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Lets try a little fixing of the problems, at least ideas

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posted on Aug, 6 2010 @ 10:58 AM
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Originally posted by ownbestenemy
reply to post by BubbaJoe
 


This sir/ma'am I agree upon. The political pandering of our school systems and children is a world-wide joke in my eyes. Politicians would rather fight to have their names placed on a local school rather than fix the problem.

Sad thing is, there is but probably a handful of our representatives that actually engage in this type of discussion and debate. Hashing out ideas from all sides is what leads to a better solution. While you and I may not see eye to eye in terms of how to get there, we do seem to have the end goal as the same. The betterment of our school systems.


We are in complete agreement here. It seems as if the entire country, including our leadership has gone totally insane. They have lost the critical thinking skills needed to establish a goal, and create and discuss the steps needed to accomplish that goal.



-- Teacher's Unions I believe are too powerful in the fact that it is nearly impossible to fire a teacher. There are cases in California of teachers on what amounts to permanent administrative leave because they have neglected or abused their position as a person of trust. But because of the unions, they cannot be fired. This needs to change.


I fully believe that teachers' unions, need to be eliminated completely (along with most other unions, but that is a different topic) Performance and merit pay need to be implemented. Like I said before, I would like to see a more self paced environment among the students from day 1, and when a child can meet a standard they are moved forward to the next section. I remember doing something along these lines in elementary school, but cannot recall what it was called. It seems like it was SRA or something like that. They used it for math and reading comprehension and it continued from 1st until 6th grade.




-- That said, there are countless people out there with the heart of a teacher that is willing to impart upon the youth their knowledge. Those teachers need to be recognized. I mean take a look at who society holds to a pedestal: A football player that yes, has amazing talent and should be rewarded for it, but the teacher performs their function without such.


Unfortunately, teaching has become a fall back career. It seems like very few set out to become teachers, but decide to after they have failed to achieve what they have wanted to elsewhere. This needs to be changed to where being a teacher is a primary focus and something to be admired.




-- Take out all the sensitivity crapola that we see in lesson plans and leave that aspects to the parents. A child should go to school and learn as you have stated: Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. Bring back grammar lessons.


Absolutely, it is time to quit pandering to all of the touchy feely stuff and get back to absolutes. Life is not fair, and not everyone wins. Children need to be taught this from a young age, instead of everyone getting participation trophies.



posted on Aug, 6 2010 @ 11:08 AM
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I think there should be an entire forum subgroup on discussions regarding solutions to our societys problems. I cant think of any othes place where one exists. That way we could organize all our ideas toward building a better society in one place.


 
Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com
 



posted on Aug, 6 2010 @ 11:28 AM
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reply to post by sine.nomine
 


That is not a bad idea, I have even considered trying to put together a complete common sense platform and then opening things up for discussion. My fear however is that is will fall into the same partisan traps that have ensnared so many other threads on here. Unfortunately many people do not want to discuss only lecture concerning there own party's talking points. People need to open their minds politically, I feel like there are many many good ideas out there that are not being heard or discussed.



posted on Aug, 6 2010 @ 11:38 AM
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this is probably the best thread i have ever seen on ATS. it's almost comical how everyone has so much to say about everything but the solution. escapism and arrogance run rampant on this site but i havent seen the focus like i do in this thread. bravo.

solution...........wow, im stumped. like bob marley, i thought the only way to start over was to burn it down, but im not that kind of angry any more.

im not sure how to expand on this, but i think the essence of the problem is money and the value we place on it. it's what lobby-ism, government, industry, and crime is all about. there will always be one greedy f*cker who wants to have it all because they know deep down they have nothing, but if there were some kind of system that superceded money that would be awesome.
religion is about money too, it's so big. but when i say "money" i mean all the things that it seems to bring- like a house nicer than the neighbor's, same in a car, wife/husband, etc. if everyone were just blind........just kididng



[edit on 6-8-2010 by IandEye]



posted on Aug, 6 2010 @ 12:01 PM
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I've always tried to entertain the idea of an opt-out society. People are fed up with this system. So how would we do better if we had the choice to opt out of the current system? There are obviously many extremely difficult challenges to this, but if we can work on it collectively in an organized way, we can make some progress at least. These disscussions are necessary to see any real positive change rather than just another shift in power.


