"The Ending of Summer" or "Great Rumbler Goes to College"

It's that time again. When we exchange long hours spent sleeping in because you can and tons of free time for 7 hours of sleep because you have to get up early and tons of free work. School. That dreaded six letter word that causes [almost] grown men to weep openly, but you still have to go because if you don't you become a cancer to society who has no money for fun stuff.

Anyway, this year I'm still technically a Senior in high school but since my the school's schedule of classes is sucks majorly I've decided to start my college run a year early. I'm taking a total of four classes these two semesters and, combined with the AP History class I passes last year, a total of 15 credit hours or about one semester. Another upside is that I get to trade three high school classes for only two college course and, since they're only being taught on M-W-F, on Tuesday and Thursday I can stay at home until 11 pm.

So now I'm well on my way to the fabled Triple Major [Business Information Management, Economics, and Finance]. I can see it now! Great Rumbler: Multi-millionaire businessman! Oh yeah!!

Economics?!

GR: I know! Is phony major!

And yes, those poor saps in the "service industry" (I laugh when they call their job an industry) really don't offer anything a trained monkey couldn't (no offense Weltall, but you know it's true). Plus, been to California lately, or Japan? All service jobs done by humans are being phased out. Soon these stores will be one big computer and a security guard, and the computer will be the guard's boss. Oh yeah, and they will have the greeters... (I can't believe people get paid for that...)

"Greetings, someone will be with you shortly." *sits*

DJ: How about YOU help me?

Greeter: Sorry, I'm busy here.

DJ: Um...

*Employee walks by*

Walkie Talkie in computer generated voice "Assistence required in the - Electronics Department - Go NOW?" *time passes* "Assistance required in the - Electronics Department - Please hurry" *employee goes to help someoen with a snotty attitude* *that last statement can be taken two ways, take your pick*

DJ: *gets stuff and goes to registers* What the.... *Half the registers are totally computer operated, DJ scans stuff by self and inserts large denomination bills, hoping they aren't too crumpled like it's a frickin' vending machine*

Machine: Bag removed! Please keep bag IN BAY until payment is DONE!

DJ: Yeesh, accusitive thing... How was I to know? Yeesh, I did frickin' pay!

Machine: Please... *ding* Please have a nice day and thank you for visiting Wal-Mart!

DJ: Okay then...

Greeter: Welcome to

DJ: Does it LOOK like I just came in?!

Greeter: Sorry, but I have stuff to do *walks to other person walking in*

DJ: Ugh...

Hey, if it can land me a high paying, air-conditioned office job then I couldn't care less if it's a phony major!

I'll get my deploma eventually, Maybe when my life as a farmer doesnt go so well.

When I graduated highschool I had 15 college credits, though I didn't take any college classes there (though I know a few people in my school did). That's from three AP tests. AP US History and AP European History each got me out of two semesters of basic college history... :)

My school only offers AP in English and Math. They started offering it in Social Studies last year in Grade 10, but I was in Grade 11 and already had social 10 :-(
I won't know what classes I have this year until August 25th.

I had 15 credit hours too from those AP tests. I took AP Bio, AP Computer Science, and AP U.S. History. I also proficiencied out of taking Rhetoric based on the score I got on the Rhet. portion of the entrance exam and my ACT English score. I already miss college and I've only been out of it for a few months. :(

Yeah, my last 3 credits were from AP Computer Science. :)

... I got 5s on the two History ones and a 3 on CS.

I also proficiencied out of taking Rhetoric based on the score I got on the Rhet. portion of the entrance exam and my ACT English score.

Btw, my ACT score is a 29, but I'm taking it again in October to see if I can get any higher.

I got a 29 my first time too, and then I took it again. It was weird because my brother and I both took it twice, we both got a 29 the first time, and we both got a 31 the second time. Although our scores on the individual tests were a lot different.

Math and Science brought me down several points, had 23 on both of them, but on Reading and English I got 34 on both. Kind of weird how that worked out.

I'm not completly sure what I'm going to take this year, I might be changing some things around. I only need 4 more classes, but I'll probably take more

Classes for Sure
English 30-1AP
Social Studies 30
German 30
Science 30

Undecided
Chemistry 30 (I don't know if I'm going to take it or not, since I don't need it)
Pure Math 30 (I don't need this either, so I'm not sure)
Physics 30 (There's a 99% chance that I won't take this)
Drama 20 (depends on scheduling, I'm not taking it if I can't fit both 20 and 30 in)
Drama 30

I've taken everything else I need to get in order to finish last year. I actually only need 14 more credits to finish. And 4 classes would give me 20 (my school has some rule about needing to take at least 10 credits per semester. English and Social are actually the only ones up there that are required.

