Exactly. Hardly appropriate for this thread anyway. Please feel free to pm me.

i will use that line at least 3 times at work tomorrow.

is there a thread missing? :confused:

¿ question of the day? for wednesday april 30th

¿ if you were the decider of what children get taught in school, what changes would you make ?

thats a hard one because i have no idea what kids are taught in school these days :eek:

just make something up

ok make something up

ok

um

money lessons-- how borrowing money & paying interest works, how mortgages work, how saving every penny will turn you into a grumpy old bastard

etiquette lessons-- how to use your cutlery, how to greet the queen, what to wear to different occasions like a gala or a cocktail party, how to tie a tie

business softskills-- how to adapt to different working environments, what to say/what not to say to fellow employees, customers & bosses

There should be Parenting lessons.

to read
to write
to explore
to reflect
to think
to talk (politely, too)
to create things
to look after plants/animals
to look after people
to ask questions
not to accept all answers
to look for answers
to show (and feel) respect

(The question is, how. Because kids learn by imitating what they see. And if they don't see any of the abovementioned activities around/at home, it will only be education, not learning.)

oh, and to listen

1) no religious instruction in public schools, not even as electives
2) mandatory art and music every day
3) history up to the present, including topics my school wouldn't touch such as the controversial veitnam war
4) no southern schools will be allowed to focus on the history around the american civil war for any longer period of time than they would dedicate to any other historical period (tennessee teaches the civil war every year all the way up through college. in college they require TWO SEMESTERS of civil war studies of all students)
5) sex ed classes starting with the basics in 5th grade (the "what's the deal with puberty?" lesson) and reaching full discussion of birth control by the 7th grade.
6) no more presidential fitness tests
7) this isn't a teaching thing but no soda and no junk food available anywhere on school premises. this means no candy and no ice cream served with the normal cafeteria lunch fare. vegetables should be manditory. i saw a special on school lunches the other day and the b-roll showed trays where every food item was beige and one kid was eating an m&m ice cream sandwich. that's out under my rule

^wow, that gives me a picture of what happens in USA schools. it's such a difference with how i went to school, can't believe the gap is that big!

you can't take it as a generalization for all schools, though. i cobbled that list together from failings i've seen or heard of in a range of different schools, in different districts and different states.

for example, my elementary school served vegetables, offered art and music every day, and there was no religious instruction whatsoever. in tennessee there was an emphasis on the civil war that i've seen nowhere else. a creepy fixation, if you ask me. in georgia they've just imposed a law requiring public schools to teach religion, focusing on the bible. which i find highly unconstitutional but georgia is home to a majority of christian fundamentalists. in atlanta specifically i see a lot of junk food but it seems to be an even bigger problem for people i know whose kids attend schools in texas.

so i wouldn't say i've seen a single school fail every item on the list. but i find all of the issues to be failings nonetheless.

it's something all kids have to do every year (i think... maybe it's every few years) and it's basically used to compile statistics and assess the fitness of america's children. what's absolutely absurd is that gym classes focus on building none of the strength or endurance required to do these exercises, like you will never ever ever ever do a pull-up until the day they introduce you to the fitness test. how they expect the kids to excel at these exercises when gym classes offer virtually no exercise i'll never know.

and of course gym teachers are frustrated jocks so they belittle and embarrass kids who can't pass the minimum level of achievement. their concern is that the overall fitness of their school's kids is their responsibility so they treat kids who don't pass like failures.

as you may have already guessed, i always always always failed the pull-up test.