It's amazing how time flies when one is having a good time, and I have been having a good time... just elsewhere. I compile a weekly column on the web (www.bermansbits.com), an every-other-week print column (www.northcountrynewsnh.com [p.4]), and have a Berman's Bits Facebook page, which you are welcomed to look up, follow, and like. As a result, I haven't been here for months. Much of what would show up here shows up in one of the other aforementioned places but usually more abbreviated. Taking up other time is researching colleges for my daughter, doing battle with a financial company, various paperwork demands, power napping, and the minutia of everyday life.
For now, check out the other sites. There's a lot to say, but not here right now. Thanks for reading.
Later.
Friday, October 14, 2011
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
It Wasn't Bill Gates!
Worth a read (or reread).
Usually the email states: "Bill Gates (or another person of note) recently gave a speech at a high school about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept sets them up for failure in the real world." The statements below, in fact, come from Charles J. Sykes and were printed in the San Diego Union Tribune on September 19, 1996 and in a number of other publications since then. Sykes is the author of "Dumbing Down Our Kids", "50 Rules Kids Won't Learn in School", and several other books.
Sharp readers will note that the supposed list of 11 things below contains 14 statements (or so). It is possible that every time the list passed through someone else, a tweak occurred.
These days, as I scan through the posts of my FFF's on Facebook which have appeared since the last time I checked, I remember thinking about the kids I had in class who knew they knew everything showing how little they truly knew. I would think to myself, "Your future will be your punishment." Based on the oh, so screwed up lives they are still living, I was right. The drama exudes from their posts, and these kids (still children but in large bodies) are in the same place they were when in high school. Karma? Payback? Either way, they didn't learn then, and they still haven't. Too bad, so sad... except we are paying for it on many levels.
Some rules kids won't learn in school
Text By Charles J. Sykes
Usually the email states: "Bill Gates (or another person of note) recently gave a speech at a high school about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept sets them up for failure in the real world." The statements below, in fact, come from Charles J. Sykes and were printed in the San Diego Union Tribune on September 19, 1996 and in a number of other publications since then. Sykes is the author of "Dumbing Down Our Kids", "50 Rules Kids Won't Learn in School", and several other books.
Sharp readers will note that the supposed list of 11 things below contains 14 statements (or so). It is possible that every time the list passed through someone else, a tweak occurred.
These days, as I scan through the posts of my FFF's on Facebook which have appeared since the last time I checked, I remember thinking about the kids I had in class who knew they knew everything showing how little they truly knew. I would think to myself, "Your future will be your punishment." Based on the oh, so screwed up lives they are still living, I was right. The drama exudes from their posts, and these kids (still children but in large bodies) are in the same place they were when in high school. Karma? Payback? Either way, they didn't learn then, and they still haven't. Too bad, so sad... except we are paying for it on many levels.
Some rules kids won't learn in school
Text By Charles J. Sykes
Unfortunately, there are some things that children should be learning in school, but don't. Not all of them have to do with academics. As a modest back-to-school offering, here are some basic rules that may not have found their way into the standard curriculum.
Rule No. 1: Life is not fair. Get used to it. The average teen-ager uses the phrase, "It's not fair" 8.6 times a day. You got it from your parents, who said it so often you decided they must be the most idealistic generation ever. When they started hearing it from their own kids, they realized Rule No. 1.
Rule No. 2: The real world won't care as much about your self-esteem as much as your school does. It'll expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself. This may come as a shock. Usually, when inflated self-esteem meets reality, kids complain it's not fair. (See Rule No. 1)
Rule No. 3: Sorry, you won't make $40,000 a year right out of high school. And you won't be a vice president or have a car phone either. You may even have to wear a uniform that doesn't have a Gap label.
Rule No. 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait 'til you get a boss. He doesn't have tenure, so he tends to be a bit edgier. When you screw up, he's not going to ask you how you feel about it.
Rule No. 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grand-parents had a different word of burger flipping. They called it opportunity. They weren't embarrassed making minimum wage either. They would have been embarrassed to sit around talking about Kurt Cobain all weekend.
Rule No. 6: It's not your parents' fault. If you screw up, you are responsible. This is the flip side of "It's my life," and "You're not the boss of me," and other eloquent proclamations of your generation. When you turn 18, it's on your dime. Don't whine about it, or you'll sound like a baby boomer.
Rule No. 7: Before you were born your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way paying your bills, cleaning up your room and listening to you tell them how idealistic you are. And by the way, before you save the rain forest from the blood-sucking parasites of your parents' generation, try delousing the closet in your bedroom.
Rule No. 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers. Life hasn't. In some schools, they'll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. Failing grades have been abolished and class valedictorians scrapped, lest anyone's feelings be hurt. Effort is as important as results. This, of course, bears not the slightest resemblance to anything in real life. (See Rule No. 1, Rule No. 2 and Rule No. 4)
Rule No. 9: Life is not divided into semesters, and you don't get summers off. Not even Easter break. They expect you to show up every day. For eight hours. And you don't get a new life every 10 weeks. It just goes on and on. While we're at it, very few jobs are interesting in fostering your self-expression or helping you find yourself. Fewer still lead to self-realization. (See Rule No. 1 and Rule No. 2.)
