We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.
It's rough out there in the Obama economy you young gals voted for. It is quite dispiriting to believe in yourself and in what you have to offer, but nobody is buying.
I do not really blame teachers, I blame the kids. Most kids are not scholars or intellectually-inclined, and just need readin, ritin, and rithmetic to get by. By and large, that works if you have a useful skill. Ignorance is the norm, generally-speaking.
It tests your math and related skills, literary and writing skills, historical, art and music knowledge and sophistication. Unlike the SAT, it doesn't look for your potential - it looks at what you have under the hood.
Of course, a good interview would reveal all of that in under an hour with a handful of pointed questions. For a job, though, it's not about what you know about Beowulf, but it's about what value you can add and what sort of personality you show.
A Liberal Arts education - however obtained - is for life-enrichment and enlightened citizenship, not commerce. It was designed mainly for the wealthy and prosperous who didn't have to worry too much about those things and could learn on the family or family-related job.
The
Collegiate Learning Assessment--Let's Support It - See more at:
http://www.mindingthecampus.com/originals/2013/09/the_collegiate_learning_assess.html#sthash.uhy0a9kE.dpuf
Right now is the perfect time to plug or aerate your lawn and/or fields, in the northern US.
Heavily used or walked-on lawns need it once a year. Do it now, then spread some fall lawn fertilizer on it, and over-seed where needed. You can rent the aeration or plugging machines for cheap, for a day or two, from any tool rental place, or Home Depot. Plugging is better than aeration, but either one is better than nothing.
When Spring comes, you'll see a big difference. Remember that lawns are not natural. They are grass gardens - or sheep meadows. If you want them green all the time, try astroturf or write a big check for lawn irrigation. My lawns are too large to afford that.
I am medically self-insured, to an extent. I am responsible for a $20,000 two-year deductible on all medical expenses, and after that my quite inexpensive major medical (aka "catastrophic") insurance kicks in.
Much to my surprise, it turns out that many both large and small businesses use this same model, as do many large unions. In most of those cases, however, the business or union covers the costs of the deductible, and brand-name insurance companies administer the policies for a fee.
Today a record 61% of covered workers are in a self-insured plan,
according to the Kaiser Family Foundation's 2013 survey, up from 49% in
2000.
Democrats clearly want, as a step towards single-payer, one-size-fits-all medical insurance controlled by them. As usual, they want control "for our own good", of course.
My approach would be to deregulate medical insurance, and to let a million flowers bloom.
The worst class I took in education school was on “math teaching methods.” It was taught by my advisor at the time. (I say “at the time” because shortly afterward they changed advisors on me, and she no longer taught courses, but worked with Ph.D. candidates. From what little biographical information I have seen about her, she has not ever taught any classes, math or otherwise, in K-12.)
The math teaching methods class was remarkable for its embrace of every educational fad I detest...
That conclusion should be obvious. Roughly 48 percent of our college graduates are in jobs that the require less than a four-year degree, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the future looks worse: growth in the number of graduates in this decade is likely to be nearly three times as great as the projected number of jobs requiring such degrees. Despite incredibly lax standards (the typical full-time student spends about 30 hours a week on academic matters) and rampant grade inflation, well over 40 percent of entering students fail to graduate within six years.
That conclusion should be obvious. Roughly 48 percent of our college graduates
are in jobs that the require less than a four-year degree, according to the
Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the future looks worse: growth in the number of
graduates in this decade is likely to be nearly three times as great as the
projected number of jobs requiring such degrees.Despite
incredibly lax standards (the typical
full-time student spends about 30 hours a week on academic matters) and
rampant
grade inflation, well over 40 percent of entering students fail to
graduate
within six years. - See more at:
http://www.mindingthecampus.com/originals/2013/08/too_many_people_are_going_to_c.html#sthash.MdCB3djG.dpuf
That conclusion should be obvious. Roughly 48 percent of our college graduates
are in jobs that the require less than a four-year degree, according to the
Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the future looks worse: growth in the number of
graduates in this decade is likely to be nearly three times as great as the
projected number of jobs requiring such degrees.Despite
incredibly lax standards (the typical
full-time student spends about 30 hours a week on academic matters) and
rampant
grade inflation, well over 40 percent of entering students fail to
graduate
within six years. - See more at:
http://www.mindingthecampus.com/originals/2013/08/too_many_people_are_going_to_c.html#sthash.MdCB3djG.dpuf
That conclusion should be obvious. Roughly 48 percent of our college graduates
are in jobs that the require less than a four-year degree, according to the
Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the future looks worse: growth in the number of
graduates in this decade is likely to be nearly three times as great as the
projected number of jobs requiring such degrees.Despite
incredibly lax standards (the typical
full-time student spends about 30 hours a week on academic matters) and
rampant
grade inflation, well over 40 percent of entering students fail to
graduate
within six years. - See more at:
http://www.mindingthecampus.com/originals/2013/08/too_many_people_are_going_to_c.html#sthash.MdCB3djG.dpuf
As far as the old-style rationalists were concerned, any desire to ritualise death and remember the dead was a sign of a failure of nerve, and an inability to grow out of religious indoctrination – especially all that Christian stuff about personal survival, arraignment before a divine judge and consignment to heaven or hell. But in fact Christianity does not speak with one voice when it comes to death and dying. In the gospels of Matthew and Luke, Jesus issued a severe reprimand to a disciple who wanted to give his father a proper funeral: get back to work at once, he said, and “let the dead bury their dead.” The rebuke may seem like an enlightened anticipation of 20th-century rationalism, but it is also perfectly consistent with some main doctrines of Christianity: if the body is just a temporary home for an immortal soul, and a perpetual temptation to sin, then the sooner we shuffle it off the better.
