How did America let this man become an icon of the working class?

[V.C. Brunswick]

It makes me wonder what the people who paid $300-400 for the very first calculators back in the '70s are thinking now. :eusa_doh:

lol

 

[jamespowers]

It makes me wonder what the people who paid $300-400 for the very first calculators back in the '70s are thinking now. :eusa_doh:

lol

Yeah they were expensive as they come.
I think I found out why they paid that much:

 

[C-dot]

Hey, he's Jamespowers!

And how! lol

Actually calculators were just starting to come into use when I was in high school so I remember laboriously memorizing the multiplication tables as a young lad.

I had to memorize tables too, in elementary school. In high school, however, I was absolutely required to have a scientific graphing calculator for my math classes. (This was all within the past 15 years.) Wasn't three figures, but I resented the $75 it did cost me, and I do to this day - The thing sits in my desk for quick household calculations.

Using my trusty post-secondary education, I know the statute of limitations for suing my Grade 11 math teacher to recoup the cost has long since passed, unfortunately.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

I forgot to mention Idiocracy(http://youtu.be/BXRjmyJFzrU) Strong caution concerning language and coarseness with Clevon.:eeek: That is why I just posted the link. It certainly explains a lot that has been going on though.

lol Notice how all the women in Clevon's world are perpetually pregnant? lol

 

[Tomasso]

I learned to use a slide rule in grammar school but by time I got to college calculators were de rigueur.






Here's a good read on the state of higher education authored by one of my college professors.

 

[jamespowers]

lol Notice how all the women in Clevon's world are perpetually pregnant? lol

They shouldn't have fixed him after he fell on that fence.

 

[jamespowers]

I learned to use a slide rule in grammar school but by time I got to college calculators were de rigueur.






Here's a good read on the state of higher education authored by one of my college professors.

This guy must have been an interesting professor to have Charlie.
I bet all the other professors hated him.

 

[sheeplady]

I won't even mention the Marriage and Sex classes.:eusa_doh:

Marriage and Sex classes? What...? I imagine it sounds racier than it is.

Perhaps this is what I missed by getting a BS....

That, and they only know theory. Theres no practical education in there, and while theory is important, practicality is much more so.

Ideally, most college classes should have students learn theory and apply it in the same course. My students consult for companies, using the methodologies, cases, and theories from class to analyze, solve, and design solutions for real world problems. They start in the beginning with cases and then gradually build up experience over the semester that results in them actually doing pro-bono consulting work (the type that people make their living at) for local companies and university departments.

Theories and practice (good theories at least) aren't separate things. It is, however, much easier to design and teach a class where students only learn theories, and don't actually get up to their elbows in real world problems. Believe me, it is TONS easier.

And, I have to say, that my class is modeled on many classes I've taken throughout my education. Although I have sat through many many bad ones too. Those were mainly negative examples.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Oh, don't get me started. I'm very big on 'buying American' so this was not a pleasant subject when it happened!

I have to admit that I don't follow it as much as I did, but mostly because they started using Toyota.

Couldn't agree more! Whatever happened to on the job training? I understand you need a college education for a lot of professions. However, I do believe that a lot of things that are taught in schools could be taught with on-the-job training or apprenticeships.

He considers the vast majority of degrees granted in the last fifty years or so as being little more than an overinflated trade-school certification.

Most likely, the teacher couldn't do it without one.

When I was in auto-shop, a kid brought in his dad's car, a 1964 Cadillac. It was having issues running and the teacher couldn't plug a diagnostics computer into it (only available for some late model 95's and newer vehicles) so he couldn't tell him what was wrong with it. It was a SIMPLE FIX! The carburetor was out of adjustment and the butterflies were sticking. 10 minutes and I had it running like new.

My daughter was yelled at for not using her calculator for Algebra even though she could do it without one.

 

[rue]

Oh, don't get me started. I'm very big on 'buying American' so this was not a pleasant subject when it happened!

Well they did say "you defeated us in the war, but we will defeat you from within"...... or something similar.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

They're right.

I always (jokingly) say when I'm near an import 'The last time I was that close to a Japanese machine, it was shooting at me!'

Well they did say "you defeated us in the war, but we will defeat you from within"...... or something similar.

 

[rue]

They're right.

I always (jokingly) say when I'm near an import 'The last time I was that close to a Japanese machine, it was shooting at me!'

