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Martinsville High School Alumni
Class of 1972 Reply  |   Post Message  |   Message List
NEW TOPIC - EDUCATION - 2
12/27/06     Anne (Dunn) Causey  (1972)      Adcinsc@aol.com
Hey Guys & Gals -

This is in response to:12/15/06 FORMER MAVAHI STUDENT
Whats your next topic for your next paper ?? LOL

HA HA . . . how about education? Is it me, or has anyone else noticed that when your kids went to take math tests they were REQUIRED to have a calculator??? Hello? Didn't that defeat the whole purpose?

I remember when my husband and I were first married and the family would go on vacations, our oldest would "quiz" my husband and myself. Extremely difficult questions like "What is 144 - 98? He would have the calculator, and we'd always pop up with the right answer, by doing it in our head. This astonished the very young child (all of 10) . . . and yet, when I was 10, I knew how to add and subtract "in my head".

Has anyone else noticed how education seems to rely more on electronics, than the brain? Thoughts?

Anne - oh, and Merry Christmas Everyone!
 
12/28/06     Jeff Belcher  (1976)      jrb@lee-mcshane.com
Re: NEW TOPIC - EDUCATION
Hello Anne:

This topic thing is fun! Let me tell you what I think about this.

The education system, be it right or wrong, are molding our children to be able to provide an answer and/or to locate an answer immediately. The ability to "find and research" and the speed and accuracy of providing it will be the secret of their success. Basically, the entire world has access to answers/research material to extract from. Be it a calculator, medical journals, law journals, Lexis/Nexus, worldwide newspapers, and/or any other type of journal there is.

They are being trained to extract information, and to put it to use. I manage a small law firm and I have seen an unbelievable change in technology and employee over the last 20 years. We no longer have law libraries. They are a waste of space and time. It is all about finding the answer on the computers.

I now hire unbelievably bright kids (as office assistants/legal assistants) mostly from the University of Virginia, that bring a completely new set of assets to the table. They are unbelievable at utilizing technology to take care of the situation at hand.

I gave a kid, just the other day, a project. I told him that I wanted to know the average wage of Architects and Engineers over the last 10 years, with inflation factored in, broken down by different parts of the country. He provided this information to me in a pie chart within an hour. If my boss would have asked me to provide him that information, I would have jumped off the roof.

The world has changed and is changing every minute. It is scary, but this is what kids have to do to be competitive. It is a Wal-Mart global mentality, with a grind down affect that rewards those who can do the most, in the most effective and cost efficient manner.

To some extent, people even at our age went through the same process. For example, I was sent an 8th Grade test for a County School System in Pennsylvania in 1904. A simple question was similar to this "Farmer Jones has a wagon that can hold 350 bushels of wheat." 200 Bushels of the wheat has been damaged, resulting in a yield of good wheat of approximately 45%. In addition, in transporting the wheat to the mill, it looses approximately 2.5 pounds of wheat every three miles do to holes in the wagon. If the Farmer has to travel 32.5 miles and he is getting $.35 cents per pound of wheat, how much wheat will he yield at the end of the trip, what will his gross payment be for the wheat?" Again, I would have jumped off the roof if I had to figure this out.

Whew, here I go again blabbering. Anyway, the world is always changing and the ability to meld with it is the secret and our school system, be them right or wrong, are trying to prepare our kids for what is just the beginning of technology in my view. Quite frankly, I don't particularly like the changes, but that is the way it is.

New Question to Ponder:

Do you think Martinsville will be better off, in the long run, with the closing of factories, etc?
12/28/06     Anne (Dunn) Causey  (1972)      Adcinsc@aol.com
Re: NEW TOPIC - EDUCATION
Hey Jeff -

Hope you had a great Christmas. Okay - first let me point out that IF this country goes into an "energy crunch" . . . those laptops, computers, etc. will look real darn pretty - but will be pretty useless. What happens when, God forbid, these bright kids actually have to do it the "old way"?

I was living in Myrtle Beach when Hugo came through (actually, working as a professional paralegal LOL), and there was no electricity. All our food had gone bad in the fridge, so I rode my bike to the store (couldn't get my car out because a tree was on top of it LOL), and waded through the water in the dark store - it was flooded, and still no electricity - and bought canned goods only. When I went to pay, the young girl at the counter (and we're talking about 1989) was so flabberghasted because her hand computer wasn't working, so she had to - OMG, add and subtract on paper. I tried to calm her down and said, "Honey, it's $42.30 plus tax.", as I was adding in my head while I was shopping. She gave me one of those "stupid ol' lady" looks (I was all of 31 years old LOL), and proceeded to add. And it came to $42.30. DUH! She asked me how I did that? SMH

I just find it sad, and a little scary, that we are forcing the younger generations to rely so heavily on electronics. I think it's great that we have all this information at our fingertips. But what are you (or other attorneys) going to do when you have a Answer & Counter-Claim that must go out that day, and you've already received one "Extension of Time" for filing, so it's a "do or die" scenario (and a real pain in the butt attorney on the other side just chomping at the bit to find the Defendant in default for not answering promptly) . . . and you lose power - maybe for weeks?

