Messages

At least your school gets the grant money, our school superattendant hides it all somewhere.

Then do something about it.. People have kicked our superintendants out of office at board meetings at my old school. They had dumb reasons like, "A woman can't run a school," but if you have anything legitimate to base that on act on it.

No chile left behind was Bush's national program, its everywhere.

And in addition, he underfunded his own program to send more money to Iraq.

Another thing I hate is that, at my school, anytime we got huge grants they spent it on athletics and never on improving the education system.

There aren't as many problems with the University system, which is great for the kids who are able to secure scholarships and make it through. Although some would still disagree.

My point is that the style is irrelevant.

How often have you made it all the way through the textbook in a class? What about halfway?

They're just passing people through..

Have you ever been encouraged to start your own business or work for yourself? They always told me, "You're really smart, you're going to get a good job one day." Don't ask, just do. Don't question, respect your elders. We're smarter because we're older.

It sounds like muscles cramping up to me, a product of the aging human body, I'm afraid.

Yeah, if she weren't only 18 years old.

This has already been well explained above.

I think, in my case, the school system was to blame.

At the school I went to you were encouraged strongly to participate in sports or some kind of social group. Those who didn't were considered loners and were alienated in a way. Even when you did try to play a sport, you had to deal with all of the BS that the asshole jocks would put out. Yes, most of them were assholes, with a few exceptions. Joining a social group wouldn't be so bad if there were more than 3 of them, and they weren't only for home-makers, agriculture, and religion. I was on the academic team, and in the final year I was one of only 3 members to ever show up for meets. I answered 95% of the questions, with 70% (of those I answered) correct. The other two people always sat and griped about the topics I chose (I was the captain) or claimed to have known the answers to the ones which I answered incorrectly. They were there to bitch and pretend to be smart. I can't remember a time when there were more than 1 or 2 people on the academic team who belonged there.

Furthermore, if you were of above average intelligence you had nowhere special to go. The special kids were the ones who were of below or far below average intelligence and they had a special class and teacher where they recieved all of their answers so that they'd never have to work in school.

Aside from that, no one was really encouraged to do well. The system was set up to pass people through, not to challenge them in any way. I passed with A's until I realized just what a waste of time most of the coursework was, and then I passed with A's and B's without studying or doing any work outside of class (and still had time for naps during class). It was just repetitive BS from the years before.

When I took the ACT (college proficiency test, scores range 1-35) in the eighth grade I made an 18, which was the minimum requirement to get into a local junior college. When I was a senior I made a 25 (28 reading, 28 grammar, 27 math, 21 science) and it was the highest my school had seen in years. The class average (of those who took it) was 16. The reason my science score was so low was because we lost the only good science teacher before I got into chemistry and there was a coach teaching it. We repeated the same two chapters for the first semester and in the second we got a former cheerleader who'd just graduated. I think that situation is pretty easy to decipher.

The highest math class I was able to take was Trigonometry. I took Algebra in the eighth grade, Algebra II in the ninth, Geometry in the tenth grade (Calculus was offered that year but I hadn't yet had Trig so was advised to go back to an easier course - no harder were offered besides Calculus). In the eleventh grade neither Trig nor Calculus were offered so I had to take the only math class offered that I hadn't already taken; Statistics. In the final (12th, senior) grade I was finally able to take Trigonometry.

The "Honors" classes we had were designated "AP" or Advanced Placement. Those classes were sometimes easier than the normal classes due to teacher incompetence or inattendance. Another factor was letting people "slide through." People that teachers and counselors were fond of were put in the advanced classes just to help them look better and then they'd be given allowances by letting them get good grades on bad papers.

During the entirety of my school years I was labelled as one of the smartest along with a few others, and voted "Most likely to succeed." However, I was mocked and taunted by my peers because they couldn't relate to someone who wasn't a backwoods hick and the only logical thing to do to those people is to mock them. Harsh, but true.

So, before you go screaming "Bullshit" think about the above. My school was a small school, and there are thousands that are probably just like it with minor variations. The systems are set up to pass people through because they don't want to learn and it'd look bad to have an 80% failure rate. The people who do want to learn are forced to tag along because there is no one who will help them advance.

During my senior year I was a teacher's aide. The teacher that I helped once commented to me, "You know, it's sad, but people who didn't want to learn used to just stop at the eighth grade. Now that they are forced to go through the rest of the years and we are forced to pass them." He had a Masters degree and was paid less than $30k (US) a year. You could make that as a common day laborer or secretary.

Can you really say with a straight face that there is no problem with the education system? This is in Oklahoma and it varies from state to state, but in general there is still a national crisis in education.

