Stupid?

[samurai999]

http://www.abcnews.go.com/2020/Stossel/story?id=1500338

Interesting story by stossel. Has a clip of a belgian kid calling the US kids stupid. With the system we have, I'm really not surprised. I'm fortunate that I had decent teachers along the way, but HS all in all was pretty boring. If it wasn't for AP classes, I woulda been done with my homework in 1hr and spend the rest of the evening playing video games...

Tim

[Wes Nazo]

Prayer in school will solve this problem.

[Optomitrist]

Prayer in school will solve this problem.

Are you being sarcastic?

Prayer won't help. Beating the children would. Anyway I think this article isn't about bad children but bad school systems.

[Nanikure]

Yeah I watched that. It really pissed off my parents haha. I've been lucky to get into magnet and high school college programs. The rumors from the other high schools creep me out.

[samurai999]

I remember my friends HS where his home room teacher threw a hissy fit and started to throw chairs and pencils in random directions.

Tim

[ahmed61086]

Atheism will solve this problem.

[nodachi]

"...I think this article isn't about bad children but bad school systems."

There may be school systems that are not doing well, but it is not a matter of the school being bad, but that society is not so good. Schools are merely a product of the resources the school can use and the clientelle that attends the school. Even brilliant teachers who are good at teaching burn out when the student body doesn't give a crap. Some students can be motivated, some can be motivated with great effort, and others just don't care. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't force it to drink. Also, like most systems, garbage in, garbage out. If the students don't want to take part in their education or try to make school a worthwhile place to be, then you can't make a nobel prize winner from someone who refuses to try and work with the system instead of against it. Enough cliches though...

Now there is no reason to throw pencils and things in front of a class, but most of you would feel like snapping too if you worked everyday in a typical school. Society likes to blame the school and educational system for the faults of our failing home environments and other social problems. The school is a part of society. If society is crap, the school cannot magically fix it. The blame needs to be reasonably distributed. Yes, some of the fault is with schools, but not to the degree that we are always reading about.

Now to break away from the seriousness... did you know that US teachers have the second highest degree of blader/urinary tract health problems, following only truckers who are number 1.... you would get upset if you couldn't go to the bathroom when you wanted to as well... :)

And now I leave you all so I stop getting upset so I can get back to the sumo tournament on TV... Kotooshyu is the man!!!

[Wout]

"Has a clip of a belgian kid calling the US kids stupid" and in English no less.
BTW why did they take Belgian kids to compare: you guessed it: because we are oft viewed as a stupid sort of people. (while we tend not to be, ironicly)


I think the problem and why you see the such a difference between performance in public schools is a borne into the difference of stakeholders in the two systems.
In the US public schools are for the not so rich people, a lot of people actually go to private schools, where they a pretty penny for their kid to recieve an education. So the richer class won't care about a good public education, while in Belgium, the public school system IS the school system, it serves everyone (because in Belgium we believe everyone should have acces to a good schooling). On the contrary in Belgium you went go to a private (expensive) school: it gets an aura of 'buying your grades' especially if you failed in a public school first and got through with honours in the private one. So in Belgium, the gouverment organised school system is importtant to every parent.

The voucher system isn't that extreme, teachers are civil servants, so they get paid indipendent of the amount of teachers, the school itself IS dependent on the amount of students though. Also teaching in belgium is a very atractitve job, be it that you have to be idealistic to do it still, but reasonable pay (they are people who did higher education after all),pretty nice workconditions, secure job, a pretty demanding job but it still atracts a lot of young people.

BTW: but it still doesn't mean that if you would take kids from a US private school the outcome would be different.

[Ignatz]

To put it in perspective, the Belgian kids got 76% and the Americans got 40 something. So that is a D minus for the Belgians and an F for the Americans.

I would stop and think before I'd go bragging on a D minus.

Before all the little fingers start typing responses, I'm not saying that the American schools are good (I don't want to endanger the new found peace among the U.S., the Republic of Texas, The Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Kingdom of Belgium) but let's remember that ABC News is really ABC let's sell some ad space so we use provocative teasers to get people to watch and get our arbitron ratings up so we can charge more for 30 seconds. We really don't give a rat's patoot about the truth because none of you dipsticks can handle the truth.

Anyway, the results speak poorly of the education in both countries.

[Paikea]

Prayer in school will solve this problem.Praying for stable funding, maybe. Raising expectations and standards, probably. Paying teachers as if they were qualified professionals, absolutely.

Then again, my kid's school district is lampooned regularly in "Doonesbury".

