From: Adamsc@io-online.com (Adamsc)
Date: Sun, 29 Sep 1996 16:02:58 +0800
To: "tcmay@got.net>
Subject: Re: Public Schools
Message-ID: <19960929054253390.AAA193@GIGANTE>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


On Fri, 27 Sep 1996 09:20:10 -0800, Timothy C. May wrote:

>(Seriously, my view is that schools are not very important. All success,
>academic or technical, derives from one basic determining factor: those who
I always liked Robert Heinlein's comment:  "It's possible to get a good
education anywhere, if you are willing to work for it".  Unfortunately not
many people want to work for anything...
>read for pleasure, succeed, and those who don't read for pleasure, don't.
++agree.   

>taught usable trades. Seriously. Our "ideal" that all children should
>attend college is absurd, given the lack of academic preparation, desire,
>and reading skills that so many high school students lack. Most community

Not only that, what are all these college grads going to do?   Only a small
percentage are going to be making waves in a given field.   Many are just
going to lower the overall average...  Worse yet, many become lawyers <g>.  
A society with such a high percentage of parasites (those who don't add value
sufficient to cover expenses) isn't healthy.

>colleges are essentially becoming Grades 13-14, with most of the Grade
Why are they going to college?  Well they weren't learning it in HS.  They
did however learn to feel good about themselves, use a condom and handle
complex social situations (see: gossip.  Or, for the average guy, see:
wedgie).
What use this serves is an excellent question.

>13-14 students reading at the 9th-grade level (which most of us on this
>list were reading at when we were in the 7th-grade, or earlier).)
That's putting it mildly. . .    I read 200+ pages/hour with a very high
retention rate.  Needless to say, this means I move through books at high
speed.   Quite a few times I've had the experience of summarizing a "Great
Work" to a college-educated teacher.    Almost scary.    Equally bad are the
people who read but do not understand.   The term functionally illiterate
comes to mind.   We may joke that people switch into "Idiot Mode" (Apologies
to the BOFH author) around computers but I've run into a number of people who
are apparently stuck in it.

#  Chris Adams <adamsc@io-online.com>   | http://www.io-online.com/adamsc/adamsc.htp
#  <cadams@acucobol.com>		 | send mail with subject "send PGPKEY"
"That's our advantage at Microsoft; we set the standards and we can change them."
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