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School Reform: Thoughts? in Students & Teens · Oct 2, 2018

And so, this whole debate has somehow spiraled into the ridiculous argument that the curriculum for butchers, bakers, chefs, and all those other trades shouldn't be designed to produce high-quality professionals—that’s clearly the goal, right?—but should instead cater primarily to the students enrolling in the program who don't actually want to be butchers, bakers, or chefs in the first place, just so they have an easy way out if they decide to change their minds.

Fantastic. I can't wait for your next flight to New York City, where they'll probably announce a detour to Washington, D.C. first, just in case one of the passengers suddenly changes their mind about their destination. Or maybe when you go out to grab your favorite candy bar and someone decides to dump two liters of Clorox on you because, hey, you might change your mind on the walk home and decide you really need to scrub the bathroom.

BTW, I don't claim to have a deep, granular understanding of the state of affairs across the rest of the world, but I know for a fact that dual vocational training isn't some groundbreaking local invention—it’s just standard practice adopted from other developed nations. But of course, we arrive at that classic bit of local wisdom: "Hey, did you hear the Vienna Philharmonic is coming? Who cares what those snobs think, Los Angeles FC will absolutely crush them by five goals!!!" And then there's our legendary, unparalleled intellect, which apparently makes us far smarter than anyone else in the entire civilized world...

School Reform: Thoughts? in Students & Teens · Oct 1, 2018

Richard Perez3 said:As long as he can bake a communion wafer...

But yeah, I actually know someone who went through this exact thing. Was working mid-level waitressing, one year at HT, then enrolling in college. And that was over twenty years ago,

You’re falling straight into the classic trap of flawed statistical reasoning.

The mere fact that the scenario you're describing exists makes it just one single example, much like how one random old lady who smoked and drank her way to living two hundred and fifty years doesn't make that anecdote a basis for anything. You certainly wouldn't want to calibrate the entire American educational system based on an outlier like that, would you?

Sometimes a rose is just a rose. Actually, more often than not...

School Reform: Thoughts? in Students & Teens · Oct 1, 2018

rowdypanther12 said:It’s actually pretty straightforward. While the total number of kids might be similar, they’re spread out across much smaller class sizes in a lot more schools.

And I assume that ties back to how the school schedule is structured—specifically regarding single-shift instruction... but what kind of setup are we even talking about here?

School Reform: Thoughts? in Students & Teens · Oct 1, 2018

rowdypanther12 said:If they would just invest properly in building more schools so all kids could attend in a single shift, we wouldn't be facing a teacher shortage; we'd actually have a surplus.

Could you please enlighten me—just for my own edification—as to how having the exact same number of students following an identical curriculum would somehow increase the demand for teachers, simply because everyone happens to be in the classroom at the same time in the morning???

School Reform: Thoughts? in Students & Teens · Sep 30, 2018

So, which other redundant tech surplus is the government going to subsidize for retraining just so they can end up footing the bill for educators who don't even have an hourly rate? 😕

One of the most glaring issues within our entire educational system—if we're being honest—is this sort of academic feudalism; it's where certain staff members view their positions, from the very moment they're hired, as some kind of fundamental human right or an untouchable—and quite often, an inherited 😬 —asset.