[Stimpson J. Cat]

Even brilliant teachers who are good at teaching burn out when the student body doesn't give a crap. Some students can be motivated, some can be motivated with great effort, and others just don't care.... If the students don't want to take part in their education or try to make school a worthwhile place to be, then you can't make a nobel prize winner from someone who refuses to try and work with the system instead of against it. Enough cliches though...

You don't need an education to be a criminal or a welfare recepient and in the worst schools that's where most of the students know they're headed, and they don't care. The welfare system in this country has done an excellent job of relieving people of any sense of personal responsibility and teaching them to think the world owes them something whether they apply any effort or not. It's far from the only influence in that direction, but it's a big one.


You can lead a horse to water, but you can't force it to drink.

Ok, I can't resist
"You can if you tape a hose in it's mouth - I've tried it." - Dogbert

[pgsmith]

Anyway, the results speak poorly of the education in both countries.
I do not believe it is the education system that's broken, it is the parents that are broken.

P.S. Slapping everyone that feels that they have to introduce religion, or the lack thereof, into any conversation would help to solve the problem.

[samurai999]

"Has a clip of a belgian kid calling the US kids stupid" and in English no less.
BTW why did they take Belgian kids to compare: you guessed it: because we are oft viewed as a stupid sort of people. (while we tend not to be, ironicly)


I think the problem and why you see the such a difference between performance in public schools is a borne into the difference of stakeholders in the two systems.
In the US public schools are for the not so rich people, a lot of people actually go to private schools, where they a pretty penny for their kid to recieve an education. So the richer class won't care about a good public education, while in Belgium, the public school system IS the school system, it serves everyone (because in Belgium we believe everyone should have acces to a good schooling). On the contrary in Belgium you went go to a private (expensive) school: it gets an aura of 'buying your grades' especially if you failed in a public school first and got through with honours in the private one. So in Belgium, the gouverment organised school system is importtant to every parent.

.

Well in California, there are a lot of immigrants, illegal and legal. They spend a lot of money and time into teaching these kids how to read and speak English. Supposedly, when you enter elementary school or preschool, you should be able to understand what the other ppl in your class are saying. In my elementary school where I went, there were ppl speaking Tagalog, Spanish, and broken english. I couldn't really understand what most of them were saying. So in California, a lot of money (don't recall what percent of the total school budget) and time goes into providing ESL (english as a second language) classes as part of the schools curriculum to help those students out.

Tim

[Mr. T.]

To put it in perspective, the Belgian kids got 76% and the Americans got 40 something. So that is a D minus for the Belgians and an F for the Americans.

Help me out here. The "American system" goes from A+ to F-, right? The Dutch and apparently Belgium people go from 0 to 10 (or from 1 to 10 at some schools, the 1 for the effort of showing up and being able to put your name on the exam paper) or 0% to 100% (depending on the school). That means that the Americans score a D and my Belgium neighbours a B or B-. The people from Belgium keep surprising me :D


I don't want to endanger the new found peace among the U.S., the Republic of Texas, The Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Kingdom of Belgium

Peace to the Republic of Texas. :wink:

[Lloromannic]

To put it in perspective, the Belgian kids got 76% and the Americans got 40 something. So that is a D minus for the Belgians and an F for the Americans.

I would stop and think before I'd go bragging on a D minus.



That depends on the criteria, as Mr.T said. For example, my school uses both the Mexican system and the British UCLES system of A levels. For the mexican system it goes 1-10 with 8 being the average, get below that and you need to take an extra exam, get above that and no exam. In contrast, the british one uses letters that go from E to A and a U for a fail, getting a C means you are quite good (average is D) so getting an 8, while only sufficient in the mexican system is suficient, in Britain it's really good.

[Fonsz]

P.S. Slapping everyone that feels that they have to introduce religion, or the lack thereof, into any conversation would help to solve the problem.
Hear hear! I also would like use this opportunity to tighten the fresh bonds between our beloved nations. Despite the dumb kids or teachers or parents or what ever.

[Ignatz]

When I was in secondary school (high school) and granted it was a loooong time ago, 72% was passing below that was F (failure) so 76% was D- to D.

47% was definitely an F, there were no F- (really stupid?)

[samurai999]

When I was in college they usually weighted it by mean. If the mean of some tests was say 50%, then 50% was considered a C+/B-. Depending on the std. deviation, you had ~a C+ or a B-. Get way above the mean, say 20 %points above, then most likely you have an A or A-. Get way below (20pts the other way) and most likely you have a C or a D+.

In High school it was weighted by highest score. If the Highest score was an 80%, then they rescaled the grades to match. Nothing looks worse than a whole class that gets 50% or lower on a test. Other than that, I did a whole crap load of extra credit to up my grade.