Rule No. 10: Television is not real life. Your life is not a sitcom. Your problems will not all be solved in 30 minutes, minus time for commercials. In real life, people actually have to leave the coffee shop to go to jobs. Your friends will not be as perky or pliable as Jennifer Aniston.
Rule No. 11: Be nice to nerds. You may end up working for them. We all could.
Rule No. 12: Smoking does not make you look cool. It makes you look moronic. Next time you're out cruising, watch an 11-year-old with a butt in his mouth. That's what you look like to anyone over 20. Ditto for "expressing yourself" with purple hair and/or pierced body parts.
Rule No. 13: You are not immortal. (See Rule No. 12.) If you are under the impression that living fast, dying young and leaving a beautiful corpse is romantic, you obviously haven't seen one of your peers at room temperature lately.
Rule No. 14: Enjoy this while you can. Sure parents are a pain, school's a bother, and life is depressing. But someday you'll realize how wonderful it was to be a kid. Maybe you should start now.
Rule No. 15: You don't get stupid in high school. (Added by yours truly)Sunday, January 2, 2011
Hi Ho, Hi Ho....
I guess it's about that time - I promised myself that after the first of they year, I would look for a part-time job. The reasons are complex, but the short of it is (1) my health insurance went up $200 a month (bringing my share to $1100 a month), which effectively cuts my retirement "income" in half, and (2) my daughter got a car, and I got the payment. As her current job is to help reduce barn fees for her horse, besides the payment, I also have to kick in for gas and insurance. I also could use some structure in my life.
In a way, teaching spoiled me. While I often described teaching as jumping on a treadmill and not slowing down until it was over, I feel I was still organized enough to get 'stuff' done. Now, with all kinds of time, I often find it difficult to get motivated.
So, what am I looking for? I don't have a clue. I can probably list hundreds of things I don't want (including public school education), but I really don't know what I do want. I can offer a few guidelines. First, I would like something that doesn't have to replace me if I'm sick or unable to make it in. It was often more trouble to stay out than go in if I was sick when teaching. We had to send in lesson plans that sometimes actually got done (I heard that sometimes the sub nodded off). The subs meant well, but they couldn't know what was on my mind or needed to be passed along.
I would like a positive, collegial atmosphere - not a place that is run by fear and intimidation. I am comfortable working in a people-oriented atmosphere (as opposed to working with things or numbers). I am pretty good with the spoken and written word and am friendly and outgoing. I know I am not a corporate type!
Two possibilities are (1) a personal speech or writing coach (or editor, but I am not sure the demand exists), and (2) a PLC (Personal Life Counselor). That second one has some real possibilities. As one who currently spends too much time on FaceBook, I see a real need for such a calling. There are so many little children in grown-up bodies who don't have a clue about what it means to be a responsible adult. They need the wisdom and guidance they never received growing up - really. They let Life happen to them and have no control to make anything otherwise. As I just posted as a FB status: "God gives every bird its food, but He does not throw it into its nest." J.G. Holland. So many have learned not to do anything because The System will give them what they need (and sometimes want). Not to be crude, they have mastered the art of sucking the public teat.Usually people are wild in and just after their high school years, but sooner or later, they are supposed to grow up instead of continually being immersed in their "daily drama!" There are so many I feel I could help guide along. No, I am not a miracle worker, but I could help so many make their lives better.
It's late enough that I have to close for now. I will either add more later or edit this. Thanks for reading.
In a way, teaching spoiled me. While I often described teaching as jumping on a treadmill and not slowing down until it was over, I feel I was still organized enough to get 'stuff' done. Now, with all kinds of time, I often find it difficult to get motivated.
So, what am I looking for? I don't have a clue. I can probably list hundreds of things I don't want (including public school education), but I really don't know what I do want. I can offer a few guidelines. First, I would like something that doesn't have to replace me if I'm sick or unable to make it in. It was often more trouble to stay out than go in if I was sick when teaching. We had to send in lesson plans that sometimes actually got done (I heard that sometimes the sub nodded off). The subs meant well, but they couldn't know what was on my mind or needed to be passed along.
I would like a positive, collegial atmosphere - not a place that is run by fear and intimidation. I am comfortable working in a people-oriented atmosphere (as opposed to working with things or numbers). I am pretty good with the spoken and written word and am friendly and outgoing. I know I am not a corporate type!
Two possibilities are (1) a personal speech or writing coach (or editor, but I am not sure the demand exists), and (2) a PLC (Personal Life Counselor). That second one has some real possibilities. As one who currently spends too much time on FaceBook, I see a real need for such a calling. There are so many little children in grown-up bodies who don't have a clue about what it means to be a responsible adult. They need the wisdom and guidance they never received growing up - really. They let Life happen to them and have no control to make anything otherwise. As I just posted as a FB status: "God gives every bird its food, but He does not throw it into its nest." J.G. Holland. So many have learned not to do anything because The System will give them what they need (and sometimes want). Not to be crude, they have mastered the art of sucking the public teat.Usually people are wild in and just after their high school years, but sooner or later, they are supposed to grow up instead of continually being immersed in their "daily drama!" There are so many I feel I could help guide along. No, I am not a miracle worker, but I could help so many make their lives better.
It's late enough that I have to close for now. I will either add more later or edit this. Thanks for reading.
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