This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
It's Official: America Is Now As Dumb As A Bag Of Hammers
Ever wonder why America will elect precisely the president it deserves in just over a year? Here's why.
2011 SAT Reading Scores hit all-time low
h/t John Lohman
»
- 49441 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -
No. You're totally and completely wrong. Do your homework; research the question.
I have students in college so that they can qualify for the loans and student aid because they can't get jobs (I have had candid email and private exchanges with them regarding this, it is just true). Enrollments are up, some are looking for a place to "ride out the storm" some are hoping to be "retrained" so that they can get a better job. The good news is some students can't afford the Ivys any more so they are coming to my state instutition. The upper end of the curve is getting better which at least improves my experience.
But do not be mistaken, enrollments are up, more folks than ever before took this test this year, and education is a bubble that is inflating, right now. This bubble will burst when folks figure out they can't get jobs even with this experience. I live in dread of it. But not this year.
Far be it from me to argue with a man of such intelligence, but my assertion was that the graph doesn't necessarily imply that current students are (on average) any dumber than those of the 1970s. If (as you stated) my assertion is "totally and completely" wrong, it logically follows that you believe the opposite of this assertion to be just as "totally and completely" right.
Please explain me how this single, contextless graph necessarily proves that current students are on average dumber than those of the past.
This chart is totally misleading because as anyone who knows anything about the history of the SAT knows the scores peaked in 1963, not 1973--so were were in decline at least a decade prior to that. What is not clear from the chart is the renorming that has happened over the years as well--you cannot compare a score from 1991 to a score from 2011 because the test is a easier than it was 20 years ago. They did this because they wanted median scores to be closer to 500.
The only comment in the other direction is that a bigger cohort of teenagers takes the test nowadays as a percentage of the population than in 1973 or 1963. So it is possible that part of the decline comes from bona fide college-material kids taking the test years ago and a lot of kids who don't even qualify for community college taking it now.
My macro 101 class (Big 10 University) about 10 years was given a pop quiz the first week in... over 25% of the class could not even find the slop (rise/run) of a simple graph only going up to 5 in both x and y.. I coulden't believe it!!! a simple linear of spot '2 numbers and divide accordingly' ....No curves, no calculus, No tricky word problems where interpretation was suspect. Just the slope of a positively increasing f(x)
Oh I didnt mention the answers were given as multiple choice!!
The professor was stunned when he power-pointed the results to some 500 students.. He seemed like he was pretty pissed.....
Long time reader...first time post-er. "CD" inspired
I have lived with a school teacher for over 20 years.It has shown me a lot of parents suck and should not have children .It all starts at home .Teachers are told what they have to teach and do to comply with governmental regulations.Thats also why she retired and does not teach anymore.Sure there are some bad teachers and a lot of dedicated ones that use their own money to get kids what they need with no recouse or wish for reimbusement.
IT STARTS AT HOME.period
Parents are the decision makers so dont put it on all the teachers
Kill your tv get their brain back and yours.Overthrow the thinktanks that dictate policy then you will start fixing the public end.
Cult: I feel your pain. Especially the part about the .gov telling a) what to teach, b) how to teach, and c) what to avoid plus d) the homogenization process.
Of course, all of that goes away from local control of funding and content.
And, well, we have now many years of the "Department" of "Education" 's policy outcomes. Time to change the mix.
- Ned
{to expand a skosh' : one of the reasons that Bill Bennett is harmful. He was the "Drug Czar": Fail, and the head of the so-called "Department of Education" evidently a FAIL.}
Yes New_Meat
It is a shame.We have a worldwide EPIC FAIL of leadership and unfortunately it will never change until people realize the governments are even told what to do and the people need to go after the same groups that have been pulling the puppet strings for ages.
That will not happen
Although I do see a much larger mass of people that get it that now, need to get to people on the inside to start the parasite purge until then it still remains the same only the faces change
Therefore most children today are doomed mentally and financially it is right in front of everybody but they do not see it or do not wish to,therein lies the problem,thats why it will not change parents are blind to the real world problems,at least the true facts of what is and what is not or,easier to watch tv instead of studying themselves.Not all parents mind you ,like not all teachers.