Tim

[nodachi]

"Raising expectations and standards, probably"

We want higher expectations and most teachers stand by that, but you can't have higher standards and a low failure rate. To maintain high standards, people are going to fail, but the government doesn't want too many to fail, and eventually with No Child Left Behind, none will be supposed to fail or then that means the school is failing, so schools right now try to mediate between high enough standards to encourage students to work hard, but not so high that the failure rate is too big so the government yells at us. No matter what you think of President Bush and his other policies, NCLB is by far one of the worst policies I have ever seen. You cannot have high standards without people failing.

"So in California, a lot of money (don't recall what percent of the total school budget) and time goes into providing ESL (english as a second language) classes as part of the schools curriculum to help those students out."

I think a lot of the rationale for this type of spending is that people who speak English can contribute to society as working, producing, interacting, and spending parts of the whole. Take away the language and it is difficult to really integrate into a new society and give back to it.

[Nanikure]

A bunch of people in my school are bagging on America because "their kids are so stupid" while every other country has smarter kids. Their argument was "while we are in pre-school finger painting, the other countries are teaching their kids algebra and geometry." Looks like they were doing the former.

[nodachi]

International comparisons of various countries students are not valid since the groups of students being compared are not the same. Other countries who filter out and place non wanting to attend school students in various types of programs towards vocational careers and other directions will obviously score well against school systems that are forced to keep and teach everyone. Put another countries cream of the crop against everyone of another country and the "dumb" kids for lack of a better term will make the everyone group look pretty dumb against just the eggheads of the other group.

I am not saying any country is any dumber than any other... just that international comparisons are frequently meaningless...

And the pacing and who teaches what when arguments are not valid either because take Japan and America for example... Japanese middle and high schools have entrance exams and are really hard to get into good schools, but college in Japan is easy to graduate from once you are in it. America has simple middle and high schools, but we make up for the challenge by putting it on the college end of our educational system. We all get the job done, but just at different times. This is another reason why testing one country's educational system against another is meaningless... because everyone is doing different curriculums at different times so who is to say who should know what and when...

[samurai999]

True nodachi. An apples to apples comparison would be helpful (smart vs. smart). But some of the reports findings were pretty much on the dot as to how my schools were.

Tim

[piggy]

but let's remember that ABC News is really ABC let's sell some ad space so we use provocative teasers to get people to watch and get our arbitron ratings up so we can charge more for 30 seconds. We really don't give a rat's patoot about the truth because none of you dipsticks can handle the truth.


I can't watch the news anymore because it seems like everything I do is bad for me or its killing me or I am going to get robbed or raped or some terrible thing is happening everywhere, all the time. Its rather given me a "Devil may care" attitude.:pirate:

[Wout]

To put it in perspective, the Belgian kids got 76% and the Americans got 40 something. So that is a D minus for the Belgians and an F for the Americans.

I would stop and think before I'd go bragging on a D minus.



[/sarcasm] And offcourse every test and surely every international test follows american standards. [/sarcasm off]

International tests are usually done like a IQ test questions ranging from easy to hard, if you don't know much you get a low percentage right if you know average you will get an (number)% right, if you know above average you will get that percentage of questions too right + the ones that are supposed to be too hard (on avarage).


So the ABC.. rule doesn't apply here.
BTW really getting 76% on your report card in you'r last grade would be pretty good in belgium. Above 65% will get you through in most cases and above 50% will get you through in some cases.

Now you are prolly thinking school is easy here because, passing grades are low, but I have to tell you, tests are made accordingly.

And Nanikure, in our preschool we also do the fingerpainting and such, I have a nephew in England and he was thaught reading and maths in his preschool.
I always thought it is is pretty silly, parents wanting their kids to give them a 'head start' not realizing that little kids actually have more need to learn (crude) social behaviour (by playing with other kids, more then all that knowledge getting pumped into them while sitting on a chair. It also brings pressure because if their kid performs bad, the parents will pressure the kid or think it's not smart, while I think before your 10-14you can't really tell what kid is smart, because the level of maturity can differ soo greatly at low ages. (latebloomers bloom too, and it's not always the fastest kids who end up being the best)

[Mr. T.]

So the ABC.. rule doesn't apply here.
BTW really getting 76% on your report card in you'r last grade would be pretty good in belgium. Above 65% will get you through in most cases and above 50% will get you through in some cases.


When I was in secondary school (high school) and granted it was a loooong time ago, 72% was passing below that was F (failure) so 76% was D- to D.

47% was definitely an F, there were no F- (really stupid?)

