You've Got To Be Freaking Kidding Me

[de-evoproject]

To me, this is just another example of the American ideal of, "If you can't get the children and parents working hard enough to meet the education standard, lower the standards."

Freakin retarded. if they were doing this with heavy metal, country or rock music, it would be about how "the white man" is forcing his culture on everybody else, blah, blah, blah.

Whatever happened to, "Here's your vocabulary book. Sit down, read it, learn the words, their usage, meaning and spelling and be ready to test Friday. if you fail you don't move on next year."?

Too many kids out there thinkin they are "gangsta" and "ballas" already, acting like freaking idiots and failing to become productive members of society. And instead of teaching them this is moronic and to be frowned upon, we are adding it to the educational system as a good thing.

I'm all for trying to make education interesting and engaging but it SHOULD be work and shouldn't all be easy. Making kids work for it a bit teaches them the value of work and that things won't always be handed to them in some easy to swallow pill form and they may have to put some time and sweat into getting what they want.

 

[Bill of Rights]

How much do any of you know about the actual CURRICULUM of this project? Just because a song is called "Old Dead White Guy" you think... well, you think what?? What does the song say?

If it says "Washington is just an old dead white guy" then OK, I agree, it's bad. If it says "Washington is this old dead white guy who did X, Y and Z" then maybe it will snag some interest and someone will actually learn something they wouldn't have. How do you know they're dumbing anything down?

By the way, if you think the curriculum you learned in school isn't SEVERELY dumbed down compared to what most Europeans and many others are taught at the same age, wake up.

And if you want a study of modern American social history without addressing the influence of hip-hop and rap (right or wrong), think again. Even most rock music is heavily influenced by hip-hop now.

Mind you, I'm not coming out in defense of racism or sexism in hip-hop music or saying we should flood children's minds with it. But it is a reality of our culture and a significant form of music and poetry. To hide from it is silly.

Maybe this program is totally evil. I just haven't seen anything to make me condemn it. I almost wouldn't believe it but... do all of you find this..."politically incorrect?" Whoa.

 

[Bill of Rights]

if they were doing this with heavy metal, country or rock music, it would be about how "the white man" is forcing his culture on everybody else, blah, blah, blah.

You can't be serious. You think rock music has never been used as a tool in education? And you think "rock" is white culture? OK, man.

Whatever happened to, "Here's your vocabulary book. Sit down, read it, learn the words, their usage, meaning and spelling and be ready to test Friday. if you fail you don't move on next year."?

It produced the most failed and inequitable education systems in the industrialized world.

edit: public education in the US never had to dumbed down. Check out Gatto's first book, it's free on the website.
http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/underground/index.htm

 

[lockoutmonkey]

These are some of the reasons that I wish that the vouchers would be allowed. We homeschool our 7 year-old son because of this ********. Eric Procter is our local rep. and even he won't address this issue. He sends me personal notes and says he is concerned and wishes things were better. VOTE NO ON THE STATE QUESTION 744(I THIN THAT'S THE RIGHT NUMBER).

 

[de-evoproject]

You can't be serious. You think rock music has never been used as a tool in education? And you think "rock" is white culture? OK, man.

Not what i said, I said if they were using rock, metal or country that would be the sentiment. Thats how most people view it at the moment.

And as a tool in education, i haven't seen any officially instituted programs in K-12 public schools that force rock music into the core curriculum to teach the base subjects like math, science, grammar and literature. Specialize classes, electives, college and private school course, yes. But not like this program is moving towards.

Beside, using a form of music that leans heavily towards using a bastardized and butchered form of the english language to teach grammar and/or vocabulary just screams counter-intuitive.

It produced the most failed and inequitable education systems in the industrialized world.

edit: public education in the US never had to dumbed down. Check out Gatto's first book, it's free on the website.
http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/underground/index.htm

The only reason that the hard work system fails is because parents and teachers fail to push the children, get involved in their education and instill discipline and good work ethic.

Its pretty evident if you look at the public schools with higher test scores and overall student GPA versus schools with lower scores. The higher ranking schools have the parents that are more involved in their children's educations, drive their children to sucess and have the more committed and involved teachers that actually take an interest in the kids they teach.

I've seen this over and over from a first hand viewpoint as a student. My family ended up moving alot when i was in school and went to everything from bottom of the pile, backwoods, hillbilly run cesspools of education to schools in nicer neighborhoods with more involved and intelligent families that knew involvement was the key to their child's education.

Same "here's your book, study it and pass the test" mentality, VERY different results.

Nobody had to dumb down my vocabulary, algebra or physics classes to a remedial sing-song slang ridden game for me to actually take an interest in learning it and not failing. I scored almost straight A's because my dad was constantly making sure i did my homework, studied for test and quizzed me regularly on what i was learning to make sure i knew what i was doing. It was made very clear to me that taking my education for granted was NOT OK. That coupled with my personal drive to suceed and do well (instilled by my parents) drove me to a high GPA, taking Honors and AP classes and getting the most out of my education.

 

[Batman47]

This reminds me of when they tried to make ebonics an official language.

Can't fix stupid....

Thats for sure.

 

[BadgeBunny]

These are some of the reasons that I wish that the vouchers would be allowed. We homeschool our 7 year-old son because of this ********. Eric Procter is our local rep. and even he won't address this issue. He sends me personal notes and says he is concerned and wishes things were better. VOTE NO ON THE STATE QUESTION 744(I THIN THAT'S THE RIGHT NUMBER).

Gosh, I feel for you. I see stuff on the news and hear things the neighbor's with little ones have to say and am really grateful that my kids are grown.

Yep, 744 is the right number.

 

[lockoutmonkey]

I agree with de-evoproject in that My father and mother took an active role in my education so I am trying to do the same with my son. It is a lot of work, but it's worth every minute of it.
B.B. and others got to meet him at last years Thunderbird shoot and swap meet. He speaks for himself.

 

[DaveTec]

Bottom line is that Rap music, the entire thug mentality, especially gangsta rap is straight up out of the gangs.... Dre, Snoop, all the other gangsta rap stars have heavy gang influence. What that does is it show the young gang members and the rest of the children in general that it's somehow OKAY to be in the gang. It legitimizes the gang culture. "Well look how good Snoop has done! I wanna be just like him." Substitute "Snoop" for your favorite gangsta rapper.

School administrators, police, parents and pastors are all fighting to eliminate the gang mentality from our schools. Now this? Who's driving the decisions on this type of BS? I would invite them to talk with the headmaster of the Seaworth Academy here in OKC.

They would leave there with a whole different attitude toward schooling our children.

.ps do you know how girls get in and out of the gang? You really want your daughter "sleeped in"?

/boiling mad

 

[GOTOGUY]

Yah made it sound like Ebonics,
it ain't no such thang,
if the spellin's correct,
who ya gonna blame?

For real, doh, teachers and students have been puttin' learning to rhyme, giving it a beat, for a while now. What do you think poetry is all about? In fact, if if want to remember something, you put it in a song. Make it fun, yes, give it a beat, but you don't have to "dumb it down." Yo!

BTW, you guys sound like your parents when they reacted to Rock in the 50's.