I hear that, yet, how did kidz on the (granted, skoshi' U.S.) frontier learn? Like mid-1800's? How did the US poverty become overcome so that in the late U.S. 1930s, with the average education level at "8th Grade" do what they did to be the "Greatest Generation?"
Dang, that "doom" excites me no end. What a waste--is going on and is in prospect.
- Ned
If you have a television set and children in your home; you are participating in a crime. I'm not joking. I'm not making this up.
just damn statistical manipulation to make a story. an 8% drop over 4 decades. scores virtually even over the last 2 decades. what is the story here? just wasted 30 seconds of my life.
Then you should leave s2man....heres the door
True Story
Yesterday, was working on the road. Stopped at a DQ, DQ corporate had sent me a coupon book in the mail, in there a coupon for $1.99 Moolatte. I give the cashier the coupon and order a Moolatte and a cheeseburger, on the printed menu above for $1.79. Cashier didn't know what to do with the coupon, goes get manager. Meanwhile, Senior woman working there, heard my order, told the cook. Manager and cashier (both in 20's)come back and are trying to figure out my cost and how to ring it up. Senior woman already has my cheeseburger and Moolatte done and bagged. Idiot manager and cashier still haven't even rung up the sale. Me and Senior woman are making googly faces at each other thinking "how stupid are these idiots?". Finally I say to them, 1.99 + 1.79 =3.78. They are still scratching it out on a piece of paper. They finally ring up, I give them a $20 bill, I get $15.26 change. I just shook my head at the Senior lady, we are both just stunned. Didn't need to waste my time over a few cents, so I just left.
This country is already dysfunctional and getting more so. Don't even want to go through telling what a grand time I had at DMV, renewing my DL. And had to submit to biometric photography in order to get it. We're doomed. DOOMED I SAY!!
Funny story Kali
seems to have started more when calculators came on the scene and no more long hand math in schools
If the register does not work it can be a hoot
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2wkAD7iG80
My wife tried to pay for a purchase at a local department store using some loose change - maybe a couple of dollars worth of nickels, dimes, quarters, etc. The clerk said 'you can't expect me to count that!' Fucking clerk in a department store can't count change - yes, we're doomed.
I spent a few years as one of the crap-slingers for a big fast-food chain. There's a lot about this story you may not know.
The modern cash-register gives the clerk-monkey almost ZERO control over what it does. These employees are trained to push the correct buttons that match the correct products and then do what the computer tells them to do.
The fact that employees cannot process a transaction when there are register problems is not always indicative of their ability to do arithmetic. The "standard" till-worker generally cannot open the cash drawer if the transaction has *any* problems.
We're totally dysfunctional as a society, agreed. And I'm certainly not telling you that the folks serving you could do basic math.
But don't assume that the person on the other side of the counter is a moron just because the system they are FORCED TO USE fails sometimes. These systems are very rigid in terms of their performance and behavior because companies can't trust their employees to handle company money, and the result is that if something goes wrong, the low-man (the register monkey) is the one who has to stand there and take the abuse from the customers while he waits for the keyholder or supervisor or IT team to get the technology back in shape.
Part of the whole point. Corporate genius dictates a coupon sent nationwide for an overcomplicated system they standardize (to sell fucking hamburgers for god's sake), noobs at store don't recognize it nor how to use it. The (white, by the way) idiots running the store and the register don't know how to do math or how to use the overcomplicated IT nightmare POS system or how to give change, or even recognize in their head that the change isn't even close to being right.
Seems we should go back to - you cook the burger and make the shake, tell me the price, use a "mechanical" register to ring up the actual price, fuck all the bells and whistles who make nobody but MBA's, IT and cash register people money. I shoulda been in and out of that fast food place in 2 minutes and not have to waste my time, the cook's and the counter girl's (even tho she was a Senior). I was there for 10 minutes, because they tried to first tell me the coupon was no good, didn't know how to use it or the cash register, or how to do simple math. I had my order already and the cook and counter gal were still waiting for the "order ticket" (which I am sure they will be punished severely for not following corporate procedure by giving a customer their order before the order ticket was printed). The whole fucking thing is a farce. I usually don't eat at fast food places, but I was in a hurry and since I had the book in my recycle bag in my car, made the bad decision to use it. So I still say we are DOOMED, DOOMED I SAY!!!
how bout this...i cook the burgers, you bring the shakes and we'll share...no POS necessary...
it's a deal, but kinda hard to make shakes in the car, had been on the road for 4 days. : ) I wish I coulda found a girl scout or boy scout fundraiser cookout, the food woulda been better, prolly the service too!