In most schools in the Netherlands, you will pass if you get 55% correct. So F being a score of 10% (or 0%, depending on the school) and A+ is 100%. That's why idiots like me can go to college. :D



Now you are prolly thinking school is easy here because, passing grades are low, but I have to tell you, tests are made accordingly.

OK, maybe I'm not that dumb (maybe)


And Nanikure, in our preschool we also do the fingerpainting and such, I have a nephew in England and he was thaught reading and maths in his preschool.

I don't know when you all started learning to read and do math, but in the low lands we start at the age of 5. Before that, social skills are the main priority.

[Ignatz]

I'm told that most of the scientific advancements in the entire history of mankind have been in the last fifty years. So maybe when I went to school there wasn't so much to learn.:D

Heck, we did FORTAN programs and painted the code on the walls of our caves.

In my particular branch of the family, higher education wasn't something for which my ancestors had much time. It was decreed that I would go to college even though I wanted to be a cabinet maker like my grandfather. I went to school pre-bell curve and pre grade inflation and if I brought home a 76 on a test there would be hell to pay. In my high school you were required to take Latin and Greek plus a "modern" language along with the usual Lit, history, algebra, trig and calculus etc.

As an historical note, I quit college after one year and went back 10 years later then went to law school. My son is a cabinet maker. Go figure.

Anyway, I don't see that there is much to be gained by getting into a discussion of one country's education versus anothers. Remember, at any given time almost half of the people are below average.:rolleyes:

[Lloromannic]

In my high school you were required to take Latin and Greek plus a "modern" language


You mean like Gaelic? :D

I don't think a "smarts form countryA vs Smarts from country B" would work and anyway eveybody know smart people are a bother, I could spend all day hunting and farming but instead I have to do Kendo and talk to you guys.

[Ignatz]

You mean like Gaelic? :D

Boy I wish. 40 years ago it still wasn't used a lot and now my brain might be too messed up to learn it. To me it is like Japanese was, might as well be Martian.

Quit hunting several years ago but still like growing stuff.

[Curtis]

My kids are doing well in the public school system. My 6th grade son is learning algebra. He has projects that are far beyond anything I did in grade school, let alone most of junior high.

My younger son entered school early and is also doing well.

The recurring theme I hear is about the parents. I just cannot believe some of the things parents will do. Little Johnny is never to blame. The school system is not there to take care of the lack of parental guidance.

And could we please start paying teachers what they are worth. This is one of the reasons I refuse to have anything to do with professional sports and such (that and they just do not interest me). We really have an unbalanced sense of what is worthwhile in America.

One of the things I have learned through my contact with kids through kendo is there are a lot of really bright kids out there.

Gee, and I usually try to stay out of these type of discussions.

[Neil Gendzwill]

And could we please start paying teachers what they are worth. This is one of the reasons I refuse to have anything to do with professional sports and such (that and they just do not interest me). We really have an unbalanced sense of what is worthwhile in America.
There was an article in our paper that said the average salary of high school football coaches in Houston (or was it Dallas?) was $82,000 while the average salary of high school teachers in the same city was $41,000. That's just wacky.

[piggy]

There was an article in our paper that said the average salary of high school football coaches in Houston (or was it Dallas?) was $82,000 while the average salary of high school teachers in the same city was $41,000. That's just wacky.



Same goes with a lot of jobs. I think that the salary should not only be based on qualifications, but how wanted the job is. Every job has to be done and for some of them, noone feels like doing it.

Also about the football coach salary, I do kendo, I'm an athelete, where's my money?


I guess we have no luck untill nike and other big companies get involved with kendo. (It will be a dark day when that happens.)

[Curtis]

There was an article in our paper that said the average salary of high school football coaches in Houston (or was it Dallas?) was $82,000 while the average salary of high school teachers in the same city was $41,000. That's just wacky.

Well the old saying was 'Johnny can't read but he sure can play football'.

All you have to do is look at the behavior of fans around the World to understand what mentality you are dealing with. I like to believe these are a minority and the rest are out to watch a good game.

[samurai999]

Well the old saying was 'Johnny can't read but he sure can play football'.

All you have to do is look at the behavior of fans around the World to understand what mentality you are dealing with. I like to believe these are a minority and the rest are out to watch a good game.

Well I think a good movie to watch here is Friday Night Lights. Interesting movie about a HS football team in, you guessed it, Texas. Those guys don't care about school as long as you can play football. The Texans take their football seriously.

Tim

[pgsmith]

Hear hear! I also would like use this opportunity to tighten the fresh bonds between our beloved nations.
I raise my shot of tequila to the Netherlands!

