willowleaf, I whole heartedly agree everything in your post.
People might be amazed at how many college grads are in the trades, non tech trades. If a person is intelligent and in the trades, it opens up so many more doors for them. I’ve always liked doing remodel work as that’s the most interesting as you have to take something new and incoporate it into something older, already built.
Agreed, but I’d also ask “socialized to what?” Neighbor’s daughter
is now staying at home taking her HS classes online. Why? all the bullying of her. Another one, one of her kids is having problem with bullying too. I told her I’d teach him how to fight if he wanted to, but she just wants people to “be kind”. Yeah, and I want to be 6ft 5, 275lbs with long blonde hair.
Since the w uhan scam, a lot of interest has taken place in homeschooling. Parents are pooling their resources/kids. Some are even hiring their own teachers for their group.
I WHOLEHEARTEDLY SUPPORT THESE THINGS
govt union teachers have failed our children, decade after decade after decade
kids become more dumb
teachers/staffers become very comfortable, affluent and retire nicely
I think most people in the context we’re discussing would define socialization as learning to interact with other people in society. In addition to the negative social interactions that you’re talking about the ubiquity of technology and social media has severely hampered socialization of all young people regardless of their educational environment.
Don’t know what planet you are on where “teachers become very comfortable, affluent and retire nicely". I come from 4 generations of them and none achieved those delusional goals as public school or college teachers. And the time suck year round and 7 days a week that teaching demands, much if it unpaid, and the lack of both compensation and appreciation kept me from ever following in their footsteps. Neither of my parents were paid for the 3 months off every summer so Mom would save out of their slim budget to get us through and Dad often went on the road seeking a short term contract so we could pay bills until the Fall term. In the evenings at home, we kids did our homework while our parents did lesson plans, graded papers and, in later years, filled out administrative paperwork to provide “metrics” to lazy overseers who were trying to justify their jobs and minimize the importance and time that the actual teachers needed to help struggling students.
Neither they nor any of my kin or many friends in the profession ever “indoctrinated” any students politically or socially with any nefarious “liberal agenda” other than teaching them life-coping skills like reading, math, basic science, logic and critical thinking. And with whiney entitled parents bitching about how their special darlings have to coddled and their kids who spent their class time peering at their phones and refusing to complete assignments, on top of ludicrous mandates on what and how teachers may teach, it is amazing that we have any still working at all.
Few parents have the ability to effectively teach kids. More US adults than not are functionally illiterate. Many of them abuse and/or neglect their kids so badly that they have behavioral problems, which sometimes lead to violence against teachers.
One of the biggest burdens and frustrations that teachers at ALL levels of society face is that most parents do not supervise or discipline their offspring, either due to outright neglect or because they want them to be “free to express themselves”. They let them stay up all night on YouTube, then let them skip school and not do assigned work, then blame the teachers, even threatening them, when the kids fail. Many lower income families are single parent and overwhelmed, more financially secure ones are only that way because both parents work – so who is going to have the time, talent and energy to prep and oversee lesson plans for their kids, especially if they have several at completely different ages of development?
I find it ironic that so many parents want to demonize the public school teachers and force them to censor curriculum content to suit the parents’ particular religious and/or political worldviews – I suspect this is largely to cover up for their own failings to do THEIR part in civilizing and nurturing their offspring. These tend to be the same cohort that clamored for school vouchers so they are free to pick whatever narrow and constrained dogma the various private schools can offer them. I don’t agree with the voucher programs, by the way, which simply drain funding from already stressed public schools, which this country (like most modern nations) originally set up to serve the population by producing informed and competent citizens.
I envy you, Linda – I missed the chance during the last few years before I retired in early 2016 to transfer to any one of my employers’ Canadian offices – they would have sponsored me for citizenship if I had wanted that. I almost bit – would have loved to move to Vancouver, Calgary or Toronto – but expected things would be better here in the US than they turned out in the long run.
Socialized as in learning to get along with all kinds of other people, learning manners, being at ease in social situations, learning politeness, and being accepted by others.