I'm so glad you understand! :)
There are several possible interpretations here.
Personally, I tend to lean in the direction of saying something like this: a business model that requires 8 people to run a basic fast-food operation because it's "mandated" that you be able to serve 56 burgers per 10 minute period is really only correct in a certain environment. This environment obtains rarely and should not be used as the basis for expansion across the entire country.
Once you get away from the "we must be prepared to sell X for $Y within Z minutes," you can start making sense of the wage-structure. The reason the owners treat the employees like such monkeys is precisely because you pay them shit and they have no sincere motivation to keep the job. And the reason you can pay them so little is because the corporate efficiency requirement of "X units for $Y in Z minutes" is RIDICULOUS.
I worked with a lot of folks who came from shitholes and had little education, but they generally understood full-well that if they did good work, they might fight their way to a position that made for a decent life. I'm talking about parents 19-24 who aspired to a $50,000/yr fast-food management position because that was *good.*
Now obviously, there were a few bad apples. One employee walked off with $1600 of till money one night because...well...why the fuck not? It was over 2 months pay, and he could go get a comparable job somewhere else as long as he didn't end up in lockup.
But hey, you drive wages as low as possible AND have a minimum wage mechanic in place, and you're guaranteed to get the worst of all possible worlds. This is just the way we seem to prefer things.
I too, blunderdog, fried burgers and onions at one of the early McDonalds in Chicago. It was there I learned the meaning of the word 'bellyache'.
To note the upside--if you were truly dirt-poor at the time (as I was)--you might have suffered malnutrition, but there was no risk of STARVATION. There were a handful of weeks there I managed to maintain consciousness without spending ONE SINGLE DOLLAR on food.
Obviously the SAT people do not take into account the important subjects such as Heather's two mommies, gay history, and the ability to sing cute little songs about the current president. (mmm, mmm mmm). Get with the program!
I may be dumb...but I'm not stupid.
...a bag of hammers and the price of an education skyrockets up, the rate of return on labor inverts along with education, ironic?
Silver anyone? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIMGgBLOwfg
And the real problem is that most fresh graduates of the system do not know how to use either a hammer or their education.
How long will it be before you can get a Bachelor of Science in Barrista? A Bachelor of Arts in Customer Service? Will those be offered online?
What a great idea!
I think we should get right on it; BS in barrista; on line university; make sure you're the one the boss notices at your workplace." Why not.
Sure, you design your own degree, with an academic adviser. It is called a Bachelor's of Liberal Arts. You think I'm horsing around, don't you? Thing is, I have seen folks with very specific interests/needs/world experience use the degree to great advantage, and move on to do better things. But so many end up in it because they can't meet the language requirement, or the math requirement. It turns us into a diploma mill. Boy am I just letting it rip tonight. Ponzi fractillian structure as suffused every level of our society. I am here to tell you how it has happened in the academy.
If you want your job, you think up stuff to support this shit, or you just shut up and don't participate. This is what it means to be a professor in a state university.
I hope your other half appreciates your ripping off.
Box of rox is next.
No ,thats me...and im not the smartest one in it.
But ar collages got foooootballl! Yehah! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BerJdS2VJhA Oldie but goodie from Bob Nelson. If Obama played football he'd start around 2:20...
Since the job market has convinced kids and parents that they are worthless without a college education and the middle class manufacturing jobs have all disappeared there is a much wider variety of "ahem" students taking the test.
My guess is that in the past a smaller percentage of highschool juniors took the test. I wonder what the chart would look like nornmalized for population growth and then truncated to 1973 levels.
so much for the reverse head and shoulders. sell it.
over 40% of americans think the world was created in less than 6000 years
idiots
They would be correct. The generally accepted Big Bang theory model posits that all of the matter in the universe came into existence in the form of a quark-gluon plasma in the 10^-32 seconds following the Big Bang. (This is a much shorter time period than 6000 years.)
Perhaps you meant to call young-Earth creationists idiots. I am sure, however, that you just identified yourself as a member of the population subset boasting a sub-median score on the trivially easy SAT Verbal/Reading section.