Well the old saying was 'Johnny can't read but he sure can play football'.
Yep! That says a lot about Texas right there! Football is very, very big in Texas. Most of the high schools make more money for the school's programs by selling tickets to, and concessions at, football games than every other fundraiser combined. Football is big business in Texas.

[Neil Gendzwill]

The Texans take their football seriously.
Everybody in the US takes their football seriously. My dad's hometown of Iron River MI, which is about 5000 people if you combine the other 2 towns close by, has a way nicer stadium for their high school team than our city of 200,000+ has for the college team. I've never heard of a full-time football coach in Canadian high schools, maybe they have them in Toronto or something. Here, they're just the phys-ed teacher who donates his time after school to coach the kids.

In Canada, we make sure our college athletes are students first. They have to have a class load, they don't get paid (or get cars donated, or whatever). As a result we lose many of our top athletes to the US for full-ride scholarships and all the perks. But at least after 4 or 5 years of playing college ball, our athletes have a shot at making a living in the real world.

[samurai999]

I raise my shot of tequila to the Netherlands!

Yep! That says a lot about Texas right there! Football is very, very big in Texas. Most of the high schools make more money for the school's programs by selling tickets to, and concessions at, football games than every other fundraiser combined. Football is big business in Texas.

Well I am from near the Compton area and I raise a 40 for all my homies yo!

Tim

[samurai999]

Everybody in the US takes their football seriously. My dad's hometown of Iron River MI, which is about 5000 people if you combine the other 2 towns close by, has a way nicer stadium for their high school team than our city of 200,000+ has for the college team. I've never heard of a full-time football coach in Canadian high schools, maybe they have them in Toronto or something. Here, they're just the phys-ed teacher who donates his time after school to coach the kids.

In Canada, we make sure our college athletes are students first. They have to have a class load, they don't get paid (or get cars donated, or whatever). As a result we lose many of our top athletes to the US for full-ride scholarships and all the perks. But at least after 4 or 5 years of playing college ball, our athletes have a shot at making a living in the real world.

Well the school I went to (University of California, Davis) was one of the few to win an NCAA bball tournament championship with all of its players NOT on a sports scholarship. So it can be done, though they were Division II at the time.

Tim

[Mr. T.]

I went to school pre-bell curve and pre grade inflation and if I brought home a 76 on a test there would be hell to pay.

76% would make my parents very happy. (sorry mom, I'll study harder... next time)

[drizzt]

Well I think a good movie to watch here is Friday Night Lights. Interesting movie about a HS football team in, you guessed it, Texas. Those guys don't care about school as long as you can play football. The Texans take their football seriously.

Tim

yep we shure didnt care about our football team.....oh wait...


Football is big were you have a logn tradition of winning....I mean he**, in our school district band was the big thing. The football stands would be packed before half time and empty by the end. Of course our footbal team sucked but hey.

My issue with football is the way college teams come about. THey have so much lower grade requirmets(all over the NCAA) and such a poor graduation level (who would have guessed t.u. is in the bottom five, while I beleive A&M is at least somewere in the middle.....still not good but...) its absolutley insane. In a lot of ways, its a little embarasasing to be represented on national TV by someone who can barely speak proper english(and no that was not racial..... Its actualy farely uniform between whit and non-white players). I think you should be required to at least graduate if you intend to play for the school(ie you sign a contract saying you will stay and graduate or not be eligible for the NFL draft for XX years).


In alot of ways i wish our schools worked like european schools did. High school is not meant to prepare you for any kind of proffesional job, your forced to either go to a technical school or to a university to do anything above basic manual labor(although that is one popular misconception about american schools made by europeans.....our schools dont even aim for the same targets as yall's do). It is kind of funny the MASSIVE number of peple form other countrys who are here for there BA/S and Phds.

[Wout]

It is kind of funny the MASSIVE number of peple form other countrys who are here for there BA/S and Phds.
What's funny about it, it's relatively easy to get a BA Phd in the USA, compared to our schools and if you go to a more known school ppl would be impressed if you put it on your CV.

BTW: the goal of our school is to educate children and young adults, what is the goal of the US schools?


(BTW a while back I saw about a belgain girl that moved with her parents when she was around 15 (third year) to the US, high school proved to be that simple she graduated in two years and she completed university when she was 20 (I think it was something economic). At the moment she was teaching managers , and no she was not extremely intelligent or something.)

[Ignatz]

What's funny about it, it's relatively easy to get a BA Phd in the USA, compared to our schools and if you go to a more known school ppl would be impressed if you put it on your CV.

Yeah, they are giving those darn things away in cereal boxes.


