The general decline in standards today

[jamespowers]

That I can get behind!


Not sure which is worse...marinating in Axe or reeking like a horse.


It should be called "Bring Your P*mp/John To A Dance". I've seen some very revealing prom dresses leaving little to the imagination.

I'll take Axe over horse.

Yes that kind of thing makes me wonder where the parents are. Then again, the fish rots from the head down.....so does society...

 

[jamespowers]

A horse marinating in AXE.

Great---a twofer. :doh:

 

[LuvMyMan]

That is a battle I have been fighting with high school counselors for many years. I have been preaching the value of trade schools to my students as long as I have been teaching.

I have to give you some really high level of respect if you have been in the "educational" field for a long time. You also must have a great deal of compassion and forgiveness. Although my educational degrees could allow me to teach, (not my major but could go into teaching if so desired), there is no way I could tolerate what some teachers have to face daily. They get to deal with some really ignorant parents, as well as out of control children. No one can win at times some of the issues that are tossed at a teacher, and yet everyone wants to demand the teacher "fixes" everything that happens. School is more "risky" today then when my generation grew up. No "Mac 10's" coming into the school in a back pack, and if a teacher called parents up back in the day and relayed that a child was "out of control" most parents would think a paddle was just fine to fix it, and then when you trot home, your parents were waiting for you with a larger paddle yet! LOL Far too much non respect from the masses. However, I also do know there are students that are so good and have that "natural" goodness in them and I sure do hope that makes up for the difference. I could never be a teacher...more so how things are today. I could see it now...."Female teacher reaches the end of her rope dealing with out of control children, 10 children found tied and hanging from ceiling rafters...more to come on the 11 O' clock news report". It would not matter if the kids involved had handguns, rockets, drugs, or even a dead body or two shoved in a locker.....I would still be found guilty of something and suffer for it.

 

[LizzieMaine]

A friend of mine who's an adjunct professor of English was telling me yesterday about a girl in her English 101 class who's been caught twice this term plagiarizing simple papers -- the most recent plagiarized from an online article in which the original author confessed she hadn't actually read the material she was discussing. When the student was confronted on this, she didn't break down and confess, she didn't admit her wrong -- instead she flew into a fit and accused the professor of trying to "ruin her college experience."

Post-secondary education is viewed as an entitlement these days -- you go to college because " the right kinds of people go to college." This means a lot of people who have, bluntly, no business in a school of higher education, are in there for the "experience" and for the "connections" rather than to actually learn anything. This girl was a particularly grotesque example, but she's also a vivid demonstration of the problem.

And before anybody accuses me of being a collegiate snob, I never went to college. Was never an option for me. There've been times when I regret missing out on the education, but when I see what happens to a lot of kids who do go, I don't feel I missed out on any "experience" at all.

 

[LuvMyMan]

My Husband has a real summary of when society really is noted on a date for when everything really went overboard and the modern world started this downward spin of falling into hell in a handbasket. It started with the "politically correct" crew starting to creep up on all areas of life. I am sure some of you here can recall when the TV series, Star Trek first came out on television. "To boldy go where no man has gone before"...remember that as the program started? Next thing you know, it was changed..."To boldly go where no one has gone before". Mankind cannot be left alone to include all mankind. It has to be cut and bagged and tagged from the politically correct and that all started the down hill slide we socially are still attempting to hash out. I was always thinking I was a part of mankind, even my three pet dogs and two cats in my book were a part of it...but no....the future is going to see some more sad changes come...and could it be so...that a cat or dog is going to have a union membership some day? Or even more crazy, at some point could it be we have to "register" to buy food because some nutso group wants to make sure when we cut an apple to eat, we take into consideration any possible pain it may cause the fruit?

