Fat Boy

This is exactly right. I was a hot-shot kid in high-school with all the grades and all the test scores. I went to engineering school and was blown out of the water in mathematics. I had to go back to square one on the math side. I thought I was ready for calculus 1. Ha! I had to go back to Algebra and really go to work. I made it and got my Mechanical Engineering degree, but not because of my high school training.

I still wouldn't say I'm strong in math. I'm OK. I can muddle through things into differential equations and upper level statistics, but I've know too many real math whizz types to have any delusions of grandeur.

hammy56

shovelhd

I forgot all of that stuff.

mollusk

Love that movie.

It is very funny when I talk to my wife about HS. She went to a really "nice" suburban HS outside Cincinnati (Indian Hill) and I went to a "hell-hole" Chicago public HS. When she went to school on Monday it was all about "who was seen with whom" over the weekend, but when I arrived at school on Monday it was always "who was shot" over the weekend.

big john

I'm not only a product of the Los Angeles Unified School District, I worked there teaching automotive classes about a thousand years ago. I would get the talk from administrators, "just pass student x so we can get him out of the system".
me: "He never comes to class". them: "We don't care".
We had students graduate who could not read, not a bit.

TMonk

roadiejorge 

My parents sent my sister and I to private school and looking back on it I'm glad they did because the public schools in my neighborhood were terrible. I think they spent most of their time cutting classes so they can go out and beat up kids from other schools. In a way I'm grateful because I learned how to defend myself pretty well as a result. Thanks dirt bag PS187 kids!

mollusk

The "good" engineering schools in the US are "world class" at the graduate level. That expectation trickles down to the undergraduate teaching because we know that "our" (US) best should be as good as their (China, India, Korea) best. It is a big surprise to US undergrads when they step in the classroom and now the bar has been lifted a lot higher. The US students were used to getting "A's" for dong very little. That doesn't cut it any more.

wens

I think the return on the time i invested in going to school 9 months a year for 13 years is piss poor. There's gotta be a better way.

mollusk

When I was young I got a lot more education from reading books from the public library than I ever did at school. And that includes most of my math and science courses. I will make an exception for my HS Geometry class because my instructor was VERY good. (Ms. Curran ?)

Hermes

I purchased a pair of Specialized S-Works today and they fit perfectly. Previously, I used the Shimano R 310 that were heated and molded to my feet. I just weighed the S-Works and they weigh 350 gm with my custom orthotics. The R310s weigh 424 gm. I will take the 148 gm thank you very much Specialized. That has to be worth at least 5 seconds off my benchmark hill climb. The exterior design may be faster for TTs than with booties.

Fat Boy

LAUSD is one of the worst school district in the nation, but for sure, the state. You can blame the teachers and the administrators, there certainly are fingers to point in that direction, but I really only put maybe 30-40% at their doorstep. The real issue is the children's parents. If the parents push a child to succeed, that child will succeed. You see it time and time again.

My children go to a school with a lot of Asian kids. Many have parents who can't even speak English all that well. You know what, though? They get damned good grades in school. Those parents do not take 'no' for an answer. They push each other and pull the level of the whole group up. It's sad to say, but other sub-cultures just do not see the importance of an education, and their children suffer because of it. You can see it in the test scores, school demographics and attendance rates.

You can say that this person or that person wasn't dealt a fair hand in life. Well, many of the Asian parents (and grandparents) I'm talking about had to GTFO of Vietnam in the 70's. They had nothing, didn't know the language and didn't know the culture. They certainly didn't have it easy. They worked like hell and have made a much brighter future for themselves and their children. There are some really good stories there.

big john

The parents are the key, that's for sure.

echappist

that's just another stereotype of the model minority along with the Jewish model minority. Frankly, it's just the opposite extreme that parents adopt. Neither the "i don't care about my kids' grades" approach nor the "you'll get punished for not getting an A" approach are ideal.

Crash716

Just spent a while on youtube watching videos of the Mazda 787B..love that car.

caloso

A few years ago the California ass'n of homeschoolers had a convention in Sacto and they were so offended by a statue of Poseidon -- gift from a sister city in Greece -- that they tried to clothe it.



What was worse was that some functionary at City Hall gave them permission to do it.

botto 

is that pat in the green pants?

kensuf

ahh, SNL's not that funny anymore.

caloso

One benefit of working in an Islamic country is that the weekend arrives a day earlier.

botto 

not always the case.

patentcad

They have been saying that for over 30 years. The show has never really changed. It's clearly a winning formula. Hopefully the show thrives for another 30 years, and people will be saying 'SNL's not that funny anymore' until I'm at least 85.

substructure

The lyrics were:

well, she blew uptown on a cemetery sound
and wore her leather pants for week, yeah
a canteen butcher got tiger teeth
and a handmade circus freak, yeah

But I've been singing:

well, she blew uptown on a cemetery sound
and wore her leather pants for week, yeah
a caffeine butcher got tiger teeth
and a handmade circus freak, yeah

I feel like such an idiot.

kensuf

It goes through cycles. I thought it was pretty good as recently as 3 years ago, but over the last two years, whenever I've watched it I just scratched my head.

It just depends on the cast. Anyone who thinks that the Tina Fey / Amy Poehler / Phil Hartman / Darrell Hammond / Will Farrell years were bad for SNL was not paying attention. Schwetty Balls anyone? How about cheering for those Trojans? And although it was post Fey years, those Palin impersonations are priceless.

But of the current cast, the only ones I find remotely funny are Andy Samberg (mostly for his musical shorts), Kristin Wiig, and Kenan Thompson. Seth Meyers needs to quit doing the weekend update, he just sucks, period.

hammy56

IMO- funniest era of SNL: Will Ferrell.

gsteinb

kids. sigh.