Public School Education System Thread

[GloryofGreece]

STA got a link to backup your claim about literacy in 1850 America? Very curious about that and had heard something similar. Never a source though. I know there were a ton of newspapers and salons/cafes etc. and penny novels and serial series etc.thanks.

[Speaker to Animals]

STA got a link to backup your claim about literacy in 1850 America? Very curious about that and had heard something similar. Never a source though. I know there were a ton of newspapers and salons/cafes etc. and penny novels and serial series etc.thanks.

Well Common Sense is now college-level reading material, and it was originally written for the unwashed masses.

http://freakonomics.com/2011/09/01/were ... ans-today/

I think it also depends upon how you define literacy. If you define it as just being able to read basic English sentences (like on signs and so forth), then literacy rates have been steadily climbing since the advent of government schools (but not like because of them). If, on the other hand, you define it as a level of sophistication in reading and using the English language, we have plummeted. It's getting worse each generation, and the more Americans we trap in the government school systems, the worse it will get.

Proponents of government schools are very likely to point to the former definition of literacy as a success story, while ignoring the fact that reading comprehension levels have declined dramatically since the 19th century.

This passage was written for the most common laborer in America. It was written for the kind of guy that worked on the docks in Boston.

As a long and violent abuse of power, is generally the Means of calling the right of it in question (and in Matters too which might never have been thought of, had not the Sufferers been aggravated into the inquiry) and as the King of England hath undertaken in his Own Right, to support the Parliament in what he calls Theirs, and as the good people of this country are grievously oppressed by the combination, they have an undoubted privilege to inquire into the pretensions of both, and equally to reject the usurpations of either.

The laying of a Country desolate with Fire and Sword, declaring War against the natural rights of all Mankind, and extirpating the Defenders thereof from the Face of the Earth, is the Concern of every Man to whom Nature hath given the Power of feeling; of which Class, regardless of Party Censure, is The Author.

Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one; for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries By a Government, which we might expect in a country Without Government, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer.

Even if the man was unable to read that in print, you could read it to him and he would understand it perfectly well.

[Speaker to Animals]

It really comes down to the subtle gotcha inherent in all liberal policies. They increase the overall access to some good, but greatly diminish the attainment thereof. Most Americans today are semi-literate, but a smaller percentage of Americans can read something like a philosophy book and comprehend what was written.

Before government schools, the number of Americans who could read at all was smaller in percentage of the total population, but those who could read read at what we now would consider a college-level. Nowadays, while most Americans can read a sign or a product packaging, not as many Americans can easily read at a level that most literate Americans used to read.

If you look at the government schools you will see why. They pack classrooms with kids from ghettos to meet diversity requirements. This retards the entire classroom and sabotages kids who came from decent families that could not afford to preserve their children from the cancer of government schools. Because the government schools only care about stats so that they can continue to get raises and bonus checks, they pass kids who should not be passed. They cover-up criminal activity by delinquents.

A government school's primary focus is on the income and benefits to teachers and administrators. Just like every other bureaucracy.

[The Conservative]

Literacy is either: basic reading /writing or the other term is basic comprehension of a subject.

[MilSpecs]

If you look at the government schools you will see why. They pack classrooms with kids from ghettos to meet diversity requirements. This retards the entire classroom and sabotages kids who came from decent families that could not afford to preserve their children from the cancer of government schools.

Not remotely true. Every state is different as to which kids attend which schools. You have to live within the boundaries of a district in my state to attend that district's school, with some exceptions (some districts open a few slots to tuition-paying students if they have the room). This is common in many states.

So tell me, where in Appalachia are they finding enough black kids to pack your schools?

[Fife]

Not remotely true. Every state is different as to which kids attend which schools.

As it stands now, thanks to -- what is that, again -- ? :

Every (50/50) state is *not* different as to compulsory attendance to school.

Every (50/50) state is *not* different as to compulsory payment of tax to fund school.

What if Pennsylvania decided she did not need your (or Washington City's) two cents of input on how to compel schooling inside her borders?