 

[LizzieMaine]

I know a lot of people here rail about "PC", but I've never felt oppressed by it. People focus on the torturous use of language -- we have towns here that have "Boards of Selectmen" and "Select Boards," and as a reporter it was always a bit of a pain to remember what town insisted on what usage -- but I've never lost any sleep over that sort of thing. I talk the way I do because I was raised in a certain generation, younger people talk the way they do because they were raised in a certain generation, and if someone gets irritated if I say "fireman" instead of "firefighter" I don't get into a dudgeon over it, nor do I consider it an offense against my idea of what society ought to be. My Golden Era was one in which working people stood up and fought for their rights by any means necessary, and if one of those rights is to be called what they themselves choose to be called, under what possible grounds could I complain about that?

If my cat wants to join a union, I'm all for it. The Cats Industrial Organization would probably do a much better job of organizing and getting things done and making worthwhile changes in society than most human groups nowadays. I'd volunteer to be shop steward, if I were a cat.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

I was always thinking I was a part of mankind, even my three pet dogs and two cats in my book were a part of it...but no....the future is going to see some more sad changes come...and could it be so...that a cat or dog is going to have a union membership some day?

"Fur babies" anyone? :eusa_doh:

 

[LizzieMaine]

"Fur babies" anyone? :eusa_doh:

My cat finds being called a "baby" offensive. She prefers "madam."

 

[Zombie_61]

The morning news just reported a story about two female University of Georgia students who posted a want ad on Craigslist last week for a "hit man" to run them over with his car--not to kill them, but to injure them "enough to get out of taking our finals here at UGA." :twitch:

 

[Feraud]

It seems a lot easier to simply study for finals..

 

[LizzieMaine]

The morning news just reported a story about two female University of Georgia students who posted a want ad on Craigslist last week for a "hit man" to run them over with his car--not to kill them, but to injure them "enough to get out of taking our finals here at UGA." :twitch:

That's what happens when you major in "partying."

 

[LuvMyMan]

My point is about the union statement, that as how crazy things are going along the way of life, that you as a cat or dog owner would be forced to have them join a union...as if the cat or dog would ever know one way or another. I take extra good care of all and any pets I have ever owned. I would not ever need a union for any reason to be connected to my pet ownership, period. But the current politically correct social structure we are having erode our own ability to use what morals we decide upon, would perhaps find a way to use the "cat and dog union" membership fees to steal from and support their real cause and agenda...which I doubt would be anything at all related to the welfare of an animal or it's owner.

 

[ChiTownScion]

Post-secondary education is viewed as an entitlement these days -- you go to college because " the right kinds of people go to college." This means a lot of people who have, bluntly, no business in a school of higher education, are in there for the "experience" and for the "connections" rather than to actually learn anything.

It's a lot rougher for the kids now than it was for me in my undergrad days (early 70's). I was able to work my way through school and not rely upon my parents, often taking any miserable summer job that I could in order to scrape together the money for tuition, books, etc. Not a picnic in the park, by any definition, but incurring student loan debt for my undergraduate years was something I never had to face. A lot of the kids today don't have that luxury.

Two years at a community college was a hard lesson in humility: I'd attended a prep school where most of my classmates had gone on to more selective and competitive schools. But I also had the opportunity to study with classmates who were older and more focused: returning Vietnam vets, older women who had raised their kids, etc. When the day finally dawned where I was able to transfer in to a decent university and move away from home, I was highly motivated and determined to do my best. Neither of my parents were college grads, but I finally did manage to graduate ( contrary to my own best efforts, I sometimes think) magma cum laude.

So I'll summarize by stating that "the experience" really is dependent upon getting out of it what you're willing to put into it. For me, they were four tumultuous, often aggravating, often fun-filled, but ultimately rewarding, years. I remember being too financially strapped to hit the bars every weekend, or to pledge a fraternity, or to take a semester abroad: maybe some even feel that those are "entitlements" now days. Perhaps I missed an essential part of the "experience"-- and perhaps by not experience those things I was able to survive university. But I did learn to set long term intangible goals, organize my thoughts, and accomplish a lot of other things that I would have never thought possible. And I'll add: I met some outstanding individuals who have remained life long friends along the way.