So what’s keeping you here…if you aren’t happy with the way things are, go … Oh, maybe your retirement funds , which are probably at an all time high, just won’t transfer as well as staying here…or maybe you at the age where you’re very happy to see any physician you want to instead of waiting a half year to see anyone they tell you you can see…ya it’s always greener on someone’s other grass
I would have a cash problem with the cost of living and housing costs in Vancouver and Toronto, a little less so in Calgary. However, something tells me you wouldn’t be all that thrilled with the current political climate in Alberta.
I had a better experience with the medical system in Canada than I did with the US system when I broke my arm on vacation during a trip there in 2012. Saw a doctor at a drop in clinic 3 blocks from our hotel in Victoria 10 minutes after I walked in, they sent me up the street to get xrays which only tool 20 minutes and the tech gave us the films on a CD so my boyfriend (an ER doc) could look at them on his laptop as well as the doctor that treated me. Total bill: $212 (which my insurance did refund to me.)
When I had the same check up done when we got home to the US 10 days later (to make sure the break was healing) I had to wait 3 days for an appointment, then did not see the orthopod until 2 hours after my appointment – they sent me for x-rays which took another hour and a half. The bill for the exact same services in the US (and they did not even give me a nice stabilizing soft cast like the Canadians did) was over $1400 and I had a $30 co-pay for the “specialist”. Even though I am on a Medicare Advantage plans, they decided 2 years ago to no longer cover most of the premiums because I sold a rental property that year and my usual modest income of under $35K jumped for just 2023 to $168k (which I used to pay off the mortgage on the new house). So I am paying close to $600 a month for Medicare based insurance, deducting a third of my monthly Social Security. Fuck our “health care system,”
As to why I don’t move now, I’m 75, live alone and just moved 3 years ago . Don’t think I have the energy for another relocation, but it’s not a done deal. I love the UK as well and could decide to pack up and go if immigration was feasible. I do love my present house and garden, but not so much the drastic deterioration of the country in the past 8 months.
Ten years ago things would have been different as I was still working for 6 figures a year and my employer would have assisted the transition…
Well maybe emergency service is good…I had a roommate from 3 years ago while recuperating from a total knee joint replacement at the Cleveland Clinic. He was from Canada and he needed a hip replacement. He and his wife said that the medical system in Canada was terrible with all the hoops one has to go thru with elective surgery as well as astromical wait times
There is no “Canadian” health care system; it is not uniform across the country. Instead, provinces and territories receive transfer payments from Ottawa. They have considerable authority to determine their own spending priorities so it isn’t surprising that patient experiences can be very different in Calgary vs Toronto vs Halifax. Patients report significantly different experiences within provinces too, but that’s a reflection of provincial policy and has little to do with Ottawa.
well, at least I couldn’t have been all wrong in my reply. My roommate made 4 different trips to Cleveland before he could be scheduled for the hip replacement surgery. At his expense…something was wrong or (fu##cked) up, but whatever…
Canadians do have the option to pay for private insurance enhancement coverage if they prefer, to cover some procedures for which there may be long waits or obstacles for the nationwide free system.
This fact seems to be missing in most arguments I run into defending the massively costly and inefficient US system from the universal FREE systems that EVERY OTHER FIRST WORLD INDUSTRIALIZED NATION offers to their citizens.
When we learned the drug regimen my mother’s cancer doc prescribed for her would cost us over $7000 for a 2 week course, I was able to mail order the exact drug from Canada for under $1100.
I wonder if the person you mentioned looked into paying for the hip surgery out of pocket in Canada. Costs for that range from $9,000 to $13,000 in Canada, whereas in the USA a hip replacement costs $25,000 to $112,000.
I pay WAY more, even as a retired middle class person 10 years into Medicare, in insurance premiums that what the actual cost of my care is so far. This year I am paying $7800 for medical insurance and will have paid another $1200 in co-pays and uncovered portions of tests, appointments, dental procedures or necessary drugs. When I looked at the bills for what had been covered, my plan only paid out under $5000.
