Well, there you've found the first part of the problem - look at the levels of big government involvement and bureaucracy - every bit of that funding from the federal and state governments has caveats, rules, restrictions - people at the local level are not able to determine the educational system in which their child will learn because the schools are now dependent on the funding from fed/state. The best idea is to remove the excessive government involvement and let people on the local level decide how to best educate their children. Without the Dept of Education at the federal or state level, they'd have to do just that!

There, now that I agree with! Pull the red tape out and lets get down to TEACHING OUR CHILDREN HOW TO LEARN/PROBLEM SOLVE!

wait---who's gonna vote who?????

that would be me shadow..im gonna vote for Spay ;)


shouldn't this thread have been posted in Current News & Events?? or maybe that's just MY way of thinking..



that's what it says on my screen...

The vote would be for....Do you want to make it mandatory that schools have classes specifically to teach our children how to "learn/problem solve" Like with math, English (Spanish optional in California), science and such. A mandatory amount of class credits in order to pass.

Yes or No on the vote?

spay--yeah -yeah--spay!!! let's vote 'em---vote for spay----vote for spay--

Sorry about that. I dd not learn how to read..so my computer talks to me and tells me what everything says, then it makes suggestions on what I should reply.

Pretty picture though!

im sooo glad you caught that shadow... VOTE FOR SPAY!!! lol




yeah yeah...likely excuse! lol

sumthingdiffrint,

You know,I read your post and then began reading responses and came to one that caught my attention.

It stirred a memory of my youth.

In the first grade, I was moved to a different class, and didn't understand that, but then again, I didn't mind or care one way or another about it.

After third grade, I was instructed that I was off to another school far from home. My parents made the decision for me and that was that. No more neighborhood pals, and no more sense of belonging.

At that school, I and several others were fast tracked and sequestered. I made the most of it. Still a smaller social circle and no sense of community. By the end of fith grade, my parents were baffled, I was isolated and no one knew how to comprehend me, except in class.

Middle school was a fast track squester in the midst of the general poulation of the campus. Most were nerds and Hortense Highpockets, but myself and two others were rebels, the brightest, all with IQs over 160 and had discovered LSD.

By high school, we were further seqyesterd and fast tracked further. By my Junior year, I was done and so were my two crazy friends. Guess what we were doing for recreation?

In 1972, my county had the worst drug problem in the nation, and I was in the middle of it. And not a mere spectator either.

SF, Rock and Roll, the war, politics, dead and dying friends, a polarized nation by age and values, tensions flying.

Mensa on my a$$, professors on my a$$, the streets in my blood, and Hastings Law School staring me squarely in the eye.

One day, a few of us were called into the High School library during class. I thought we were set up until I saw some others there that led me to believe I was still a closely guarded secret.

The suits walk in.

They proceed to enlighten us.

The nation is best served by us being productive citizens with our minds and not with our bodies in Nam.

We were officially 4F. And the draft was hot!!

No deferment, 4F.

I rose and interrupted.

Why are we so much better and others are not just because we are born this way and it comes easy (me of all people, trying to fry brain cells to be normal).???

The way it is, they say.

I flipped them off, said a few choice words and left.

Never the slightest repercussion.

By 1974 I had completely dismissed the whole parade and walked away from it all.

Spent the rest of my life learning things that you can not imagine and experiencing way more than one ought in one lifetime.

To have come full circle and view worse despair and depravity in my youngest child's environment and ask myself, Why?

At this moment I ask myself, Why?

I look out at this country, see how privelege and aptitude have sequestered us from ourselves and ask, why?

There are more divisive forces at work in the world today in the name of progress that are only succeeding in tearing the social fabric of the Nation to shreads and indiscernable scraps to all but a select few, and I ask myself, Why?

Why?






































why?

I vote no. Having problem solving classes won't fix anything if there is no requirement to actually learn and put forth a serious effort.
Sorry to say, but I don't think it would help with the current educational system.

this class already exists and it is mandatory.
it is the 1st class given every year just after
graduation.

sumpthin------i don't vote--whatsoever---every politicans' reason--are the same--which are nothing but lies-------- so yeah i'm hypocrite and ain't got time to vote--till i see some improvements---which i never saw--yet---

I didn't read through all the posts, so I'm sorry if I'm being redundant. The first thing that needs to be done is to get rid of "No Child Left Behind". It has been a catastrophic failure. Teachers are basically only able to teach what will be measured on the national tests. This is a real problem.

As for the original idea of a "problem solving" class (or classes), I think that is an excellent idea. I would also like to see a year, at least, of philosophy taught in high school. Philosophy teaches one how to think.

Wouldee,

I can understand part of what you are saying, although I am sure your aptitude and experiences are much greater than mine and I do not expect to be able to fully relate to your level of thinking.

