The general decline in standards today

[jamespowers]

I'd pay someone to cut my yard, but I don't want to give money away, when I can do the job myself.
When it's 99 outside, it's tempting though.
Considering $40 isn't bad to cut and trim a corner lot.
But then my chances of getting exercise go down if I do this.

I am thinking about just having the gardener come by once a month to cut the hedges. I can manage everything else.

 

[jamespowers]

I feel for you gents, and California has only the third longest state constitution in the country. Down here in Bama we have the dubious distinction of having the hands down longest (translated: most f-ed up). You should see the plan these fools have come up with to "improve" education here. Lowering standards based on race and income levels. Seriously.
Jim Crow is rising phoenix-like from the still smoldering ashes and this time he's coming for everybody. The worlds largest insane asylum is looking better to me everyday.

What you have there is no different than we have here. The lousy no-good school at the end of my street has been designated the school for kids who can't speak English. This means that when my son went there HE was at a disadvantage because he was fine with the language and just wanted to learn. The non-English speakers got homework IN SPANISH sent home every day. The signs in the hall were IN SPANISH. The flyers taped to the wall were IN SPANISH. There were other languages as well so I am just using the most frequent one I encountered. I could go on but suffice it to say that my son got a transfer out of there really fast. The other school wasn't any better with an ex-record executive teaching Kindergarten.....:doh:
You don't want to enter this Asylum. :doh:

 

[jamespowers]

b

Yeah, dh66, don't you just love our state leaders. The lottery issue really bugs me too. We're losing so much education money to surrounding states (Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida all have it. Mississippi doesn't have a lottery, but they have casino gambling along the Mississippi river.) because Alabama won't bring in the lottery, yet we've had dog tracks. I love my state, but absolutely hate my state government.

You think YOU hate YOUR state government?!:rofl:

 

[jamespowers]

Texas has a very successful one, and I play it a couple of times when I go to see the inlaws.
I'm out maybe $10 dollars for a week's worth.
My FIL has won enough to pay for groceries numerous times, or a tank of gas.
Me? I've won enough for a free drink from the garden hose.
BTW I have a family member that gives lotto tickets for Christmas.
Really? Why don't you just give me the money you spent so I can use it for gum or something?
They always say "hey I could have gotten you nothing, or I could have gotten you $100 thousand dollars."
Okay when I actually win this, we'll think back on the Christmas you gave me 100 thousand dollars, otherwise just give my ticket to someone else.
TN is a community property state (I think) so if my wife wins I win anyway.

Ah, using the community property laws for your own good eh?lol lol

 

[Gregg Axley]

I am thinking about just having the gardener come by once a month to cut the hedges. I can manage everything else.

The first of December, it might be cold enough here, for a 400ft private hedge to lose all it's leaves.
Then I'm going to have it cut down to 4ft all the way down, so I (and the neighbor) can trim it easily.
To cut it, and have it all hauled away, it about $300-400.
That's not bad, considering it's 12ft high now.
This is in line with the topic, because it's hard to find someone honest in the tree trimming business these days, especially an arborist.
I met the owner (of the company I use) 10yrs ago and I've never used anyone else since.

 

[jamespowers]

The first of December, it might be cold enough here, for a 400ft private hedge to lose all it's leaves.
Then I'm going to have it cut down to 4ft all the way down, so I (and the neighbor) can trim it easily.
To cut it, and have it all hauled away, it about $300-400.
That's not bad, considering it's 12ft high now.
This is in line with the topic, because it's hard to find someone honest in the tree trimming business these days, especially an arborist.
I met the owner (of the company I use) 10yrs ago and I've never used anyone else since.

Haul it away!? I would cut all that down myself with my chainsaw and keep the wood for winter. That sounds like a lot of warmth wasted there.
As a side note, thank goodness for local lazy government workers. They cut down a street tree in front of the local high school and left the logs piled up. Me and the GMC did their work for them. That was about two cords of wood.

 

[Zombie_61]

...I understand your school experience. When I was in it, I described it as begrudgingly satisfying a societal requirement until I could get to college and study what I really wanted...