The omelet is made when the chicken lays the egg.
It's gonna cost TRILLIONS to get those scores up I'll bet.
Wait, what I meant to say was we're goin to spend trillions, and they're gonna keep going down
Easy to fix... just divide them all by 525, scale to 100, and the lowest score becomes 95%. Everyone's a winner, baby!
And these people vote! Well actually almost no one votes.
Some democracy.
I have a drawer full of hammers, many types with different purposes, that are insulted by that assertion. They are dependable, well designed, and do exactly what I ask them to with nary a complaint. I love my hammers.
It's a lot tougher to love my fellow Americans. A lot tougher...
I know what you mean; I love pendulum clocks and diesel engines. Very dificult to love fellow americans. Boy this Czech style pilsner will never be IPA; thank god Jeebus loves me and protected me from a DUI on the way to the store and back.
What do expect from the Dept of Education with a paltry budgetof 46.7 billion and only 5000 employees. We got to get our dear leader to get more money and more employees on this problem.
Fucking modern-day unions.
Imagine what it would look like withou the hedonic (moronic) adjustments.
Is SAT a new federal reserve program?
do any of you think it is a healthy thing to have these kinds of people in a volunteer army ?
that's a very funny post, on many levels. It cracks me up. Uh, I'll guess at no for the answer. But I realize, somebody probably thinks its a dandy idea.
What Tyler won't tell you:
Its been done By Design to achieve precisely this result... among others.
Now I don't know why Tyler won't say this, but the "president it deserves" rhetoric bade me speak.
You cannot poison the ground and then blame the plant for bearing no fruit people. Get with the program.
As if there were no vested interest in generating such conditions?
we get lost in the forest though, w/e, as KOMPRESSOR once said, "you have to synthesize."
I can't watch idiocracy anymore, it has gone from being a light-hearted romp to shattering my soul. having spent my entire life being mocked for using "big words" and now living in an age of 4chanized cultural solvent, amid the implosion of deliberately constructed ponzi schemes, where we have allowed a cabal of madmen to create an economic black hole machine powerful enough to swallow entire countries, where fear of this battle-station will keep the local system lords in line...
I find myself yet credulous about the destiny of our species, even as we spend our Fourteen thousandth year in chains, with the vast potential of the humans born, utterly wasted.
oh people talk endless shit about RP shutting down the saftey net dont they?
but the public education system "doesnt work"
oh no plebs, it works EXACTLY THE WAY ITS SUPPOSED TO.
Read: The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America, by Charlotte Iserbyt. Diogen speaks truth when he says that it is working exactly as planned.
Throw away the TV Set. Do it now. Read books published in the nineteenth century; marvel at the accuracy of thought and the adherence to reality; gradually you will come to live a fantasy life in the nineteenth century; when human intelligence was a valued resource. That's how I survived. Just ignore the mass culture; completely; it's a mistake. Nature will correct it, but just don't bother with it.
The Jedi Council at Liberty 33 is not the protector of the republic, its the enemy. Its time for Order 66.
OK, it's obvious that the test is bad and does not reflect current approach to education. There are no losers, eveyone gets a star on their assignment just for trying. and it's a team effort, not individual.
so, we need the testing modified, that's obvious. SAT is a bad test.
/sarcasm
it is nice to know that here in amerika, we can now boast that we have another great amerikan company that was included in the dow a few years ago, none other than macdonalds. i know along with the subject matter from this thread, that in and of itself gives me a lot of warm fuzzy feelings and feelings of pride in my country, doncha know.......
superimpose over SP in next coming months and it will all be brought into sharp focus.
Yeah, you're probably right.
It actually looks like the number of illegals coming into the country if you turn it upside down. Yeah I went there.
In 1973 not everybody tok the SATs. Guidance counsellors, if there was one, advised many students not to waste their time. They cannot do that today, even if that is the right course.
The additional students taking the SATs today are lower-scoring, but they have more post-secondary opportunites.
What exactly; is an opportunite? Is that a tuna-like fish harvested in a Portuguese Port? Is post secondary similar to tertiary? ?What the fuck are you talking about?
Turning it sideways will show how math scores have devolved over the same time period. No joke: I work with 16+ year-old kids that don't know how to manage basic fractions, with or without a calculator.