Even when I worked for attorneys back in the 80's and 90's, we had computers . . . but we always kept an old manual typewriter - JUST IN CASE.

I guess I'm an old fashioned personality. I love being able to create things that used to take me forever and a day to do on an electric typewriter, or goggle something and have thousands of answers RIGHT AWAY. But I allow myself to rely on those things only.

Oh well . . . I still think education of today stinks - but you did make some good points - even though you're wrong! ROFL Just kidding.

Anne
12/28/06     Anne (Dunn) Causey  (1972)      Adcinsc@aol.com
Re: NEW TOPIC - EDUCATION
Ooops . . . forgot to answer your question about Martinsville being better or worse without the factories.

I believe "outsourcing" American jobs (factories, etc.) will be America's downfall. I hate NAFTA. That big sucking sound that Ross Perot talked about when he was running for President - he was right. Every year we (as in Americans) feel it. Sure, it's great to pay a lower price for items - BUT, for me personally, when I pay a cheaper price, I know I put food on someone's table in India, China or wherever - while Americans go without jobs.

Those factories helped Martinsville prosper - they provided jobs, income, insurance, etc. Personally, I'd like to see them back.
12/28/06     Jeffrey Belcher  (1976)      jrb@lee-mcshane.com
Re: NEW TOPIC - EDUCATION
Hello Anne:

I never said I liked the state of education, but I am afraid that is the way it is. As far as getting out pleadings, etc., that is almost getting to the point of being automatic as well. Believe me, I don't like it, but now if you work for an insurance company representing their interests, the work you do is their material. Thus, they require you to deposit it into their depository for everyone to use. You can now have your pleadings typed for you over the phone (outsourced in India). They send it back to you after you dictate it to them over the phone (it is called a virtual secretary). Scary isn't it? I do think I am correct in what I said, although I would like to see kids to be able to do this with other means. If you watch Apollo 13 (the movie), they are about to get stranded in space and the astronaut had to use a slide rule to figure out what is what. Things have changed. I would not want to be in the slide rule business anymore. LOL.

As far as the businesses in M'Ville. I think that is a tough call. I don't disagree with your assessment of NAFTA, but I always thought that while our factories had proud employees and everyone did the best they could, I also thought the were not treated very well at all. I remember working in a factory when I was 16 years old and the guy I worked with told me you got $1.00 a year for each year you worked for retirement and you had to work 40 years to get retirement. You work 40 years, you get $40.00 a month. I never knew if that was correct or not? I think M'Ville will prosper greatly in the next 25 years, but it will take some time.
12/28/06     Anne (Dunn) Causey  (1972)      Adcinsc@aol.com
Re: NEW TOPIC - EDUCATION
Hey Jeff -

I can't imagine someone outsourcing "legal" matters. That's scary as hell! BUT, in the event you need an "American to outsource to", I'm your gal . . . uh, I think. It's been awhile since I worked for the attorneys - I used to go to work at 7AM (so I could at least get 2 hours work done), and wouldnt' leave until around 10PM that night. When my husband and I met and married, and I acquired two live-in stepsons, I decided to give my full attention to the boys, versus the job. Wise decision! LOL

I would hope that the factorys' old retirement plans would have "improved". Because you're right . . . $40.00 a month after 40 years is for the birds. Not much of a retirement.

Anyway . . . thanks for the chat. It's good to talk with people from MHS.
Anne
12/29/06     Student Former MAVAHI     
Re: NEW TOPIC - EDUCATION


This is in response to:12/15/06 FORMER MAVAHI STUDENT
Whats your next topic for your next paper ?? LOL

"HA HA"

Gee's Anne I was only wondering no harm meant by it.
12/30/06     Anne (Dunn) Causey  (1972)      Adcinsc@aol.com
Re: NEW TOPIC - EDUCATION
Hey Former Mavahi Student - I was just joking around . . . I didn't take offense to what you said, 'cause I figured you were just joking around. No harm, no foul. ;-)

Have a Happy New Year.
Anne
01/02/07     Friend     
Re: NEW TOPIC - EDUCATION
COOL Anne,,,, Happy New Year ! ! !
01/03/07     Anne (Dunn) Causey  (1972)      Adcinsc@aol.com
Re: NEW TOPIC - EDUCATION
And a Happy One to you, Friend.
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