I'm not meaning this to be a subject style course that chooses those who can learn/adapt faster and seperate them from the rest. In your case I can undeerstand the isolation you had felt, at least to a point. a feeling of "why doesn;t anyone understand me?" Or "why can they not see what I see?". That I do relate to on levels.

What I am mentioning here is simple and very basic, simple grade by grade, where some will certainly be able to learn at a faster pace, but no one will be serperated. that sense of "community" would remain and just maybe those that are more apt in the class can help teach those that may be a little behind how to catch up and understand.

Just like with basic math. We ALL need to master addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, because we all use that all out lives. Not everyone needs calculus, trig or forms thereof, because it would be worthless in thier lives.

So what i refer to is simple basics for all. those skills of learning and problems solving that would be used in every facet of thier lives.

Shadow I hear ya there. This isn;t any "politician" thing..cause they are ALL full of sh*t! So I understand your point.

I agree.

So now we make it a combo class that requires 4 years (like English credits) and it combines, Learning, thinking and problem solving.

Hell, we might even become one of the great inovation nations again at some point down the line if we had those kind of people coming out of our schools!

I think that if WE HUMANS do NOT stop OUR addictions to drugs that are ABUSED by the users, then OUR CHILDREN don't have their BEST shot at life ANYWAY...??

Problem solving skills will always HELP them to deal with issues of thought, and reasoning.
But to talk of WHAT WILL HELP OUR KIDS IN LIFE...

There is ALOT to SAY ABOUT "ALL" the issues facing them.
From drugs that COMPLETELY CHANGE THEM, to THEIR PARENTS ON THEM..

This COMPUTER, and the GAMES they play the violence they find as FUN,,,KILLING PEOPLE in THEM...

Our air, the WATER. Poverty, gang bangers.

SEX, VD's, HIV, hepititis' A,B, the new SUPER BUGS, that medicines DON'T STOP THEM.



How can ANY CHILD "TRULLY" even have the ability to """WANT-TO""" LEARN "ANYTHING" if their HOME-LIFE is in ITS OWN STRUGGLE to survive DAILEY???????????

Or if "THEY" have inner pains that NOBODY wants to HEAR THEM?


To MANY parents have ALLOWED their CHILDREN to TELL the PARENTS what THEY WILL DO!!!!AND WON'T DO!!!!

Parents cannot just let their kids grow to be 10 and 11 years old and THEN TRY TO BE A PART OF THEIR LIFE,,,and get INVOLVED with THEM """THEN"" they (the children) should "ALWAYS" have the parents involved and in CONTROL of what THEIR kids do!!!


Hey that just MY THOUGHTS Man....

Sensory overload is short circuiting the develoment of critical thinking skills.

The public schoolsytem doesn't even know what Bloom's Taxonomy is , let alone spell it if it were merely mentioned.

The ability of a young mind to develop correctly, on average, must be challenged intelligently, ethically, morally with sound judgement and thoughtful and organized simplicity reflecting straight forward and concise exposure to applicable models and field of endeavor.

The home must be conducive to adequate reflection on assimilation of reasonable and logical thought processes without interference and distraction and must be of the highst vaalue and import to family, school, industry, public service and community to reinforce the congruence necessary to attract the youth by example and not out of anxiety and apprehension.

We have gone too far to bring it back.

The youth are overloaded and bombarded with too much access to solutions without any understanding of creating the solutions.

We are purely consumer driven and motivated and centered on that focus and the children have no clue how to understand it so they do not try.

It is broken.

We need to wake up from the top down and stop.

We need to be still.

But we can't as a nation and a people because the world is determined to be there when we fall and take up the gauntlet for themselves in a heated rush.

It is unavoidably coming.

When, I don't want to guess.

It is now inevitable.


But I don't imagine anyone has lost their breath reading this.



Sad.

Good thoughts.

Guess what, the "learning, thinking, problem solving" class WOULD HELP in almost ALL the cases you just mentioned.

How? Well considering MOST alcohol and drug related use is done to cover emtional/psychological pain, then being able to think about why you are hurting emotionally, learn how to not let it happen again and problem solve to find a solution. you at least have the "tools" in most cases to avoid many problems.

i'm NOT saying it will solve ALL problems by any means. But will be a great help in MANY cases.

As I told my son as he was growing up. Even if you live your life right, life can throw you a curve and put you flat on your butt before you know it. However, if you put just a LITTLE THOUGHT into everything you do, you will not hit nearly as many potholes in life. And that is just FACT and it WORKS.

So most issues in life could at least benefit from such a class that teaches people to learn/think/problem solve.

Wouldee,

Understand you are thinking on a much more complex and higher intellectual level here. I know you probably can't help it, its you pattern of thinking and its way above the average.

Try to look at this particular one as basic math, thats all. Not all the variables involved..just straight addition and subtraction.

That is all that is meant by this thread.