I get them as seniors in college and they still don't understand it.
All the decline came in the early 70's, we've just been bouncing along the bottom of stupid since. What happened in the early 70's??? The Vietnam War and the draft ended. Before 1973, a bad SAT score ment you were off to the beautiful, fun-filled jungles of southeast asia. After 1973, a lousy SAT ment you lived in your parents basement smoking pot with your other friends. Nothing motivates educational success like the prospect of having your foot blown off by a land mine or catching a sniper bullet in the throat.
Im going short intelligence
+30 bagger
30 hammers
in that bag...
...thank heavens for the measured and rational thoughts of MillionDollarBoneus on this site. Your contributions are very much appreciated amidst the 24 hour/day stress and strains derived of volatility. Thank you
Oh please. I am grateful that this came up and has not been censored... Oh dear. This is much worse than most of you thought.
I represent the implication that anything you thought I didn't think already; censored or otherwise. Wait, reading, reading; okay, I'm not most of you; most of you are relatively sane; so okay.
I take it that 'includes' all the prep classes and the cheating??
Maybe we should try it STANDing for the next few years........;>)
Are those scores before or after cheating union teachers changed the grades?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VS5X_45_JLg
in honor of the subject matter on this thread, i thought perhaps that this movie clip would be appropriate at this time. gator gives some driving lessons to the cops....
Man that was awesome. They even found a dead-ringer for Burt Reynolds...
The Engrish curriculum in public schools is pants-on-head retarded. It's about 70% reading, 20% ridiculous writing assignments, 9.9% spelling (no etymology--just rote memorization), and 0.1% grammar.
(Yes, my kids are in public school; I never squander an opportunity to waste government money.)
When I was a kid (in private school), the weighting was almost the exact opposite--mostly grammar and etymology, with a little bit of reading and writing. And we learned to not split infinitives like I just did, or start sentences with a conjunction like I also just did, or... abuse elipses, and "etc", etc.
You should be ashamed of yourself; sending your children to public school is deplorable; it's indefensible. it;s reprehensible. I ran out of adjectdives, or whatever you call them.
This is probably due to the increasing percentage of the population taking the test.
For the nineteenth time now; it is not due to this factor ! Why don't you people pay attention! Oh, if only I was a Nazi Teaching Seargeant; I would educated you so good you would never get over it.
This was not an accident... public education has been being destroyed for decades. Aside from that, it's the usual ZH crying wolf... although it is certainly alarming as a long-term trend, it's only about a 5% decline over 40 years.
So Lord Koos, let me get this straight....it's no big deal that we have more technology, greater resources, more money, better buildings/classrooms, heated and cooled learning environments, i-pads, field trips to everywhere and spend tens of billions of dollars on an education department that didn't exist 40 years ago and we're supposed to be bulled up on this trend? I'm sorry, with all of our tax dollars being thrown at education, I guess I would have expected the over/under to be to an up tick.
Our education system in this country is shit, aformentioned charts and all.
Someone please dismantle the ever failing education department, it's an insult to our country and way of life.
There;s nothing that a government can't fuck up; and most things, they can fuck up absolutely.
Here's a classic. America's youth at it's shining best!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzJc7ou1-p8
Explanation of the chart: The first dip in the chart corresponds to the creation of Charlie's Angels and CHIPs. The second big dip corresponds to the creation of MTV. The last big dip corresponds to the "no child left behind" policy.
What's the difference, DePaul doesn't even use SAT scores as a basis for admissions anymore...
Lets get serious, that chart is the inverse of U.S. immigration...
English as a second language reduces the overall scores....someone put up an overlay to this chart showing net in migration and I think all will be clear...it should look a bit like the DOW vs the VIX...at least for the past few weeks..
Genesis 2.2. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made;
Genesis 2.7. And the lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life;
and man became a living soul.
So God makes the world in 7 days and then realizes that there is no man to till the ground, there fore he has made Adam, but no man to till the ground.
On the eigth day he made a second Adam,E'ha'Adam (ruddy complected or red in Hebrew).
8th day creation, Google it.
1st Earth age, Vimana, war in Heaven, get Googly with the stuff you can not be allowed to know.
Fairies and Unicorns? Not.
A bit kooky.