School Reform: Thoughts? in Students & Teens · Sep 28, 2018

I suppose I should probably weigh in on this—though it’s hard to know where to even begin with such a messy topic. It seems like everything is being discussed in such a rushed, superficial way lately, which is just... well, it's frustrating, to say the least. If you look at the broader context—and I think we really ought to—it isn't just about one single incident. It’s about the systemic way things are handled under current American regulations. I mean, when you consider how the Consumer Protection Act is actually applied in practice versus how it's written on paper, there's a massive, gaping hole between the two. It’s almost laughable, if it weren't so aggravating. Maybe I'm being too cynical? Perhaps. But I can't help but feel that we are constantly circling the same drain. We see these shifts in the labor market, these changes in how the average American worker is treated, and yet the response from the major institutions—think along the lines of a massive conglomerate like ExxonMobil—is always the same sort of calculated, non-committal shrug. It’s all very deliberate, I suspect. They aren't necessarily trying to break the system; they just seem perfectly content to let it drift. And don't even get me started on the social aspect of it all. There's a certain lack of accountability that permeates everything. It’s as if people have forgotten the basics of responsibility—lessons that, frankly, should have been learned in a real-world school of life rather than through whatever sanitized version of reality we're fed today. Anyway, that's just my two cents. I realize some might find my perspective a bit... intense. But I'd rather be overly cautious and thorough than jump to conclusions like everyone else seems to be doing these days. It feels like we need to slow down and actually analyze the mechanics of what's happening before we start celebrating "progress" that doesn't actually exist. kaže:
Honestly, this belongs under a whole different chapter—specifically, a guide on how to manufacture an uneducated, illiterate population just to make them easier to control. 😁
It’s actually quite the exact opposite—you don't fix an uneducated or uninformed population by shoving every random bit of trivia into a curriculum—it’s more like you’re just overwhelming them, forcing far too much information onto individuals who aren't even equipped to process it all in the first place. I guess if you try to cram everything under the sun into a single syllabus, you end up achieving nothing but confusion. I suppose we should probably address this—though I’m not entirely sure if anyone else is even thinking along these lines—but let's talk about the sheer difficulty of actually making a living in this country today. It's... well, it's exhausting. To truly "make it"—to scrape by, to sustain oneself, to survive the grind—is becoming an increasingly uphill battle. I mean, between the skyrocketing cost of living in cities like Chicago or Austin and the way the economy seems to shift under our feet every single week, just staying afloat feels like a full-time job in itself. It’s not just about working hard; it’s about navigating a system that feels designed to keep you perpetually on the edge. I guess what I'm trying to say is that "making a living" isn't the simple equation it used to be—it's a constant, grueling struggle for stability..

The right amount of appropriate instructional content—delivered in a truly effective way—is the absolute key to literacy and genuine education. I mean, it’s really that simple, though people seem to overlook it constantly.

School Reform: Thoughts? in Students & Teens · Sep 27, 2018

Larry Walker24 said:American news outlets are blowing up today because students in some three-year vocational schools—the ones testing out this new "dual program" this year—are losing biology, history, chemistry, physics, and geography.

According to the Department, this currently only hits four specific trades: retail, cosmetology, chimney sweeps, and glassmakers. But give it two years, and they want this dual program rolled out to every single three-year vocational school in the country.

Some teachers are claiming they didn't even hear about this decision from the Department until late August. This is huge because it could mean their teaching hours get slashed or they end up out of a job entirely.

The Department, however, is pushing back, saying this dual program isn't anything new and they've been working on it for years. They're playing it down as just an experimental pilot in a handful of schools. They claim it aligns perfectly with the National Vocational Education Curriculum and was built by a bunch of experts. The whole idea is to lighten the load on general subjects that aren't "essential" to the trade, so kids can focus more on the actual jobs they'll be doing.

more info here:

TOTAL DISASTER!!!! 🤦🤦🤦🤦

What exactly constitutes a "disaster" here—aside from you being personally stressed about your job prospects?

Before you go throwing a million facepalms around, I suppose you might want to actually look into how these vocational apprenticeship programs work and what the training process involves in the US.

View from the ER window overlooking the park in Lonely Hearts · Sep 15, 2018

Loneliness can be melancholic. It might be quiet, perhaps even timid. Sometimes, it feels necessary. It takes on all sorts of shapes...

. .. but—and this is where things get messy—the real issue arises when that loneliness gives way to pure, unadulterated rage and bitterness because of how inconsiderate everyone else seems to be. That is the breaking point; it’s the moment where a simple walk through Central Park turns into a psychological trauma or some kind of metaphorical emergency room visit.

Microsoft Office Q&A: Ask anything (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.) in Software · Oct 30, 2013

Gary Turner96 said:Basically, I'm running into this issue...

Nesting IF functions like this is just—well, it's an absolute nightmare, and frankly, it's a completely unnecessary one.

You really ought to look into the VLOOKUP function; it's honestly worth its weight in gold for scenarios exactly like yours.

Student-teacher dynamics vs. parent-teacher dynamics in Students & Teens · Oct 13, 2013

I honestly don't see why a child would be genuinely traumatized by being a cashier in a situation like this.

