Yes Yes thank you, someone finally said it. This is the problem; like Orpheus said it is not a government issue but one with the teachers.

What I am saying is that the lack of education is not because of government used towards schools but the teachers themselves. I have been fortunate to have such great teachers in my high school but there are still many that to say the least are dumba$$es. The reason I say will be explained. We all have home rooms which we only attend about 4 times a year for FCAT test. At the beginning of the year we had to attend our home rooms for the first few days. My "high school home room teacher" wanted to check our papers to make sure we had our names on them.

It's high school and she treated us like 3rd graders for God sakes. Also many of the teachers hate their jobs and will simply give out a worksheet for the students to do while they play solitare on the computer. There was junior high teacher that actually did that too. ALso you will hear how these elementary schools complain about lack of money yet at my little sisters school they spend around $4000 a year on pizza partys for the AB honor role kids. Why not stop wasting it on useless crap and put it to good use. Like buying somewhat decent comps instead of making the kids use 100mghz macs.

? quoting Gwil

I haven't said that anywhere, to be fair A slight kneejerk response from me, admittedly, but I have extremely strong feelings about the U.S. foreign policy I said this Yeah, it's a generalisation - but I pour scorn on 70/80% of the people eligible to vote in both my country, and your country. Blair capitalises on stupidity over here, just as Bush (and Kerry too) does over there I'm not saying that everyone who votes for Bush is stupid, but they are stupid for voting blindly. The same way people are stupid for voting blindly over here If you do vote Bush yourself, I'd assume you did it because you knew his policies/supported them.

Understood. I also have great faith in the stupidity -or ignorance- of the vast majority of the elctorate... I should have comprehended your meaning.

With respect to education, I think it is practically useless until you get to high school age. Of course that is entirely anecdotal evidence of my own experience...

In my view, the root cause off all our educational woes is that children learn three things in elementary school that cripples them for life:

1. Reading and writing are boring

2. Math is stupid

3. Science is dull

These three lies, primarily "reading is boring" account for 90% of the ignorance in America. By forcing children to "learn" what we say they must before they are ready, our school system robs them of the most precious thing humankind posses: the desire to learn. Children are naturally curious about everything, it is only after the first few years of school that this gift is destroyed.

I spent almost my entire childhood playing. I didn't even read well until I was 10-11 years old. Until I turned 13 I spent practically all my time outside digging in the yard, playing with LEGOs, building in the basement, and running around with Friends. Oh, my parents insisted that I learn SOME things. I could do basic arithmetic, and I knew how to read even though I couldn't do it well. I NEVER spent more than 2 hours a day on what anyone would call "School". However, despite what might seem to be a recipe for ignorance, the next-door neighbors were calling me "the professor" when I was 4-6 years old because I had a huge highly articulate vocabulary. My parents read to me all the time, talked to me as if I was an adult, and absolutely never answered a question with "I'll tell you when you're older" I knew why the sky was blue before I was 8 years old, could tell you all about rain, and condensation, and even the nature of temperature. Finally when I was 13 years old I just sort of decided it was time for school. My reading level went from 4th to 12th+ grade-level in a matter of weeks. I told my parents what I was interested in and they bought me the books. I read them, and the got some more. When I finally went to college at 16, no one to my knowledge ever guessed that I wasn't 18. I had to take one remedial math class (because I had refused to learn that for some reason), but aside from that I started at University-credit level. The only deficiencies such an unusual education has produced are my atrocious hand-writing and spelling skills. I consider that a small price to pay.

I've never asked somebody what they learned in elementary/junior high school and gotten an answer that was worthy of the name. People learn NOTHING of use in those grade levels.

Not everyone is Lucky enough to have well educated parents who make enough money to teach them at home, but if it weren't for that fact, I'd have no qualms in saying that public school is worthless. That I suppose is the point I was trying to get across with this mad rant.

you know, i fully expected at the very least an "opps" gwil, especially when i explained my choice of wording in the PM's.. sadly, you disappointed me.

anywho's.. even though a portion of the government is involved with the situation, the root cause, at least in my region of the world is the parents.. hence my words

i posted that sentence to illustrate my scorn on the parents of today.. not to raise them as you so blatantly accused me of .. read the entire paragraph in this new light and it makes sense, or should if one is capable of admitting it.

anyways, the parents of my state have caused so many issues that the teachers have little choices, they are being sued so often that they are forced to have insurance to cover this eventuality or they cannot seek employment.. parents refuse to allow the teachers to enforce guide lines necessary to the groups they teach as a whole.. parents are always citing that teachers stifle their development by restricting their right to express themselves.. i attended numerous parent teacher meetings where parents belittled the teachers constantly.. i don't know how you guys have these meetings, but the kids are present, if the parents chose to bring them.. the outlook for the teachers are grim when the children see the parents doing these hateful things to the teachers.

in a small way, i blame the teachers as well, because in their defense, they have adopted a policy of placing kids on drugs to ensure compliance.. this is creating more problems than solving, cause now we have children addicted to very strong drugs, and if you have ever seen a child who hasn't had their dose for the day.. its scary.

my experiences only extend from grade school through jr. high so i have to limit it to only those areas.. how the upper grades get treated are not my domain of opinions..

so, all your anger at me was based upon a misunderstanding, in spite of me repeatedly telling you that you would be surprised.. but.. i wanted cash's input before i said anything, because i felt it may have either supported my claim, or because he lives elsewhere, he might have said he had heard such rumors..

as far as the government in this area, i had to butt heads with them somewhat, but perhaps not for the reasons one would think of at first, but upon reflection, may after..
in this state, each school is given a specific amount per child to teach them within the system.. each child that is home schooled reduces that amount.. especially when one considers that we home school with NO GOVERNMENT AID!.. i was forced, due to my only being a high school grad to seek additional schooling for my son.. this monies came out of my pocket, not the government.. but in the end it was worth it.. my son was branded incapable of schooling within the system.. i had him graduated by age 16 and coming from a deficit of being 3 grades behind his age level..

anyways, as i said, you wronged me again.. maybe you felt you based it on past replies, i dunno nor care, since it doesn't move this topic forward.. but being a parent (or older) doesn't always mean s**t to me.. i was forced to do things because other parents made the situation that way..