[Okeefenokee]

So tell me, where in Appalachia are they finding enough black kids to pack your schools?

Did this bitch just say that?

2010 Census Shows Black Population has Highest Concentration in the South

Compared with 2000, the percentage of the black alone-or-in-combination population increased in the South, stayed about the same in the West, and decreased in the Northeast and the Midwest. Of all respondents who reported black in 2010, 55 percent lived in the South, 18 percent in the Midwest, 17 percent in the Northeast and 10 percent in the West.

The percentage of the black alone population also increased in the South, from 55 percent in 2000 to 57 percent in 2010, whereas it decreased in the Northeast and the Midwest. The black alone-or-in-combination population comprised 50 percent or more of the total population in 106 counties. All these counties were in the South except for the city of St. Louis, which is considered a county equivalent. In contrast, 62 percent of all counties had less than 5 percent of the population identified as black. These patterns were similar for the black alone population.

Concentrations of blacks outside of the South tended to be in counties within metropolitan areas. There were 317 counties where the black alone-or-in-combination population was 25.0 to 49.9 percent of the population, and only 17 of these counties were not in the South. Of these 17, 15 were in metropolitan areas.

https://www.census.gov/newsroom/release ... cn185.html

[MilSpecs]

Not remotely true. Every state is different as to which kids attend which schools.

As it stands now, thanks to -- what is that, again -- ? :

Every (50/50) state is *not* different as to compulsory attendance to school.

Every (50/50) state is *not* different as to compulsory payment of tax to fund school.

What if Pennsylvania decided she did not need your (or Washington City's) two cents of input on how to compel schooling inside her borders?

Nothing whatsoever to do with the false statement I addressed.

[TheReal_ND]

Imagine not knowing about the black belt. Just sit back and imagine that for a second.

[katarn]

STA got a link to backup your claim about literacy in 1850 America? Very curious about that and had heard something similar. Never a source though. I know there were a ton of newspapers and salons/cafes etc. and penny novels and serial series etc.thanks.

Well Common Sense is now college-level reading material, and it was originally written for the unwashed masses.

http://freakonomics.com/2011/09/01/were ... ans-today/

I think it also depends upon how you define literacy. If you define it as just being able to read basic English sentences (like on signs and so forth), then literacy rates have been steadily climbing since the advent of government schools (but not like because of them). If, on the other hand, you define it as a level of sophistication in reading and using the English language, we have plummeted. It's getting worse each generation, and the more Americans we trap in the government school systems, the worse it will get.

Proponents of government schools are very likely to point to the former definition of literacy as a success story, while ignoring the fact that reading comprehension levels have declined dramatically since the 19th century.

This passage was written for the most common laborer in America. It was written for the kind of guy that worked on the docks in Boston.

As a long and violent abuse of power, is generally the Means of calling the right of it in question (and in Matters too which might never have been thought of, had not the Sufferers been aggravated into the inquiry) and as the King of England hath undertaken in his Own Right, to support the Parliament in what he calls Theirs, and as the good people of this country are grievously oppressed by the combination, they have an undoubted privilege to inquire into the pretensions of both, and equally to reject the usurpations of either.

The laying of a Country desolate with Fire and Sword, declaring War against the natural rights of all Mankind, and extirpating the Defenders thereof from the Face of the Earth, is the Concern of every Man to whom Nature hath given the Power of feeling; of which Class, regardless of Party Censure, is The Author.

Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one; for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries By a Government, which we might expect in a country Without Government, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer.

Even if the man was unable to read that in print, you could read it to him and he would understand it perfectly well.

I have to agree with your idea that we aren't in great shape at the moment, but when referring to old passages it is relevant to account for linguistic drift. Sure, there's a difference between the written and spoken word in all times, but part of the reason a lot of bright kids would have a hard time with that passage and others like it is just because they aren't used to the syntax and grammar used, since that sort of writing isn't what they see in life. And no, writing doesn't have to sound like it's from the 1700s to be intellectual and deep, even if we all tend to like it better that way.