A simple documentary on our education system these days! :(

[John Schmidt]

One of the nation's so-called "elite" schools...Harvard, is teaching a year long remedial math course. Reason? A high percentage of students don't have basic math skills. The same goes for reading comprehension and many other areas as well. The powers that be need to pull their collective heads out and start teaching instead of coddling, get back to the old "readin', writin', & rithmatic" and leave all the social crap on the street. Maybe then we'll have an educated populace that can understand what's really going on in the world, how dangerous(read stupid) some of their protests really are. 

OK...I'll step down off my soap box now. 

[old2soon]

     I can tell the tounglings how much change-to the penny-I have due back to me on y Sunday micky dz purchase. Most all of em ask How did you do that? And these are usually High school aged folks workin there. John whens the last time you saw Roman Numerals used in modern society? How recentlyu has a younger person cut you off in the store or out on the road? Most oftodays younglings seem to have NOT even been Taught common politness! RIDE SAFE.

[TJ]

 

[John Schmidt]

Dennis, don't get me started on driving etiquette, mostly with the younger generation. One day I was chatting with a LEO in Wal Mart (while waiting for guess who), commented they must be teaching tailgating in driver's ed. He chuckled over that, said he could go through a ticket pad in half a day if he stopped all those he observed. Told me he had just recently stopped a kid flying through the Wal Mart parking lot, clocked him at 46mph. Said the dad went to court with the kid and the judge addressed the dad about the son's driving habits. Dad held up a set of car keys that included a steering wheel lock key, then told the judge "we've come to an understanding...shoe leather is cheaper than car insurance for the foreseeable future." Apparently it brought the house down...including the judge.

I did much the same thing with my oldest daughter. She left for her gal friend's house one afternoon and drove quietly up the street until out of sight around the corner. Meanwhile I was in my car and headed after her because I knew her habits. Caught up shortly at a light and asked her to pull around the corner. I walked up to the car, took the keys, told her to get in my car then asked the gentleman mowing his lawn if I could leave the car at the curb until I can come back with my wife to pick it up. He had watched me take the keys, said absolutely, and we left. Was pretty quiet in the car going home, but it worked. She wasn't amused when I bought her a new pair of tennis shoes.  

[Pluggy]

John, the average SAT math score for new Harvard students is 790 out of 800.  That score indictes a student is capable of using advanced math to solve complicated problems.  Harvard courses are taught with the assumption that students are proficient in advanced Calculus and analytical math.  

Students without full experience with this high level of math are given the opportunity to catch up.  By no means is this basic High School material.

As a country, we need to do better with math, but Harvard is quite good at it.

[John Schmidt]

Yes I know, been there on both. I guess what then bothers me is the two different channels that reported it didn't stress that issue, leaving one to believe real "basic" skills were lacking. Re. Harvard, when I was stationed in Portsmouth, NH the community joke was "if you can't get a girl, get a Harvard man." Don't know if that's a fact or opinion. 

[Pluggy]

Hey, John. Rich boys went to Ivy League schools. They had rich boy names, too. The old movies provided a stereotype. The rich boys of the silver screen were generally inept and lacking of masculinity.

[Jess from VA]

(Post USAF) I was a senior staff counsel working in civil service for USDVA when affirmative action started taking off.  I was also a new hire attorney trainer showing new people the ropes, procedures, pitfalls, and how writing our work was supposed to be done.  1) Report the relevant facts 2) Recite the controlling laws and regulations, and 3) Then apply that controlling law to the relevant facts in an appellate legal decision.  Not rocket science, but a particular discipline.

Some of the new affirmative action hires did as well as anyone, but some could not read, write and speak the English language well enough to pass muster (as attorneys for us, or anyone else).  To be fair, some non affirmative action new hires also did not work out, but very few could not be trained up.  

I'd go to the bosses and say John, Mary and Jim can't cut it, they should not have been hired, and you need to let them go (and get some good new people in replacement, because we need them).  They'd get all huffy.... Well, crap, I'll get EEO complaints and it'll make me look bad, can't your train them up?

Look boss, I'm good at buffing up good new attorney hires to do our particular work, but I am not running an undergraduate and law school here.  Plus, you people expect me to do my full quota of work on top of my training duties.  I don't care what race, creed, color or gender you hire, but I expect you to hire qualified people for crying out loud.  Quit hiring wholly unqualified people in the name of political correctness and this problem will disappear.

They didn't quit doing it, and the problem continued.  

After a while I told them to find someone else to train up new hires.  I'm done with it!!

And BTW, VA was also hiring unqualified doctors in the name of political correctness, and they misdiagnosed, mistreated and killed people.