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fatmidwesternwhiteguy's comments:
on Classes To Cut
Here here. There was one fat kid in my school. Uno. That's it. She probably wouldn't even be considered fat anymore by modern standards. Now that we have all of these professional PE teachers with their very advanced curriculum, things should be better right? Let the classroom teachers teach PE and let's not expect the schools to fix every single problem we face. If parents are feeding their kids fast food 5 times a week and feeding them packaged food from the freezer section of the grocery store the other two days out of the week, there is only so much that the schools can do.
posted 2 years, 11 months ago
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on Classes To Cut
Did I miss the boom? Seems the schools were poor mouthing and laying off teachers all through the last decade and a half.
posted 2 years, 11 months ago
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on Classes To Cut
I suspect that PE teachers will be banashed to Earth 2 billion years before its next explosion, with no one for company save the rejects from another planet, including public telephone cleaners and the like.
posted 2 years, 11 months ago
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on Classes To Cut
Beaverton parents suggested the same thing. Donations can't be used to fund teacher positions. Red tape.
posted 2 years, 11 months ago
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on Classes To Cut
There are many studies the demonstrate the strong positive effects of exercise on learning, retention, etc. Google is your friend.
posted 2 years, 11 months ago
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on Classes To Cut
Oh come on! I absolutely reject this notion that classroom teachers can't effectively teach PE. I reject the assertion that this has never been done successfully before. How quickly we forget what life was like not that long ago, when a much less consumer oriented society without 4 dollar lattes, gas guzzling SUVs, energy sucking big screen TVs, eating out 4 nights per week....and we still managed to offer band and orchestra starting in 4th grade, still managed to teach kids art, still managed to provide quality PE instruction. But now....NOW...we have to have specially trained teachers to teach PE? I encourage ALL OF YOU to visit a school and watch the highly trained PE instructor and TELL ME...how different that instruction really is from what you remember getting from your classroom teacher when you were a kid? My prediction? It won't be different!!!
posted 2 years, 11 months ago
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on Classes To Cut
I went to grade school in the early 70's in Minnesota in a small farm town. Nobody had much money. Everyone lived in modest homes and drove modest domestic cars (no McMansions, no BMW and Mercedes SUV's). Yet somehow we were able to afford PE, art, band, sports, the whole bit. How? Well, our classroom teacher was also the PE teacher. When it came time for PE, we lined up single file behind the teacher and walked outdoors or to the gym where the regular classroom teacher tought us the fundamentals of basketball, field hockey, etc. It wasn't until middle school were we had dedicated PE teachers. Also, we are constrained by red tape in how we can fund our schools. If parents wanted to get together and donate money to the schools, they can't do it. At least that is what we are told out in Beaverton, since parent donations aren't a reliable source of funding year to year. So, even though you get a thousand parents willing to give 5 grand each to the school, the school can't use it to keep a teacher.
posted 2 years, 11 months ago
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on GM Declares Bankruptcy
Scotmil, that is my point about GM not producing "product" that people like. If we stick to the facts only, this is what we know about GM:
1) GM quality, reliability, and longevity are equal or better than German and Japanese makers. Buick ranks highest above the statistical dead heat with Lexus.
2) The public, for the most part, doesn't know this.
3) GM has missed the mark with building product that people want (apart from the extremely popular large SUV's)
4) GM is now, call it too little too late, finally offering product that is attractive to traditional foreign car buyers. Unfortunately, there are only a few of these models out of the 140 or so models they sell.
5) The junker you bought for 400 dollars in college with 200k miles and questionable service history should not be compared to a brand new Honda.
posted 3 years, 11 months ago
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on GM Declares Bankruptcy
An additional point on government aid. A quick google search on Toyota will reveal that it has been receiving government aid from "Japan Inc". The same is true of the German manufacturers.
posted 3 years, 11 months ago
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on GM Declares Bankruptcy
Anecdotes are worthless slakr007. You need to look at real statistics. If it's a battle of the anecdotes, my current Honda is the least reliable vehicle I've ever owned, and the only Japanese car I've ever owned (made in Japan). Do I claim that Hondas are not reliable? No, I don't. The AC in the Honda has been replaced 3 times. None of my domestic cars ever needed the AC replaced. Gosh, this "decades old technology" ought to work wouldn't you think?
