Posts by Anthony Ward6

Michelle Nelson4 said:Oh, I am very well acquainted with what a management contract looks like and those kinds of paychecks. Honestly, for every one of those roles out there, there are probably a hundred equally talented people just waiting in the wings, ready to jump in and kill themselves for that exact same money.

A senior developer can pull in that kind of salary while maintaining a normal 9-to-5, and companies will practically roll out the red carpet for them because they know a guy like that could easily jump ship to a massive tech firm or start his own freelance consultancy tomorrow. And finding a replacement? Forget about it. Any decent candidate could land the same—or even better—pay elsewhere right now. Add in the lack of niche expertise and that classic, frustrating "everything is documented in his head" situation, and you see the whole picture.

It’s a completely different league, though I suppose that’s a bit of a tangent...

If you don't know, then there's really no point in getting worked up about it.

Of course a top-tier manager isn't replaceable, let alone having a hundred backups ready to go.

Michelle Nelson4 said:On the topic of the College of Science—of course those enrollment quotas aren't being met. It’s pretty simple math: there just aren't enough students out there, and why would anyone bother grinding through a nearly identical curriculum just to have "Professor" tacked onto their title at the end? Even if they do finish, let's be honest, everyone knows you can pull a great salary in the private sector without the teaching credential. I can personally guarantee that the average high school math or physics teacher doesn't need to spend five grueling years in a specialized pedagogy track. It feels totally misguided. Naturally, almost nobody signs up, and even when they do, they usually pivot to a better career path once they graduate. About 30 years ago, this track was mostly a fallback for students who couldn't quite clear the harder hurdles in an engineering major—you know, the heavy hitters like the IMF courses—so they'd switch over. Sometimes, though, they'd actually manage to pass those tough classes under a different professor and head back to engineering 😂
.
If we opened three-year programs at community colleges with a more practical, streamlined curriculum designed for regular people, we might actually start solving the teacher shortage in these subjects.

I guess switching from teaching to engineering just isn't feasible; you can only really move from engineering back into teaching, if you want to be technical about it.

Susan James said:The real issue with education budgets is that too many people (including a lot of unnecessary perks) are eating into the funds meant for high-quality teachers. This ends up squeezing the pay for the great educators, while those who lack quality but can't find work elsewhere (or simply don't want to seek it out) stay afloat on public funds.

And honestly, there’s no sense in forcing schools to stay open just because there's available staff right now, a principal's salary to cover, or a building that costs more to heat and light than a county would spend on busing ten students to the next town over. Then you have the extra costs for new teachers who might not live in that small rural area and need travel stipends just to show up to work in the middle of nowhere. (Though if you haven't noticed, in places without public transit, the mileage reimbursement under the new collective agreement is actually quite decent and bumps up their pay nicely—someone might end up spending as much on gas driving to a remote spot as someone in Chicago does commuting across town, even after the stipend.)

In my opinion, we're spreading ourselves too thin by funding computer science for grades 1-4, and even for the mandatory classes in grades 5-6 🤷. I think those hard-to-find tech specialists should be moved to high school, or perhaps even general prep schools should offer more computer science hours. We could also focus on developing specialized schools like the ones > linked if we really want to provide quality education to kids who show an interest and talent in that field.

Sadly, enrollment quotas for physicists and mathematicians at major research universities haven't increased in years, while chemistry spots aren't shrinking either (even though there's supposedly a shortage). The only group that stays steady is theology students at their university, and there are plenty of them! It's wild how various instructors or experts without any teaching credentials can step in to cover for absent or missing math and physics teachers. You have to wonder when kids will start being taught math by theologians (if they aren't already 😲). Sure, the pay is lower when you're just a temporary substitute, but it gets the job done... regardless of whether the kids actually learn anything useful.

And I guess interest hasn't really increased either. 🤷

Michelle Nelson4 said:I honestly feel that standard computer science curriculum could be taught by anyone who has completed a degree in a tech field along with some basic teaching credentials. We don't necessarily need MIT students for this. These are the fundamentals, after all. It’s likely that these kinds of specialized high schools will eventually become mostly private institutions where instructors can actually command a decent salary.