Actually, it's perfect. this is what IQ 101 looks like. You can tie your shoes, you can remember to breathe, and you can repeat the dogma of your local cult. He's a very honest person; if you want to be like this, just keep watching television.
"Waiting for Superman"
Watch it.
This generation will be less literate than the last generation. Amazing.
Four day school weeks, should really help the problem.
But hey, we have saved the banks, right?
Imagine, when the idea of America, the idea that everyone has a chance gets replaced by "lucky sperm club".
Perhaps that is what we are seeing, a soft landing for the bottom 80%'s living standards and the top 20% are members of the "lucky sperm club".
1.2 MILLION kids don't graduate from high school every year. EVERY YEAR. Since the financial crisis there are 3.6m kids who have not graduated from high school.
You don't understand Lucy, they aren't supposed to graduate from High School; they aren't even supposed to be in High School; if you will refer to your local history resource you will find tht high school was originally an option for people who passed the entrance test. Lucky Sperm says it all. But you just don't get it. Because that is real, Lucy, and what you have been told; that everyone can learn to read and comprehend at an adult level is false. America has always been about rewarding the lucky sperm club; that's why it wiped out the parent Empire, Great Britain; Everyone does not have a chance Lucy. I'm sorry you don't understand this and that you don't like it, but that's the way it is.
heck the test is for college admission is it not? so what is what i say. heck if they score well on it , then they go to college and then they get out and they owe anywhere from 50,000 to 250,000 or more on student loan debt, then they can't get a damn job anyway. i saw some story last night about a girl in florida that went to law school, got out and couldn't find a job so now she is a stripper........heck in this day and time for most people the test is meaningless practically speaking........no jobs..........no future and no money and they are all in debt. so they go join the army and fight and die for nothing. oh its fun living in the gulag called amerika....
Most kids and many adults can't spell, know any civics/history or make change without a calculator. We've been in trouble for a long time - computers have made many in the younger generation(s) lazy.
I would like to see a chart of illegal immigration over the same time span,
And a chart of population growth/decline by race, but that would be racist?
Drown the productive population with a flood of 3rd world needys?
No enforcement, let them vote,commie 101.
Bell curvy, ain't it,
Of course it's racist. But Racist is reality. Reality is reality. A concrete sidewalk is made out of concrete, if you try banging your head on it to prove it;s really soft and fuzzy you'll get a sore head. The great lie that you have been propagandized with, well, one of them anyway, is that IQ is not genetic and is not racially linked. It is genetic and it is racially linked. High reporduction rates amongst latin immigrants, IQ 95, and African-Americans, IQ 90; account for the whole problem. But you're not permitted to know this or discuss it. The rest of the problem is Television; recent research shows that children who watch television are permanently impaired in reading ability. Unfortunately Chinese and Japanese score higher on standardized tests then white europeans; so we have a big problem.
racist is a state of mind, its not concrete you moron.
The US will get the president from the choices they are ALLOWED to vote for.
I suppose you can write in Soupy Sales or whoever, but the party machines determine who gets the money, air time, endorsements, media attention, etc.
It's a bit disingenuous to bash people over who they vote for under the circumstances.
Agree - the System is fully entrenched and needs to be overthrown. But it provides McBurgers and good TV so it won't be.
Yes; it's very bad; you're supposed to choose between Sarah Palin and the grinning fool.
As a parent, I am compelled to comment. Our society values consumers above all else - so - that's what we are getting. The prior generations of geniuses have built a consumption based society and financial-ized it. For example; I wonder why all of the textbooks have to change so often - perhaps math and reading have changed every 2-3 years?
I have to say that combating all of the "marketing messages" being sent through all mediums (phones/computers/television) is not easy. Even if you block out these devices - the kids will find the "lowest common denominator thinking" parents/households and hang out there. Teaching "American Values" when the elite (political/economic/etc) are utterly corrupt or morally bankrupt is not easy either. Teachers (who mostly never wanted to discipline anyone anyhow) are lucky if they can maintain control in their own classrooms.
It is a lot of work to try and do the right thing by your children and society at large. If we had to make the choice again - we probably would have taken the easy way out and just not had kids. We would certainly be enjoying a higher standard of living.
I walked by a public elementary school earlier this summer and on the street next to it was a 10 yard dumpster filled chock to the brim with textbooks. All of them that I could see were in good shape (at least until they were tossed in the trash). I grabbed a few to give to my nieces.
