https://www.pressreader.com/usa/the-bost...3901716271

15 of 19 college programs were rated D or worse in literacy training. UMass refused to release information, calling it proprietary. (ie they thought they were too good to be tested). For lower incomes, Massachusetts students reading fell behind Mississippi and Louisiana.

The feel good trends of the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s are biting. You have teachers who didn't learn to read the right way with the whole language and other trends. Same with math. The drill and kill of the 50s/early 60s may not have been the best way, but at least it worked.

it's too fonzies as I look back in time ... we moved here in '74 and phonics was as foreign as Latin in the 'sip...

they wanted to skip nuts forward a couple just b/c of that and muh maths ... it's quite amusing how thingys can go full circle once ya 'learn' 'em ...

there's nothing more powerful than giving one the ability to command language at the earliest age ... toss in the maths, and you have a core balance that will give one an advantage that lasts a lifetime ... the 'sip has finally figgled that out...

I now defer to sig line 1...

Quote:"to understand the world, one must first understand a place like Mississippi." - Faulkner

In the 50s we were doing high school work in grammar school. No kidding. But, 50s high school work not 2026 high school work. We were taught grammar, spelling and arithmetic with a vengence, we could make change in grammar school, I know because I had a paper route and it required that I knew how to make change. Nowadays, if you give real money to a young cashier you can see the frustration when they're trying to give back your change. We also knew how to write cursive, but now in my old age I write like a doctor but it comes from lack of practice...but I can do it.

Here in El Paso they're still doing good school education and not Woke or DEI Bull Schiff. Kids do learn here.

(02-27-2026 10:27 AM)olliebaba Wrote:  In the 50s we were doing high school work in grammar school. No kidding. But, 50s high school work not 2026 high school work. We were taught grammar, spelling and arithmetic with a vengence, we could make change in grammar school, I know because I had a paper route and it required that I knew how to make change. Nowadays, if you give real money to a young cashier you can see the frustration when they're trying to give back your change. We also knew how to write cursive, but now in my old age I write like a doctor but it comes from lack of practice...but I can do it.

Here in El Paso they're still doing good school education and not Woke or DEI Bull Schiff. Kids do learn here.

Same here, Ollie. I was just in Memphis instead of El Paso. Started 1st grade in 1953. Got a great public school education.

The deterioration of that system was the start of our decline.

Hey, remember that one guy who insisted that he was smarter because he was highly educated in North Carolina? (Not to make fun of other folks who got their college education in the Tar Heel State, of course.) I think his name was... ballentyneapp? Whatever happened to that guy?

Oh, yeah. He turned chicken and scurried off.

(02-27-2026 11:02 AM)GeminiCoog Wrote:  Hey, remember that one guy who insisted that he was smarter because he was highly educated in North Carolina? (Not to make fun of other folks who got their college education in the Tar Heel State, of course.) I think his name was... ballentyneapp? Whatever happened to that guy?

Oh, yeah. He turned chicken and scurried off.

Or maybe came back as a sock puppet.

(02-27-2026 11:33 AM)BartlettTigerFan Wrote:  

(02-27-2026 11:02 AM)GeminiCoog Wrote:  Hey, remember that one guy who insisted that he was smarter because he was highly educated in North Carolina? (Not to make fun of other folks who got their college education in the Tar Heel State, of course.) I think his name was... ballentyneapp? Whatever happened to that guy?

Oh, yeah. He turned chicken and scurried off.

Or maybe came back as a sock puppet.

Perhaps. Regardless, I haven't seen his (or her?) name in over a week.