BTW: the goal of our school is to educate children and young adults, what is the goal of the US schools?

We try to teach them not to say stupid things on internet forums.

Trying hard not to break the treaty.

[h2o]

I just have one objection against the schools in the US, and it is not actually about the school. It's about the books...

Why, oh why, do you have a system where the author of a coursebook gets payed an amount which is related to the number of pages he writes? As a student in computer engineering I run in to american books quite often, since the more exotic CS subjects are just to small to make it profitable for someone to write about it in swedish.
Anyway, the books are always 500+ pages, and printed on softcover, which has the effect that if you keep it in your bag for more than two days the cover is ruined. And it weighs a lot too...
Then, no matter what subject, there is always a lot of bullshit in the beginning, and a long introduction chapter which assumes that the reader is an idiot. Yes, swedish books generally also have an introduction. The longest I have seen was on two pages though. And the introduction chapter is short.
And lets not forget... because the author is payed by the page, we must explain everything atleast two times. My latest book actually reused half a page from the introduction chapter in one of the more advanced chapters.

Ok, I've stopped ranting now...

[nodachi]

It's actually a combination of just plain old long windedness and it is partially the fault of the publishers, not the author. Books are printed using set clumps of pages. This is set and unchangeable. So if you are slightly over a certain limit and need even just 1 or 2 pages into a new clump, you can't have the remaing pages be a clump of white, blank pages at the end of the book. Thus, the author must fill the clump of pages. Either that or cut down, which rarely happens. Placements of pictures and the miscelaneous junk that they put in books to make them "prettier and more interesting" stretch the size of the books.

Anyone who learned math about 10 years ago probably learned with books by an author named Dulciana (or something like that). No pictures, just to the point examples and explanations and then pages of practice problems with answers in the back. Funny kind of brownish, red font usually. No pretty pictures, very bland to look at, but at least it was light and got the job done. Who actually pays attention to the pictures in textbooks anyway, they are usually just filler with useless and "no need to learn" captions anyway.

[Neil Gendzwill]

What's funny about it, it's relatively easy to get a BA Phd in the USA, compared to our schools and if you go to a more known school ppl would be impressed if you put it on your CV.
Well, there's a lot of variation in US schools. There's a big difference between a degree from MIT and one from Billy-Bob's Bible College.

Here in Canada we don't have so many universities as the US, but they're all pretty good ones. The students that come here to do post-grad work typically do so because there are star players available as advisors in the field they're interested in.

[h2o]

Anyone who learned math about 10 years ago probably learned with books by an author named Dulciana (or something like that). No pictures, just to the point examples and explanations and then pages of practice problems with answers in the back. Funny kind of brownish, red font usually. No pretty pictures, very bland to look at, but at least it was light and got the job done. Who actually pays attention to the pictures in textbooks anyway, they are usually just filler with useless and "no need to learn" captions anyway.Sounds like the good mathbooks I've had. And no, pretty pictures never catch my eye in a textbook unless it actually tries to explain something. And yes, I know about the typesettingproblem, but that would not be a problem isolated to the US? I mean, my swedish textbooks obviously manage to get printed, and they (mostly) don't suffer from irrelevant filling material. Not any that I've had yet anyway.

[Ignatz]

I mean, my swedish textbooks obviously manage to get printed, and they (mostly) don't suffer from irrelevant filling material. Not any that I've had yet anyway.

Everybody know that weuns in the US be a bunch of idjits and the onliest way weuns can get any learnin at all is to look at purty pitcher books.

[Wout]

Yeah, they are giving those darn things away in cereal boxes.



We try to teach them not to say stupid things on internet forums.

Trying hard not to break the treaty.



Well, in the percentage of ppl that have a higher degree (at University) is higher than in Belgium. Maybe you choose to believe that is proof that Belgain ppl are stupid.

The fact of the matter is that,
1. at lower ranked universities in the US it is relatively easy to get graded compared to Belgain universities (who are not ranked but are supposed to educate ppl on a standard level apropriate for an academic level). The higher ranked universities in the US will be on the same level and the highest maybe better, because in Belgium there is no selection, entrance is open for everyone with a degree of secondary education (except dentists 'too many of those' and burgies 'very hard').
2. Many ppl in Belgium go to the professional higher education, which standard is higher compared to other countries, where non-academic higher education is treated as a stephchild. (and third is also the fact that our industrial engeneers are also proffesional (so non academic) bachelors, much to their annoyance because in other countries they don't get the standing they should recieve).