At the same time, public schools really need to realize they have to rethink their staffing model for these subjects. They should look for people who aren't looking for full-time roles, but rather those who genuinely want to teach—perhaps alongside a primary career. Think about someone working part-time because they love the classroom, or maybe a veteran in the industry who is over 50 and tired of constantly chasing the latest coding languages and industry buzzwords. They might prefer teaching half the week while keeping their consulting gigs on the side, especially if they are already financially stable.

The problem is that our school hiring system is incredibly bureaucratic, and let’s be honest, the office politics can be toxic. If someone walks in with noble intentions to shake things up, they often get shut down pretty quickly.

PS — You really can't compare the working conditions and opportunities of someone in, say, economics, to a senior developer or a systems engineer. Those tech professionals are in such high demand that they call the shots on where they work and how they work. If they aren't happy? They just move on to a better gig immediately.

I'm not sure if you were replying to my previous post, but the person I used as an example was on a management contract—we're talking a salary in the tens of thousands of dollars, plus all the standard corporate perks and gear. She didn't leave because she lacked opportunity; she left because the stress was insane and she was essentially working 24/7.

A friend of mine actually stepped down from her management role at a big firm to go teach economics at a local university instead. I guess she’s finally found her calling. 🤷

mellowskipper said:If this were in Washington, D.C., it would be my first choice on the enrollment list.

Ford grads? Probably not. But then again, what exactly is the point of the IT track at FF? Maybe they could do it.

Maybe you're thinking of information and communication sciences?

Supporting our Manchild, the absolute legend of Eurovision 😘

I wouldn't suggest going head-to-head with them if I were you. People like that tend to view any direct confrontation as an attack, which just ends up "confirming" whatever negative bias they already have about you, and it rarely ends well. From what I've seen, you'll probably just have to play along and arm yourself with a lot of patience, unfortunately. Maybe just throw in a subtle jab here and there when you can, and leave it at that.

I’ll weigh in here: Wikipedia is a reasonable Reddit user who can hold a civil, decent conversation, so I guess a partial ban feels a bit excessive and maybe deserves some leniency and another shot. 😍

driftingotter47 said:Makeup and influencers... I guess that's just how things go now.

I guess it’s pretty obvious why I tend to steer clear of this subforum.😬Honestly, I just can't help it—I’m getting such a kick out of Mamićev's "comeback" that I simply couldn't resist.

Honestly, I guess when Dinamo is playing poorly, my day actually turns out a little bit better. 🙂

analogheron19 said:If that's how you see it.👍

Just wanted to give you a quick shout-out and say thanks for everything you've done with those charity drives.

I guess you and I already know each other. 😉

Zoran is just here to offload Olm, and once the transfer window shuts, he’ll be gone. Then you can all go back to pretending the Mamić family left Dinamo for good and start dreaming up new banners for Torcida. #howisthispossible <3

Larry Walker24 said:ANOTHER TOTAL RIP-OFF
'AFTER THIS, OUR SCHOOLS ARE BECOMING A SOCIETY OF DEAD POETS' They’ve officially purged all the living, modern writers from the reading lists, leaving nothing but the old classics. Experts are absolutely losing it.

No more "Hunter in the corn"

😲

The Department mentioned that it wasn't actually removed, but they just left it up to the teachers' discretion, I guess. 😁

silentraven6 said:I guess I’m just losing it—maybe I haven't seen a smiley face in so long from all the nonsense going on in my head that I've forgotten how to use them.

I hope you stocked up on some Vitamin C!

:she only had five hours a week:

wanderinghawk30 said:Five hours a week isn't enough? Please...

Finc people get twelve hours a week. 😬

I think we probably have the lowest maternity pay rate in the entire European Union.

Linda Price5 said:Take a look at Lana over on those influencer pages and Instagram feeds in suburban Connecticut. 😬

Tara Westover was only seventeen when she stepped foot in a classroom for the first time; before that, aside from her brother teaching her how to read, she was essentially self-taught. Fast forward to today, and she’s in her early thirties with a PhD.

