Ed, We have some of those “tunnel vision” railroaders also. But the old heads of the WW2 generation saw alot more of the world than they wanted to. Several old engineers were at Normandy; one fellow was trapped behind German lines in the Bulge with his tank crew, and one fellow was left to share a small Pacific island with the Japanese for two years before they fled from the Marines. That guy was creepy; you could be having a conversation with some guys and all the sudden, you realized he was standing there. The point is, some of the old heads were of a philosophical bent. Maybe the young bucks of today are less prone to think.
Jenny, Some years ago, a listener sent a copy of a test given to 8th grade students for graduation to a radio program. The test was from the 1890’s in Iowa. It’s a crime what the Education Industry has done to the nation’s youth. Each generation is less educated than the one preceeding. I think it is quite intentional.
I bet the did see more than most, that was my dad generation also. But the guys I was referring to started around the 50s or 60s, as kids. I didnt mean to imply they were or are un educated, most are pretty smart, and you have to have a lot of common sense to do this for a living, no matter how easy it looks. But most of them came railroading right out of highschool, and why not? The money was good for the times, you didnt need a college education, and after a while, they didnt want to do anything else anyway. But like I said, almost everyone here who has kids have sent them to clooege, they dont want their kids doing this as a livelyhood. But after working with the same group of guys year after year, and sitting in a locomotive for hours on end, you kinda get in each others pocket, so to speak, and you start to let your hair down. After all, you end up spending more time with these people than anyone else, so who else are you going to talk to?
Stay Frosty, Ed
Ok, either this silly machine has to learn to write what I meant, or maby I need to get some schooling myself. Then again, maby sleep would help…
I heard that “test” on the radio, also. It was not all that easy either! But I am intrigued by your last statement. Care to elaborate? I do agree with what the Education Industry has done to our education system, but would be interested in hearing about the intentional part…
Kinda wondering myself. I dont know if its intentional or not, but I suppose that when school district’s budgets got to the hundred of millions of dollars mark, it became more of a business than a school, or a educational system.
I know here the HISD no longer offers a education, it offers to prep kids for the SATs. Teachers can’t teach the course, just to impart the knowledge, they have to teach to the test, and are required by the school board to have a certain percent of their students pass a pre- test. They no longer teach all of the applied math course, they teach only the parts of the course thats appear on the SATs. Its become a numbers game. School boards no longer take pride is showing how many kids the graduated that went on to college, they now point to how many kids they “cliff noted” into passing the test. And of course, the federal funds they receive are, in part, based on what percent of their students pass the SATs, or whatever test your school district uses, so giving students a well rounded education is not a priority, getting them to cram for the test is. Thats why courses like wood shop, metal shop, auto mechanics, almost all of your art courses and music courses are gone. They no longer care about teaching your kids how to survive in the real world by giving them the skills they needs, or teaching them a trade they can use, they focus on keeping their numbers up, so they can apply for more Federal funds. We just passed a 450 million bond issue here…450 million? I remember 30 plus years ago, when I was in school, the big debate was weather 10 million was an excessive budget for the entire HISD. And they want another 450 million in two years…When you get to that kinda money, teaching is no longer a priority, numbers are.
My 16 year old daughter can do algebra problems, but she never memorized her multiplication tables, and can’t do simple division or addition and subtraction on a sheet of paper, she has to have the calculator they use in class to add up more than five numbers. An
When I was managing a restaurant - I had to “teach” every one of my employees how to make change! They couldn’t count back change (2nd grade)- they depended on the register to tell them how much. (what if there was a power failure or they entered the wrong amounts?) And I won’t even go into their spelling/grammer skills - (we hired mostly college-age men and women.)
You know, I noticed that they no longer teach employees to count back change. But that was the first thing I was taught at my first job, and its so easy. And yeah, I remember 2nd or 3rd grade playing with monopoly money and a toy cash register. My kids would have no idea what we were talking about.
Sad, huh.
Ed
Jen, I think it’s probably several different groups pulling for different reasons but having the same result. The teacher’s unions are for the “children”, but actually are for job security and featherbedding their own nests. Look at the reading fiasco; phonetics has been teaching chidren to read for millenia, but our wise Educrats , who know better than we, declared “see and know” the way to go. You and I use S&E; I don’t have to sound out many words, because I know them. That wasn’t the case when I was in the first grade. The result is several generations of students who can’t read the newspaper. The Ed. guys at the heights want more money for their empires. Er, scratch that. For their “children”. Politicians use ed money for buying votes; for showing their sheep that they “care”. It’s funny. The black politicians scream about that symbol of evil, the Confederate battle flag, but have no problem with the millions of black (and white) chidren who can’t fill a job application out after 12 years in the gov’t schools. Then there are some who think, and I agree, that the dumbing down of the US population has a much more sinister cause. It’s very simple…undereducated people are easier to lead. The US system really kicks in when a kid scores high on the SAT’s. They are invited to the ivy leagues. If a young person can demonstrate high intellect, he’s invited to enter the upper levels of our society, where he is groomed to help rule us. I’d better stop now; I’m getting out of hand!
This is one seriously off topic thread, there are hundreds of political discussion boards on the web, why use up space on this server discussing this here. I mean, political discussions are relevant when discussing topics such as AMTRAK funding and the like, but this is a RAILROAD relate forum…
I agree, Jon. They should all be ashamed of themselves!
Yeah, how dare we have an open discussion about politics, mom, apple pie and all that, especialy here in america.
Yeah, how dare we have an open discussion about politics, mom, apple pie and all that, especialy here in america.
Whatever happened to freedom of speech??
Sushhhh, the forum police are listening…
Yeah! Maybe we should get back to the original point of this thread. Can railroads save America?
I believe railroads have the power and will to bring the country together. Railroads will pull America together. Railroads are the most patriotic transport organizations in the U.S. You saw UP put American flags on their locomotives but you didn’t see that as a special on any automobiles. That is because RAILROADS, not autos, built America’s economy. Take away railroad, destroy America. The automobile is causing extended pollution levels in America while railroads put out the least pollution overall. Eventually, the bad areas of transport will outweigh the good and railroads will once again reign. The government right now is very dumd in their decision to begin the demise of railroads by what they almost did to Amtrak. Eventually they will realise that railroads are part of America. As long as there are people like us out there, then railroads will exist. You don’t see as many auto preservations because they aren’t as much a part of America as railroads. It’s in the blood. People will eventually forget about cars and those like us will continue the preservation of the railroads.
LONG LIVE THE IRON ROAD!
The problem with common sense is that it’s not common.
G.Setter
the more I live, the more I am seeing that! What a great loss to all of us!!!
Seeing how so many college profs and “Educators” are anti-american anymore, they probably would have talked you out of your good feelings. But you’d probable hate being a miserable sourpuss about life as most of them are. You’re better off without 'em - Just about anyone can educate themselves, as you seem to have done. We are more honest that way.
OH! my wife came up with a great definition, which completely shut down a stuffy elitist professor - a definition of an “Intellectual”.
“An intellectual is someone who has been educated beyond their intelligence!”
Be cool
RmC