Regardless, neither here nor there, it was a later seminar and by the time I packed up my LCD projector, I left the classroom and the school was deserted. I'm sure a janitor was on the grounds somewhere, but I could tell I was all of 3 people on the entire campus. And off in the corner of my vision I noticed a sole piece of paper laying on the ground that somehow didn't get swept up. So I walked over to where the paper was and picked it up.
It was a report of LBJ. I decided to keep it, bring it home, scan it in and then share it with you guys.
Now I used to substitute teach and I used to teach college econ, but I learned a long time ago, where the student has the ability and just chooses not to use it or if that student is a genuine idiot, it doesn't matter, you have to deal with the effective reality of their work.
Sadly, this is the generation I'm relying upon to produce the wealth to pay for my social security.
Cripes.
And what is so wroong with this report? obviouslly this studeent is a prime candidant to be recruted by the liberal socilalist party (democrats). Anit the american governmint edumacation systim great!!!
ReplyDeleteIf the student has an IQ of 120 and was mis-educated, this is a tragedy.
ReplyDeleteIf the student has an IQ of 60, it is a miracle of educational achievement.
Now how can you go about and claim this for all public education?
ReplyDeleteFirst off, you have no knowledge of the source or the type of student that wrote this. Perhaps they were Special Ed, or an English Language Learner? Maybe it was just a really ROUGH draft? Maybe the janitor wrote it? Maybe this person needs an inspirational economic superhero tutoring them?
Maybe it's just me, but the vocabulary and sentence structure suggest a really bad job of copying plagiarized material.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I noticed that too. I once taught college economics at this bottom feeder school and I had 79 out of 82 students blatantly plagiarize the CIA World Factbook. The "dean" of the school told me to pass them anyway. It's when I learned that it's best to lie to make ends meet.
ReplyDeleteAnon - HAR!!!!!
Can I have my paper back? Just kidding. You hear stories about people buying and selling book reports and other papers. If this is the case, I'm not sure who I'd feel bad for, the person who wrote it or the person who purchased it.
ReplyDeleteFound it.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.lone-star.net/mall/texasinfo/lbj.htm
"Lyndon Baines Johnson became the 36th president of the United States on the assassination of John F. Kennedy in November 1963. A skilled promoter of liberal domestic legislation, he was also a staunch believer in the use of military force to help achieve the country's foreign policy objectives. His escalation of American involvement in the Vietnam War eroded his popular standing and led to his decision not to run for reelection to the presidency in 1968."
"...simple things like 401k's, retirement, how you should pay for college, budgeting, etc..."
ReplyDeleteGosh, that sounds wonderful. Generous of you. How refreshing. Cheers.
I hereby officially ignore all the skeptics who would say that all smells like a professional "investment counselor" or "financial adviser" out to scam these ignorant little bastards out of the last few pennies they will ever have after making minimum payments on their 30% APR credit card debt and making their $700/month car payment.
yeah, well let's not advertise it or anything, I have a "mean evil capitalist" image to keep up here.
ReplyDeleteTruth is if I can get them to be productive members of society or at least show them that an engineering degree makes more than a sociology degee then I've done my job.
Complaints about the wretched state of education, or the people involved in it, are not new. Neither is the leading spot the US has taken in economic performance, military might, displays of engineering and medical cleverness and so on. A question I have posed to critics of the US education system(s) is this:
ReplyDeleteGiven that the majority of US scientists, engineers and skilled workers in general have come from the US public education system, how to you account for evidence of their good performance, relative to engineers, scientists and skilled workers worldwide?
How is it that we are prosperous, orderly, powerful and healthy, if we are badly educated?
And no fair arguing that some factor which is not part of the US education system, but which has a high likelihood of being transmitted by the US education systsem, is the key. That is just indirect credit to the education system.
I disagree with the premise. I think the US succeeds (although only for today) in part that its economy attracts a large part of foreigners that are not educated by our public schools. I remember working at the computer science building at college and all the students there were from Asia and India and the Pacific Rim. Very few "steves" and "Amy's" there. It's because we attract intellectual capital from around the world we have a growing economy and lead the world in innovation, not necessarily because of our "home grown" youth.
ReplyDeleteHey, get with the times!
ReplyDeleteForget Readin, Ritein, Rithmitic. It's all about 'social promotion'.
"Why children no longer flunk in school"
http://tinyurl.com/29f7nz
Re: Anon 8:08AM
ReplyDeleteI think at least part of this is attributable to the foreign students coming here as postulated by the Captain.
But - some other thoughts
- many of us were products of public schools before they went into the crapper,
- there are still a significant number of students that excel regardless of how pitiful the educational system has become.
- a significant number of students are educated in private schools or are home schooled, neither of which have had the huge performance decline of the public schools.
- I think at least in the past, American industry spent resources to train their employees.
- Maybe not everyone needs to be an advanced scientist or engineer, and maybe we have had enough qualified people in the past due to the exceptions noted above.
But really, heck if I know.
The kid was lazy enough to plagarize the article (as pointed out by the Kilted Maniac), but bright enough to realize that if he threw in some errors it would appear to be his own work.
ReplyDeleteCap'n
ReplyDeleteI used to be a computer lab manager when I was in college, and in the process I would find tons of stuff like this. I wondered how they could get away with it, until I met some of the "professors" Are they just handing out degrees nowadays?
I am posting this comment from India and I think your criticism of the American Educational system is a bit misplaced.
ReplyDeleteA number of my acquaintances and relatives have moved to the USA over the past 30 years. None of them have returned. They represent the best of the Indian educational system and some studied further in the US.
Each one of them said that the American educational system is vastly superior because it teaches the students to think for themselves.
This critical difference is the reason why America produces Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and a vast number of achievers who continue to lead in every generation.
Asia only produces brilliant, highly organized and efficient labour. Except Japan, no other Asian country (including India) creates inventors or entrepreneurs.
From high school to Harvard, your educational system provides the one thing which makes it vastly superior to the rest of the world - freedom of knowledge.
You do not realize how lucky you are to be born in a free country which which rewards talent and merit.
There will always be a few worthless students. It is their personal failure. Don't blame the system.
dont worry you old faggot we wouldn't be able to pay for your social security even if we were competent
ReplyDelete