Can't these people find anything better to do? But it's not only that; every ten years the expert definition of a "good diet" changes. Nobody knows what a good diet is. That's probably because we are designed as omnivores and to eat whatever is available that we can choke down.
The recent train wreck in Connecticut brings to mind the classic 1999 book, Normal Accidents: Living with High-Risk Technologies. This book spurred the development of the field of accident research, but it is somewhat dated now. Accidents are inevitable, and at some point efforts to prevent dangers creates new forms of danger.
He wrote treatises on chess, math, and other things too. Imagine what sort of website he could have had, had he only invented the intertunnels too. Everybody knows that Sippican invented the intertunnels.
Double entry sounds like tax cheating, but it is not. It is about credits and debits. (It does not refer to the private, personal books for cash receipts that many unscupulous Lefties use to dodge Uncle Sam and rip off their neighbors.)
People have been talking about an American general-purpose post-college exam, presumably open to all because I see no reason why a college degree should be a precondition.
I suppose it would be like a post-college SAT, including specialized AP or achievement-like sections. It would doubtless help employers weed out the bullshitters - but many jobs are perfect for good bullshitters (see Animal House).
It doesn't seem like a radical concept to me. Anyone who applies to grad school takes some sort of post-college exam to evaluate knowledge and skills acquired, and mental fitness for the task. Many jobs require both an interview and an exam designed by HR. The simplest example is (was) the typing speed and accuracy tests for secretaries, in the good old days. My first post-college, post-military job required that I take an IQ test. I guess I passed it. The military got me used to test-taking.
As we have preached before, life itself is one exam after another, one test after another of what we have going for us and of our ability to stretch our strengths and to exercise our frailties. The ultimate exam can not be scored by a machine. It's not even our credit rating. The ultimate exam measures how near we get to achieving our goals in life, whatever goals we choose.
The oldest prominent participant in the (American) Revolution, by a wide margin, was Benjamin Franklin, who was 70 years old on July 4, 1776. Franklin was a full two generations removed from the likes of Madison and Hamilton. But the oldest participant in the war was Samuel Whittemore, who fought in an early skirmish at the age of 80:
On April 19, 1775, British forces were returning to Boston from the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the opening engagements of the war. On their march they were continually shot at by colonial militiamen.
Whittemore was in his fields when he spotted an approaching British relief brigade under Earl Percy, sent to assist the retreat. Whittemore loaded his musket and ambushed the British Grenadiers of the 47th Regiment of Foot from behind a nearby stone wall, killing one soldier. He then drew his dueling pistols and killed a grenadier and mortally wounded a second. By the time Whittemore had fired his third shot, a British detachment reached his position; Whittemore drew his sword and attacked.[3] He was shot in the face, bayoneted thirteen times, and left for dead in a pool of blood. He was found alive, trying to load his musket to fight again. He was taken to Dr. Cotton Tufts of Medford, who perceived no hope for his survival. However, Whittemore lived another 18 years until dying of natural causes at the age of 98.
It makes no sense to me for the Feds to be involved in primary education at all. These Washington experts and consultants are living in a dream world in which their fantasies can never be reality.
To some extent, yes. Every boy knew that when they were in school. On the other hand, some boys are natural, powerful scholars who are more driven by curiosity and competition than by pleasing teacher.
Co-education is a crazy idea. I am grateful that I was spared that for eight years, spared the social and sexual distractions which so dominated vacation time anyway. Most of our Masters were male, and each one had to coach a team on the side. The handful of lady teachers could never imagine what fantasies they were subject to regardless of their appearance. They did not coach: they worked in offices instead during sports time. I also hope the faculty wives were never aware of our terrible thoughts about them.
Yes, we had a couple of gay students and a couple of gay Masters, and everybody knew but nobody really cared. It was not a Big Topic in those days, just a subject of casual amusement. As far as I know, none of them acted on their desires on campus. However, I did know one prep school classmate who had a hot affair with a hot faculty wife. That did not end up well, for her or for her kids. He was the envy of all. Damn handsome, socially-precocious, rich, tall, blond Aryan quarterback. I still hate guys like that to this day. He went to Harvard, and made a ton of money after that and is still with wife #1. Big donor to the school, now.
Prohibition doesn't work, and most people see that. All it does is to drive up the price of illegal drugs, fill prisons, and support a booming illegal drug industry.
Accountants know who he was. He was a pal of Leonardo, and 
People always talk about the places they'd like to see or to visit. It's a big world. Most everybody has a bucket list.