Thank you Marc, I think about him and his teachings very frequently... There are not many teachers/professors that I can say that about.

All that being said I have a question. In terms of education what should the public at large be paying for, regardless of the level of education?

For those that are interested what policies do you propose or advocate to advance "higher learning", i.e., university, college, trade schools, etc.

"There are not many teachers/professors that I can say that about." All too true for most of us, Steve.

Personally, I feel that the public at large should be responsible for a quality pre-school to high school education for all.

"Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance and order and rhythm and harmony." Thomas Merton

Thank you Marc for your comments.

That is why, contrary to many Western views, I do not believe in happiness as a pursuit. Happiness is an excited state, one that is fleeting. Happiness is IMO equivalent to joy, which is also fleeting. They are both definitely desirable, but they are unsustainable (physics always tends toward a sate of equilibrium).

Contentment is what I seek and thus far have failed miserably to achieve. There are moments when I feel content, but with this over saturated "happiness" machine that we all live in, it is hard to maintain. Living in this modern environment and remaining content takes extreme effort, concentration and mediation. I am not there yet. Sometimes I think the only answer is to go totally off grid, sometimes due to my depression, I think **** it.

I am not quite there yet, I continue to struggle for myself and my family as I know ending my suffering increases theirs. So I struggle on.

So what does this have to do with education?!! A lot! Especially in grade and high school and now with "social" media it makes it worse. These kinds of issues develop over time and
become exacerbated with social media. I know this sounds harsh but I wish Mark Zuckerberg was never born. Facebook is a pariah as is basically all social networking online.

I know many others will disagree, but the world was a better place before "online social networking"

I gotta disagree you on the Facebook thing. As a fifty something Canadian man, I find FB is a great way to stay connected to friends and family, not to mention advertise gigs, without all the social bullying that the younger generation may have to deal with. For me, it's almost the perfect means of communication, as little or as much as I want, with whomever I prefer. Outlawing Facebook would be like outlawing the telephone. I guess your mileage with FB may vary.

I tend to agree with you on Facebook. I don't find it distressing but rather terribly frivolous. It is somewhat useful for staying in touch with people who have similar interests, but otherwise I tend to avoid it altogether.

I am not in no way suggesting the elimination of Facebook. It is here and so shall it stay as long as people continue to use it.... It is a matter of yin and yang.. Some people use it benevolently, others use it to attack other people, suicides have been committed becuase of Facebook. This is without doubt, it is factual and has been well documented in the media and the law.

For people who use Facebook benevolently no problem , but there are tons of others who use it to post hate and venom, it would not be so bad, if it were a site like ehMac where there are very few watching and paying attention, But not on Facebook, their are millions upon million paying attention. ISIIS used Facebook to recruit supporters, time and time again. How is that a good thing?

So like most things Facebook could be used for good or for bad. But if it didn't exist in the first place we would not be be having this discussion.

I think that all Zuckerberg wanted was to be the first to create something like this and make millions and billions by doing so. I don't think it even crossed his childish brain how his development could adversely affect the world, and even if it did he said to himself "**** it, I don't care".

I think all Zuckerberg was interested in was a cheap way to check out all the babes on campus. He had no idea it would take off so well and be used for grandparents to see pics of their grandkids.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I appreciate the witty reply. But all you have to do is look at his wife and if what you say were true, at least physically, he could done much better. Plus he married her only once he was a billionaire, So I don't think your argument holds much water.

He is an egotist and always has been one. He does not care one way or the how Facebook is used, just so long as the dollars keep rolling in... He has no ethics, no morality or common decency. I don't know if you watch the "Black List" but he should be on it. I think when he started he was benevolent, but since the ugly **** that has occurred to his creation hs does not give a rat's ass.... " that is not me it is just how people choose to use it".

Sounds like a gun manufacturer doesn't it. F**K that the guy is no dummy (or maybe he is).

If he, had any sense at all he could have imagined how his creation could be used for evil.

