One of the last times I saw my grandmother, who we called Nanny, was when I stopped in the nursing home to visit, and her and many of the other residents were gathered in a common rom listening to some dude play old songs from the 40s and 50s on a acoustic guitar. She was 95 at the time, and knew every word to every song. The best part was when she started talking smack about the guy's guitar playing and singing abilities. Apparently he didn't have the chops that some of the other entertainers who sang for them had. She was funny as hell, and I had a great time with her. Still miss her.
I firmly believe that the written word and art are truly the only things that make us special. While I certainly know many musicians that are unpleasant people, at the core of music is a desire to make the world a better place. Even if only for a moment.
Friends visited last night with their 12 year old boy. I was watching WWII in Color on Netflix and the kid sat down to watch with me. 10 minutes of guns, tanks, and explosions later he is bored out of his mind. His mom came in and said school is for learning and we proceed to watch Everybody Love Raymond. Am I out of touch? When I was younger I was fascinated with WWII.
It's cool. You wouldn't want to "trigger" them by showing them history and its associated atrocities. Her special snowflake shouldn't be exposed to such violence. Instead, he can watch a feckless man powerless to his cunt of a wife.
I don't get the school is for learning comment? So when Johnny isn't in school he shouldn't be engaged in activities which he learns from? Weird. I'd get if she said that she thinks that documentary is too violent for a 12 year old, its pretty intense. Imagine if a tit popped up on TV, imagine the outrage that likely would've happened. Violence on TV and documented violence? Cool right? Show a breast and this country goes nuts. I know thats a cliche and its been talked to death about but I find that remarkable still.
Your friends are going to end up with a vapid, idiot child. My whole life I've loved learning new things & can't stand mindless entertainment.
I have heard school is pretty intense for kids now. I've heard they have hours of homework a night, in addition to sports, going to school etc. I'm sure some people on here can speak to what is expected of the modern middle schooler.
I am pretty sure the mother made that comment because she was just as uninterested. The Everyone Loves Raymond episode involved Raymond messing up his sex life because he is a buffoon, not sure that that was anymore appropriate. The kid is completely obsessed with sports. I had a mini intervention with him once after catching him watching women's basketball.
I was always amazed when people would graduate high school and proclaim, "never have to read another book! woo hoo!" Most memorable was the high school football captain... high school was the high point of his life... good looking jock, banged the hot cheerleaders, cliched-level stupid... he was also the same guy who drove the truck that delivered the 40 new chairs for my software company. Funny how shit works out. Spoiler: nerds! People always give me shit for doing new and different things. "Why are you doing that?" I always ask, "why are you not?" Variety is the spice of life, and it's fun to learn something new. We had some stupid zombie discussion at work the other day (see spoiler above) and I was declared the "one person you'd like to have with you when the apocalypse hits". I'm quite OK with that. The amount of time people spend drooling in front of the TV watching mindless shit is amazing to me. My mom used to say, "I'm bored... there's nothing on TV... I had to watch ______". Well, no, you didn't HAVE to watch it... go do something else. It was a bit of a revelation for her. Now she generally watches solid shows from my Netflix account and the occasional PVR'd show from cable, but she's off doing other things now... like cooking, baking, and other interests she has.
Go watch this movie: http://www.racetonowhere.com/about-film My company makes education software, and we just watched this as a group... it's pretty fucking depressing.
Speaking of over testing, my wife teaches 3rd grade and that is the grade when the state mandates the testing starts. Much of what she teaches is just how to pass these tests, not because she wants to but because it's mandated by the state and she gets evaluated on the test scores every year. 3rd grade. Little kids expected to sit and test for 6 hours a day without being able to interact with the teacher other than to ask for a pencil. It is infuriating to me.
Is this the legacy of no child left behind or when did this paradigm shift occur? If it is a NCLB act legacy, why was it continued into the Obama administration? Is testing a way for politicians to take less responsibility for the funding and performance of the education system?
Oh, no. This has been going on for a long time, at least here in Texas. It started with the TAAS test (pronounced "toss;" stands for Texas Assessment of Academic Skills) in the early '90s. It covered reading, math, and English, and later they added a science part. I thought it was really easy, but a lot of kids down here bombed the reading and English parts because it wasn't their first language. As time went on, I saw how the curriculum started focusing on the test more and more. "This is going to be on the TAAS test!" was a mantra for the teachers (who all hated it, by the way). Over time, the name of the test changed to TAKS, then to STAR, which is what Li'l Bandit currently has to deal with. The testing procedures waste a lot of valuable time, too. For example, they don't test all of the kids at once, and this throws off the class schedule. One day they might only be testing students of a certain grade, with last names that begin with A-M, for example, and they are all herded into the class rooms of one hall. That basically shuts down classes/learning for the day. There have been plenty of times when I've picked up Li'l Bandit from school, and he tells me that because of testing, he and his friends just fucked-off in the home-room class the whole day. But all of this testing should result in Texas having the best education system in the country, right? Oh. Shit... I can understand the importance of a test being used as a tool to determine what the kids have learned, but if they spent more time actually teaching the kids information and not drilling them on the test, then the scores might improve. EDIT: I almost forgot a funny story about the TAAS test. Every year when testing time got close, student organizations would make signs/banners about the test, saying things like "Beat the TAAS," "Juniors are ready for the TAAS," etc. Well, one year in high school, my friends made a sign that said "TAAS MY SALAD!" and stuck it up on the wall. It stayed up for about a week before one of the principals (or whoever) took it down.
Funny this comes up. MiniMe just got off the phone with his very indignant father. Dad wants an explanation why MiniMe just turned 16 but doesn't have a job. "When I was your age...." MiniMe says "I have baseball 6 days a week. I wake up at 0615 to get ready for school and don't get through practice til 6 pm, then I have at least two hours of homework, plus I need to do my regular chores. Until seasons over when am I supposed to have a job? I can't work past a certain hour because of laws here."
There are a lot of varying interests, viewpoints, and fields of expertise on here, so I actually do learn here.