Queston: Could Money For War Be Spent More Constructively?

I pretty much consider computers in education worthless. I mean, Mississippi was the first state in the union to have computers in every classroom, and we have several computer labs in every school. Most of the computers are permantly covered by dust covers, except for the ones used by teachers, which are mainly used to replace paper attencdance rolls. An absolute waste of money. It did nothing for our school system and distracted us from more important goals.
 
That is because they weren't utilized Watermark thats hardly an example of the failure of computers but rather an illustration of the failure of the school administration.
 
Computers, phonetics, and calculators have lessened the development of minds in basic education in my opinion. In higher education computers and calculators are very valuable tools.
 
uscitizen said:
Computers, phonetics, and calculators have lessened the development of minds in basic education in my opinion. In higher education computers and calculators are very valuable tools.
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Phonetics is a superior way to teach a person to read and spell. To say that it has a role in limiting knowledge is saying that learning to read efficiently is literally a bad thing.

Now I would agree with Computers and calculators.
 
I dunno spelling of the current generation is pretty atrocious.
I was reading some of my granddaughters work last week, the composition was very good, but the spelling.......
I am a horrible typist with old dsylexic finners, but I spell fairly well. others use cite for site and such....
 
uscitizen said:
I dunno spelling of the current generation is pretty atrocious.
I was reading some of my granddaughters work last week, the composition was very good, but the spelling.......
I am a horrible typist with old dsylexic finners, but I spell fairly well. others use cite for site and such....
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True, but long ago they abandoned phonetics in the schools for a more subjective learning experience. The idea that we shouldn't use the alphabet as it was designed, as a phonetic tool is ridiculous.
 
For example, I learned with phonetics and actual phonetic spelling rules. You will find that I use site for site and cite for cite. I will also rarely confuse to, too, two... or They're and their.
 
I was not picking on you Damo, just had remembered seeing wrong word useage and that was one.
How does the new system differ from straight phonetics ?
Or is it too complicated to go into, guess I could talk to the GC's teachers at PTO which used to be PTA ;)
 
They use word recognition, they expect them to just learn them by memory rather than sounding them out. It limits their actual understading. At least that was how they were teaching my friend's kid... He didn't start excelling in school until I taught him to read.
 
Hmm I learned by memory and did well enough that I went from 4th to 6th grade. No fifth grade at all for this hillbilly.
 
My mother learned by memory, still can't spell. It is truly sad. Some people have exceptional memory, for those who don't phonetics is the way to go...

I have both... I rarely misspell.
 
I have terrible memory for numbers, date, etc always have had. But have finished in the top few in spelling bees and such. I am a very avid reader, can finish a jukny scifi novel in an evening.
 
Damocles said:
True, but long ago they abandoned phonetics in the schools for a more subjective learning experience. The idea that we shouldn't use the alphabet as it was designed, as a phonetic tool is ridiculous.
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Ok, fair enough. Try this with phonetics: through and threw. How does phonetics tell you the difference between those two words and they way they are spelled???
 
The words are actually pronounced differently according to correct pronunciation rules. If you don't believe me look it up in the dictionary. They "sound" different to my mind, thus the correct spelling comes every time.
 
Damocles said:
The words are actually pronounced differently according to correct pronunciation rules. If you don't believe me look it up in the dictionary. They "sound" different to my mind, thus the correct spelling comes every time.
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Really, well just for you, and because I couldn't believe that I had been pronouncing one or both of them incorrectly all these years, I just did look them up in the Dictionary; the Oxford English Dictionary has them spelled phonetically identically. But what would the Oxford English Dictionary know about the correct pronounciation of words, especially English words. There is also the further complication of throughway and thruway, also of couse pronounced differently, no doubt, even though the Oxford again has them phonetically pronounced indentically to each other. Evidently you do not believe in the existence of homonyms. Maybe they are another myth, and like Thor or Zeus such entities simply do not exist in the real world. Of course, one size fits all education is like one size fits all clothing, not all its cracked up to be. It is based on the mistaken notion that everybody learns the same. I'm not sure that holds as well in practice as it appears to in theory. It would imply that we are all the same, I'm not sure that is the case. And even though one can learn to sound a word out and read it somewhat shakily, and this is quite obvious to someone listening to them read, they still have to find the meaning somewhere to make sense of what they have just read, and that is the rub. In the end reading through language (rather than understanding it) is only marginally better than not reading. Personally I don't know how anyone could learn to read just using phonetics or without any phonetics, it seems to me that if one is a reader of various texts from differnt disciplines that one is always running across new words and no matter how much one tries one can always find a context that doesn't necessarily aid in understanding the meaning of the new word. So I just don't believe in the magic key that some people think is phonetics, that must make me something, perhaps a costentious cropticopus to some or to others, a liberal, HUH?
 
Really, well just for you, and because I couldn't believe that I had been pronouncing one or both of them incorrectly all these years, I just did look them up in the Dictionary; the Oxford English Dictionary has them spelled phonetically identically. But what would the Oxford English Dictionary know about the correct pronounciation of words, especially English words.
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Does everything have to be an asshat remark for you?

Actually you are right. I too looked them up. However, as I said I keep them separated by making them "sound" differently to my mind while still pronouncing them as I always have during speech.

Unlike those people who say hhhhwat rather than just what I prefer to sound normally when speaking.
 
Damocles said:
Does everything have to be an asshat remark for you?

Actually you are right. I too looked them up. However, as I said I keep them separated by making them "sound" differently to my mind while still pronouncing them as I always have during speech.

Unlike those people who say hhhhwat rather than just what I prefer to sound normally when speaking.
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No not everything, but if you are going to make a claim about the dictionary, which, even though I have several in different langauges, I hate to use, you better expect an "asshat remark" if you are wrong...I can tell you from personal experience with foreigners trying to learn it that the English langauge is one of the hardest langauges to learn because of all the different exceptions to every rule.

That and except for the little rule, "i" before "e" except after "c" or as sounded as "a" as in neighbor or weigh---I don't think I remember even one other rule in grammar or anything else that I ever learned. Maybe that is because I am an anarchist and reject all authority.
 
Well goodnight, friend Prakosh... time for rest. I am sure I'll find some remark to respond to tomorrow...
 
Prakosh said:
No not everything, but if you are going to make a claim about the dictionary, which, even though I have several in different langauges, I hate to use, you better expect an "asshat remark" if you are wrong...I can tell you from personal experience with foreigners trying to learn it that the English langauge is one of the hardest langauges to learn because of all the different exceptions to every rule.

That and except for the little rule, "i" before "e" except after "c" or as sounded as "a" as in neighbor or weigh---I don't think I remember even one other rule in grammar or anything else that I ever learned. Maybe that is because I am an anarchist and reject all authority.
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I understand. I stated that I too looked them up and realized I was wrong. Once again... You can't help yourself, can you? You have to pile the most ass possible into your post without regard to even the actual meaning...

I stated it because when usually people ask it is over things like dawn and Don which actually do have different phonetic pronuciation.

Just like with everything there are things one will need to remember. Such as the differences between to, too, two and threw and through... ;) It can be made easier using mnemonic tricks such as making them "sound" differently in the mind while still pronouncing them as one would normally in conversation.

I did say I had one of those memories as well. I have a talent for language, I currently can speak three of them, and that memory as well as the capability to use mnemonic devices has served me well...

Now, let's see if you'll mention one more time how I was wrong about the dictionary even though I have twice stated such myself.

Make it sound as asshat as possible when you do... It brings us such joy!
 
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