At the time, the only thing I knew about high school was that it bored me. I went through the motions, but for the most part I sat in my various classes thinking, "I already know this. Why am I having to "learn" it all again?" It wasn't until years later when my wife (who had moved from a Chicago suburb to southern California with her family between her sophomore and junior high school years) commented that she'd had the same experience, sitting in several classes thinking, "I learned this in grade school!" That's when I realized high schools in southern California were, with rare exceptions, nothing more than institutions designed to hammer basic information into the students' heads so that they would be able to get a grade on their final exams that was passable enough for them to receive a diploma. :eusa_doh:

On a semi-related note, we both had the same "counselor" in high school, and we both got screwed over by his complete incompetence. In her case, he told her that certain credits she'd earned in Chicago didn't apply here and that she would have to re-take some of her English classes, so she wound up squeezing four years worth of English classes into two years on top of the other required classes. As graduation neared he asked her why she had done that, and when she told him she was following his recommendations he denied it and told her that she wouldn't be able to graduate because she was missing some necessary math credits (because she had taken so many English classes instead). :twitch: In the end he added some sort of "waiver" to her file and she graduated.

In my case, near the end of my junior year he told me, "With your grades you're so far ahead that you can go to a reduced-period day (four daily classes instead of six) next year and still graduate with no problem." Since I hated high school, I followed his recommendation. Then, near the end of the first quarter of my senior year he called me into his office and asked me why I did that. :suspicious: Just as in my wife's case, I told him I had followed his suggestion, which he denied. "I would never have told you that. Even if you went back to a full day and got straight As, you'd still be 26 credits short of graduating." As I got up and started walking towards the door, he said, "Wait, where are you going? We have to schedule your summer school classes so you can make up those missing credits." After delivering some rather crude insults that included more than a few choice words that I won't repeat in polite company, I left the school and got a job. In retrospect, that might not have been the wisest decision, but ultimately it proved you didn't need a high school diploma to get a job in those days. Approximately four years later, my mother told me that my father was disappointed that I hadn't finished school and received my diploma so I took the General Education Development tests. I had such disdain for the "education system" that I didn't even study for them. At the age of 21 I was the oldest person there to take the tests that day, and out of 30 people I was one of five that passed them. It made my father happy, and having a G.E.D. in lieu of a diploma never became an issue as far as employment was concerned.

 

[jamespowers]

At the time, the only thing I knew about high school was that it bored me. I went through the motions, but for the most part I sat in my various classes thinking, "I already know this. Why am I having to "learn" it all again?" It wasn't until years later when my wife (who had moved from a Chicago suburb to southern California with her family between her sophomore and junior high school years) commented that she'd had the same experience, sitting in several classes thinking, "I learned this in grade school!" That's when I realized high schools in southern California were, with rare exceptions, nothing more than institutions designed to hammer basic information into the students' heads so that they would be able to get a grade on their final exams that was passable enough for them to receive a diploma. :eusa_doh:

On a semi-related note, we both had the same "counselor" in high school, and we both got screwed over by his complete incompetence. In her case, he told her that certain credits she'd earned in Chicago didn't apply here and that she would have to re-take some of her English classes, so she wound up squeezing four years worth of English classes into two years on top of the other required classes. As graduation neared he asked her why she had done that, and when she told him she was following his recommendations he denied it and told her that she wouldn't be able to graduate because she was missing some necessary math credits (because she had taken so many English classes instead). :twitch: In the end he added some sort of "waiver" to her file and she graduated.

In my case, near the end of my junior year he told me, "With your grades you're so far ahead that you can go to a reduced-period day (four daily classes instead of six) next year and still graduate with no problem." Since I hated high school, I followed his recommendation. Then, near the end of the first quarter of my senior year he called me into his office and asked me why I did that. :suspicious: Just as in my wife's case, I told him I had followed his suggestion, which he denied. "I would never have told you that. Even if you went back to a full day and got straight As, you'd still be 26 credits short of graduating." As I got up and started walking towards the door, he said, "Wait, where are you going? We have to schedule your summer school classes so you can make up those missing credits." After delivering some rather crude insults that included more than a few choice words that I won't repeat in polite company, I left the school and got a job. In retrospect, that might not have been the wisest decision, but ultimately it proved you didn't need a high school diploma to get a job in those days. Approximately four years later, my mother told me that my father was disappointed that I hadn't finished school and received my diploma so I took the General Education Development tests. I had such disdain for the "education system" that I didn't even study for them. At the age of 21 I was the oldest person there to take the tests that day, and out of 30 people I was one of five that passed them. It made my father happy, and having a G.E.D. in lieu of a diploma never became an issue as far as employment was concerned.