 

[Feraud]

My point is about the union statement, that as how crazy things are going along the way of life, that you as a cat or dog owner would be forced to have them join a union...as if the cat or dog would ever know one way or another. I take extra good care of all and any pets I have ever owned. I would not ever need a union for any reason to be connected to my pet ownership, period. But the current politically correct social structure we are having erode our own ability to use what morals we decide upon, would perhaps find a way to use the "cat and dog union" membership fees to steal from and support their real cause and agenda...which I doubt would be anything at all related to the welfare of an animal or it's owner.

What is a cat and dog union??

 

[jamespowers]

What is a cat and dog union??

You don't belong to the dog owner's union?! For shame!

 

[jamespowers]

My point is about the union statement, that as how crazy things are going along the way of life, that you as a cat or dog owner would be forced to have them join a union...as if the cat or dog would ever know one way or another. I take extra good care of all and any pets I have ever owned. I would not ever need a union for any reason to be connected to my pet ownership, period. But the current politically correct social structure we are having erode our own ability to use what morals we decide upon, would perhaps find a way to use the "cat and dog union" membership fees to steal from and support their real cause and agenda...which I doubt would be anything at all related to the welfare of an animal or it's owner.

And just remember you a not an animal's owner. They are your companion. Coming soon---animal insurance on your health plan.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

What is a cat and dog union??

Seems to me it is referring to how silly these infectious PC concerns could possibly become within society at the rate they tend to pop up...and I agree. Many are quite ridiculous to the point of absurdity.
HD

 

[Nobert]

A friend of mine who's an adjunct professor of English was telling me yesterday about a girl in her English 101 class who's been caught twice this term plagiarizing simple papers -- the most recent plagiarized from an online article in which the original author confessed she hadn't actually read the material she was discussing. When the student was confronted on this, she didn't break down and confess, she didn't admit her wrong -- instead she flew into a fit and accused the professor of trying to "ruin her college experience."

Post-secondary education is viewed as an entitlement these days -- you go to college because " the right kinds of people go to college." This means a lot of people who have, bluntly, no business in a school of higher education, are in there for the "experience" and for the "connections" rather than to actually learn anything. This girl was a particularly grotesque example, but she's also a vivid demonstration of the problem.

I don't see it as an entitlement so much as the fact that you can't get a job operating a photocopier these days unless you have a college degree. The whole landscape of employable qualifications has gotten so skewed. I can't entirely blame someone who's eighteen and just wants to keep their head above water. It's not that the "right kind of people" go to college it's that everyone is expected to, and the two-year tech schools are reconfiguring themselves into general learning colleges while the four-year colleges are scrambling to remake themselves into career preparation.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I agree that's ridiculous, but we've created a society that attaches artifical significance to a "college degree" and we're turning out a generation of kids who graduate thinking that's all there is to it.

As I say, I never went to college. I have, however, been a broadcast news director with a wall full of awards, a published author, and a reasonably successful and well-regarded member of my community. I don't quite know how much more I would have accomplished *with* a degree, but the fact that I didn't have one never particularly held me back.

When I was a news director, my best field reporter was an ex-New York City cop with a high school education -- he wasn't slick or polished, but he knew how to ask questions and get answers. I had plenty of people working for me who had degrees in Journalism who didn't have half the skill or natural ability that he did, or the ability to learn thru experience that he demonstrated every day. A lot of people wouldn't have hired someone like that, but not having a degree myself made me far more open to looking beyond the resume. I think the biggest part of the problem nowadays is overeducated "Human Resources Directors" figuring anybody who doesn't have a degree couldn't possibly be of any value. Which is, as the saying goes, the bunk.

As I've often said, if I had kids of my own, I would direct them as far away from the "university experience" as possible, and urge them to take up a blue-collar trade. The streets are alive with art-history majors, but try and find a good electrician under the age of 60.

 

[Feraud]

You don't belong to the dog owner's union?! For shame!

I don't belong but have no issue if my dog wants to unionize! I've nothing to hide.