Silly Midwesterners and your ACTs... :)

Crazy Northeasterners and your SATs... :)

Here's my schedule:
-7:55 am Arrive at Southeastern Oklahoma State University
-8:00 am College Algebra
-9:00 am Introduction to Electronics [which I'm taking alongside my brother who is a senior in college]
-10:55 am Arrive at Achille High School
-11:00 am Current Events
-11:50 am English 4
-1:00 pm Physics
-1:50 pm Psycology

On Tuesday and Thursday I have no college classes.

*thinks the triple-major idea will last about a semester* :)

I am NOT missing school. Not at all. Well, actually, I will miss sleeping in late and the late night caffiene-high coding binges with my friends the last week before all our semester projects are due because out professors are overly ambitious and/or enjoy torturing us.

Instead, I have to get up early and do day-long caffiene-high coding marathons with coworkers because our project deadline is due in a month and the government wants their overly ambitious missle defense system up on time. So I guess it's mostly the same, except the net cash flow for me is about +$60,000 a year.

Have fun GR. It's cool that you get to take a class with your bro. Don't copy his homework. ;)

So um... you are working on our missile defense system?

Hey Akmed! Ya gotta hear this! Yeah I got the address...

So, you working in a backdoor so you can sneak into it whenever you want? :D

*thinks the triple-major idea will last about a semester*

There's a lot of overlapping classes between the three, so it comes out to about 120 hours for all three. I think I can do it.

WHAT? You guys didnt get 29's and 31's!
There's no way someone younger than me (GR) outscored me.
Actually, I think ACT is rigged, because when I do it, I always leave the building thinking, "Yeah I definitely got 30 or 31 this time." The math is a sinch, the English is a sinch, the reading is just a bit harder, and science is about medium. Sciece is the only one where I don't get to fully read everything and answer without guessing.

But I always end up with 29 on Eng. (Bullshit, I'm the grammar and mechanics master!)
Only a 30 on Math. (Bullshit I'm an A+ Calculus student, and they someone told me you can miss 8 questions and still get 30. There's no f-in way I missed more than 8 of those bitches.)
Reading I think was 27. Eh not that rigged, I think I deserve 29
Science: 25. I guessed the last 12 maybe and probably got some others wrong. The science section is homosexual anyway.

Anway that gives me a 27.75 composite, but they count it a 28.

Oh and my SAT (yes, I was midwest and took one), I only got a 1270! "WTF, mate?"

Anyway, GR, know this, I will never believe you got a 29 and thus be it that you're alwayd deemed a liar by when it comes to that. HAHAHA you did onyl get 23 on Math!
And Dmiller supposedly got a 31. Well he is a good programmer, so maybe, but probably not!

Pfft, believe what you will, but the test is not fixed you paranoid nazi, and some people very likely did score higher. Age != Intelligence Accuse who you will of course. You are free to not believe people here without proof of their claims. Just remember it goes both ways.

Peter: You said "goes both ways".
Ted: Like a bisexual
Bill: Thank you Ted that was the joke.

DJ: Shut up! Anyway, what I mean is if you deny that they are telling the truth, they are free to think you are also lying. Sorry, that's how it works.

Anyway, GR, know this, I will never believe you got a 29 and thus be it that you're alwayd deemed a liar by when it comes to that.

Says you. *waves official ACT score sheet*

I got a 1330 on my SATs.

What's a perfect score on the SAT. We don't have them so I have no clue.
Canada use to have CSAT's but not anymore.
There isn't as much of a need for an SAT like test here because there aren't that many private schools, and all the public school teachers have at least 5 years of Univeristy. Private schools where not all the teachers are certified have government administered tests done every year to ensure they are teaching the curriculum.

The SATs here are to make sure the students actually know what they were taught pretty much. The government DOES do accruity tests every year in all schools (private ones that want to stay accredited have to do it too), but it doesn't really matter that much, because a lot of people fail. Thing is, some people just give up and drop out later on, so no matter how good the education, they decided failure on their own. Some people don't really get the point that they are supposed to keep a lot of the stuff they learn in school and ONLY bother maintaining the knowledge until the test is over. They will study very hard only to forget everything when the test is over. Hence, grade after grade goes over the same basics because everyone forgot everything. Anyway, the school system itself does educate, but it's not a focus on students KEEPING that knowledge.

