Answers Inline. > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Friday, May 31, 2002 10:44 AM > To: CF-Community > Subject: Re: From the makers of the Palm Beach Hanging Chad... > > > >>I'd love to see graduates with social skills, talent, ambition and > >>motivation, but what I saw truly made me sad. > > > > At the same time volunteer for social causes and community > charities are > > considerably up from previous generations, right back to > the baby boomers. > > Its an interesting contrast where both political > polarizations really ignore > > the actual numbers. The Pew Charitable Trust (btw nice CF > site), and the > > National Opinion Research Center has been doing some very > interesting work > > in this area. Generally the ages studied - 15 through 24, > show much more > > awareness and involvement in the community than previous > generations. Myself > > I prefer to look at the actual data rather than depend on anectdote. > > > Perhaps the events of recent times have helped to increase the > cooperative spirit in the youths of today. I will admit that my > personal experiences are from a relatively small cross > section and not > current. What would be interesting to see is that same study > pointed at > "my generation" (I'm 28).
These studies do. The NORC data goes back to the early 70's and follows a very large set of participants anually. So the data is comparable over the last 30 years. 'Fraid to say it but on the average your cohort showed the smalled rate of volunteerism etc. > > > >>. level playing field... hah! Maybe they ought to level > the playing > >>field up instead of down. I feel sorry for the kids > graduating from > >>schools that feel they have to give them everything and then > >>going into > >>a workforce that actually requires them to pay attention and > >>put forth > >>an effort. > >> > > > > I did some educational development in Houston Texas as part > of a grant > > project 6 years ago. This project allowed me to go into 10 > schools in the > > Houston area. For all the vaunted educational improvements > promised by the > > current state administration, nothing had been done. Level > playing field? > > Hell the students I saw and interviewed would be lucky to > have a mountain > > slope to climb up on, all too often it was a cliff face. > The schools were in > > terrible shape. The infrastructure was falling apart in > most of these > > schools. I saw leaking roofs, bathrooms locked because of > broken plumbing > > that could not be fixed. There was cardboard in some of the > windows. At the > > very least these kids should get to go to schools that are > inhabitable at > > least. > > > My comments about the "level playing field" are more aimed at those > school systems that take away scores from games, adjust > scoring methods > so that everyone passes and hold competitions where everyone involved > gets a ribbon. There are some cases where there has to be a looser. > Sidestepping the issue then. > > >>Notice they'll make it so that everyone can pass but they'd > >>never go for a mandatory military or public service. > > > > Yes and there has been a lot of efforts to zero out the > funding of the > > Americorps in Congress. The military draft as a method of social > > improvement. Lets see how much do you want to fund > education, you can do it > > two ways, early on buy improving those schools I mentioned > or later on and > > much more expensively in the military? Some choice. In > order to be effective > > soldiers they are going to have to have at least a certain level of > > education. Its no longer a matter of showing the kid which > end to aim. > > > Without a doubt the military is getting more technically > advanced. At > the same time there are some core values, including respect for > authority, attention to detail and concentration under > pressure that you > can't teach in a classroom. I also don't think that the > military is the > answer for every case. Blind obedience to orders is always nice. Discouragement of independent thought, lack of critical thinking skills, or training in logic is right up there too. Pardon I'm being a bit extreme there. I have nothing against the military. I think it would be a very good option for many people. However the place of the military is to defend the country from outside aggessors, not educate kids. > > As I said, perhaps I'm out of touch with the teenagers of > today. Maybe > my memory is skewed. However, I also don't think that > throwing money at > bad education systems and programs is the answer either. What money. Yes if you come from a rich school district, you have money thrown at you. Remember the primary source of funding is at the local level. You come from a poor district and you do not have a lot to spend on things. In the schools I saw, they were nearly breaking the budget on basic supplies. Many of the schools counted themselves lucky if the plumbing worked. This is the stuff that "throwing money at" could actually make a difference. Poor schools without any money can only pay for poor teachers. To give an idea of how bad it was in these place, many of the students at these schools typically would not have breakfast unless the schools provided it. Just giving these kids breakfast improved concentration, on task behavior and school attendence. Its a bad education system because its been made a bad one. Grotesque disparites in school funding, and when the funding is secured, the programs are killed for political purposes. For instance several of the programs I saw that worked really well were discontinued by the then Governor G. W. Bush administration, and the monies was used for the Republican Quick Fix Du Jour. This isn't educating children its guarenteeing a perpetuation of crime and welfare. larry -- Larry C. Lyons ColdFusion/Web Developer Certified Advanced ColdFusion 5 Developer EBStor.com 8870 Rixlew Lane, Suite 204 Manassas, Virginia 20109-3795 tel: (703) 393-7930 fax: (703) 393-2659 Web: http://www.ebstor.com http://www.pacel.com email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Chaos, panic, and disorder - my work here is done. -- > ______________________________________________________________________ Your ad could be here. Monies from ads go to support these lists and provide more resources for the community. http://www.fusionauthority.com/ads.cfm Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/index.cfm?sidebar=lists
