On Tuesday 29 August 2006 13:31, Gene Heskett wrote: > Chuckle, but while its somewhat funny, its also an indication that > our educational system is today, a dismal failure when high school > graduates have trouble properly using even a 1200 word vocabulary. > By the time I was through the 8th grade, I had been tested at about > the 3000 mark, and I sincerely hope I have added another 5000 or > more, although little used, to my working vocabulary. Its indeed > frustrating when I'm trying to explain something to a Joe/Jill > Sixpack and get interrupted well before I've laid the foundation of > the explanation just because I've used the technically proper word > for something, but its not in their mental dictionary. > > The biggest mistake (IMNSHO) was dropping phonetics as a study in > itself, without that base, a new words meaning is often nearly > complete gibberish to later students of the language who do not > have that base of how to take word apart to derive its meaning, or > to build a new word that better defines a meaning, in their > educational background. IMO, the wholesale failures of the > educational system of today can largely be laid to the result of > dropping phonetics from the curriculum. > > I was fortunate in that my grammer school education took place in > the State of Iowa, where, back in the 40's, we were extremely proud > of being the most literate state in the union with a 99.9% literacy > rate. No educational system is doing its students any life favors > when the high school graduating class is composed of 20+% > functionally illiterate students, but they graduate anyway because > of the un-funded no child left behind act. > > The financing of those truely exellent Iowa schools then was > exclusively from the profits of the state run liquor stores, with > the only beer being 3.2% over the counter or in pool halls. Then > some damned goody two-shoes got the bright idea that the state > really shouldn't be in the business of selling alcoholic beverages > and sold all the liquor stores to private enterprise, leaving only > a limited state alcohol tax & the rest of the tax base to make up > for the losses. > > This resulted in a rather severe tightening of educational budgets > because the legislature was reluctant to maintain the funding level > by loading up more taxes elsewhere, and the result today is as > disastrous as it was predictable (by intelligent people) then. > But this was all done by design, by the few elitists that want to control and suck dry the masses. They deliberately dumbed down the education system through out the country and threw in plenty of issues to keep the masses fighting among themselves so they would not see what was being done to them. This began happening at the moment the government stuck their nose in the education system and started interfering with the established system. Back in the late 1800s an 8th grade student had to pass a test that was ten times harder than what is required of the 12th grade now. -- Jack Gates http://www.morningstarcom.net