I’d rather be able to save that $9000 and have truly free health care coverage like my friends in Europe and Canada enjoy than have half the Social Security I earned by supporting myself for nearly 50 years sucked up by insurance payments.
By the way, the Feds were supposed to reinstate their partial coverage of 70% of my premiums after my “income” plunged in 2024 and 2025. But thanks to the drastic cuts since January to the Social Security staff and closure of our local offices, I have been unable to get through to them to inquire if and when this automatic deduction will be adjusted. Emails get crickets, calls go to message bots with no call-backs. Make Americans Grovel Again…
MAGA. .Yes. So you’d rather have a guy who’s family sucked off the tit of our nation for 80 years and became filthy rich in the meantime, and let every Pharmaceutical company give away their drugs around the world at about cost, but charge Americans to support all the costs of drugs by the time they come to market here…you really should move and go join Johnny Depp,Ellen and the rest who got filthy rich here and all of a sudden, aren’t happy. Please GO… And by the way, I’ve contacted SS thru the internet and have gotten prompt answers within a week…Do you really think your friends get free healthcare? Their payroll taxes are huge compared to ours…nothing is free no matter where one lives…WAKE UP
Since turning 65, I have had minor surgery to remove cysts, operation for torn rotator cuff, home visitation by a nurse to take care of the intravenious anti-biotics administer over 5 weeks by PICC, 8 weeks of physical therapy, emergency room care, doctor visits twice annually, eye exams, and colonoscopies. My health insurance covers the percent that isn’t covered by Medicare, all deductibles, and generic drugs are typically around $1 for 30 days, except for the gucci drugs. Fortunately. Some people benefitted from being able to get health insurance under Obama Care, but that benefit doesn’t seem to offer much relief, while many who had quality “Cadillac” health plans before Obama Care lost coverage.
Health care options vary by employer. If you had no employer, your options were limited. My only complaint isn’t about the coverage, its the cost of coverage.
Well If you want a hardworking, trying to do the best they can with the hand they are dealt, person to leave it all to, I will undertake that burden so that no one else has to.
learning is conditioning, training if it’s experential. A lot of learning in group setting is experiential as you have the authority v student(s) relationship, then peer to peer relationship.
Jack as ten apples he will eat this month
jack has ten apples while other people don’t have any apples…
both stated jack has ten apples, but the first one is general information. The second one is a statement of a socio political value. that doesn’t have any business in school.
Now throw in the students, looking at the teacher as an authority figure, will defer to them, may even agree with that value statement in an effort to curry favor or be looked upon favorably. That’s not the teachers job.
Teachers have become very politically active and even take their students to protests during the school day. Again, that’s not teaching…well, it is, but not was the parents want their students taught.
Many generations, many decades, teachers have been doing this, being very politically active and pushing that upon the students. All the while, academic scores of said students continue to go down and down and down.
Teachers and their union, admins have not been able to just teach our children. So parents need to have a choice in the education–and socialization–of their children.
School Choice is the best choice for parents and children. The money follows the kid, not automatically sent to the account of a building near them.
It’s the taxpayers’ money as these are the taxpayers’ kids.
Going to break this down as you have covered a lot in one post. This will help keep us talking about the same thing at the same time. Quoting also helps so we know who a person is addressing.
I tell people to drive by a school, then a local business. Look at the cars in the parking lot. You can tell a lot by that and it’s very neutral. The vehicles are always newer and better in school parking lots than in businesses in the community.
My mother was a college teacher and union rep. I have relatives and friends who are teachers. So you use of the word “delusional” really doesn’t add anytihng to your POV btw.
Also, the use of an aggressive, demeaning, and dismissive adjective towards another person is an example of the attitude parents are concerned with their kids being not only exposed to, but conditioned by, trained by. Educators job is also to train our children how to think, but that has been changed int not how to think, as in the process, but WHAT to think. And this is done by the heavy use of adjectives by them.
Yes, summers were off. I know as I see them during the summer and grew up w/them also during the summer.
