Makes me want to smack him ...

[Contratrombone64]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_veIGGP1Uh4

This is quintessentially Australian, but you Danes, English and Americans will just get it, I guess. Very like my nephew ...

[methodistgirl]

This reminds me of Jeff Foxworthy's video. If you go to a wedding in
nothing but a tank top and jeans, you might be a redneck.
Hey yawl! The guy in the video would do great in Nashville.
-hearty laugh smiley-
judy tooley

[Krummhorn]

Hey, I played a wedding for a couple dressed up like that once, Judy ... some drunk came up to the piano I was playing and put a dollar bill into my Iced Tea (thank you) and asked me to play some lame piece I never heard of ...

CT64 ... yup, gotta slap that boy silly and sideways.

[rojo]

That was a hoot!

Not being of one of the aforementioned nationalities, I thought I might not get it...

[Corno Dolce]

And here I thought he was a reject from the popular TV-series in Canada entitled "The Red Green Show".

[methodistgirl]

Look up Jeff Foxworthy's Redneck Stomp. It's simular and it's very very
funny on you tube.
judy tooley

[Muza]

Now thats some healthy conversation!

I hate to get philosophical and ruin everyone's fun, but it seems like generally the overall IQ of the nation should be improving, as the tests get a little harder, overall results get a little better, the bar of getting into colleges gets a little higher.

But really people are less able to even carry on a conversation. Is it just me, or does anyone else see that? Is it a contradiction, or is there no contradiction and the problem is really that we just stuff our students with facts, encouraging memorization and cramming, while discouraging thinking and analyzing?

what do you guys think?

[Krummhorn]

Conversation? Live conversation? What is that, the kids ask? If it isn't a text message on their mobile phone these days, it isn't "conversation", in their eyes, for the most part.

I personally don't think we require enough of the kids in learning material. With the internet at their fingertips 24/7 via their mobile phones, they don't have to memorize anything anymore - the answers to most anything they want to know is available online, and pretty much instantly. The thought of a brain surgeon hovering over me during a life/death operation, clicking away on his mobile phone for a medical problem answer is horrifying. Ok, maybe that is an exaggerated example, but the point is clear.

Besides moderating several online forums, I am also a Supervisor/Editor for a wiki site. You wouldn't believe the grammar, punctuation, and spelling corrections we have to make over and over. Some of the questions being asked on that site are, in fact, homework assignments, or someone "texting" during a school hour exam searching for an answer to a very simple question. The age of advanced electronics has ushered this problem into our learning institutions, and it needs to be stopped.

Is the overall IQ of the nation improving? I don't think so ... at least not around my region. We need to turn off the electronics in school and start stuffing their brains with knowledge ... back to the basics which worked quite well when I was in school, and we all lived without TV, mobile phones, the internet, and calculators.

[methodistgirl]

You are so right Krummhorn. We didn't have all of this technology
of today. The closest thing I had for a computer was a typewriter.
Computers were what scientist used back then. There were no
laptops like the one I use now or just the desk model. The computers
of that time during the 60's and 70's were very huge. Microsoft was
not invented until almost the 80's. Bill gates was still in college and
I was in high school at the same time.
judy tooley

P.S. Try looking up the Redneck Stomp by Jeff Foxworthy.

[Muza]

Yeah, I agree with you 100% Krummhorn about the general stupidity, constant availability of information on i-net which discourages learning, and stuff like that, but where does the problem lie? i dont think its in internet. how can it be changed?

and why do the bars get higher and higher, while it seems that kids are getting dumber and dumber? That was my question. maybe the kids are not getting dumber per se? Maybe the nation values something else...and maybe it should? Who cares if you know something, when everybody can find it online in seconds. What is valued, perhaps, is one's ability to find that information, rather than to know that information. you know, things like that.... i was just wondering

[Contratrombone64]

Muza, profound and heartfelt, and I agree with you TOTALLY, our perspective is just not the same (I'm a senior, remember, went to high school in the 70s).

[Muza]

Oh I get your guys' perspective. I see where its coming from and I see exactly what you mean. but I want to get all perspectives and see if I could combine them to make some sense out of what doesnt make much sense to me now.

[methodistgirl]

Guys in my neighborhood have seemed since I've been married to
be kinda goofy to start with. There are guys my age that are that
are that way. They're goofy! The ones that seem to have some
since about them are hard to find. Don't some guys where you
live seem to be like that? Then there are some here who think they
know it all. Believe me they don't. They turn out to be absolutely
stupid. Some here have nothing else on their minds but how to
get a girl in trouble. No morals at all.
judy tooley

[Krummhorn]

Muza,
Good points and well taken for sure. Possibly the problem lies more within society itself - look around us with everyone trying to get from point A to point B and C as fast as they can, all while chatting on the phone or texting, and then trying to get into the exhaust pipe of the car in front of them (tailgating).

I don't know how to change society - or how to slow people down - all I know is how it was in the "old days" and how we didn't miss what we didn't have ... and we survived and are able to function in life just the same.

Ok, I enjoy the internet and email ... yes, I also have a mobile phone (but never answer it while driving), cable television and lots of "conveniences" we never had when I was growing up (not every house had flush toilets then either), but I consider myself a responsible user, and when dinner is served, the family turns off the electronic world and enjoys the meal and pleasant conversation. So maybe the changes need to start at home - If I recall correctly, I think there is one large church body (Mormons?) who have designated Monday night being 'family night', where the family unit gathers and does things together without outside world interference.

Like I said, I don't have the solution, and some may think my ideals are completely in outer space, but at least it's a start in the right direction, in my own opinion.

[rojo]

Now thats some healthy conversation!

I hate to get philosophical and ruin everyone's fun, but it seems like generally the overall IQ of the nation should be improving, as the tests get a little harder, overall results get a little better, the bar of getting into colleges gets a little higher.

But really people are less able to even carry on a conversation. Is it just me, or does anyone else see that? Is it a contradiction, or is there no contradiction and the problem is really that we just stuff our students with facts, encouraging memorization and cramming, while discouraging thinking and analyzing?

what do you guys think?

Hmm, I thought the contrary was going on. That schools are actually lowering the difficulty of tests in order to 'help' some young people continue their education instead of dropping out of school. Maybe it's just here that there is a substantial drop out rate.

As to young people conversing, I think they've always been relatively tight lipped around the older generation. That said, I know plenty of young folks who will talk to anyone, regardless. It's hard not to generalize. I think there's still hope.