Perhaps the solution is to make the minimum age 16 a mandatory requirement to post here, but I don't want to do that because age does not reflect maturity that well.

I hope you don't, because the latter is so true.

Plus it's very easy to lie anyway.

I have a free will, but look at it through my eyes. Im from Boston, I moved to the mountains of north carolina. There is still confedderate flags everywhere in this town. I have lived here 6 years, The kids that where racist in elementry school still are in highschool. Nothing changed around here.

Yes, so naturally this idealism you adapt applies to the whole world because you are in a shithole? You should be telling me you know better because you're from Boston.

I grew up in Porum, Oklahoma. Don't think I didn't see confederate flags flying in front of a trailer house. When I was a baby and my parents moved into that town there was a cross burning on the front lawn of a black family who'd just moved there. When the first black teacher came she was disrespected almost worse than any other teacher that was there. Yet somehow, I grew up in this place never knowing anything else, and I'm not a racist. Imagine that. Common sense and a willingness to be different and unaccepted prevailed.

Whatever happens, I want fewer rat-tail mullets on the Jedi knights. WTF does the Jedi flag look like? I don't know because I'm also not a die-hard fan, but here's my guess:

Why rebel when its all you know?

Uh, so you're not familiar with the concept of teenagers rebelling? Logic and reasoning make people rebel. Sometimes the logic and reasoning isn't so good, but it happens. Also, hate or disagreement make people rebel. For instance, I disagree with my mothers racism. I rebelled by openly and honestly disagreeing with her any time she brought that up, despite the constant, "Respect your mother, no matter what," BS.

It's not all anyone knows. At some point they're going to be presented with an opposing view, you can't say racists never ever hear anyone say that racism is wrong and why. Are you really so naive to think humans have no free will whatsoever? Honestly, I could see coming to that conclusion with the state of America today, but you should know better.

So, what else do you have that you think invalidates free will?

Children are modelled after their parents, If there parents are rascist so they are so technicly it is ingrained at birth. The earliest humans knew how to kill, thats not evolution, its instinct.

No, technically it would be a learned trait, and at birth you are completely ignorant of racism for (what should be) obvious reasons. Also, do you consider that some children rebel? What about the children who know better than believe everything their parents tell them?

You cannot challenge something that cannot be seen.
We have been into space, the ocean, yet we cannot begin to pry into the human mind. Only then can one comprehend the untouchable.

Yet you think you understand it, above us mere mortals.

Racism isn't ingrained in our minds at birth and it shouldn't be tolerated just because there will always be racists. I have news for you; there will also always be murderers, rapists, and thieves, and your broken philosophy doesn't make that any less a travesty.

I remember your nickname, but nothing else.

Good luck in your endeavors.

who needs sportspeople doing some sporty stuff?

This is really OT, haha, but not me. I feel the effects of athletes are short term and of little or no importance to humankind, while the work of teachers, inventors, theorists, engineers, and industrialists etc. builds the world and secures the future. Athletes are merely for entertainment. Entertainment is great, but unnecessary really.

Just as an anal point. Those who claim they can play just as well with a pick as without either have an extremely limited playing style or don't know the difference between picking methods and finger methods.

Yep.. when you learn to pick with your whole hand so many possiblilities open up. For example, try to play both rhythm and lead with a pick. Good luck. I can do it, but it's very limited.

The downside to picking with all of your fingers (not in the standard strum style, but really utilizing all of your fingers) is that it is very hard and I can't do it.

I wonder why they would choose Athens over Olympia, the birthplace of the Olympics.. I mean, since it's in Greece, why not?

What is the controversy exactly? I haven't heard anything about it.

If you have problems keeping the pick in your hand, you're probably not holding it right.. or maybe you need those with the grips.

man why can't they have the Olympics like they used to be
(Just a Joke )

Spoiler

naked

[close]

So who'd like to go to a sporting event where everyone is naked and no women are allowed? It doesn't get any less homophobic than that!

I don't get jealous over people of the opposite sex, but I do get jealous over various guitar-related issues...
stupid foot pedal breaking warranty not covering powerful foot stomping down too hard then my friend gets a $500 effects box...

If it helps, his $500 effects box will be worth $100 next year (if he can find someone to buy it) and $10 the year after (provided it is what I think it is - one of those DSP pieces).

It was a long time ago. I think I was in the eighth grade.. which would be about 1999, but it's hard to be sure. Anyway, I was browsing game links at thefreesite.com, and found dosgames.com. Dosgames.com had a link to AGS, which I found and played around with briefly. Some time later (unsure of how long) I found the forum and at the time posted as Trouble1201. Mostly I've just hung around and played other people's games, though I've made some small twerpy test games from time to time. When I found it I had big plans, that fell through.