Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Au contraire. Brevity is the soul of wit. Apparently...

Heaving a big sigh, what can I say? Two of my band mates are teachers. A third is married to a teacher. You all have just quoted about everything I've heard from them.

And as for me? I'm glad I never went down that road. Because the people who come to me come because they want to be there. (I teach people how to play the banjo.) And I'd have it no other way.

JimK

Morlocks

The Time Machine is one of my favorite movies!

"Teaching to the Test" has been the phrase I keep hearing uttered by teachers, like my wife, with mounting concern.

I am reminded of "Harrison Bergeron," my favorite short story, by Vonnegut. All people are made "equal" by handicapping anyone stronger, smarter or more beautiful than the norm...

...a good "strategy" if those in power are dolts.

Which they are.

These "iq tests" were popular here for a while. Hmmm. Some say they say nothing about how smart one is; they only show how good one is at doing tests.

Sheena said:

... they only show how good one is at doing tests. ...

I've always held to that viewpoint. When I was a member of Mensa, many times I would think, "... this person is supposed to be intelligent? ..." when reading the letters to the editor (or the classified ads)!

Maybe the guy's keyboard has a stuck shift or "caps lock" key.

IT HAPPENED TO ME ONCE AND I HAD TO GET A NEW KEYBOARD. IT WAS ANNOYING. ESPECIALLY WHEN REPLYING TO EMAILS.

ALL DAY LONG I HAD TO PREFACE MY EMAILS WITH:

"MY CAPS KEY IS STUCK AND I CAN ONLY WRITE IN CAPS AT THE MOMENT - SORRY"

Another reason could be that the person is visually challenged ... I had a person working in the office at one time that could only read capitals of a certain size due to his failing eyesight. It was a congenital problem.

I'd never want to belong to Mensa, or any other organization that's as excited (or more so) about who's kept out of the room as they are about who's allowed in.

Sometimes, when reading what some musical instrument owners have to say, I find myself thinking "...this person is supposed to be artistic?..."

Anyone can forgive someone for a spelling error or two. But lately, more and more people seem to be unable to spell even the most simple words. I can't tell you the number of times I've seen people describing the 'ware and tare' on an item listed in Ebay. Spelling that atrocious just makes the author seem extremely unintelligent.

All caps in writing looks like shouting to me, also. Just as bad is the complete lack of caps, and the use of no punctuation.

The dumbing down of America has been coming on for some time, and is constantly getting worse. The use of text messages with cell phones is accelerating this. With constant abbreviations like 'c u ltr', many younger people never practice the skills they (supposedly) learned in school.

My favorite is catching kiddos on their phones texting during class. It's a big no-no. I always think its funny when they're doing it too, as when I sub I am often given a movie to show, so the classroom is dark and the students suddenly think it's totally cool for them to start texting. What they don't count on is that I watch for their faces to be lit up by the screen of their phones.

"...this person is supposed to be artistic?..."

As I discovered working in design over three plus decades, any company with the words "artistic" or "creative" in its name, is almost certainly not, and usually low price is their focus, not creativity.

You said it, Doc...

There's a big tractor trailer parked in front of a business in my neighborhood with a logo painted on the side reading "Artistic Plumbing"...as a result of remaining stationary for a while, it is gradually being covered with big graffiti and looking more 'artistic' all the time.

Sometimes "artistic" or "creative" is shorthand for "I don't really know how to do this properly, so I'm winging it."

(...He's VERY creative.)