Extremely off topic

[E-bo Obi]

I just spent an hour going over a standard operating procedure that a captain prepared and I feel like a high school english teacher. I finally ran out of red ink. I decided it was easier to just write reference AR(army regulation) 25-50 Preparing and Managing Correspondence.

I mean the Army has its own odd way of doing things but it is extremely consistent in its publishing of ANY official correspondance. I think I am going to write a letter to my congressman that they send officers to effective writing courses. With the support of the forum readers here, we may be able to get a grass roots campaign started and I will no longer have to spend so much money on alcohol.

So if for no one else but me, I encourage you to write your congressman.

[Ekade]

As I was reading that.. I had a vision of you speaking.. a large american flag blowing behind you.. and music to Glory Glory Hallelujah slowly building to a crescendo in the background.

[Seret Sajet]

/salute Ariobi

One question...
How can this thread be Extremely Off-Topic when you started the topic? Maybe I should help match the thread to its name...

Ekade keeps sexual slaves locked up in her basement. I heard their screams!

Hey, has anyone seen Zannon lately?

[E-bo Obi]

I don't usually see work related gripes in here. That was what I meant.

WILD DOGS ARE BITING MY ASS

Not that they will have much to go after once I present this document to the captain =)

[Zannon]

/salute Ariobi

One question...
How can this thread be Extremely Off-Topic when you started the topic? Maybe I should help match the thread to its name...

Ekade keeps sexual slaves locked up in her basement. I heard their screams!

Hey, has anyone seen Zannon lately?

That's not me...I've been locking myself in Dwilah's basement since the last off-topic thread.....

I mean...I've been in Beta...yeah..Beta.

[Ekade]

Ekade keeps sexual slaves locked up in her basement. I heard their screams!

That's your own voice echoing of the walls sweetie. Do I need to gag you, again!?

[Jaminos]

I think Beta is going to suck everyone who applied in because once you had a taste your hoocked for life well...except Jaminos's wife she hates space lol.

[Keer]

I'd suggest not only writing your legislators of every level of government (city, state, federal) in support of education, but making sure that you vote their butts out if they don't support education.

In addition to bad grammar, many U.S. citizens don't know our recent history, much less what happenned in the 1700's.

Geography? Ask people to find Iraq on a map. Support it or not fellow citizens are dying there daily. We should at least know where the place is.

We all don't need to have degrees in it, but there needs to be a seriously commited focus on the education budget and effort in America or we'll be looking more and more in the future to Generation "D" to save us.

"D"umb...and "d"umber.

[E-bo Obi]

EDITED

I had to delete those lines because I have had way too many history courses in college to allow those comments to be attributed to me, even if in jest.

Our school system is in a sad state. I visited with some relatives who have middle school aged children and we watched a video that the children in their school portraying famous Americans. Their were about forty different ones and I picked up on who they were trying to play fairly quickly. The children however had no idea who anyone was including themselves!

This just amazes me. Maybe its because I grew up reading history books and watching the history channel. If I hadn't been drinking it would have really bothered me.

[Illbleed]

The problem, in fact is that educators are not paid truly what they are worth. I was studying secondary education in college and I had to drop the major. It's amazing how much politics come into play in educating children. Legalism has crept into our school system over the past two decades and has turned the public school system into a joke. No wonder kids are turning out less intelligent. Any parent who doesn't have the time devout to their child can expect the end result to be a poorly educated child. If teachers were paid what they are worth, children would be much better educated. Because the teacher's would give a shit. I think most of them have become disillusioned with education(or maybe that's just me -)

[Seret Sajet]

I feel I should chime in here. My wife has been a High School Art Teacher and Flag coach for 7 years now. This year she will be laid off.

Is it because the school is in a deficit? No, it is because the Superintendent of Schools doesn't want to be in a deficit NEXT YEAR. My wife and probably another dozen good teachers are going to lose their job because some bureaucrat doesn't want to be in the red the following year and lose face. It steams me to no end.

And why is one that is getting fired when she teaches 3 separate classes, coaches a Flag Squad that took 3rd in the entire state last year and sponsors the honor student art association? It is because she was the last one hired in her department. Meanwhile this total hag of a woman who only teaches one class and she doesn't even do that well gets to keep her job. This is a woman whose husband makes 3 times what she makes and could support them both with ease while my wife and I rely on both our paychecks to make a living. Sound fair doesn't it?