[Wout]

And the book thing, it's true. American books are usually much more pages for only the same amout of content.
I have had amercan books about statistics, microeconomics, etc., they give examples till you really start to wonder when they are going to make a point. When you have to learn or review something you missed, it is really tedious get usefull information. The statistical book was the worst, about 1 out of 5 pages was usefull. It's cool to give one example to make a point, but not 5 to clarify each and every step of you point.
If I compare it to the book of international economics made by dutch and belgain ppl, not everypage is usefull, but the stuff seems much more concentrated. Although it had the tendency to too much in the other direction. That book looked much more like a book about maths if you would glance over the pages :D =>" 'formula', this means that 'almost entirely different formula'". So maybe that's not ideal either.

[Ignatz]

Well, in the percentage of ppl that have a higher degree (at University) is higher than in Belgium. Maybe you choose to believe that is proof that Belgain ppl are stupid.

I looked over my posts and then looked over everyone else's and cannot for the life of me find the part where I (or anyone) said that Belgian people are stupid.
You, on the other hand, come out of nowhere and tell us that
1. American Universities are cakewalks and PhD degrees are basically given way.
2. American books suck, even though for some strange reason your texts seem to be from america.
3. While the goal of Belgian education is lofty and noble, that of the american schools must be something else. God know what, perhaps witchcraft and it is time for the revival of the Inquisition.
4. You give us a little anecdote about the 15 year old Belgian girl who came to america and blew away all of the American kids (and she wasn't even smart)

I am by no means one who would suggest that all things american are the best but, quite frankly, it annoys me to hear some little lugnut mouthing off about how much better/smarter/cooler his country is. Who freaking cares? Trying to cutdown the other guy doesn't raise you up one bit. It is called xenophobia, a form of racism or fear/dislike of people who are not like you.

In NYC it is estimated that there are approximately 250 languages spoken. My apartment is above a korean bodega. For those who don't know, a bodega is essentially a puerto rican delicatessen or neighborhood grocery store, the name changed when the PRs moved in and bought the stores from the Jews. When the Koreans moved in the name bodega remained.

In this bodega, the workers are Koreans and Mexicans and the chief cook is Egyptian (you gotta try his kim chee I told Jimmy Lee, the owner, that kim chee would sell so his mother taught Abdul how to make it). You can sit on the bench outside and say hi to your Polish friends as well as Italian, Hasidic Jews, Peurto Rican/Chinese (a neighborhood cross, not to be confused with Cuban/Chinese who were the product of the railroad builders moving to Cuba and returning when Castro came to power). And here's me, a big dumb Mick in the middle of it all.

All of these people are happy to be here. It was not their second choice after Belgium. None of them sit around telling us aboout how great their old country was compared to the US. Why? Because they are Americans.

I don't think you would do well here so, do us all a favor and stay where you are, safe and secure in the knowledge that you are so much better than the rest of us.

A Belgian guy walks into a mens room and passes an American who is at the sink finishing washing his hands. The American then goes over to the urinal and relieves himself. When they finish the Belgian goes over to the sink to wash his hands and the American starts to walk out the door. The Belgian says, "We were taught in school to wash our hands after we urinate." The American says, "We were taught not to urinate on our hands. Plus I washed my hands first because I know where my dick has been".

And now, to be fair, here is a little bon mot, so to speak, about America. I have a small farm about 90 miles west of NYC. The local school board was concerned that, because of the great influx of people from NYC, there would be a problem with mixing up the various nationalities. They instituted a rule whereby no one could wear clothing with the symbol or flag of any country other than the United States. A young man came to school with a T-shirt that had the flag of Puerto Rico on it and he was promptly suspended. It was explained to the school administration that Puerto Rico is not a country, it is part of the U.S. and all PRs are U.S. citizens.

Does this prove that all US principals are stupid or all school boards are stupid or all Americans are stupid? Of course not but it shows that we have to be ever vigilant. The ridiculous tripe that comes out of your posts is the beginning of this type of thing so we should stop it before it spreads.

[Spendius]

I looked over my posts and then looked over everyone else's and cannot for the life of me find the part where I (or anyone) said that Belgian people are stupid.


Stating that Belgians are stupid is a French classic. It's kind of a local rivalry... I moved to Belgium so I could be the big fish in the small pond.
(this is a JOKE. Maybe a bad one, but still a joke, so put away the flamethrowers...)

