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its been a while since i last came here, with having to pass 8th grade, then going to boston for a while, and some other stuff, but sup guys, all be posting more now
# 1
Ah the 8th Grade.....how easy life was back then :P Well I'm glad its going well.....been playing guitar lately too? The posts have been quiet here lately, but hey that happens on boards. Welcome back :)
'There's no such thing as bad weather, there's only the wrong clothes...'
# 2
for us across the atlantic gibbons, what does Grade 8 mean?
do you mean the guitar qualifcation? or it like the first/ second year of highschool?
do you mean the guitar qualifcation? or it like the first/ second year of highschool?
# 3
Well, all I can say is I wish I had started playing guitar at that age. Educatedfilm, American public schools have 12 "grades." You can enter first grade immediately after graduation from kindergarten, where you've proven that you can say your ABC's and count to 10. So you're about 6 or 7 in first grade. Then you jump through the hoops, passing little tests to continue on to the next grade. Each grade lasts about a year, from August to June. If you play the game right, you finally graduate 12th grade when you're about 18 and you're done with high school, ready to go to college or just go to work. 8th grade is usually a part of a middle school, or a "junior high school," and you're about 13 or 14 in 8th grade.
Of course, our public schools are a microcosm of the meritocracy we call a democracy here, thus kids are rewarded with love and good grades if they perform well, but punished and humiliated if not (Another Brick in the Wall). So the cycle is perpetuated, the rich get richer because they do well in school, the poor get poorer because it is difficult for them in school. And we pretend that it is fair by using phrases like "an even playing field." But at as the metaphor suggests, it is still a very competitive game with inevitable winners and losers.
DC
[Edited by David C on 07-18-2002 at 08:54 AM]
Of course, our public schools are a microcosm of the meritocracy we call a democracy here, thus kids are rewarded with love and good grades if they perform well, but punished and humiliated if not (Another Brick in the Wall). So the cycle is perpetuated, the rich get richer because they do well in school, the poor get poorer because it is difficult for them in school. And we pretend that it is fair by using phrases like "an even playing field." But at as the metaphor suggests, it is still a very competitive game with inevitable winners and losers.
DC
[Edited by David C on 07-18-2002 at 08:54 AM]
"It's all right son . . . we told you what to dream"
# 4
oh ok, 13/14... that'd be second year in high school here...
Over here, we have 13 years.. but you graduate when your 18 non the less...(except if like me, you did badly... well, relativley speaking anyway, you redo the last year)...
so i'm ninteen now, and re-graduated... but it's good, cos i got to where i wanted...
THe problem of the rich having kids who also then become rich, is a problem everywhere (usually because the rich parents are better educated, and so more able to help their kids with their schooling)... it's not exclusive to the US, but the problem can be further egsasibated by private education... which i think, if became wide spread in the US , you'd litterally begin to see society head toward a cast system... This one of the MAJOR problems i have with capatilism... In theory ANYONE can become rich, but you find if parents are given the choise of paying for their childrens education, you'll see the rich kids consitantly doing better on a whole, and so really Not every one would be able to get rich, if your already rich your much more likely to become rich.
That's why i'm in favour of Capatlism WITH MORALS, kinda thing,
Over here, we have 13 years.. but you graduate when your 18 non the less...(except if like me, you did badly... well, relativley speaking anyway, you redo the last year)...
so i'm ninteen now, and re-graduated... but it's good, cos i got to where i wanted...
THe problem of the rich having kids who also then become rich, is a problem everywhere (usually because the rich parents are better educated, and so more able to help their kids with their schooling)... it's not exclusive to the US, but the problem can be further egsasibated by private education... which i think, if became wide spread in the US , you'd litterally begin to see society head toward a cast system... This one of the MAJOR problems i have with capatilism... In theory ANYONE can become rich, but you find if parents are given the choise of paying for their childrens education, you'll see the rich kids consitantly doing better on a whole, and so really Not every one would be able to get rich, if your already rich your much more likely to become rich.
That's why i'm in favour of Capatlism WITH MORALS, kinda thing,
# 5
Yes, I think Adam Smith had something like that in mind (capitalism with morals) when he first came up with the idea of the Free Market. He didn't intend for some people to be able to make infinite amounts of money at the expense of others who only make a tiny amount.
The problem in America is, as I and others see it, that human dignity has come to be seen as something that has to be earned instead of being a birthright. I think it is a birthright as a human being, and not something you have to work for. By basic human dignity I mean a decent place to live and enough to eat. Here in America, welfare is looked down on, because most Americans think if you're not working, you don't deserve human dignity. This comes from our Puritan ancestry I guess, but it is wrong. Now, I know our Yankee hard work ethic has brought us great things--the luxuries of life you could say, like guitars and amps--but it's also made us demonize those who are unable or unwilling to work. There's enough wealth to go around if only some of the insanely rich would agree to share some of it, or if we could have a salary cap kind of thing for CEO's and such. Why should ditch diggers make $10/hour while lawyers make $100/hour? Who is working harder?
DC
The problem in America is, as I and others see it, that human dignity has come to be seen as something that has to be earned instead of being a birthright. I think it is a birthright as a human being, and not something you have to work for. By basic human dignity I mean a decent place to live and enough to eat. Here in America, welfare is looked down on, because most Americans think if you're not working, you don't deserve human dignity. This comes from our Puritan ancestry I guess, but it is wrong. Now, I know our Yankee hard work ethic has brought us great things--the luxuries of life you could say, like guitars and amps--but it's also made us demonize those who are unable or unwilling to work. There's enough wealth to go around if only some of the insanely rich would agree to share some of it, or if we could have a salary cap kind of thing for CEO's and such. Why should ditch diggers make $10/hour while lawyers make $100/hour? Who is working harder?
DC
"It's all right son . . . we told you what to dream"
# 6
Originally posted by PonyOne
The education system in the US is a farce, pure and simple. All I can say is school sucks, thank God for the GED, and things only can go up from here.
Amen to that, brother! Thank god for rock n/ roll and living in a country where you can get paid to play music. See, I love America, don't get me wrong. But there's a lot we need to change about it. Problem is, the schools reflect the worst part of our society, the whole competitive thing that produces winners and losers. So we can't change the schools until our society as a whole changes. And more rigorous testing is not going to do it, despite what the big-wigs in charge seem to think. We need to be working on all fronts to change it. And conversations like this can only help, because it gets people thinking: maybe there IS something wrong with our society and our schools . . .
DC
"It's all right son . . . we told you what to dream"
# 7
