Kids in the Hall

The Kids in the Hall

Just how many nano-seconds do you think it takes a kid to figure out when he’s got an advantage over “the system”? It’s obvious that the various school boards and departments of education are still in the dark about this. The teachers know, but they’re hog tied by the school boards and departments of education (and probably sworn to secrecy too).

Well nobody told me to shut up – so I won’t. I can tell you that you can count the nano-seconds on one finger, that’s what, before they know that in order to get a passing grade of fifty-five percent, they only have to have their names on the school roster. As far as getting assignments done, writing tests and exams – that’s only secondary and can be easily negotiated as can their presence in class.

The whole business of grading students didn’t really come up until a few weeks ago when a teacher in an Edmonton school was fired for giving a student a zero on his performance. Can you imagine? The kid didn’t do any of his work, didn’t hand anything in, and got a zero for a mark. Well, that sounds pretty logical to me.

But a complaint arose and the teacher was automatically fired. Go figure. Apparently teachers are not allowed to give zeros. The students must be encouraged to complete their work and thus live up to their full potential. How many chances they get at it is unknown but it must be pretty close to an infinite number as far as I can determine.

I thought I should look up the rules of the game because I just couldn’t believe that anyone, especially a school board, would be that silly. Just what do they think they’re doing? It appears they are trying to encourage students to live up to their potential by giving them chance after chance to do so. There are so many things other than doing the work they can get marks for – like attending class, having a pleasant personality, spelling their names right, and whatever. No need to have any losers in class.

And so they all graduate from grade school to middle school to high school to university. There’s not a loser in the bunch. The teachers have done their job well and passed all the little buggers right through whether they have learned anything or not. The parents are prouder than peacocks.

Of course, now it’s time to get into the workforce. And by workforce I mean upper management type positions. These kids didn’t spend their time avoiding classes and assignments just to have ordinary jobs. No way! They’re better than that. They have after all, an education. It says so on their diploma or degree. Imagine the disappointment of the employers meeting all these graduates who have one finger up their ass and the other one on their Ipad. Thankfully, there still are those few who actually do their schoolwork and earn legitimate degrees and diplomas. They are swept up in jobs so quickly it makes their heads swim. The rest remain disappointed in the menial jobs left over for them, like electricians, plumbers, taxi drivers, clerks and so on.

So employers have a choice. They can either outsource their work or bring in foreign workers for whom these tasks are not too menial.

Well, I’m getting way beyond my topic here, but you see what the results are. There is a deliberate dumbing down of Canadian youth for no useful purpose that I can determine. And it’s neither the kids’ fault, nor that of their parents as we popularly like to believe. No, it’s the bloody bureaucrats! They’re the ones setting the policies against challenging the intelligence of students to truly reach their intellectual potential.

And the result is: a less competent labor force, a less competent management force, diminished production, higher unemployment and a dumber society.

Now I ask you, who was it had that brainstorm of a policy? It wasn’t anybody with any common sense, that’s for sure! At least that’s how it seems from up here on the top shelf.

Just sayin’.