If there were 53 states, we'd finish 54th in education

[craigdawg]

And I say that as a product of the California public school system and a UC grad.

Can You Name All 53 States?

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A chain of private California schools that taught immigrants there are 53 U.S. states and four branches of the U.S. government was ordered to stop handing out phony diplomas this week, state Attorney General Bill Lockyer said on Friday...

Students learned that Congress had two houses -- the Senate for Democrats and the House for Republicans; that the U.S. flag had not been updated to reflect the addition of Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico to the "original" 50 states; that the federal "administrative" branch oversees the Treasury Department; and that World War II occurred from 1938 to 1942...

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=583&e=2&u=/nm/20040809/od_nm/odd_schools_dc

 

[Mr. Anderson]

Wow, that's just sad....

The company charged its mainly Latino students $450 to $1,450 for a 10-week course based on a 54-page book that was riddled with errors, according to a lawsuit filed on Monday.

I'd love to get a copy of that book and see who wrote it - anyone know what the title of it is? I'm sure its for sale somewhere...

D

 

[gwuMACaddict]

I imagine the 'book' was probably published by the man running the schools. i can't imagine any reputable publisher doing work like that. it was my impression from one of the other articles i read that the 'book' was more of a bound collection of photocopied materials.

 

[Counterfit]

You mean my diploma's no good?

 

[wdlove]

That is very sad a company putting money before the education of children. Even schools that teach the correct information, according to surveys students aren't learning the information. Money isn't the answer. The involvement of parents and education itself needs to be changed.

 

[GeeYouEye]

i can't imagine any reputable publisher doing work like that.

You haven't seen my AP World History Textbook from my senior year of high school. Not so much riddled with errors as much as having serious, serious omissions. In the chapters on Nazi Germany and WWII, for example, half a sentence is given to the Holocaust. It doesn't mention any specifics about it either, just that "... during which, Hitler began in earnest his Holocaust attack on the Jews." That's was the entirety of it.

There was also lots of attention paid to the American Civil War and the Great Depression in the US, but only a single paragraph on the American Revolution (the French Revolution was similarly ignored, though it got a full subchapter, from 1789-1814, so that was including Napoleon), and it was the introduction to British Empire in India.

So don't think that just because it's a reputable publisher that their work will be true to history.

 

[siliconjones]

from the smoking gun.

Smoking Gun Link

 

[mkrishnan]

Fifty-three states. Bah. Everybody knows the South seceded at the end of the War of Northern Aggression in 1865. So there are only, what, ummm, 35 states?

 

[craigdawg]

Smoking Gun Link

This is absolutely worth $1450. Thanks siliconjones.

 

[homerjward]

sounds like my 8th grade science teacher. no names tho, she might be here...*darts eyes back and forth suspiciously*. well shes not but im still not namin names

 

[comictimes]

heh. why am I not surprised....
Our schools make me so sad sometimes...

 

[Apple Hobo]

...based on a bizarre 54-page workbook that apparently was authored by Ali G.

Too funny!

 

[bousozoku]

That's just so sad. If they'd got a real education for the money, it wouldn't be so bad.

There is a company here that was willing to sell diplomas to people who didn't pass the final state high school exam at their own school.

 

[Counterfit]

heh. why am I not surprised....
Our schools make me so sad sometimes...

it's not "our" school, it's "their" school:

A chain of private California schools

 

[Makosuke]

Yeowch. Running a scam to give out phony diplomas for a few hundred bucks to people who in most cases don't know better is bad enough, but you think if they were going to actually bother spending any time with the students they'd at least give them their 10 weeks worth of rushed and incomplete education, instead of willfully wrong.

So the real question is, were the people running the scam so utterly clueless that they got these facts wrong when Ali G. tried to remember them from his own inadequate high school education, or did they intentionally fill their "teaching" with inaccuracies so the poor folks who signed up for it would have that much more of a hard time getting anywhere in the world.

Racist/xenophobic on top of scam artist (if you can call that crock art), or just old-fashioned stupid?

 

[garybUK]

so how many states are there?

 

[Abstract]

So the real question is, were the people running the scam so utterly clueless that they got these facts wrong when Ali G. tried to remember them from his own inadequate high school education, or did they intentionally fill their "teaching" with inaccuracies so the poor folks who signed up for it would have that much more of a hard time getting anywhere in the world.

Actually, Ali G was educated at Oxford Uni, and is a very smart individual.

However, I agree with you about the education they got. If they were going to spend their time "educating" these immigrants anyway, why not just use real facts? It would have taken the same amount of effort and time.

 

[mkaake]

so how many states are there?

given your name includes UK, i'll give you the benefit of the doubt and just tell you...

50

 

[Raid]

Smoking Gun Link

ROFL!!!

Hey you guys shouldn't be so harsh. I mean there is a disclamer on the front page that states

All information is subject to change without notice.

I'd actualy love to take this test and make it multiple choice with some sarcastic answers. As I was going through the list I saw this and couldn't resist:
On Page 3 of the smoking gun link
16. Who elects the President of the United States?
A) Corrupt Election Supervisors
B) The Governor of Florida.
C) The Head of Fox News.
E) The supreme court that Daddy put in place.
F) All of the above.


All kidding aside I hope this bastard gets sued and barred from ever "teaching" professionaly again.

 

[Mr. Anderson]

Those statements/questions are absurd?!?!?!?!

Is the earth flat or round? ugh!

Its just a bunch of random factoids - wouldn't even help you in Trivial Pursuit. And the amount of grammatical and spelling errors is sad.

To think he was looking at expanding his school.....

D

 

[PalmHarborTchr]

Limbaugh told this story

Many critics of the public school system like Limbaugh and Neil Bortz
told this story on their radio show. They failed to let the audience know
that this was a private not a public aka government school but let the
audience assume it was a public school..........that's how they lie in a
sophisticated way.

 

[PalmHarborTchr]

Did Bush attend this school? See quote:

Bush responded: “Tribal sovereignty means that. It's sovereign. You're a … you're a ... you've been given sovereignty and you're viewed as a sovereign entity.”


And this guy is the leader of the western world?????? Lord have mercy.
Christ have mercy. May he be retired soon.

 

[Counterfit]

given your name includes UK, i'll give you the benefit of the doubt and just tell you...

50

Actually, 48 states and 2 commonwealths.

 

[comictimes]

it's not "our" school, it's "their" school:

And I'm from california, therefore....

 

[homerjward]

Actually, 48 states and 2 commonwealths.

dont forget a former nation coughtexascough

altho i guess it stil counts as a state