The general decline in standards today

[jamespowers]

The time zone difference makes it difficult to keep up with the threads sometimes. But having just read the last half dozen pages it has dawned on me that my thinking that the old world and the new world are, well, world's apart, is a nonsense.

The posts on the last six pages about the ins and outs of recycling, of the lack of academic teaching in schools, the promotion of multiculturism and other noneducational agendas, the adulation of new babies, with a you-kneek name, posting a picture of babies first crap, on FaceBook and so much more, I could be on a Brit-site for Brits. There was once a time, when from the teaching of a good work ethic, a good education, the love of family without excluding others, made the English speaking countries, the driving force of the world's economies.

What happened?

Read the book The Great Degeneration. That explains many of Western Culture's failures.

 

[GHT]

Niall Ferguson, I've heard of him, The Ascent of Money. Just read a precis of The Great Degeneration, I must get that from the library. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[jamespowers]

Niall Ferguson, I've heard of him, The Ascent of Money. Just read a precis of The Great Degeneration, I must get that from the library. Thanks for the heads up.

Be prepared to go :doh:

 

[vitanola]

Be prepared to go :doh:

I did. The mendacity of that man is astounding, even when compared to others of his ilk.

The man who puts the "Nial" in "Nhilism".

 

[HudsonHawk]

I know a lot of kids who learn the same way from their parents, unfortunately -- they teach them the "what" but not the "why." "We're against that. We're for this." "Why?" "Because."

We discussed the attempt at teaching the "why" with math, and y'all came unglued. A hard lot to please.

 

[jamespowers]

I did. The mendacity of that man is astounding, even when compared to others of his ilk.

The man who puts the "Nial" in "Nhilism".

What is Nhilism? Never heard of it. However, the accusations of mendacity are what has caused the decline in standards. As we slide down the slope, no one wants to admit their culpability or the culpability of their ideology.

 

[jamespowers]

We discussed the attempt at teaching the "why" with math, and y'all came unglued. A hard lot to please.

No, that was not the why of math. That was the number three of why public schools stink:"Public schools teach “new” or “fuzzy” math (sometimes called by different names). These instruction methods can cripple children’s ability to learn basic arithmetic. Students who fear math are less likely to pursue good careers like computer science and engineering that depend on a love of and competence with math." That IS the problem and the culpability of that is new ridiculous Why Math.

 

[vitanola]

What is Nhilism? Never heard of it. However, the accusations of mendacity are what has caused the decline in standards. As we slide down the slope, no one wants to admit their culpability or the culpability of their ideology.

Please pardon my terrible, hurried typing. I was using an iPad with the spell-check disabled.

Ferguson appears to be a political polemicist these days. An inaccurate one at that.
http://www.theatlantic.com/business...usons-very-bad-argument-against-obama/261306/

http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2012/08/niall-fergusons-obama-story-factchecked-132571.html

http://drezner.foreignpolicy.com/po...everyone_else_is_fact_checking_niall_ferguson

Politics.

Current politics at that.


Try perhaps some Sumner. He is at least a historical figure.

 

[Zombie_61]

...What we REALLY need is a Personal Finance course that would teach children about managing money. You could put the consumer stuff in there...

I've thought for a long time that this type of class should be a requirement. Teach them how to write a personal check properly, how to balance a checkbook, how to budget their finances, how and why interest is added to credit cards and loans, how to finance a car or house, and so on, so that they'll have at least a basic understanding of them when they encounter them in their adult life.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I've thought for a long time that this type of class should be a requirement. Teach them how to write a personal check properly, how to balance a checkbook, how to budget their finances, how and why interest is added to credit cards and loans, how to finance a car or house, and so on, so that they'll have at least a basic understanding of them when they encounter them in their adult life.

