty of help, teaching, guidance and support through them. 

I know a lot of SAHM from my church and their kids are fairly well adjusted and educated compared to others. I also know many working moms (also from my church) and their kids are also pretty on par. Many SAHM get a bad rap because a lot of them are Christians and there's a whole other dimension to that aspect we can't get into here. I think a lot of it has to do with lack of discipline at home and what is said below. Also, due to the lack of discipline at home, teachers are being forced to teach kids things that they should be learning at home. I personally know a couple of teachers; one is elementary down there in FL and the other is middle school up here in NC, and they both say it's crazy and sad- the lack of skills kids are coming to school with just to cope with dealing with others. I also have a friend who is leaving her teaching job as a violin teacher at a private Catholic school after only two years because the kids don't want to practice or do their lessons. She loved the job until she realized how much these kids have lack of focus and discipline. She said she didn't spend four years at university to babysit unruly kids.

Fast forward to nowadays. It's rare. Very rare to see that. And technology has also sapped everyone's attention as well. It bothers me to no hell's end when me and my wife go out to dinner and you see a family of maybe four or five just sitting there GLUED to their phones. Rarely talking, laughing or making eye contact with one another. And anytime someone asks a question they don't know an answer to. Guess what? 

Youtube it! Google it! God forbid you take your son or daughter out to a library for a few minutes and do it the old way. Or you take your son or daughter outside physically to see how to fix a car or repair something around the house hands on. 

Sad times man. The meek will inherit the Earth at this rate. The survivors have always passed down the best skills and techniques. I have a terrible feeling that comes to an end by 2050 - 2100.