So I sit back and watch the 7 years my wife put into not just a school but an entire community go down the drawn because of political semantics. It's not a matter of teachers getting lousy pay in some schools like where my wife teaches and it's not a matter of lousy teachers because I can name at least a dozen at her school who do outstanding jobs. It's these rich bastards (and I mean summer home, Rolls Royce rich) sitting in seats of authority who don't give a damn about the kids and the teachers. With all the layoffs that means next year the remaining teachers will be too swamped to properly teach these kids and the school will be overcrowded. Let's just step on their dreams while we're at it.

Ok, /endrant. Sorry about that. I needed to get that off my chest.

[Keer]

The last time that there was a serious nationwide, federally mandated education drive was right after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik. Coming up on 50 years ago!

That launch shook the culture so much that the conclusion was that we just must be stupid, so spend some money on the kids' education. The result of more money for education was good, but the motivation was lame. Their scientists were just more intimidated to produce than ours were inspired, in the beginning.

Makes you wonder what goofy catalyst it's going to take next time for change.

[E-bo Obi]

There won't be any serious reform until the majority of voters in this country actually stands up and says hey, fix this. Sure they do polls and the candidates have their stances on either side. But let me ask you this honestly, when was the last time a candidate's stand on education reform actually swayed your vote? Those of you that are educators I can see it having some bearing. For the vast majority of American's, its just not that important to them.

I can't even tell you what our current candidates lies are about improving education. Right now the only thing of importance to me is the safety and security of this nation. Sure I would love to have education fixed. I don't think anyone running right now can do it. I have no children but I do have a lot of friends in a war zone and I am prepping to send more out. So at this stage in my life the "war on terror" is the most important topic. It is the topic that effects me the greatest.

I want to see education reform and I may be completely off on my assessment of the american people. I wish the states would do it on their own and quit begging the federal government to save their pathetic asses all the time. It should really be an issue for state and local government but since those politicians are generally afraid to make any real changes it takes the feds to step in. GD shame.

And please, I really don't want to get sidetracked on the war. I was just using it as an example to prove my point.

to be continued...

[TramelRaggs]

The war should never creep into a conversation on education reform because the war is a federal issue and education is a state one.

Seret, your wife's situation isn't brought on by the system of beauracrats (well, not 51% of it), but by the system of teacher unions within most municipal school systems. Generally, once a teacher gets tenured (and a lot do after 3 years), they can't be fired for anything less than a criminal act, and gross incompetence is not a criminal act. Your wife is in a bad way because she is in the art program. If the hag of a woman teaches history, her kids could come out not knowing where Pearl Harbor is (I lost hope for the public education system when a kid told me it was in California) but she will never be fired or laid off because it is usually a state course requirement. Tenured teachers of core classes are protected more than mob bosses by the unions, and no administration can take it to them for fear of a strike and being voted out for being soft on teachers.

I gotta get out of here, but I was to just say I'm glad I went to private school.

[Seret Sajet]

The war should never creep into a conversation on education reform because the war is a federal issue and education is a state one.

Seret, your wife's situation isn't brought on by the system of beauracrats (well, not 51% of it), but by the system of teacher unions within most municipal school systems. Generally, once a teacher gets tenured (and a lot do after 3 years), they can't be fired for anything less than a criminal act, and gross incompetence is not a criminal act. Your wife is in a bad way because she is in the art program. If the hag of a woman teaches history, her kids could come out not knowing where Pearl Harbor is (I lost hope for the public education system when a kid told me it was in California) but she will never be fired or laid off because it is usually a state course requirement. Tenured teachers of core classes are protected more than mob bosses by the unions, and no administration can take it to them for fear of a strike and being voted out for being soft on teachers.

I gotta get out of here, but I was to just say I'm glad I went to private school.

You're on the right track but I can't say I agree with all of it.

The layoffs themsevles are occurring by soley the will of the beauracrat but the reason she is getting layed off over the others in the art program is she was hired last. The union gets the final say on how people are layed off and in their contract written in big red crayon is the word SENIORITY. So you are right, the union plays a big part, but the layoffs would never even be considered if not for some fatcat wanting to be able to give himself a raise next year.

You are correct, its the Art Programs that suffer while all the money goes into sports programs nowadays. I'm not saying sports aren't important in their own way, but the scales tip way over to them much too often. Art and Music get cut out of schools while kids get new football jerseys. It just doesn't seem right to live a world BUILT on art and culture only to snatch that away from our children.