Wow! You had an even worse experience than I did! That ain't easy. I actually did have a reduced schedule last year of high school because I had "work experience." I actually graduated with the opposite problem you did. I had 26 more credits than I needed. My counselor was a moron too though. I never listened to him and I am glad that I didn't from what happened to you. :doh: Fortunately, even then I knew that what I was going through was a joke. My father was concerned that it appeared that I never studied or read a textbook when I was at home but oddly still got decent grades. lol lol A lot had changed since he graduated in 1948.

 

[Zombie_61]

...Fortunately, even then I knew that what I was going through was a joke. My father was concerned that it appeared that I never studied or read a textbook when I was at home but oddly still got decent grades. lol lol...

Aside from the knowledge that I had to endure four years of it, I was so disinterested that I didn't put any further thought into it at the time. I don't recall my parents putting much effort into making sure I was doing my homework; I was able to read the daily newspaper when I was three years old and consistently got good grades, so I don't think they were too concerned. lol

 

[LizzieMaine]

We had what was called "junior-senior privilege" in my high school, which meant you didn't have to be in the building unless you actually had a scheduled class. Most kids used these free periods to frig around downtown, but I figured out a way to load all my classes into the morning my senior year, with nothing but study halls after lunch. And since I had the day free from noon on, I worked full-time in our gas station/fuel oil company office that whole year. Pretty productive deal all around.

 

[jamespowers]

Aside from the knowledge that I had to endure four years of it, I was so disinterested that I didn't put any further thought into it at the time. I don't recall my parents putting much effort into making sure I was doing my homework; I was able to read the daily newspaper when I was three years old and consistently got good grades, so I don't think they were too concerned. lol

My father taught me how to read the newspaper because he got tired of reading me the Sunday comics. My parents pushed hard so I knew I couldn't just get by but during all of my years of study, I came to understand that going to every lecture/class and taking good notes was good enough. The teachers/professors were all such egomaniacs that if it didn't come from them then it was not likely to be on a test. You study your copious notes and you were set.

 

[jamespowers]

We had what was called "junior-senior privilege" in my high school, which meant you didn't have to be in the building unless you actually had a scheduled class. Most kids used these free periods to frig around downtown, but I figured out a way to load all my classes into the morning my senior year, with nothing but study halls after lunch. And since I had the day free from noon on, I worked full-time in our gas station/fuel oil company office that whole year. Pretty productive deal all around.

I had three or four classes my last year of high school so I did just about the same thing. Money was better then sitting there being bored anyway. At least I got paid for being bored on the job.

 

[scottyrocks]

Some college 'advisors' aren't much better.

When I was going for my second Masters at a CUNY school (Queens College), three advisors gave me either conflicting, or no information on what I needed to do to receive the degree in a certain amount of time. As I neared the end of my 'stay' I was told by one of these advisors that I was short credits. After about a second's hesitation, I walked out and didn't finish, as I had the credits I needed to fulfill one of my goals which was good enough at that moment, and, as it turned out, was fine in the long run, as well.

What I have learned over the years is to trust no one completely right off the bat, until they have proven that they know what they are talking about. And then I'm still leery.

 

[Zombie_61]

...What I have learned over the years is to trust no one completely right off the bat, until they have proven that they know what they are talking about. And then I'm still leery.

Amen to that!

 

[jamespowers]

Amen to that!

I second that!

 

[vintageTink]

Haul it away!? I would cut all that down myself with my chainsaw and keep the wood for winter. That sounds like a lot of warmth wasted there.
As a side note, thank goodness for local lazy government workers. They cut down a street tree in front of the local high school and left the logs piled up. Me and the GMC did their work for them. That was about two cords of wood.

Good on ya!
We're going to look into a private Christian school here.

 

[jamespowers]

Good on ya!
We're going to look into a private Christian school here.

I have a booklet that the local Catholic schools put out showing all the schools that are available and where. They should have something like that for other denominations as well. That book is a great resource for me.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

My Son went to ICA (Indiana Christian Academy) from Kindergarten throughout HighSchool taking summer college courses from Sophomore year on. He is nineteen now with one more year of college. Great education.
HD

 

[puffMe]

I'd say that teachers should be given more privelage in disciplining their students. Like in bullying for example, all of them know that bullying exist but they can't make a move because their privelages were little enough that the student will still continue their bad habits.

 

[jamespowers]

My Son went to ICA (Indiana Christian Academy) from Kindergarten throughout HighSchool taking summer college courses from Sophomore year on. He is nineteen now with one more year of college. Great education.
HD

Good Dad!