(08-10-2010 07:51 AM)Rebel Wrote:  50's standards seemed to work out, didn't they? ..and no, I don't mean 50's education, I mean 50's educational practices.

The big difference is that in the 1950s the teachers were allowed to smack any kid who backtalked them. If they tried that today, they'd be fired and sued...

(08-10-2010 04:11 PM)flyingswoosh Wrote:  don't have air conditioning? wow

Growing up we went from the last week of August through the first week of June. The first week of school was a little hot, but usually it cooled off a week or two into school enough that it was bearable. I don't ever remember having an issue in June.

The cost to the school systems in the north will be immense, especially if this becomes another NCLB. Talk about a lot of pissed off voters when the schools have to go to them for nothing more than A/C.

- "Back in my day, we didn't have these fancy, schmancy things called air conditioning. We'd sweat at home, we sweat at work. That's the way it wuz, and we liked it!"

Quote:But those taking competitive exams, like the AHSME, might have some complaints.

Just to be annoying and nitpick, the first round of USAMO qualifying became the AMC-12 and AMC-10 my freshman year in HS. You're dating yourself with your math contest background!

(08-10-2010 06:50 PM)bitcruncher Wrote:  

(08-10-2010 07:51 AM)Rebel Wrote:  50's standards seemed to work out, didn't they? ..and no, I don't mean 50's education, I mean 50's educational practices.

The big difference is that in the 1950s the teachers were allowed to smack any kid who backtalked them. If they tried that today, they'd be fired and sued...

Yep, and they should be able to today. Problem is, too many dumb*** parents side with the kid. My parents NEVER sided with me.

Oh, and AC? I didn't have that **** until I went to Jr. High. I STILL learned. Do any of you idiots think learning in this country JUST started with the invention of the Air Conditioner?

(08-10-2010 11:29 PM)Rebel Wrote:  

(08-10-2010 06:50 PM)bitcruncher Wrote:  

(08-10-2010 07:51 AM)Rebel Wrote:  50's standards seemed to work out, didn't they? ..and no, I don't mean 50's education, I mean 50's educational practices.

The big difference is that in the 1950s the teachers were allowed to smack any kid who backtalked them. If they tried that today, they'd be fired and sued...

Yep, and they should be able to today. Problem is, too many dumb*** parents side with the kid. My parents NEVER sided with me.

Oh, and AC? I didn't have that **** until I went to Jr. High. I STILL learned. Do any of you idiots think learning in this country JUST started with the invention of the Air Conditioner?

ok you need to calm down. of course we don't think that, but what you don't seem to realize is that it was easier to go to a school without air conditioning because it wasn't as pervasive as it is now. I'm used to air conditioning to the point that i can't live without it. People in the 50s didn't mind that their cars didn't have air conditioning, but someone like me would never be able to handle it.

(08-10-2010 11:29 PM)Rebel Wrote:  Oh, and AC? I didn't have that **** until I went to Jr. High. I STILL learned. Do any of you idiots think learning in this country JUST started with the invention of the Air Conditioner?

Did you go to school all summer long? I don't think so.

My junior high school had 2 windows to a classroom, each 2 foot by 6 foot... giving maybe a 3 foot window opening. Fan did not cool the rooms down in anyway. It was built to keep heat in during the winter, which it did (and still does) very effectively.

I honestly would expect that school to be hotter than the outside temperature during July and early August if it were full of students.

(08-11-2010 07:22 AM)flyingswoosh Wrote:  ok you need to calm down. of course we don't think that, but what you don't seem to realize is that it was easier to go to a school without air conditioning because it wasn't as pervasive as it is now. I'm used to air conditioning to the point that i can't live without it. People in the 50s didn't mind that their cars didn't have air conditioning, but someone like me would never be able to handle it.

Heh... my A/C went out in the Spring and I am too cheap to fix it. I just said screw it... I drive with the windows down. Of course, my wife's car would have been immediately fixed as I wouldn't want to hear her whine about it. :)

(08-11-2010 08:56 AM)mlb Wrote:  

(08-11-2010 07:22 AM)flyingswoosh Wrote:  ok you need to calm down. of course we don't think that, but what you don't seem to realize is that it was easier to go to a school without air conditioning because it wasn't as pervasive as it is now. I'm used to air conditioning to the point that i can't live without it. People in the 50s didn't mind that their cars didn't have air conditioning, but someone like me would never be able to handle it.

