THE RANT THREAD!

[Corvus]

Re: THE RANT THREAD!

I'm graduating next week and my senior English class did a lesson on parts of speech two weeks ago because people genuinely did not know things like verb, noun, adverb, adjective or what the predicate of a sentence was. I'm constantly flabbergasted by how downright illiterate some high school students appear to be. I mean it's one thing to do some things wrong every so often, or incorporate (understandable) vernacular that may not be technically correct but there a line that needs to be drawn. This isn't even considering that we seem to be reading books written at a 9th/10th grade reading level and people still complain over how difficult it is. The hardest book we read in class this year was Mary Shelly's Frankenstein and people did so bad with it. Our 11th grade teacher was better about meeting the needs of kids actually reading on grade level but I feel standards are rather low when it comes to reading. Supposedly my state has one of the better education systems in the country and that worries me very much.

Also, the proper way to do an oral presentation is not to stand with your side to the audience, never make eye contact and read from a power point. I apologize if I'm being insensitive or rude but I'm honestly disappointed in my education.

[DON]

Re: THE RANT THREAD!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEho8y3z4hU

[ChainLightning]

Re: THE RANT THREAD!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEho8y3z4hU

I don't know if your rant was this message, or not, but "this video is not available in your country" is definitely rantworthy.

[iflewoverthecuckoosnest]

Re: THE RANT THREAD!

My parents are driving me a little batty with their reactions to me moving out and becoming employed.
I understand them being a bit worried, but virtually every word that comes out of their mouths is negative. They make mountains of molehills and it's extremely insulting. The house we are most likely to move into is only about 10-15 minutes away from where I live now, but apparently I'm "moving up into the snow! How will you get to college when it snows?!" "Well, snow chains, Mom." "You don't know how to put those on! You don't have enough experience!" "I can learn." "Cars go right off the road! I think you should just stay here when it snows." And on and on.
If it's not the snow, it's the fact that I'll never be able to pass my classes and work part time on the weekends, or the fact that I have a chinchilla (which doesn't even matter because the place we're looking at is 100% pet friendly). No matter what I say, they keep tossing out infantalizing excuses for why I won't be able to handle the big, bad world of living with two room mates about 15 minutes down the road near a duck pond.
The fact that they are so dismissive of the idea that I could possibly have basic competence skills and capacities for adjustment and learning pisses me straight the eff off. Sure, it'll be stressful, but if they really think I'm not determined and intelligent enough to make it work, they must not know who they were raising this whole time.

[Hawkfeathers]

Re: THE RANT THREAD!

^^^ Just go and do it. Do NOT tell them any minor problems you encounter (and you will encounter some) - just make it work. Transitioning into an adult relationship with one's parents is a minefield. I managed it OK with my father but my mother never stopped her undermining ways. It's not about YOU, it's about THEM.

[MoonRaven]

Re: THE RANT THREAD!

My parents are driving me a little batty with their reactions to me moving out and becoming employed.
I understand them being a bit worried, but virtually every word that comes out of their mouths is negative. They make mountains of molehills and it's extremely insulting. The house we are most likely to move into is only about 10-15 minutes away from where I live now, but apparently I'm "moving up into the snow! How will you get to college when it snows?!" "Well, snow chains, Mom." "You don't know how to put those on! You don't have enough experience!" "I can learn." "Cars go right off the road! I think you should just stay here when it snows." And on and on.
If it's not the snow, it's the fact that I'll never be able to pass my classes and work part time on the weekends, or the fact that I have a chinchilla (which doesn't even matter because the place we're looking at is 100% pet friendly). No matter what I say, they keep tossing out infantalizing excuses for why I won't be able to handle the big, bad world of living with two room mates about 15 minutes down the road near a duck pond.
The fact that they are so dismissive of the idea that I could possibly have basic competence skills and capacities for adjustment and learning pisses me straight the eff off. Sure, it'll be stressful, but if they really think I'm not determined and intelligent enough to make it work, they must not know who they were raising this whole time.

Okay here's one for if you're ever feeling slightly nasty.
Look them straight in the (and try your best to keep a complete poker face) and ask: "Do you really think you both did such a shit job at raising me?" This will likely be met with initial confusion and before they have a chance to pull themselves together continue: "No, I'm serious. As my parents you've had one job, to teach me the skills I will need to get on in life on my own. Don't you think you've done a good enough job with me? Maybe you really do believe you've done a shit job with me, but stop getting on my back for it. Okay."
Then either just walk out or, if you feel like taking the argument stick around.