 
Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com
 



posted on Aug, 6 2010 @ 12:24 PM
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Originally posted by sine.nomine
I've always tried to entertain the idea of an opt-out society. People are fed up with this system. So how would we do better if we had the choice to opt out of the current system? There are obviously many extremely difficult challenges to this, but if we can work on it collectively in an organized way, we can make some progress at least. These disscussions are necessary to see any real positive change rather than just another shift in power.


 
Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com
 



Unfortunately I think too many people have already opted out. The 60 - 70 % of the US population that would probably fall into the moderate range, either right or left of center, are too busy trying to make a living, pay taxes, raise their families, or potentially caring for there parents. While the people in this demographic have been busy, the fringe has taken over. They are not interested in discussing just lecturing.

There are so many things in this country that need to be changed drastically, I don't see it ever being accomplished, especially with the partisanship that is happening now. Just off of the top of my head, welfare, healthcare (real healthcare reform, not insurance reform), education, the financial markets (again real change, but greed will never let that happen). The debt needs to be drastically reduced, and the government needs to learn to live within it's means. I would like to return to a small federal gov't, but I do not see fixes for some of the problems at the state level, so I envision an increase in the federal gov't but hopefully for a limited perioid of time, it is time for some of the organizations to go away.



posted on Aug, 6 2010 @ 01:05 PM
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You went from saying that you believe a solution is possible with more input to saying nothing can be done in a very short time there! Disappointing...

I really do want to see a board dedicated to this. There are a lot of topics- a lot of problems, yes. Whoever said the problems the founding fathers faced were easy? What if any great people in history gave up after an hour, a day, a month, or even a year? There are many good people among us, but we are disheartened by our very way of lives which are defined by the institutions that govern us, whether it be the federal or local governments, religions, financial systems, or even family values. There is a lot of work to be done, so why not get to work?

Let's take a look deeper into what the problems are. Let's find common ground and build up.

I'd say a redefining of what we value as inalienable human rights is a must. From there we could decide how our laws should function to help us as a society. Obviously, there will always be people who just want to tear everything down. However, how we deal with those people needs to be reviewed as well. Reforming the prison system is a great topic for discussion. Perhaps it's time to bring in more a more rehabilitation-type approach. We should find ways that these systems can contribute to our society rather than just hold people down and cause more problems. This brings up two more topics that need to be addressed: law enforcement, and welfare reform. The welfare system, in my opinion, should work in a way that helps people who contribute to society. And for those who don't contribute to society, perhaps the welfare system could offer opportunities for people to be put to work in various jobs in exchange for welfare benefits.

Someone brought up education. In my opinion, education should be publicly-funded, and it shouldn't slow down to accommodate the "lowest common denominator" students. Retake classes all you want. If you want to be there, go. If you don't want to be there, don't go.

I'm not necessarily saying this is the way it should be, but if we don't discuss it, then how can we even complain about it? Thoughts, anyone? I think this is the most important topic on the site. It's a lot easier for people to shrug and ignore problems when you don't offer an alternative. I say its time to work on those alternatives.

I know I'm not alone on this.
...well...I hope I'm not alone on this...

[edit on 6-8-2010 by sine.nomine]



posted on Aug, 6 2010 @ 01:37 PM
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reply to post by sine.nomine
 


Sorry, I didn't mean to give you that impression. I do agree that we need to find some common ground and start from there.

Inalienable rights? Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, and all of the rest as provided by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I truely believe that Health Care should be among those and have felt that way for a long time. I am pro-choice (not pro abortion), I believe in some limits on guns. I believe that marijuana and prostitution should be legalized. This would solve part of your prison reform ideas as well as provide a substantial tax base to fund Health Care.

Just trying to throw some things out there off of the top of my head to get a discussion started and find some common ground as a place to start.

I do agree, a separate sub forum for this topic would be great. Can you imagine some of the really off the wall suggestions that would be placed there, but then again we might be able to take something positive out of them.



posted on Aug, 6 2010 @ 04:28 PM
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Off - topic, but I have sent an email to the powers on this website, asking them to consider a forum area, or sub forum for solutions to the ills of the system here in the USA.




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