I’m not suggesting we neglect our children, but it’s clear that adults who actually *want* to learn are far more efficient than kids who are just being dragged along to chase a piece of paper.

That's true, and here's a little fun fact: in the US, you don't actually need a high school diploma to enroll in college or even go for a PhD. I was reading this article recently about a woman who has a PhD but dropped out of high school—she doesn't even have a GED. I guess that wouldn't be possible in America. 😬

briskjackal5 said:But hey, look at how much stuff people actually learn in an American elementary school English class during a whole year? 😁
Things just take time, I guess.

To you, those few math concepts we mentioned seem totally trivial because you handle them without even thinking about it now.
But maybe you're forgetting how much actual time and practice went into it—that's exactly why it feels easy; you mastered it a long time ago.

And the rest of the population actually has to go through this process and learn it.

Plus, if someone happens to grasp a specific topic faster or easier, they can move on to much tougher, more challenging problems.

I don't really know about Lana or what she would do in six months... do you really think if she focused *only* on math, starting from scratch, she'd be ahead? Maybe. But then she'd be missing the other 12 or 13 subjects.

-briskjackal5

Well, Kuki was only talking about math—so, I suppose a year is plenty of time for a graduate to master the core middle and high school math curriculum. Most of it is repetitive anyway since everything is interconnected; if someone spends four or five hours every single day on math, an average student could probably learn enough to get a decent C on an AP exam.

Besides, college expects you to master much more extensive material in a significantly shorter amount of time. 😁

Christian Wilson28 said:Look, teenagers love them—I loved them too. It’s pure teenage angst fuel, honestly.

Salinger is fine since he's actually readable. Flaubert was pretty big back in the day, and things like Nora or the Russians were accepted in a "whatever" kind of way, I guess.

It’s sad to say, but the biggest issue with our American school reading lists is all those old classics about settlers and pioneers.

And the plays? They're often taught so poorly—it wasn't until college that I actually figured out how to read Shakespeare without wanting to die. But hey, better late than never.

That seems to be a constant pattern. Even with history classes, nothing is more draining than studying American history.

Linda Price5 said:It’s an absolute grind, but at least there’s a paycheck at the end of it. Even if the job itself was soul-crushing—like spending your life sewing baby clothes or something equally tedious—it would at least be compensated. 😁

Well, I suppose you also deal with things you hate during high school just to get a diploma. 😬

Susan James said:There was actually one such book assigned to my kid's class (I think I know of a few others, but I can't be sure 😬)
I’m completely lost here.
I remember us reading that same book ages ago, back when the world felt simpler, right before we joined the Scouts.

These little ones were reading it at the end of first grade.
During the distribution of report cards, I overheard one mom telling the other parents that her precious little one still hasn't recovered from the book—that they're having nightmares (and she wouldn't let me dig into the rest of those "traumatic" details).
Honestly, I don't even know what there is to recover from. I didn't see anything traumatic about it. In fact, if we're talking about stress, that book is way less intense than learning about crucifixion and all that suffering in religious studies classes two months before the "controversial" reading assignment.
But man, this really stuck with people...
Generations of children have read this book; even the teachers in my kid's preschool used to read it to them...

I have no idea if anyone else felt that way, but anyone with common sense can—and should—critique it (in a polite, well-argued way, of course).
It makes no sense to deprive an entire class just because of one student.
That should be the guiding principle for educators.
It shouldn't be an excuse for laziness, where a teacher says, "I don't want to deal with the hassle, so I'll just claim this might be too hard for some parents to handle." I've heard stories of colleagues getting complaints at their door or even being reported over books like this...
So, I'm not really a fan of letting students or parents pick the books themselves. Instead, I think there should be working groups or supervisory committees of teachers who can share their classroom experiences regarding which parts kids struggle with. Based on that, they could select 6 or 7 mandatory works from a wide list, ensuring they have professional support to guide the kids through it.
(That would help those types of parents.)