posted 3 years, 11 months ago
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on GM Declares Bankruptcy
It's already a fact that GM vehicles are already and for the most part, always have been more reliable than German cars. And the statistics show that they have caught up to the Japanese manufacturers for the last several years. The issue isn't product quality anymore. The issue is no longer compelling product and overcoming negative perceptions.
posted 3 years, 11 months ago
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on GM Declares Bankruptcy
Cars a bit of a hobby of mine, so I wonder where you get your information on what innovations have been developed by GM subsidiaries, and that the parent company hasn't developed anything. This sounds to me like "non car-guy conventional wisdom". The type of guy who shops Camry and Accord only. I could be wrong. Magnetic ride control, for example, was invented and pioneered by GM on the Corvette and is only now being used in other makes. For example.
posted 3 years, 11 months ago
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on GM Declares Bankruptcy
I would love to see GM be a successful business again. It has been frustrating to watch the company miss the mark from a product perspective for all 41 years of my life. Even as their quality improved to be equal or better than the foreign competitors, the product itself missed the mark and continued to lose market. Now that they finally have interesting product in some segments, they've burned through the good will they once had. The few GM loyalists left are not enough to support the size and number of brands that GM had in their glory days.
As a smaller company without the legacy baggage that may have been realistic for the company with the market share it had 40 years ago, they will be able to focus on making a few cars well instead of the 130 plus confusing models they offer now.
posted 3 years, 11 months ago
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on Sentencing and Spending
Yes Yes!! Abuse of the ballot measure system is the REAL issue here.
posted 4 years ago
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on Sentencing and Spending
Hear hear!!
posted 4 years ago
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on Sentencing and Spending
As a head of a household on a limited budget, I'm forced to set priorities and make harsh decisions on what I can fund for the household. It seems that the state government compartmentalizes money in order to avoid setting priorities. My personal priority list looks something like this:
1) Kids
2) Kids
3) Kids
4) Kids
5) Kids
6) Kids
7) Kids
8) Kids
9) Wife
10) me
In other words, I would sacrifice absolutely everything in order to ensure that my children are not harmed or affected in any way by the economic downturn. Their enrichment, education, nutrition, health, etc. trump absolutely everything else, end of story. Once I have that clear eyed priority, the other decisions, although highly impactful, are not difficult to make. I believe that as a collective, we Oregonians need to have a similar set of priorities.
posted 4 years ago
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on Closer to Cuts
I think this balance is achievable. At one point, our society did invest heavily in public infrastructure that created an environment in which first world industries and jobs could be created and thrive. I believe reason will prevail eventually. Right now though, I see too many ideologues on both sides unwilling to bridge the gap. The culture wars and class wars are getting in the way of problem solving.
I see Obama as someone who, if the Pelosi's and the talk show conservatives of the world don't sabotage his efforts, could bring about a neo "age of reason". Here's to hoping.
posted 4 years ago
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on Closer to Cuts
By labeling my statement "trickle down", you attempt to discredit the point without really addressing the argument.
What seemed implied in your original comment was a resentment that someone could afford the Ferrari or Maserati in the first place. You implied it was objectionable that someone would drive a Ferrari when others are suffering. That they should wait to flaunt their wealth until others are not suffering. Let's put aside for a moment the FACT that there are always people who are poor and suffering. And while we're waiting for the rich to start spending money...or rather, while they wait for us to give them the queue that it is socially acceptable for them to spend their money again on items that we decide are tasteful enough, let's take their money away from them by force and give it to the folks who are suffering.
I was simply pointing out that the reason the economy is contracting is because consumers stopped buying stuff, for many reasons. The last thing we need is for the peope who can still afford to buy stuff to also not buy stuff. The economy wouldn't just slow down, it would grind to a halt. You also seemed to ignore the fact that Ferrari's are already subject to a severe luxury tax.
Also, you seemed to miss the joke about Ferrari's being effective ways of separating the Rich from their money. If you want to separate the Rich from their money, I argue that there are more creative ways of doing it than taxing them. Enzo Ferrari came up with his idea. What's yours?
posted 4 years ago
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on Closer to Cuts
ic. thanks for the clarification.
posted 4 years ago
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on Closer to Cuts
People who get up in arms about corporations not paying taxes should ask themselves what a corporation is, and what happens to the profit. Any profit derived from the corporation that is realized as income to a human being must be taxed!! Now, we can have a discussion about overseas income and how that money is transferred to the US and when. We can talk about corporate deductions that are used to give material benefit to individuals. But the fact that a "corporation" doesn't pay taxes doesn't make it evil.
posted 4 years ago
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