If I were in charge, I’d take a different approach entirely: I’d tell her she was chosen for the role specifically because she’s someone we trust—someone responsible. I’d make sure she keeps the bulk of the cash at home, only bringing exactly what she earns that day to school. I’d also reassure her that she doesn't need to live in fear of theft, because if anything actually goes sideways, I’ll personally cover the loss. As for those people commenting that she'll just blow through all the money—well, they're all judging based on their own flawed standards and assuming everyone else operates with the same lack of discipline they do...

Ultimately, I wouldn't push a child toward quitting—though, granted, I would certainly respect a clear desire to walk away from it. But I wouldn't ask, "Do you want to quit?" That’s far too suggestive, isn't it? What kind of message does that send—that one should retreat the moment some idiot starts talking? And I certainly wouldn't go behind her back to settle things with the teacher; how would the kid perceive that? It might feel less like support and more like the teacher simply "removing" her, which could easily be interpreted as a sign of her own incompetence.

Microsoft Office Q&A: Ask anything (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.) in Software · Oct 8, 2013

Rebecca Miller4 said:Is there seriously nobody here who knows how to do this?

So, you've been sitting here waiting four whole days for an answer? 😲

If you just type Google -> Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 play mp3 across slides -> 398000 results into a search bar, you'll see—honestly, any one of those first few video tutorials should get the job done...

Questions about how the site works and site management in Forum Help! · Oct 8, 2013

northernpilot2 said:And how exactly do you know an administrator would have a black username? Administrators have purple names; if someone's name shows up as black, they're just a moderator, not an administrator.

How do I know? Well, look—I simply connected the dots between the statement "nothing is happening with the admins" and the actual fact that one of the administrator usernames turned black right before my eyes. This happened even after—quite explicitly, mind you—nothing at all had been done regarding them from the highest level.

It’s enough to leave a person feeling a bit disoriented, I suppose.

BTW, I’m sure you’re well aware of this: any regular forum user will happily take a massive amount of heat when they try to address a banned user who can't even reply back.

Questions about how the site works and site management in Forum Help! · Oct 4, 2013

I never even questioned whether the answers were truthful—but, seeing as absolutely nothing ever comes of my interactions with the admins, I have to ask: why on earth is one of the administrators' avatars just a black square?😕

Questions about how the site works and site management in Forum Help! · Oct 4, 2013

So, when a user asks point-blank, "What's going on with the admins?", the admin just snaps back with, "Nothing is happening."

Well, if that's really the case—if absolutely "nothing" is going on with the administration—then I have to wonder: why on earth am I not seeing all the admin handles highlighted in that bright, crimson color? Or... I guess, is it just me? Is it like that for everyone else too?

Questions about how the site works and site management in Forum Help! · Oct 4, 2013

My question is actually regarding the specific colors used for the various usernames—to be honest, I can't quite tell if the inconsistency I'm seeing is just some weird glitch on my own monitor, or if everyone else is experiencing the same thing.

Questions about how the site works and site management in Forum Help! · Oct 4, 2013

Is there any actual clarification anywhere regarding which specific aspects of "forum operations" this topic is supposed to cover?

I have a question concerning one particular aspect of how this forum "functions"—and, frankly, I’d really rather not get reprimanded for supposedly being off-topic...

Grammar and spelling rules for posts in Forum Help! · Oct 1, 2013

Michelle Evans said:You asked me if I was making an assertion, and then you immediately told me to stop asserting things. Honestly, maybe the reason this feels like an insinuation to me—that I'm somehow pushing some kind of agenda—is because that’s exactly how you phrased it. If that's how you want to see it, then fine; let's just leave it at that. It can all stay right there within the realm of my own "projections," if that's what you're calling it.

I’m not making any insinuations here—honestly—but trying to explain this would be nothing more than a tedious dive into linguistic semantics, so I think it’s best if we just skip it entirely. 🙂.