Terry McGraw must love public school boards.
http://www.youtube.com/user/mcgrawhill
Not if you're a sub-standard negro living in the projects; if you get pregnant and deliver, (something); your welfare check goes up.
When Adlai Stevenson was running for President against Dwight Eisenhower (in 1952 or 1956) someone said,
"Mr. Stevenson, you have the vote of every thinking American!"
To which he replied, "That's nice, but I need a majority to win."
Ever wonder why America will elect precisely the president it deserves in just over a year? Here's why.
How in the HELL do you think Obama got elected?!
NOW DO YOU SEE WHAT SMOKING POT DOES?!!!!!!!!! Maybe the SAT should test "texting" acronyms instead of English.
Who be dumb? Ain't dum just ignert.
That chart is the inverse of immigration.
You cant blame the children of immigrants for this. The teachers and to some extent the parents, are to blame for this.
In America, there is no funding for education. Teachers are getting layed off and the burden on the existing teachers is huge. How do you expect the standard of education to improve?
Thank McGraw-Hill for the downgrade of our education as well as our credit rating. Anybody beginning to see a connection as to who's running the show?
I've always been horrible at math: reading and writing are more of my kind of things. That said, even in high school when I was dumb as all hell, I still scored above the "average" high school SAT score.
I love words; writing is such a wonderful thing. Through words, you can put your less 'censored' thoughts--without the vulgar noise of the voice--forth. Invoking emotion from the simple grouping of letters is an art. Writing shouldn't be so much a technical thing as it should be a tool to transfer thought and emotion. No one is your goddamned fucking censor but yourself—so rape the minds of the masses with words.
'... so rape the minds of the masses with words.'
Exactly what the PTB/MSM have been doing since the 1930s, when Edward Bernays systematized the technique.
But a highly motivated individual can run rings around the turgid sludge turned out by media drones and teleprompters.
Citizens -- fetch your pitchforks! This is not a drill ...
The reason you were horrible at math is your teachers; and other accidents of your experience; no one who has the verbal skills that you do has any "actual" problem with math; which is basically just a foreign language; but "teaching" can make it impossible.
It's quite interesting how most here criticize the intelligence of the American public, but can't seem to use proper grammar and/or spell correctly themselves. Most of you are solipsistic, self aggrandizing mutts with nothing better to do than troll the internet looking for ways to make yourselves feel better. You've all tainted the quality of this site with your shallow remarks and lopsided views. Making money isn't about seeing the obvious; it's about knowing how everyone is going to react to it. Mazel tov....
What?
It is quite interesting that you have elected your self "Grammer Cop".
Making money is about avoiding the parasites now,
are you a government worker or union douche bag?
How do you spell Douchebag? Douche or Doushe?
The English language is flexible, alive and subject to change, unlike French, (see Academie Francais).
I must assume by your abortion of logic that you are of French ancestry,work for the government and contribute to your union often.
A social parasite.
Shouldn't "self aggrandizing" be hyphenated?
No, you're just Pontificating again.
Crap, I took it in late 80's, thinking the hammers just cought up to me...been a long wait!
Watch the movie "Idiocracy"...
Thats who we are....
this chart show us why:
1 fox news and media matters have such a large and loyal following
2 why Obama is our current president and-
3 why Rick Perry will be our next president
4 why people don't notice that the same people NATO is bombing in Afghanistan
5 are the exact same people NATO is bombing on behalf of in Libya
6 and the American taxpayer is paying for it both ways
7 George W Bush was able to invade a country that neither supported terrorists nor possessed WMD's
8 why there is continued support for US presence in a country where our only effect after 8 years was to revitalize the illegal drug industry
9 why the markets can levitate on European hopium and the average joe doesn't care enough to go "hey, wait a minute...that's bullshit"
10. why we get groped and porn scanned in our airports, and 15 year old students say it's ok for govt to limit free speech and personal liberty so long as it keeps us safe...
Apologies. Double post.
WINNING !
Winning the Future; if I recall correctly. Apparently I lived too long and am seeing the actual implementation of double speak and double think.
Los Angeles is a good example of how not to run a school system:
1) Studies show smaller schools produce better students.
LA creates the largest schools ever built.
