Meanwhile, in other political conspiracy theories.......

[El Camexican]

What this country provides that they refer to as "education" is anything but educational. It is programming where you're told what to believe and taught only how to obey and listen. I thought school was a tremendous waste of time when I was younger, so I quit and never graduated high school. I was happy with my decision at the time, but later as I became a "more responsible adult", society implied that perhaps I should be ashamed of that fact. I was a little ashamed for a while there, but I am proud to say today that I do not have a certificate stating that I sat quietly by and took my programming without resistance. I am proud to say that I walked away from the worst educational system on the entire planet which is the way it is completely on purpose and is in place to make and keep the American people dumb. In the roughly 20 years I have been out of high school, I have yet to encounter even one situation where I would need a high school diploma, not one.

To the kiddies out there, stay in school! Just try to make sure your school is in an Asian country or Europe.

I know a lot of people who have been to college just as you all do, and they don't know the difference between their, there, and they're. Seriously, like almost no people in this country do. I could fix their car, weld a pipe for them, fix their plumbing, build them a motorcycle, drive a truck to their house and deliver their furniture, fix their snowblower then show them how to use it, show them the right way to drive, and pick off a target at 300 meters with iron sights. What can they do for me? What did they learn while I was learning all these things? Well they can sit in a cube with a screen and play with paper, because they have a piece of paper from the people programming factory that says they're qualified to do that. So they sit and type and write all day or hide in an office only to emerge in order to tell us "uneducated" what to do.

PS- I can type faster than them and write better than them as well. ;-)

Man I struggled in school like you can't imagine. The only thing that was remotely interesting aside from Gym class was History and to a much lesser extent English depending on who was teaching it. I've concluded that we can't all fit in same cookie cutter and not everyone learns the same way. How else did I go from failing math to 100% simply by getting kicked out of the class and having to study with the principal and another 4 "flunkies" that saw similar transitions? How did I bounce between F's and A's every second year in English class when all that changed was the teacher?

At the end of my HORRIBLE public education experience I managed to graduate with more credits than needed, but not my final math grade. Funny thing is most of my work day is spent with numbers and statistics and most of my university graduate workmates can't understand what I do with numbers. Are they dumb? No! Am I? Jury's still out on that one , but I often wonder what I could have learned in math class had I been pulled aside and coached for my ability to get the correct answer without a clue as to how they formulas they were trying to teach us worked. One point for the answer and 2 for the formula equated to mid 40 grades most of the time. I have mixed feelings about it all, I often ponder what it would be like to hire a tutor, start at a grade 3 math level and learn it all properly, but that may have to wait until I retire.

Then there's English class. I could would a novel and if the teacher found 10 spelling mistakes on the first page it got an F. The teachers that could look past that always gave me A's. Yes I spell like sh*t and Susan Boyle's face would stop a clock, but she can sing like an angel. Not everything comes in a perfect package.

My long drawn out rant is simply to say I think education is great for those who fit the mold and I wish I had better one, but there needs to be something for the rest of us that starts at an earlier age than an adult education program after we've been told that we're stupid from K to 9.

[fabiodriven]

If the educational system in the United States were concerned with nurturing those with a brain, they certainly dropped the ball with me. I tested 12th grade plus on those #2 pencil multiple choice tests in the 4th grade. My parents and teachers were extremely impressed. I won all the spelling bees and writing contests, then 7th grade came which meant Jr high school, which also meant I would now be schooling with children from five or six other elementary schools. I did not adapt well.

All of a sudden, none of the children I grew up with wanted to associate with me and the children from the other schools picked on me mercilessly. My grades went from solid A's with occasional B's to almost all D's and F's. My appearance grew aggressive in an attempt to ward off predators, which didn't work. Everyone used to call me stupid, but only because I was ugly and different. I was never stupid. These puke kids in this country have the judgemental characteristics passed down from their parents, it's ingrained in them. I was a very ugly kid, hence the nickname "Fabio".

In high school I became a skin head to "belong" to something and have at least some association with some group. I still got picked on ravenously, even by my own group.

But everything happens for a reason. If that's not firsthand real world knowledge for me personally I don't know what is. What my educational system taught me is that if you are smart, you'll have to fight to do anything with it in school.

If anyone has time and is interested, check out Michael Moore's "Where to Invade Next". This country is great for many reasons but not the reasons you're led to believe.