Heh... my A/C went out in the Spring and I am too cheap to fix it. I just said screw it... I drive with the windows down. Of course, my wife's car would have been immediately fixed as I wouldn't want to hear her whine about it. :)

well i don't know how you do it. It'd take me a long time to get used to it. Hell, i can't even sleep unless my room is freezing

(08-10-2010 11:29 PM)Rebel Wrote:  

(08-10-2010 06:50 PM)bitcruncher Wrote:  

(08-10-2010 07:51 AM)Rebel Wrote:  50's standards seemed to work out, didn't they? ..and no, I don't mean 50's education, I mean 50's educational practices.

The big difference is that in the 1950s the teachers were allowed to smack any kid who backtalked them. If they tried that today, they'd be fired and sued...

Yep, and they should be able to today. Problem is, too many dumb*** parents side with the kid. My parents NEVER sided with me.

Oh, and AC? I didn't have that **** until I went to Jr. High. I STILL learned. Do any of you idiots think learning in this country JUST started with the invention of the Air Conditioner?

The parents won't discipline their kids, and the teachers aren't allowed to. How can anyone teach in that kind of environment? When I was a kid, if the teacher complained about me, my father would slap me into the next week, after mom shook me around for a while...

I didn't have AC until Junior High either, Reb. I went to a one room school for the first 6 years of my education. I was also the only person in my grade all 6 years too. AC was open windows, and heat was a pot bellied stove in the back of the room. They tore the school down the year I finished elementary school. There's a Harley shop there now...

(08-10-2010 09:30 PM)UT Ceng Owl Wrote:  

Quote:But those taking competitive exams, like the AHSME, might have some complaints.

Just to be annoying and nitpick, the first round of USAMO qualifying became the AMC-12 and AMC-10 my freshman year in HS. You're dating yourself with your math contest background!

Yeah, but looking good is the best revenge.

Schools that offer AP courses or other courses with national exams can deal with it by keeping the end of their school year in late May and just moving up the start of the school year.

One thing I haven't seen discussed is the impact on students who take summer classes-students who fail a class during the year might not be able to catch up over the summer like they could in years past. Eliminating summer school might seem like a financial relief to school systems at first, but those students might now be around 4.5-5 years instead of 4 years.

Here in Louisville, we lose a number of school days to winter weather; the only drawback is those are usually in late January and early February, which would really need to be around the end of the third quarter to guarantee a finish by Memorial Day.

When I went to elementary school in Mobile, we started in September and finished in early June. The bigger concern there was mid-season hurricanes (i.e. Ivan, Katrina). Once I switched to a private school for grades 6-12, it was August-May. I got 3 days for Mardi Gras in elementary school, and a full week in middle and high school, which is not something most school systems across the country have to address in making their calendars.

There is one school system in Kentucky that has four day school weeks (Tuesday-Friday)-they added 1 hour to the school day and 1 week to the school year, but were able to move all of the professional development days to Monday, and avoid dealing with many of the Monday holidays. The biggest savings came in cutting back on busing students by nearly 20%, which was really important when gas was $4.15 per gallon.

(08-12-2010 12:05 AM)chargeradio Wrote:  One thing I haven't seen discussed is the impact on students who take summer classes-students who fail a class during the year might not be able to catch up over the summer like they could in years past. Eliminating summer school might seem like a financial relief to school systems at first, but those students might now be around 4.5-5 years instead of 4 years.

A number of schools are moving from semesters to a trimester system in Michigan. You tend to have fewer classes each day, but slightly longer periods to get through the material in a 12 week trimester instead of an 18 week semester. Students can get in 3 extra classes each year in my district, making more opportunities to retake classes, take more electives, do a work-study, or graduate early.

My high school used a modular time system on a 6 day schedule. If you missed a day of school, it didn't matter. You just picked up where you left off. It was always somewhere between day 1 and day 6. The module lengths varied by year. Each year was different. The first year was 17 minute mods, then 15, then 20. Classes would take anywhere from 2 to 4 mods, depending on the class (and length of module). Most were 3 mods long. I think every experimental system that came down the pike was tried on me at one time or another...

How many remember the new math?