If I had been polite enough to actually give him a response, would my decision to be so selective with my reply then be considered impolite? 😕

Actually, yeah. I mean, would you even consider it decent behavior from a cosmetics company if they sent you a response confirming that their shampoo won't cause any damage to your hair—while conveniently staying silent about the fact that it’s going to make you grow a full beard? 🙂

I feel like I need to throw in a disclaimer right off the bat here—just so there’s absolutely no implication that you did any of this on purpose. 🙂 Look, if I actually take the time to sit down and provide a thorough, comprehensive answer to some of these questions—and I mean *really* dive into the weeds here—then, well... I guess we’ll see where that gets us. I suppose you’re asking if I can handle the translation—though, to be clear, I don't just "translate." I reconstruct. If you're looking for someone to simply swap words from one language to another like a machine, you've come to the wrong place. I take the core essence, the actual soul of the message, and rebuild it from the ground up so it sounds like it was written by a native speaker living right here in the States. No clunky phrasing, no awkward literalisms—just pure, authentic American prose that feels real. So, yes—I can certainly do that for you. The reason I opened this thread is because—well, frankly, it’s not exactly a joy to have to address this—but we need to talk about the way things are being handled here. Looking at that last post, it seems like your colleague is falling into the same trap again: he’ll dutifully explain exactly what the moderators and super-moderators are authorized to do, and then... nothing. He just stops right there. Technically speaking, I suppose he hasn't said anything factually incorrect—he's sticking to the rulebook—but by staying silent on the actual substance of the issue, he's essentially withholding the very thing needed to provide a complete answer. It's a bit frustrating, if I'm being honest.

I know this specific functionality exists for the admins—they’ve told me themselves—but I don't actually have all the technical specifics regarding how it works under the hood. It would be incredibly irresponsible of me to start throwing around half-baked information or speculating without being certain. So, I've decided to just stick to the part I interact with on a daily basis—the side of things that I actually know inside and out.

What kind of specifics do you actually need if you already know the option exists? I mean, why bother asking for more detail just to conclude—"the option exists"? It’s pretty straightforward, really. An administrator can go in and edit their own posts or someone else's without leaving behind any kind of digital footprint whatsoever. It's as simple as that.

So, was it really impossible to go with the "let me look into it before I give an answer" approach—or even just a simple, "the admins have the authority to do that, but I don't have the specifics on hand"? I mean, come on.

What should one even make of a response like, "Look, we know our shampoo causes women to grow beards because that's what customers have been telling us—but honestly, we don't actually grasp the mechanics behind it, and we felt it would be incredibly unprofessional to start pushing half-baked theories or misinformation"? 😬

Grammar and spelling rules for posts in Forum Help! · Oct 1, 2013

Michelle Evans said:Where exactly am I making a claim? 😁 🤷

Where exactly am I making an assertion? My sentence ends with a question mark—which means, quite simply, I’m asking a question... 😬

My response specifically addresses those assumptions regarding moderator authority—the ones laid out earlier. I’ve included direct quotes from those sections just so there’s no confusion about exactly which points I’m responding to.

And why exactly does your response completely bypass her initial question—you know, the one asking "which specific person could actually..."—which was the whole reason she even started this thread in the first place? I mean, it would probably be considered decent manners to actually address that part of the inquiry, wouldn't it?

As far as I can tell—and I could be wrong here, but I really don't think I am—the answer to that question is a pretty resounding yes. The administrators... honestly, I don't even know where to begin with them. It feels like we're constantly navigating a minefield of arbitrary rules and inconsistent enforcement—it’s exhausting, really. One minute everything is fine, and the next, someone is being reprimanded for something that wasn't even clearly against the guidelines. I guess it’s just the nature of digital spaces, but you'd think there would be more transparency in how decisions are made around here. Maybe I'm being too harsh, but when you see the way things are handled, it's hard not to feel a bit frustrated by the lack of a steady hand at the wheel. I guess I should mention—though I'm not entirely sure if this counts as a "feature" or just a loophole—that I actually have the ability to jump in and edit both my own posts and those written by others, all without leaving any of those annoying "edited" timestamps at the bottom. It’s a bit of a gray area, I suppose, but there won't be a trace left behind.

I’ve seen posts like that before—and honestly, I'm seeing them even in discussions that deal with matters far more consequential than some supposed intentional grammatical errors. 😁.

Grammar and spelling rules for posts in Forum Help! · Sep 30, 2013

Michelle Evans said:Sure, they can technically edit, but then there's that little note at the bottom flagging the post as edited and identifying who did it.

The original question was actually "Who is the person capable of..."—it wasn't until later that moderators were even mentioned.