And by the way, having all teachers need 5 years of university? That's a stroke of very VERY smart thinking there. I had teacher after teacher who obviously was NOT smart enough to be teaching the material. Some of them would throw out huge sections of the text to teach using their own method. Admirable, if it actually is better than the book (which let's face it, is EASILY done, those books are VERY inaccurate in grade school, teaching frickin' MYTHS too often), but sometimes the teacher is doing an idiot's job of it that's WORSE than the book. For example, rather than actually teaching biology like she was SUPPOSED to, one teacher insisted on making it clear that germs causing sickness was "only a theory", and a lot of those people in that class to this day have kept that belief. Public schools are there to prevent this sort of mass ignorance, not TEACH it! I mean, a theory is actually what all scientific principles ARE! It's what science is working TOWARDS, the END GOAL! GRAVITY is a theory! These teachers obviously never bothered expanding their own education. These books, ugh, it's like they just picked the cheapest ones they could find without even doing a basic check for validity. Now, even a book where the author checks every source and validates all the data can get some things wrong or at least not fully accurate, but they did check things out! These, they just stuck together the "fun facts" you read on popsicle sticks and snapple lids and claimed it's a general science book! Well, at least that's the feeling I get checking some of those things out. They actually taught that water only spins one way in the drain! They also used terms like "hot air wants to rise", which is wrong for so many reasons (air doesn't have any desires as far as the scientific community can tell :D, and hot air isn't actually going up so much as it's less dense and thus PUSHED up by the denser cold air, if there's no cold air, the hot air will in fact fall, heat is not an anti-gravity force), and they explain how flight works incorrectly as well stating things like "since air is forced to move over the curved top half faster, there is less pressure causing lift" (this is only a very small part of what causes lift, just a feature added for a bit, the extreme majority of lift is derived by the angle of attack, where the air hits the bottom part head on, while the top part is aimed away and so air is actually moving away from it). Math books get things much more accurate, but they tend to specialize in simplifying to the point of deception. I know that they need to teach simpler concepts first, walk before you can run and all, but to say "0 is not a number" in kindergarten and then slowly change that to things like "0 is a placeholder for a number" then "0 IS a number" is confusing to put it lightely. They are not obligated to teach ALL of math in the first grade of course, but whatever they DO teach, they are obligated to GET IT RIGHT!

Well we have diploma exams administered at the end of grade 12, that pretty much test everything you learned in that course for high school. They have one for all the major courses, Math, Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Social Studies, English etc. They are worth 50% of your mark in that class in Grade 12, so if you can't pass the test, you likely won't pass the course.
Teachers on average need 5 years of schooling. They have to have a Bachalors degree in Education. To get into the education program someone would usually already need at least 2 years of University(it's not somthing you can get into right out of high school), though most have already recived a degree in Arts or Sciences. A B.Ed. usually takes 2 years if it's not an afte-degree one or 1 year if you've already obtained a degree in somthing else. The other option is to get a degree in early childhood education, wich you can enter directly from high school, it's a four year program but you specialize in education for young children, so without a normal B.Ed. you could only yeach Kindergarden to Grade 3 with one of these. If you don't have a B.Ed or and early childhood education degree you have almost no chance of getting a job as a teacher, since unlike in the US, there are more certified teachers in some areas of Canada than there are jobs. A few private schools have non-certified teachers, but tehy are usually really small church based schools, and are subject to yearly testing by the Education ministry.

Isn't it weird how Canada calls their various government things "ministries"? That's so WEIRD!

Isn't it weird how Canada calls their various government things "ministries"? That's so WEIRD!
That's what most parlimentry democrcies do. There is a Prime Minister, who is the head minister, then there are the variouse Ministers who head the ministries.
Are teacher in the US considered proffesionals? Like in the same way as doctors, lawyers and enginers. Here they are, to teach in a public school they have to be a member of whatever that provinces teachers profesional association is. For example here they have to be part of the Alberta Teacher's Association. These proffesional associations hold teachers to the same standards as the proffesional assoiation for doctors, lawyers and engineers etc, hold their members too. THe only difference is that the teachers and doctors proffesional associations also function as unions, since they are paid by the province(most doctors are self employed, but since the provincial governments cover medical expenses fees payed to the doctors are set by the province).