Yes it is a slightly nasty thing to say, but it worked wonders for me when I was in the same situatio

[Hawkfeathers]

Re: THE RANT THREAD!

^^^ I told mine at some point that I'd turned out EXACTLY the way they raised me to be. My mother always told me never to depend on anyone or trust anyone, etc. Her INTENT was to keep me glued to HER, but of course she was the first one I applied these teachings to.

[DanieMarie]

Re: THE RANT THREAD!

I'm not surprised. I've noticed that the most of generation behind me (I'm on the cusp of Gen X-->Millenials, depending on who does the math) didn't get that memo in school. I learned all of this stuff in school (also the amount of reading (of actual books, and not Joe Schmoe's barely legible txt spk opinion on the net) I did, probably didn't hurt) but my brothers seem to have missed quite a bit of it (I was helping one of them write an essay not too long ago).

Was there some change to how English and reading and things were taught? Because, I can surely tell you that when I was in grade school, reading was phonics, phonics, phonics, with some memorization of irregular words and weekly spelling tests...and the only phonics Chickadee knows is what her tutor and I have been working on, and I've yet to see a spelling list. My kid can read because (on top of reading with her and reading to her) we pay an old-school retired school teacher to do phonics (also math facts) with her, and then she sends home "homework" for us to practice with...because they don't a) seem to wait for kids to master anything before moving on, or b) teach any sort of memorization---its all just conceptualization. Maybe its just me, but it seems there should be a balance there.

Anyhow...I always get confused with the proper way to apostrophe a posessive when the word ends in 's' but is singular (ex. Mr. Barnes's poodle or Mr. Barnes' poodle). And the precise circumstances for semicolon use are somewhat hazy. It doesn't matter how many times I look it up, its like I can't retain the memory of how to do it properly when I need it. Plus, because I'm either blogging or doing technical writing, I tend to have lots of bad habits (over use of the comma, a love of parentheses, and I'm elpsis-happy).

I have a question for you though--do you find that you have alot of kids that took journalism thinking it would be "easy" compared to a more traditional composition course? I ask this because, in high school, I took creative writing and it seemed to me that there were two types of students--those who genuinely loved writing and those that thought it would be easy...and unfortunately, I think the latter outnumbered the former about 5:1.

Hmmm...I grew up in a different country, but as a Millennial, I don't think it was any different for us than Gen X. We had a mixed approach that favoured creativity and critical thinking (though, I sometimes wonder how much of that had to do with my teachers), but we still had grammar drilled into our heads year in year out to the point where, by grade 12, I just sat in the back and read quietly and made jokes about Lord Byron with my friend (another A student who got the grammar memo). Things have changed a LOT over the past 10 years or so, but I had graduated by then. I'm not an expert or anything, but some of the negativity in BC comes from things like changes in class size (fewer teachers for more students), cutting educational assistants, and an increased focus on standardized testing over everything else.

Still, I see people I graduated with mixing up "they're" "there" and "their" and stuff like that all the time on Facebook. I had the same teachers, so I KNOW they learned it ad nauseam, but they still do it. I think they just don't care.

[Amadi]

Re: THE RANT THREAD!

I don't know if your rant was this message, or not, but "this video is not available in your country" is definitely rantworthy.

Be glad that link isn't available for you... I don't know what I expected from that, but I shouldn't have watched as much as I did.

I'm posting 'cos I've twigged that finding a fellow pagan (or even someone aware of paganism) in this isolated part of my country has a chance next to nil, which is kinda depressing.

[anunitu]

Re: THE RANT THREAD!

I think my romance with technology may be ending. Perhaps it is my age,or perhaps it is because sometimes it begins to feel like just "Over indulgence" on a grand scale. A wasting of energy for nothing more than a time killer. I do understand that in this day and age we may not be able to survive with out the technology any longer.

It is for me different because I did not grow up with this level of technology,having grown up in the 40's and 50's.

Just my crazy old man rant for the day.

[Hawkfeathers]

Re: THE RANT THREAD!

