Do you think we got cheated?

Guitarist said:
I just saw this on a website.

"Children are made readers on the laps of their parents."
— Emilie Buchwald
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My mom read to me when I was little. I scooched in beside her in the easy chair and she read me all kinds of stories. It's a love filled memory and it taught me to appreciate books.

If a child is being beaten at home or is frightened to walk to school, like the kids in Chicago, it's so hard fro them to escape the trap.
 

Phoenix said:
I did exceptionally well in school. So did a number of my friends and younger people I know. But what I learned over the years is that the ability to memorize which accounts for most good grades does not mean one is more advanced. There needs to be an ability to extrapolate. Being glued to devices does not allow for that.
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I went to public school from kindergarten through graduate school. In graduate school I met two students who had done their undergraduate work at two very highly ranked private universities. I was surprised, and interested, to learn in classes that when we were asked questions, they never answered based on their own ability to reason, but always quoted some "authority" or other. Maybe it was just them, or maybe it was what they had been taught as undergrads. Whichever, it was peculiar to them. The rest of us just thought out our own answers and gave them. It certainly takes intelligence to memorize and quote others; it also takes intelligence to reason for oneself and answer creatively.

I just re-read the original question on this thread, about today's "educational" children's TV programs. I don't necessarily consider them educational in a good way. I remember two instances, on two different "educational" programs, where vocabularies were "dumbed down" rather than being used to educate viewers. One was the lyrics to a good old song I loved as a child (and still do); the other was an old saying misused, entirely missing the point of the saying.
 
I think it is important to remember that we grew up in a simpler time than our children. Also, in Canada, almost half of adults have a university education. That is far higher than a generation ago. For the first time, there are more women attending

universities than men. I wish that when I attended uni, there had been the variety of programs available that today's students have. it is also far easier to "infiltrate" the so-called bastion of men's careers than when I became a psychologist. Cheated?

Perhaps a little. I certainly don't feel that this generation is "dumbed down", nor do I believe that American kids are any less intelligent or motivated than Canucks. However, a poor home life drastically affects scholastic performance. It certainly affected
mine off and on during my school years.
 

In the US education is costing kids a lot more. Every year tuition goes up at the state universities. At the University of Oregon for example, it's 3 - 5 percent annually. The kids are being pushed out. Kids on the average here come out of college $100,000 in debt. That is not better. I got loans and grants for my college tuition and owed only $3,000 when I graduated from college. I do wish there wasn't the sexism when I graduated, so other fields would have been open to me. But the growth I experienced has been tremendous. I wouldn't trade it. Coming of age now means that kids face a future where some of the environmental damage is beyond repair. They can only hope to slow it down. We are in dire straits. Population growth is out of control in spite of the attempts of Zero Population Growth, while things heat up, dry up and burn. Floods in some places are killing people all the time. Extreme weather is becoming the norm. As there are more and more people, and less and less resources, violence will continue to escalate. The have-nots will try to take from the haves - making war unending. The ocean is dying because the "collective we" have been using them as garbage dumps. One of the reasons I will not fly or take a cruise is because they dump stuff into the ocean. It's my personal protest. If we all stopped because of that, the policy would change. It's radically now worse on many levels. I feel bad for those who are inheriting this. Due to family genetics I have the potential to live thirty more years. I hope that does not happen. In thirty years things will be radically worse.
 
Maybe in some ways, but I got a much better grounding in reading, writing, etc. than kids do now. Kids now know a heck of a lot more about electronic gadgets, etc., but half of them cannot compose a coherent sentence.

Can't you just imagine a teen of today fighting that statement? " Why do old peple thnk that we cnt write 2? 2 txt all U ned is autoC"...it's sad.

I'm proud to say that even the youngest of mine is excellent at reading and spelling. Add in a love of cats and I done good.
 
I agree that we should be giving kids the best education possible. I want them to be happy and have fantastic, profitable futures. How else are the little bastards going to pay for my medicare?:)
 
Phoenix, techically yes, I was referring to a nursing home. However I was being facetious. Anyone who is as claustrophobic and averse to rules and regulations as I, would shrivel in a home. Luck permitting, when the time comes, I shall ride the death pill into the sky.
 
Oops, my bad. Let's hope we all pass quickly when it comes time. My mom thought that too, but it didn't work that way for her. I learned a lot by going to the nursing home and observing those who lived there with her.
 

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