Well professors in high end colleges certainly are considered in the same level as engineers. Public school teachers? No, oh no, ahem.... no.

Well professors in high end colleges certainly are considered in the same level as engineers. Public school teachers? No, oh no, ahem.... no.
I guess it's different here because most of them have more of an education than engineers, and almost as much as docters

Well, technically, DLN, a lot of college professors (and a few school teachers) ARE doctors... not medical doctors, but they have doctorates. :)

Well, technically, DLN, a lot of college professors (and a few school teachers) ARE doctors... not medical doctors, but they have doctorates. :)
You know what kind I meant.
The teaching, engineering and medical proffesors are all proffesionals though

I'm starting my first year of college on the 23rd, and call me crazy, but I'm actually... excited.

Oh, and I don't know if DJ answered it, but the SATs are out of 1600. Two parts, English and Math, each worth 800 points... though there is also a seperate set of tests called SAT IIs, which are tests on specific subjects. I took three.

Answered that? I barely addressed how SATs work at all! I was NO help!

I noticed, which is why I was more help. :)

Do you know much about the SATs, DJ?

So do you take SATII"s based on what you plan on doing in colledge. Like taking History based ones if you're going into a program that focuses on history?

More like what you think you could do well in. Most schools that take SATs require you to submit some SATIIs (usually two or three)... but not really specific ones. Well maybe some specialized schools would, but not most... unlike AP tests, these aren't for getting college credit.

I don't even know if I've ever taken an SAT. I mean, my school always had those yearly tests (SAT, ACT, something else?), but I don't think I anything for college entrance or whatever. I didn't have any ambition to go to school after high school so I didn't bother with any of that stuff. I think they are kinda stupid anyway.

It's like these "IQ tests". They are not tests of how smart you are, they are tests of how much you have learned. Sure, some of the pattern recognizing stuff is different, but all the math, logic, and science has to do with how much school you've taken an whether you bothered to pay attention and retain it or not.

More like what you think you could do well in. Most schools that take SATs require you to submit some SATIIs (usually two or three)... but not really specific ones. Well maybe some specialized schools would, but not most... unlike AP tests, these aren't for getting college credit.
OK, we just have to submit our class marks, as long as they are courses that meat the guidlines for the program we're applying for. But I guess that's probably because there is less of a differance between the education system from province to province due to the similar levels of education that all our teacher have, and provincial governments that are more strict about whether the students have actually learned what the teachers say they have.

SATs (and ACTs) are for college enterance only. Not for highschool. They don't mean anything as far as highschool goes... they're for colleges, so that they know people are taking the same test. Basing it just on your school grades isn't good because different school districts can be so different in quality...

SATs (and ACTs) are for college enterance only. Not for highschool. They don't mean anything as far as highschool goes... they're for colleges, so that they know people are taking the same test. Basing it just on your school grades isn't good because different school districts can be so different in quality...
What I was saying is that the the difference in quality is minimal because of how strict the provincial governments are when it comes to how school boards and schools operate. Funding for schools is centalized. All the money collected for education in a province are pooled and then divided between the schools and school boards on the basis of the number of students. Basically it means that a school in a poor area that has 1000 students will get just as much funding as a school in a well to do area with 1000 students.

Doesn't work like that here, obviously. But the SAT/ACTs aren't totally fair either -- the test may be the same, but rich people can afford a whole lot more test prep than poor so it's still got an element of unfairness. But you can only do so much and a test like this is a lot better than just relying on school grades.

I like the way it's done here, because that means there aren't really any really bad schools, unless they only have 4 students or somthing.
People here compain about our schools all the time, then they look at the US and just stop

Yeah, our school system is in pretty bad shape in places... in some places it's fine, but it varies greatly from state to state and even more from district to district within states. That is not good. I'm somewhat wary about state or national control of things like schools, but if done right I guess that it could work... the system we have now certainly doesn't all that well.

I got my schedule today

Semester 1
Spare
Chemistry 30
English Language Arts 30-1 AP
Social Studies 30

Semester 2
Spare
German 30
Spare
Science 30

We couldn't work it out so that I had the last period off, wich I wanted so that I could start work earlier, but I did get the first period off both semesters, so I can probably sleep in.

