Now I understand

[layoutshooter]

I was having a hard time figuring out just how it was possible for a free nation, like the United States used to be, would be more than willing to give up their freedom for government rule. A person being willing to be controlled and ruled makes no sense to me.

I knew that our education system had a lot to do with it but I learned today just how bad it can be.

I was checking out of a Sam's Club, wearing my Cold War Veteran cap all adorned with it's various shiny pins.

The woman at the register saw my cap, thanked me for my service, and then asked me what period the Cold War was and who were we fighting then.

She was between the ages of 25-30 and was able to speak Standard American English, no accent etc. I was stunned, how can anyone get graduate from high school and not know about the Cold War, not know about the crimes against humanity that the communists committed then. No wonder they don't understand that they are committing those same crimes today and that those same ideals are what the "left" in this country believe in.

Assuming she is a product of U.S. public education, as most U.S. native born citizens are, we are in very serious trouble.

They say that ignorance is bliss. If that is the case there must be a lot of blissful people out there today.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

And the killings still continue...and it is over?
And we sell ourselves out to the Chinese?

 

[jaminjim]

At least she had the courtesy to ask, and then listen to your answer.

 

[Ragman]

Oy! So sad, So very very sad!

 

[danthewolf00]

sadly when i went to school we were only learned what was needed to pass the state soclaste(sp?)test and bearly above that

 

[stamp11127]

You ask why students are ignorant? It is due to the educational system catering to the students instead of forcing them to learn the material the way we old timers did. And that is opening a book, reading it, taking notes in order to pass the test. Now they play on computers while listening to their stolen mp3's and call that their education. Text books are a joke, most are outdated and schools don't have enough for all the students to take them home. World wars, yea they have about 2 paragraphs on them.
And why is this a problem? Funding. Period.
America is a fantastic country, we've just gotten to the point where we want everything for free and we are not willing to pay for it.
I have an idea - lets bring back the draft - let people know what freedom is by taking it away from them for 2 years.
I tell all the young kids today, and I quote John Kennedy - "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country". And they say "Who?"

 

[jaminjim]

It's not how much money is spent, it's how the money was spent.

 

[layoutshooter]

Yeah Jim, she was polite. It is very hard to give a 50 year history lesson in 5 minutes.

Yeah, OVM, the killing continues, by the same Soviets and China etc that were killing then. That is what happens when you don't really defeat evil, just push it back a bit.

 

[stamp11127]

Yes and no on the money.
Keep in mind the schools that are being built today are not the same as the schools of yesterday. More money is being spent on the operational costs today compared to years ago. Class sizes are considerably larger then they were in my time. That makes the quality of teaching diminish. More of "student sitting" than teaching.
How many students in today's classrooms want to open a book? No,they'd rather learn it from their new shooter game that came out for the xBox 360.

I will admit that I do most of my reading on the computer - only because of the search functions. Faster than flipping pages.

 

[layoutshooter]

I don't know where they get that today's classes are larger than when in my day. I am a baby boomer, my 8th grade class had 56 kids and we were all in one room!! We had no choice, we had to learn or the nuns would kill us. A little smack here, a wack there and the room was quiet. They also had us wear ties that they could grab and strangle us with!! Depriving a young boy of oxygen quiets him down!!

I don't buy the too many kids in the classroom stuff. I think a lack of standards, low expectations and a deliberate move to dumb down the country is to blame. Add to that disinterested parents, no one home for the kids, showing more interest in "stuff" rather than family etc etc etc.

 

[greg334]

Nuns?

That's one of them private schools. You either learned or you were replaced.

Try a combined class of 60 plus kids with two teachers trying to teach the same subject two different ways - got to love the 60's and public school reform.

 

[layoutshooter]

All the schools were crowded when I was a kid. The public schools were allowed to spank, say the Lord's prayer and had dress codes. It was nothing like the stupidity they have there today. Shoot, they had to be able to read and write back then.

Now you just can't hurt the "little darlins'" feelings. Turning the entire country in wimps that can't think.

Maybe it is time to do away with the public school system. Parents should pay for their own kids education. Then maybe they would pay attention to what is going on with their kids.

 

[stamp11127]

Just goes to show you, we're all antiques...
I say lets place ROTC from kindergarten all the way to high school, make it mandatory for all students. At least they would learn to march, might even learn respect for others.

Kindergarten Cop wasn't to far off base...

 

[layoutshooter]

We had to do what we were told in school, or POW!!! Then, if we got a spanking in school, and my parents determined that we deserved it, WE GOT ANOTHER AT HOME!! They always, however, backed us up if we were not in the wrong.

I must say that I deserved most of the whoopins I got and the couple that I did not deserve made up for other junk that I got away with!!

All that "mean" stuff was bad on me. It taught me "bad" things by today's standards, like, right from wrong, respect for self and others, self-reliance and the importance of a "good" reputation.

Man, and I am still "stupid" enough to believe all that out of date silly stuff!!

 

[skyraider]

I was in elementary school in the 50's, we had small hymnals in the auditorium and sang christian songs and the pledge to the flag. This was public school too...Imagine that today,,yep imagine that today ,,,lawsuits everywhere...............I think I live in a foreign country now, just go to Nashville tn and look around, thankyou bleeding liberals and our state department for this mess.............

 

[layoutshooter]

Yeah, we lived in a much different world back then. Not that everything was perfect, but when we did set out to fix a few things we destroyed the rest. I don't want to go back to the days without some of the vaccines we have though.

People were more polite back then. Shoot, we never locked the doors!! When it was hot outside we would often play outside, till sometimes after midnight. Never a problem, why? Most of the parents were sitting out on their front porch, the kids were watched where ever they went.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

Yep..respect is a learned art..If the kids don't have it you can imagine what the parents are like...

 

[layoutshooter]

Not always true these days, OVM. My kids were often taught that the morals and things I taught my kids were old fashioned and were no longer relevent. The schools in my day did not contradict the teachings of parents and even taught right and wrong, even the public schools. Not any longer. Today if you tell a kid that something he/she/it is doing is wrong you might upset their self-esteem and get suied!!!

Sorry to pass this on to all you feel good liberals, there is right, there is wrong and when you do wrong you should have to pay the price. The price you should have to pay should be equal to the wrong you commit.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

yeah not in all cases..the school system and peers play a big part...I remember my kids at school I was always after the teachers to toughen up....but they wouldn't citing other parents don't want them to punish poor bobby it is not their job...grrr

 

[layoutshooter]

That is how we have ended up with the dictatorship we are about to behold in this country. They insured that they dumbed down the kids and gave them a sense of entitlement instead of self -reliance. Bad days ahead.