But like I said, it didn't even cross his mind and didn't care, all he wanted was the dollars and the self glorification, which he received in spades. Why? because lots of folks will use it simply to contact others, which I do not understand because e-mail and texting already exists. His intentions were far from altruistic, all he wanted was to be the first and make a lot money from from it. Period. He achieved that and the world still suffers from it to this day.

I don't know if any of you here watch "The Blacklist", but Zuckerberg would be on mine.

I appreciate the witty reply. But all you have to do is look at his wife and if what you say were true, at least physically, he could done much better. Plus he married her only once he was a billionaire, So I don't think your argument holds much water.

He is an egotist and always has been one. He does not care one way or the how Facebook is used, just so long as the dollars keep rolling in... He has no ethics, no morality or common decency. I don't know if you watch the "Black List" but he should be on it. I think when he started he was benevolent, but since the ugly **** that has occurred to his creation hs does not give a rat's ass.... " that is not me it is just how people choose to use it".

Sounds like a gun manufacturer doesn't it. F**K that the guy is no dummy (or maybe he is).

If he had any sense at all he could have imagined how his creation could be used for evil.

But like I said before, it didn't even cross his mind and didn't care, all he wanted was the dollars and the self glorification, which he received in spades. Why? because lots of folks will use it simply to contact others, which I do not understand because e-mail and texting already exists. His intentions were far from altruistic, all he wanted was to be the first and make a lot money from from it. Period. He achieved that and the world still suffers from it to this day.

I don't know if any of you here watch "The Blacklist", but Zuckerberg would be on mine. It is a great show well worth watching.

Nice - the final question posed was worth the wait.

Betsy DeVos faces absolutely stunning 'silent' protest at Harvard

While Trump’s swamp-addled Education Secretary Betsy DeVos tried to speak at Harvard University to sell her special privatization of public school branding “school choice,” she found herself the subject of an incredibly powerful and well orchestrated “silent” protest. Silently standing up as the DeVos speech got under way was one young woman, holding up a sheet with “White Supremacist” emblazoned in red on it. Then another young man stood up silently with a sign reading “Our Students Are Not 4 Sale!” As security tried move protestors along by speaking to them, more and more students unfurled signs saying “Protect Survivors’ Rights,” “Our Harvard Can Do Better,” “Reclaiming My Democracy,” and “Dark Money,”...

* * *

...during a question and answer section one student asked one of those questions you wish a senator or a reporter might ask.

Student: So, You’re a billionaire with lots and lots of investments, and the so-called “school choice” movement is a way to open the floodgates for corporate interests to make money off the backs of students. How much do you expect your net worth to increase as a result of your policy choices and what are your friends on Wall Street and in the business world—like the Koch brothers—saying about the potential to get rich off the backs of students?

(DailyKOS)

I think of Facebook much like I think of the telephone; it's a tool, and can be used for great good, depending on who's using it. My perception of it is certainly positive for the most part. It's better than e-mail or texting because you can broadcast to a large audience all at once. Mind you, I haven't experienced Facebook bullying, so there's that. I imagine there are thousands of potentials avenues for misuse of social media, including this here little forum at times.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I guess that is the problem for me. I like my privacy and do not need the whole world to know my business. Using e-mail you can easily create distribution lists that can go out out to even thousands of recipients, the rest of world is excluded.

I don't need Joe Blow to know that I had bowel surgery a day ago and I would rather Joe Blow didn't know.

The other thing that I hate about Facebook is "friend" requests from people who I don't even know, they come in by the hundreds. It seems like there is some internal game or race on Facebook to see who has the most "friends", I also find that distasteful and an intrusion on my privacy. The only reason they can contact me is because I have a Facebook account (which is only used in a very limited manner by myself, maybe 3 -4 posts a year), so it amount's to SPAM. I didn't ask for them to contact me but yet they do in the hundreds over a year. IMO Facebook has become a free for all of unwanted unsolicited e-mails, notifications and solicitations. The only reason why I maintain my account is because in order to reply to some sites you have to have an account... I wonder what that is all about, not really I know.

I guess we each use it for very different reasons then. To each their own.