I had a class in high school called "Practical Record-Keeping," which covered a lot of that, along with basic bookkeeping methods. The emphasis was on the "Practical," and along with typing and home-ec it was one of the most useful classes I ever took. I've had absolutely no use for algebra in the thirty-odd years I've been out of school, but I use skills from those three classes every day of my life.

 

[jamespowers]

Please pardon my terrible, hurried typing. I was using an iPad with the spell-check disabled.

Ferguson appears to be a political polemicist these days. An inaccurate one at that.
http://www.theatlantic.com/business...usons-very-bad-argument-against-obama/261306/

http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2012/08/niall-fergusons-obama-story-factchecked-132571.html

http://drezner.foreignpolicy.com/po...everyone_else_is_fact_checking_niall_ferguson

Politics.

Current politics at that.


Try perhaps some Sumner. He is at least a historical figure.

You just politicized it. I merely mentioned the book. YOU mentioned a bunch of left wingnut websites. Scott "the technophobe" Sumner? lol lol

 

[jamespowers]

I've thought for a long time that this type of class should be a requirement. Teach them how to write a personal check properly, how to balance a checkbook, how to budget their finances, how and why interest is added to credit cards and loans, how to finance a car or house, and so on, so that they'll have at least a basic understanding of them when they encounter them in their adult life.

It should be mandatory but, as I said, nothing is going to change or be added because they have no incentive to make anything better. I took accounting in high school but it wasn't required. I just like numbers.

 

[Virginia Creeper]

I've thought for a long time that this type of class should be a requirement. Teach them how to write a personal check properly, how to balance a checkbook, how to budget their finances, how and why interest is added to credit cards and loans, how to finance a car or house, and so on, so that they'll have at least a basic understanding of them when they encounter them in their adult life.

At least some of that was covered in some vaguely home economics style class I took in high school, although it had a far stupider name, like "Family Somethingorother."

I figure the most useful classes I took in high school were a couple of languages. That and the courses offered by our Communications department. It's comforting to know I could run a television studio if a maniac held a gun to my head. lol

 

[jamespowers]

At least some of that was covered in some vaguely home economics style class I took in high school, although it had a far stupider name, like "Family Somethingorother."

I figure the most useful classes I took in high school were a couple of languages. That and the courses offered by our Communications department. It's comforting to know I could run a television studio if a maniac held a gun to my head. lol

Home Economics is long gone in schools here. Supposedly it was "sexist." Interestingly, there were guys who took the class as well.
You can run a studio eh? Just don't go off like the guy on Network.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Home Economics is long gone in schools here. Supposedly it was "sexist." Interestingly, there were guys who took the class as well.

What was sexist was not letting girls into shop class. I had to go to work in a meat market before I could learn how to use a bandsaw.

 

[Virginia Creeper]

Shop class (renamed Design and Technology) was mandatory for everyone in grades 6-8, as was home ec (renamed something I really can't remember, but was on par with my high school's "Family Somethingorother"). I have to say that while I use the skills taught in home ec far more frequently, I had to relearn them as an adult, because no force of God, parental lecturing or public education can force a disinterested adolescent to retain anything they don't want to learn. Shop, on the other hand, was a great favourite of mine.

 

[jamespowers]

What was sexist was not letting girls into shop class. I had to go to work in a meat market before I could learn how to use a bandsaw.

Shop class was open to both in my high school. Only about three girls took it every year but it was open.

 

[rue]

Shop class was open to both in my high school. Only about three girls took it every year but it was open.

Same here. I took both Home economics and shop. The shop teacher only had three fingers on one of his hands.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Shop class was open to both in my high school. Only about three girls took it every year but it was open.

Closest we were able to get was a semester of Mechanical Drawing, which I enjoyed very much. We did, however, own our own printing press, and as the head of the school paper I got to learn how to operate and maintain it because everybody else -- including the boys -- was scared of it. So there.

 

[jamespowers]

Same here. I took both Home economics and shop. The shop teacher only had three fingers on one of his hands.

Oh geez! That was a safety confidence builder. lol lol