^^^ Most people hit that wall at some point. My mother hit it with answering machines in the 80's. I'm still chugging along but I'm seeing a decline in what I find acceptable. My new phone has pop-up ads in almost everything. The internet needs more steps to complete a search, and touchscreens get too many accidental clicks on ads I didn't want to see in the first place.

In my early adult post-divorce life, I had a 13" black and white tv with rabbit ears and no remote, so I've come a long way with all this stuff too. Good thing I'm a loner anyway, since it's all rather isolating.

[Denarius]

Re: THE RANT THREAD!

I think my romance with technology may be ending. Perhaps it is my age,or perhaps it is because sometimes it begins to feel like just "Over indulgence" on a grand scale. A wasting of energy for nothing more than a time killer.

Whether surgeons play video games or not has a stronger correlation with mechanical competency than training and experience, at least when it comes to laparoscopic surgery. Video games train "fine motor skills, eye-hand coordination, visual attention, depth perception and computer competency."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2007/...30397820070219

The Nintendo Wii is incredibly useful when it comes to pt/rehabilitation, and managing dementia.

[DanieMarie]

Re: THE RANT THREAD!

I don't know if it's -just- age either. I'm turning 30 in a few months and I grew up with computers and I'm getting really fatigued by connectivity. It's affecting my productivity to the point where I just CANNOT leave skype and facebook on during the day (which annoys some my clients because some of them think they should be able to ping you anytime in the working day and that email is not good enough). Ads are making me exhausted, not just online but in public too. I swear, there are so few places where I don't feel totally bombarded with ads. They are on the stairs of the subway stations, for goodness' sake.

We just came back from the Hebrides in Scotland and we're both feeling it even more. We had no real mobile internet there (because the connection there is pretty weak to begin with), there are very few chain stores other than the odd supermarket, and there are very, very few public ads that don't have anything to do with other businesses located in the Hebrides or coastal Scotland. It was fantastic. I wish we could all live like that without the isolation.

[thalassa]

Re: THE RANT THREAD!

My parents are driving me a little batty with their reactions to me moving out and becoming employed. I understand them being a bit worried, but virtually every word that comes out of their mouths is negative. They make mountains of molehills and it's extremely insulting. The house we are most likely to move into is only about 10-15 minutes away from where I live now, but apparently I'm "moving up into the snow! How will you get to college when it snows?!" "Well, snow chains, Mom." "You don't know how to put those on! You don't have enough experience!" "I can learn." "Cars go right off the road! I think you should just stay here when it snows." And on and on.If it's not the snow, it's the fact that I'll never be able to pass my classes and work part time on the weekends, or the fact that I have a chinchilla (which doesn't even matter because the place we're looking at is 100% pet friendly). No matter what I say, they keep tossing out infantalizing excuses for why I won't be able to handle the big, bad world of living with two room mates about 15 minutes down the road near a duck pond. The fact that they are so dismissive of the idea that I could possibly have basic competence skills and capacities for adjustment and learning pisses me straight the eff off. Sure, it'll be stressful, but if they really think I'm not determined and intelligent enough to make it work, they must not know who they were raising this whole time.

I read this and I think that they must love you very much, and I totally get where they are coming from. My kids are much younger than you are....but as a parent, I don't think they think you are incompetent or incapable. I think you don't understand what it is like to be a parent. I think they think you are their little girl, and they remember changing your diaper like it was just yesterday, and cutting your food up for you so you didn't choke, and having to button your buttons. I think they remember tying your shoes for you and being scared all day at how you would handle your first day of school. I think they think of you losing your first tooth as if it just happened. I remember being your age and feeling the same way about my parents, and now I look back and think about what a selfish asshole I was because I *didn't* get it. If you ever become a parent, you will figure it out though. And in the mean time, or if you don't plan to have children, cut them some slack. If they are like most other parents, they don't lack faith in you, they just don't want this final sign that you are grown up. They want to keep their little girl as long as possible. But hey, I don't know your parents.

[anunitu]

Re: THE RANT THREAD!

Having been a child who left home,and a parent who saw children leave,and now seeing grandchildren growing up,I can say when you are young and setting out on your own,the parents worry. Then when you have kids you begin to understand what your parents felt. Then there is the Grandparent mode,and you remember all of the breaking away,and the becoming parents yourself,and you remember you are old now,and it still seems that your kids are still just children.

Secrets of being an old fart....Part 1