True, but I don't think anyone saw China sneaking up on us....

 

[Flipped Lid]

With the exception of specialty professions, I think there is one big benefit to a college degree that employers place a lot of weight on and some people tend to overlook. A degree indicates that you established a goal and reached it. The ability to start a great undertaking and finish it, whether it's a college education or a new house, is not an inherent quality. A college degree also generally indicates that you have a well-rounded education and have had at least some instruction on a wide variety of subjects. A well-rounded education generally makes for a well-rounded individual, the key word in this and the previous sentence being generally.

 

[Lady Day]

One thing I discovered with my higher learning is the students didn't know how to *invest* in their learning. Meaning they sat in the class and just learend what was presented to them. They did not seek other sources from outside the carriculum. I think that is a big problem with the laziness of the student body today.

I come from a family of educators, so it was always, 'look it up', 'what did you think?', 'what can you apply this to?' You might not agree with said outcome, but that is factually what the resolution is. You accept that and you learn more.

Learning isn't just about agreeing with, or liking what you are learning, it's about knowing about a topic enough to understand it from more than one perspective. I think opinion and factual learning are really muddied in todays higher education.

LD

 

[Lady Day]

True, but I don't think anyone saw China sneaking up on us....

China didn't sneak up on us. We were just too arrogant not to give them enough credit.

LD

 

[Flipped Lid]

If there is one common thread that runs through the people I consider my closest friends and the ladies I've truly enjoyed dating and spending time with, it's that they are and were all intellectually curious. It's a quality that I find is becoming rarer and rarer.

One thing I discovered with my higher learning is the students didn't know how to *invest* in their learning. Meaning they sat in the class and just learend what was presented to them. They did not seek other sources from outside the carriculum. I think that is a big problem with the laziness of the student body today.

I come from a family of educators, so it was always, 'look it up', 'what did you think?', 'what can you apply this to?' You might not agree with said outcome, but that is factually what the resolution is. You accept that and you learn more.

Learning isn't just about agreeing with, or liking what you are learning, it's about knowing about a topic enough to understand it from more than one perspective. I think opinion and factual learning are really muddied in todays higher education.

LD

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

With the exception of specialty professions, I think there is one big benefit to a college degree that employers place a lot of weight on and some people tend to overlook. A degree indicates that you established a goal and reached it. The ability to start a great undertaking and finish it, whether it's a college education or a new house, is not an inherent quality. A college degree also generally indicates that you have a well-rounded education and have had at least some instruction on a wide variety of subjects. A well-rounded education generally makes for a well-rounded individual, the key word in this and the previous sentence being generally.

In other words what employers see in a college degree is, essentially, a character reference which is all well and good. Maybe this is just me but $50,000-100,000 (typical cost of a college education) is a mighty steep price for a "character reference." And I've been told by so many people how very little of what they learned in school seems to apply to their job -- and I'm not talking about the General Ed stuff either. In fact it turns out that most of their skills were learned on the job.

 

[Atticus Finch]

With the exception of specialty professions, I think there is one big benefit to a college degree that employers place a lot of weight on and some people tend to overlook. A degree indicates that you established a goal and reached it. ...

Or, as in my case, it may only indicate that the graduate had nothing else better to do.

AF

 

[sheeplady]

China didn't sneak up on us. We were just too arrogant not to give them enough credit.

LD

Exactly. Arrogance and complacency has (and always will be) the downfall of most nations. When you're towards the top, there really is only one way to go and it isn't up.

As far as no one seeing it, my great-grandmother (who died in the early 1970s) thought that China would some day be the top world power. She saw their government as actively trying to better the country's standing in the world while the US was sitting on it's laurels.

Now of course, there is a different discussion about what is ethical behavior on the race to the top, and if being at the top is all that important. But it's not like China woke up 10 years ago and decided to do this. They have a pattern of policy that has suggested this was a goal for a long long time. Most countries just ignored it.

 

[C-dot]

One thing I discovered with my higher learning is the students didn't know how to *invest* in their learning. Meaning they sat in the class and just learend what was presented to them. They did not seek other sources from outside the carriculum. I think that is a big problem with the laziness of the student body today.

I saw that all through my years of college, except for a few that really did like what we were studying, and weren't just there because mommy and daddy made them go. I buckled down and started doing legal research for my professor my first year, and its serving me well today.