I am not a fan of the whole "social" stuff that seems to be everywhere these days. No Facebook, no twitter, none of it. I recently bought a fitbit watch to keep track of exercise and was shocked to start getting emails from people I know asking to be friends on the fitbit social network. I looked through and found a privacy setting and turned it on. I still go emails about adding friends and I inquired about this to fitbit and was told you cannot turn off the social and that I could not make my account completely invisible.

Social media has people down in their phones everywhere. Sitting in a restaurant and everyone is looking down at their phones rather then being social with real live people in the moment. It seems there is something addictive to it, not sure what it is but rarely do I see someone walking down the street who does not have their phone up. Even concerts, rather then enjoy and be in that moment people are trying to capture it on their phone. Personally I think it is sad. Social media is not for me, though I am sure it has some good parts if used well, I would take a guess and say most do not.

The Education Thread
 

The irony is that you just used social media—the ehMac forum site—to communicate this message. Perhaps it is some particular forms of social media you dislike while embracing others.

This wheel shows some of the thousands of social media avenues available to people today. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...411731aae0.jpg

http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/social-media

The difference being ehmac.ca does not go out and try and find my friends and connect them to me here. I had a fake Facebook account, curious how it operated. I did not use it to add friends or communicate in anyway, it was simply curiosity. Using fake information Facebook quickly tried to connect me with people I may know. Not sure how I may know them or why they all seemed to be of Ethiopian heritage (location was set in Ontario, small rural town).

Again using fitbit as the example, it tries to connect people with others who may know them and it seems I have no option to remain private in that regard. I generally use forums as a tool for gathering information or help with an issue. My privacy is again up to me on how much I want to divulge. So yes, I suppose I am not completely against social media.

I think I see what you're saying. Some forms of social media can certainly be more insidious and obtrusive than others.

I watched the video, and this is not what it was billed to be. More quality journalism from someone who critiques other ehmacer's questionable preferred links.

And then the crowd started chanting, "That's what white supremacy looks like." Really made their point. People who disagree with the protesters are white supremacists. Don't think about her statements because...?

The silent protest was, at least, better than the non-silent version.

Please explain. The protest was silent for the duration of her speech for the most part (there was one vocal remark made when DeVos asked a rhetorical question) until the Q&A session began. Unless I'm mistaken, the linked clip was not the entirety of DeVos' remarks.

I'm not tuned into all the issues surrounding DeVos, so I don't know the basis for the white supremacy dig. But that was one sign... there were many others that protested, for example, DeVos' rollback of protections for victims of rape and her funding (1/4 of a $Billion) to expand charter schools. Picking out one sign out of many is also an exhibition of bias, Beej.

And since we're on the topic of DeVos' efforts to decimate public schooling in favour of a market system in which the rich can build great schools for their kids (and their kids alone) and the poor folk will - I dunno, hold reading, riting and rithmatick classes under an overpass somewhere, the results of DeVos favoured path to edumakashun ain't all roses:

For-Profit Schools Get State Dollars For Dropouts Who Rarely Drop In

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Last school year, Ohio’s cash-strapped education department paid Capital High $1.4 million in taxpayer dollars to teach students on the verge of dropping out. But on a Thursday in May, students’ workstations in the storefront charter school run by for-profit EdisonLearning resembled place settings for a dinner party where most guests never arrived.

In one room, empty chairs faced 25 blank computer monitors. Just three students sat in a science lab down the hall, and nine more in an unlit classroom, including one youth who sprawled out, head down, sleeping.

Only three of the more than 170 students on Capital’s rolls attended class the required five hours that day, records obtained by ProPublica show. Almost two-thirds of the school’s students never showed up; others left early. Nearly a third of the roster failed to attend class all week.

Some stay away even longer. ProPublica reviewed 38 days of Capital High’s records from late March to late May and found six students skipped 22 or more days straight with no excused absences. Two were gone the entire 38-day period. Under state rules, Capital should have unenrolled them after 21 consecutive unexcused absences.

Though the school is largely funded on a per-student basis, the no-shows didn’t hurt the school’s revenue stream. Capital billed and received payment from the state for teaching the equivalent of 171 students full time in May.

