Poll:- life better now or in 1959?
- Thread starter JLM
- Start date
In 59 I was 13 and in love with a 12 tear old who wouldn't go out with me because I was soooo much older than her. I was devastated. 59 sucked!
I think what was even stupider than the switch to metric was the way it was done. Over night we had to throw out all our thermometers, tools, templates, tables and measuring devices. Thirty five years later we are still not completely metric and I feel we could have been at the same stage today had we just replaced the old stuff as they wore out or broke.
How come everybody is running in stealth mode this morning (you guys are not showing up in Who's online)
Les had his knuckles rapped a few times by a teacher in public school in the 50s. He turned out to be a decent sort anyway. In the 60's he went to private school and had the strap a couple times, too. He's still a decent sort as were any schoolmate he can think of. How many kids these days could say their schoolmates are all decent?
wow Toronto doesn't seem to have been very nice back then. Things were pretty cool over at this end of the country.
Over here it was usually the small or fat guys that were bullied regardless of religion, skin color, etc.
Yeah. Now its the kids that are abusive for no reason. What a reversal of the roles, huh?
What's debatable? As far as I can tell, people are still being educated. Not as well, IMO, but that's life.
I think people are being educated more/faster nowadays.
In NB, you have to be able to read when you start kindergarten (age 5). They're being taught stuff in elementary school that we were taught in middle and high school. You can't tell me the schools aren't teaching kids as much as they did in 59. It's different stuff, but that's because the world has changed.
We don't need to be able to recite Wordsworth or Tennyson from memory; it's a useless skill.
The amount of information that is available at your fingertips now is stunning - you can google pretty much the sum total knowledge of humanity in an instant. Our microwaves and coffee pots have nearly the computing power that was used to put men on the moon. So it shouldn't be a surprise that what we want our kids to know/learn is not the same.
JLM, did you know that Sweden switched form driving on the left to driving on the right in one weekend?
Switching to metric system was something that had to be done. And the switch had to be actively made. They didn’t in USA and they are still using the British system. Even the British abandoned the British system long ago, Americans are still using it.
Voluntary conversion would not have worked; it had to be done by law.
Right on, there's no need I can see for learning stuff like Greek and Latin, except for preparation for a very few professions like Pharmacy. I think English and Math are essential- English to communicate properly and Math because it is involved in almost everything we do and it a great aid to being able to reason probably, math is just fundamental to the way things are. There is probably a greater need today for specialized training, once the kids have got the English (grammar) and Math down pat. A little geography is very important too, especially our own country and province. Computer knowledge though debatable is necessary up to a certain point, as it's a main tool in communication and learning.
"JLM, did you know that Sweden switched form driving on the left to driving on the right in one weekend?" One act of stupidity doesn't warrant another.
"They didn’t in USA and they are still using the British system. Even the British abandoned the British system long ago, Americans are still using it."
WRONG- The British as far I know were on the Imperial System, same as Canada. U.S. never was in recent times.
"They didn’t in USA and they are still using the British system. Even the British abandoned the British system long ago, Americans are still using it."
WRONG- The British as far I know were on the Imperial System, same as Canada. U.S. never was in recent times.
I agree, but haste makes waste. Faster here means slower there. More in one aspect means less in another.
I think kids learn what they learn. As I said, teach more in one area and a different area loses ground. Kids these days seem to be educated more scientifically and technologically, but they can't put a decent sentence together (just an example), and then more kids are not polite when they do put a sentence together than there used to be..
To an electrical engineer, yes. To a professor in English Lit or a writer, it's probably quite handy.
Yup.
Not even close.
Yes, it's different.
wow I bet there were quite a few more fender benders than normal.
Why? Has the States switched? Have the English switched completely over? Have we?
BBC NEWS | UK | EU gives up on 'metric Britain'
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080614151814AAtg1zo
Balogna.
USA is still on the British (or Imperial) system, JLM. They use gallon, Fahrenheit, miles, pound etc. They still very much use the Imperial units. The British gave those up a long time ago, they these days use litre, Centigrade, kilogram etc. (they still use miles, though). They also decimalized thier currency in the 70s.
I think USA is the only major country in the world still using the British system.