There are plenty of unfamiliar words in classics like Pinocchio, Charlotte's Web, or The Polar Express. The writing style and sentence structures can feel dated, especially with some of the subpar translations of William that kids tend to breeze through—books that focus more on birthday gifts or counting how many pages someone read (honestly, who cares about page counts when the font is huge and there are only five lines per page?). But that doesn't mean kids shouldn't read them; it actually enriches their vocabulary. Those lighter, "instant" reads can be saved for long car rides, downtime, or religious studies classes instead.

True, but I guess there’s a massive difference between stumbling upon a few foreign terms and dealing with a book overflowing with them, where you can barely follow the plot because the reading experience isn't fluid at all. It just makes you frustrated and on edge while trying to get through it.

Personally, that hasn't stopped me from reading in general, but it hasn't exactly pushed me toward more complex works either. I think I just learned how to better navigate things and manipulate my professor so she’d believe I actually read the material.

Now, I’m sure Fishing and Fishing Complaints is a beautiful and significant work, but it seems exhausting as hell, and it never occurred to me to read it back then, let alone now. I don't really feel like I've missed out by never having read it; knowing the author, the era, and the gist of the plot is enough for me.

In that sense, Linda Price5 is right because required reading should serve a purpose, and I don't see the point in forcing kids to struggle through Fishing when they’re just going to grab a study guide and aim for a C or a B, which is what most of us did back in high school. I don't buy the "it's mandatory" excuse—if nobody actually reads it, why force it onto the syllabus?

Susan James said:There was actually one such book assigned to my kid's class (I think I know of a few others, but I can't be sure 😬)
I’m completely lost here.
I remember us reading that same book ages ago, back when the world felt simpler, right before we joined the Scouts.

These little ones were reading it at the end of first grade.
During the distribution of report cards, I overheard one mom telling the other parents that her precious little one still hasn't recovered from the book—that they're having nightmares (and she wouldn't let me dig into the rest of those "traumatic" details).
Honestly, I don't even know what there is to recover from. I didn't see anything traumatic about it. In fact, if we're talking about stress, that book is way less intense than learning about crucifixion and all that suffering in religious studies classes two months before the "controversial" reading assignment.
But man, this really stuck with people...
Generations of children have read this book; even the teachers in my kid's preschool used to read it to them...

I have no idea if anyone else felt that way, but anyone with common sense can—and should—critique it (in a polite, well-argued way, of course).
It makes no sense to deprive an entire class just because of one student.
That should be the guiding principle for educators.
It shouldn't be an excuse for laziness, where a teacher says, "I don't want to deal with the hassle, so I'll just claim this might be too hard for some parents to handle." I've heard stories of colleagues getting complaints at their door or even being reported over books like this...
So, I'm not really a fan of letting students or parents pick the books themselves. Instead, I think there should be working groups or supervisory committees of teachers who can share their classroom experiences regarding which parts kids struggle with. Based on that, they could select 6 or 7 mandatory works from a wide list, ensuring they have professional support to guide the kids through it.
(That would help those types of parents.)

There are plenty of unfamiliar words in classics like Pinocchio, Charlotte's Web, or The Polar Express. The writing style and sentence structures can feel dated, especially with some of the subpar translations of William that kids tend to breeze through—books that focus more on birthday gifts or counting how many pages someone read (honestly, who cares about page counts when the font is huge and there are only five lines per page?). But that doesn't mean kids shouldn't read them; it actually enriches their vocabulary. Those lighter, "instant" reads can be saved for long car rides, downtime, or religious studies classes instead.

I'd probably bet that it's actually the mother who's traumatized, rather than the kid. 😬
The only real stress my generation dealt with while reading was finding out that Dumbledore died. And when we had to read Birch, we all got pretty worked up about that assignment. 😬

...to me, that book isn't nearly as stressful as the idea of crucifying a living person and all the suffering they endured, which kids were learning about in religion class just two months before that controversial reading assignment.

Now you've reminded me that the Bible is part of the high school curriculum, and in our class, it was the only reading we all actually got an A on.😬

God, Canadians are just as obsessed with The Little Prince... I wonder when someone is finally going to expose that silly assignment as total nonsense.

p.s. actually, wait, I just realized it’s not even on there. 😬
p.p.s. I guess Hawking's Theory of Everything should be mandatory here too. Honestly, I'm just fed up with it all.