U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has championed charters and for-profit education, contending in congressional testimony that school choice can lower absenteeism and dropout rates. But at schools like Capital, a ProPublica-USA Today investigation found, the drop-outs rarely drop in — and if they do, they don’t stay long.

(ProPublica)

Every school gets dollars for students who don't show up!

Cute, flippant remark.

Now try reading the article in depth, and comment on the actual issues at hand.

That was the issue YOU selected by picking an article titled:

For my part, putting DeVos in charge of public education is like giving Jack the Ripper an Avon route.

Sad, but all too true, Rp. Paix, mon ami.

No-calculator math test reveals weak mental math among Alberta students

So, coupla observations.

1) "Boom". Ain't rocket surgery, Davey-boy. Take away the requirement in the curriculum for memorizing times tables & mental math is going to take a hit. Didn't need to throw 15 mins of mental math into 6th grade PAT's (and all the costs associated with it) to figger that one out, Captain Obvious. All you had to do was ask a few math teachers. You know, the ones who are actually in the trenches & not driving a desk in Emonchuk? Now you think yer some kinda hero? Leave it to a Prog...

2) Good news is that many teachers (not limited to but including my lovely bride) continued to teach the memorization of times tables despite the fact that they were pulled from the curriculum. Curious, her school almost always tests above the provincial average in math. You go, babe.

At least Jethro Bodine knew ciphering.

The Education Thread
 

Just so we're clear, it was not Eggen's people that took away the timestable learning part of the curriculum; you can thank your PC government of the previous 44 years for that. Why do you think the NDP feel it's time to rewrite the curriculum? With a ton of teachers at the helm? You're criticizing the wrong people.

Just so we're clear, nobody said it was. The PC's screwed up portions of curriculum rewrites regularly. As do all gov'ts. I expect the same from the En Dee Pee. Perhaps especially from the En Dee Pee

I have no idea. Trying to justify their jobs? Time to insert more social justice issues? Correct the global warming narrative?

I have no idea what you mean by this.

No, I'm not. I've known for years (since the last math curriculum rewrite) that not learning times tables by rote was going to end poorly. I'm something short of a genius but I didn't need 2-1/2 years and a stinking PAT test to confirm the obvious.

It was in the education thread, not the Alberta NDP thread.

Something to educate yourself about: do not mix LED bulbs with incandescents in light fixtures. LED's can't take the heat. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...08f5ac6c9a.jpg

Ouch!

Now I know why those EZ-Bake ovens could bake a cake with a 60w bulb.

Killer Devil's Food--just not a lot of it.

Baltimore, MD. Isn't that another Dem stronghold?

'Magine that...

Grade-Rigging Scandal Escalates: Baltimore Schools CEO Issue Memo In Response To Investigations

Questions, questions...

Links' bold.

h/t SDA, from whence comes this dripping sarcasm:

Nails it...

Related (and further on Barry's legacy):

Bill Gates Tacitly Admits His Common Core Experiment Was A Failure

I think you will find that grade fixing is in every state and has little to do with whether that state is represented by a donkey or an elephant.....that said many are run by asses!

Perhaps. In this particular case we are talking about a city which has been under the stranglehold of the Dems for decades. Along with the poor quality education (and associated lies), they rank high in deaths due to firearms and black poverty. There is a correlation...

If you have any articles relating to significant grade fixing in historically Rep controlled centres, I'd be more than happy to read them...

FeXL, here’s one...Ann Arbor Schools won't hold back struggling 3rd grade readers | MLive.com. You may know this but Ann Arbor is also where the University of Michigan is housed.

How about this one.....CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS: ASPIRA, Inc. of Illinois. to be fair New York had a large case recently. The fact is it is everywhere.

Thx for the links.

Couldn't find anything in the first link about grade fixing. Don't know if Ann Arbor is Dem or Rep.

Pertaining to the second link, Chicago is very Dem. As with Baltimore, high on list of gun deaths & black poverty.

Ann Arbor run by Dems since 2000.