2) Studies show teenagers perform better with schools starting later, like 9:00AM
LA moves to earlier 7:00AM classes
3) Studies show throwing huge amounts of money at retarded students is of little benefit
LA spends 10 times as much educating retarded students at mainstream students
4) Studies show homework is a huge disincentive to educational achievement
LA loads every student with 2-4 hours of homework a night
5) .... need I go on?
SCHOOL VOUCHERS NOW!!!
Back in 07 the WaPo published a stunning statistic - only one in four ADULTS read a book that year. One in four. The rest, I guess are masturbating to porn. That they can comprehend - written words, not so much.
Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course.
no, no, of course not. God forbid anyone should know what's right, or what;s useful, and what makes sense; the only important thing is that you're free from scoial stigma while you turn yourself into a mushroom. Onward to Oblivion !
we just need to pay teachers more, the more teachers make the better retirement is for them the better medical care is for them ..will produce an educated child like the world has never known..no really.
teaching is a green industry, non polluting, low energy use, why it's the perfect modern american industry. the unions have made our schools heavens own. our children second to none..they deserve more of our tax dollars heck they deserve all our tax dollars. for the children, for the children.
I dunno - the verdict is pretty much in that Barack Hussein, a dismal failure of a President, must go. The question is who replaces him.
couple of ways to make the chart look better:
1) plot it on logarithmic scale
2) instead of plotting score against time, plot the first derivative of the score against time, that way people will only see moderate, transitory rate of decline. (sort of like when Congress talks about reducing deficit, they actually mean reducing the rate of increase in deficit
3) change the scale of y-axis from 0~600 to -5000~600, emphasizing that the scrore remains positive
4) extrapolate data to 2,000 BC to show that the recent decline is transitory and insignificant in the grand scheme of world history
All according to plan. Just sit the kids in front of a TV. It's all they need to know. And now for our 2 minutes of anger.
If only we could test the ability to lie, cheat and hate, then we'd show why forked-tongued devils will always rule the world.
Speaking of which, there's and old saying about lawyers: Those that make A's go on to be judges, those that make B's work in corporate and those that make C's make all the money.
Students would learn and would score better on tests if there wasn't so much evidence all around them that it's not what you know but who you know and can manipulate.
you just need to read three words:
BUY THE DIP
and you will be rich
you just need to read three words:
BUY THE DIP
and you will be rich
Meh. In large part SAT scores have been falling due to college becoming more needed to succeed in life these days, so less qualifying people are compelled to take the SAT's now and that pushes down the average.
Also with the conformity emphasis of public schools these days there are fewer students willing to cheat on the test due to lack of testicles (more women going to college) and that pushes the average down also.
Just kidding about the last line, but it seemed funny at the time.
:D
520 to 500? Random error...normal variance, greater participation. Another explanation is greater participation.
America is still in the game. I dont hear no fat lady yet.
YO
Take your hands free ear buds out for a minute. She's singing Un Bel Di right now.
Most Sheeple, ah, err, I mean Americans, are dumber than a box of rocks. Now excuse me while I go watch reruns of Fear Factor.
appreciate the concern- however - and these 'findings' are worth NOTE
put it in your mental journal ......
dudes. ...
Quotable quotes:
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." - J. Krishnamurti
"You must understand the whole of life, not just one little part of it. That is why you must read, that is why you must look at the skies, that is why you must sing and dance, and write poems, suffer and understand, for all that is life." - J. Krishnamurti (Philosopher 1895 - 1986)
K was a great philosopher. Loved reading and listening to him. " when you know what is false only the truth remains" ZH has helped me to see the false in the financial system and now only the truth remmains ( Au and Ag ).
Yes. He was amazing. In a class of one. I read his notes from lectures, or gatherings, every night for bedtime literature for many years. Maybe I should stop drinking beer and start reading him again.
I heard somewhere that about half of the population is below average.
lol!
"Median" is more accurate than "average".
This is why i like visiting America. It makes you feel so damm smart.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJQLSVFsqmU
ARE YOU GUYS GONNA CRY ABOUT THIS SAT THING?
but the SAT reading section did not used to exist. it was called SAT Verbal...bitchez!
Yes...but are they as sharp as a sack of wet mice?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNAtGmQ6i3o
Buy the dips -- invest in America!