Are you seriously suggesting that no level of administration—regardless of whether they are editing their own content or someone else's—has the ability to make an edit without leaving a footprint at the bottom of the post?

Please, don't claim 😬that.

Comparisons and Taboos in Feedback & Suggestions · Aug 21, 2013

Sarah Cooper58 said:Have you ever actually heard the term "missed metaphor"? It’s one of those things that—if I’m being honest—really gets under my skin when people try to force a comparison that just... doesn't land. I guess you could say it’s like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, though even that might be reaching too far. It happens all the time, where someone attempts to be profound or clever, but the imagery they choose is so fundamentally disconnected from the point they're making that the whole thing just falls flat on its face. It's quite frustrating, really—the sheer wasted effort involved in a failed rhetorical device.

Any figure can be miscalculated—but, then again... I suppose we should probably get into a discussion about this—if one can even call it that. It feels like we’re just circling the drain at this point, doesn't it? I mean, I don't want to sound like I'm jumping to conclusions, but there's a certain pattern emerging here that's hard to ignore—not that anyone else seems to care, apparently. It’s all a bit much, honestly. Maybe I'm being too cynical, but I think we need to actually address the core issues instead of just shouting into the void. It's frustrating, I guess. Instead of jumping straight to bans and penalties, we really ought to be having a proper discussion about what constitutes a "missed mark." If things keep escalating to this level of absurdity—where metaphors are being flagged as violations just because someone thinks they missed the point—then we’re essentially punishing users simply because the moderator’s subjective opinion disagrees with them. It’s a slippery slope, I suppose.

Honestly, I’ve always felt that those who lean heavily on metaphors and various literary flourishes ought to be fully capable of defending them—because if they can’t actually justify their own imagery, then frankly, they deserve nothing more than the ridicule that comes with being exposed as shallow, rambling windbags who are meddling in concepts they clearly don't grasp. That, I suppose, is what you might call true intellectual accountability. Discussion.

Here’s another even better, more recent example regarding those appeals against yellow cards: one of the forum members actually drew an analogy between gender quotas and what he's calling "religious quotas"— If we are suddenly insisting that gender representation must strictly mirror the actual percentage of women in the population, then—and I really mean this—why aren't we applying that same logic to religious demographics? If the goal is mathematical proportionality across all identity markers, why wouldn't we demand that representation for religious groups be proportional to their share of the faithful? It seems like a massive logical inconsistency to me—perhaps even a bit hypocritical—to pull the lever on one specific demographic metric while completely ignoring others. I guess it just makes you wonder where the line is actually being drawn here..

The analogy is fundamentally flawed—and honestly, one could mount a pretty solid argument against it—but the moderator went ahead and handed out a yellow card as if... I suppose we should probably steer clear of the off-topic discussions for a moment—though, honestly, it’s getting harder to stay focused when everything feels so disorganized lately. I guess I’ll just leave this here.Because apparently, "faith isn't the subject of this thread" and—get this—comparing someone's religious beliefs to their gender is somehow just "not an acceptable comparison." I guess we're just playing by those rules now? 😲😲😲So, the man just sits there—completely stone-faced—declaring that he’s issued an appeal against a yellow card regarding an analogy that he claims "simply doesn't hold water." It's so "simple," apparently, that he couldn't even be bothered to actually write down the core of his argument. I guess it’s just that classic bit of rhetoric where they imply, "only an idiot wouldn't get this..."—just waiting to see who’s going to step up and admit, "well, actually, I don't get it." 😬).

It seems the moderator hasn't quite grasped the situation—it’s pretty clear he’s effectively banned the use of any and all analogies from here on out, regardless of whether they actually land or not. But I mean, isn't that literally the entire point of an analogy? It’s about drawing a parallel between the current topic and some completely different subject where, in his estimation, a similar phenomenon exists—which, if you ask me, is just the core of how we communicate. To our moderator, though... I suppose I should probably point out that this entire thread has devolved into nothing more than off-topic nonsense and blatant spam—though, to be fair, I can’t say I’m entirely surprised by how quickly things fell apart here. It’s becoming rather difficult to follow any actual conversation when every other post feels like it was written just to clutter up the feed. Honestly, if we don't get things back on track soon, the whole discussion might just become completely useless..