I'm also going to be taking a math course through corospondance, because I found it easier when I did it that way this summer. I'm going to spread the math course out over the whole year too, rather than doing it in one semester.

Indeed ABF, for the most part I agree. One little thing though. If someone is able to afford more education, they should be allowed to better themselves, regardless of whether or not everyone ELSE can get that same education. Yes, the education for everyone else SHOULD be vastly improved, but if someone is able to get more education, they should be allowed to! It's WRONG to prevent someone from learning... EVER!

Indeed ABF, for the most part I agree. One little thing though. If someone is able to afford more education, they should be allowed to better themselves, regardless of whether or not everyone ELSE can get that same education. Yes, the education for everyone else SHOULD be vastly improved, but if someone is able to get more education, they should be allowed to! It's WRONG to prevent someone from learning... EVER!
I'm complelty against private for profit schools. As long as the rich are able to get whatever education they want nothing will change, because unfortunatly the poorer public doesn't seem to be able to get the politicians to do anything

SCHOOL VOUCHERS!!!

Huh? What was that? Did someone say something? Because I thought I heard something. Something about school...vouchers, was it? Oh yeah, I remember hearing about those before! The poor get vouchers to go to whatever school they want, public or private...I think. One of the candidates was for it, if I remember correctly. The other side was against it. The one that was for it, had a W somewhere in his name I think. George W? Does that ring any bells with anyone?

...

...

...

What?!

Heh. But no, that couldn't work. Because some private schools are religious, and we certainly can't mix religion and politics. I'm not quite sure how we are doing that, since this is really just a way to let people choose whatever school they want to go to. This would also have the horrible effect of people leaving those public schools, which we know are all too empty as it is. I guess this would be great if the schools were over crowded and a lot of the kids had to have class in trailers or they were forced to make half the students go to school from 6-12 and the others from 12-6 because there was no other way to fit so many students into so few buildings, but obviously that isn't a problem.

And there is that religion and politics thing, which I don't copletely understand or know why it was ever created, but these smart people on tv talk about it alot so they must be right. Therefore, obviously, your idea is stupid GR. It's just a way to push your religious beliefs on a society that grows more educationally and morally inept every day and likes it. And that Bush guy is stupid because Texans talk funny and our economy and selfish desires for one more car or a bigger house or a PSP are more important than freedom for millions of other people.

Vouchers... so flawed... what they do is take money out of the public school systems that need it most. Yes, it gets some kids out of bad schools. But it also makes it WORSE for the ones who are left! Think about it, less students means less money... so it's a bad system, for the vast majority of people. The other problem with them is that it's public funding of religion, because most private schools are religious and I don't think any voucher laws are restricted to just being able to choose between other public schools within some range, and public funding of religion is a bad thing. Taxpayer dollars should not be going to teach children religious doctrines! But as I said the religion issue isn't the only problem with vouchers.

No, that's no solution at all. What needs to be done is some kind of major education reform that gets the schools that need money money. But in this country, such things seem quite unlikely...

Over-crowded schools don't need more money, what they need is to move some of those students somewhere else so that they can actually teach instead of just running crowd control.

Taxpayer dollars should not be going to teach children religious doctrines!

I have a great idea! Instead of giving parents money to send their kids to a religious, private school if they want let's just jam all the kids into already over-crowded public schools and if we have to we can just throw some more money at them! It's flawless!

If you choose to go to a private school instead of a public school then you shouldn't recive any government funding to do so.

Over-crowded schools don't need more money, what they need is to move some of those students somewhere else so that they can actually teach instead of just running crowd control.

Over-crowded schools definitely need more money! A lot of it in fact, to either expand or build a new school... and who said anything about only overcrowded schools being underpreforming? I didn't, you seem to have just assumed that...

It's not just overcroweded schools that have a problem, ones that don't have qualified teachers also have problems, even if they have really small classes

If you choose to go to a private school instead of a public school then you shouldn't recive any government funding to do so.

The goverment already pays for you go to public school, what the vouchers do is allow you to spend that money on sending your kids to a different school.

Which is exactly the problem, GR...

Look DLN, if someone CAN learn something, they should be able to. Others NOT being able to learn it should NOT hold me back! Yes, the education system should eventually become better to match, but if I have the ability to not have to wait for that, DO NOT TELL ME I CAN'T BETTER MYSELF! THAT IS A TERRIBLE HORRID THING TO DO TO A PERSON!

You still shouldn't expect government funding for it