[h2o]

2. American books suck, even though for some strange reason your texts seem to be from america.
I have no opiniion on the rest of your post, but this I actually have to defend this. Although I think I already have in a previous post...
USA: 300 million people.
Belgium: 10 million people
Sweden: 9 million people
If you write a book on an exotic subject which is only interesting for a small percentage of the population and you choose to write it in swedish or dutch or whatever, then you can only sell it in the relatively small countries that speak that particular language. If you write it in english, then at least the majority of europe and the US can use it. It simply seems to be either too expensive to write a book in swedish, or there is no person with enough time to do it.
Looking at my bookshelf with textbooks I can see that a little less than half of the volumes are written in swedish, and the rest in english. The swedish books are primarily in mathematics and electronics, and those are courses read by a lot of people on technical universities here. Almost all of my computer science books (except two books in programming) are written in english though, since CS-students are not really that many.

[Ignatz]

Then, no matter what subject, there is always a lot of bullshit in the beginning, and a long introduction chapter which assumes that the reader is an idiot. Yes, swedish books generally also have an introduction. The longest I have seen was on two pages though. And the introduction chapter is short.

As I said, the books are targeted to weuns in the US who are a bunch of idjits rather than braniacs like you and Wout.



And lets not forget... because the author is payed by the page, we must explain everything atleast two times.

Is this statement anecdotal or based upon hard evidence or just a guess? And, no offense intended, the past tense of "to pay" is "paid". Like any other endeavor, speaking english and speaking english properly are not always the same thing. If your major premise involves letting us know how smart you are, perhaps you should try to get it right. I know, I know, English is not your first language, and I appreciate that. I would learn Swedish if I could think of any reason at all for doing so, but I can't. I know, Sweden is a wonderful country, they invented the zipper and the sex change operation and back in the 1700s they were pretty tough until Peter the Great handed them their asses (which could explain the zipper/sex change thing), but. . .

Sometime in the mid 90's the Swedish National team was in NYC for a tournament. I don't recall any of them grumbling about what a shit country this was, they all seemed happy to be here.

At this time I would call upon Fonz and Mr. T to discuss whether there should be sanctions levied agains the Kingdom of Belgium and whether France should be invited to become signatory to the treaty and be invited to join the coalition. I must state up front that my French is not good and I speak it poorly and with a Cuban accent (My teacher was Cuban)

[samurai999]

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/01/20/MNGEVGQEDH1.DTL

The closing of SF schools due to declining enrollment. Of course nobody cares about the Japanese Cultural program... :p

Tim

[Fonsz]

Like any other endeavor, speaking english and speaking english properly are not always the same thing.
I beg to differ, I think it should be "speaking english and speaking english properly is not always the same thing." Because the subject is "thing". If my explanation isn't good then I must say it doesn't sound right.:p




At this time I would call upon Fonz and Mr. T to discuss whether there should be sanctions levied agains the Kingdom of Belgium and whether France should be invited to become signatory to the treaty and be invited to join the coalition. I must state up front that my French is not good and I speak it poorly and with a Cuban accent (My teacher was Cuban)

This is a tough one, but I heartily approve the expansion of the coalition with France, and indeed severe sanctions against our Southern Neighbors are in order. We have a lot of jokes about Belgians here in Holland and they are all about Belgians who get into trouble because of their own doing. Braniac is not the first word that comes into my mind when we talk about our Southern Neighbors by the way.
I think it should be fair that you should decide the sanctions and the severity thereof. You seem like a man of the world (with legal experience) so we await your judgement and we will inform our Neighbors about them.

(By the way did you know that from about 1815 till 1830 Belgium was a part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands? We had a ten day war and then the powers that be in Europe decided that they should be independent. This is what you get for breaking away from our beloved country):grin:

[Kat]

[quote=Fonsz]I beg to differ, I think it should be "speaking english and speaking english properly is not always the same thing." Because the subject is "thing". If my explanation isn't good then I must say it doesn't sound right.:p

I think you are wrong on this one. What about "Apples and oranges are not the same thing?" AND it does sound right.

[Mr. T.]

At this time I would call upon Fonz and Mr. T to discuss whether there should be sanctions levied agains the Kingdom of Belgium and whether France should be invited to become signatory to the treaty and be invited to join the coalition. I must state up front that my French is not good and I speak it poorly and with a Cuban accent (My teacher was Cuban)

Ohhh great… are the Dutch and the US (and the Republic of Texas :D) at peace is Belgium going to the virtual battle field. What happened to peace and understanding (does that sound corny or what)?


Stating that Belgians are stupid is a French classic. It's kind of a local rivalry... I moved to Belgium so I could be the big fish in the small pond.
(this is a JOKE. Maybe a bad one, but still a joke, so put away the flamethrowers...)

We Dutch make the same jokes about the Belgians :p, so we do have something in common with the French. Spendius speaks English so he can help us out with the new and improved Dutch/US/French coalition. This could be the beginning of a United Nations thing :D

[h2o]

As I said, the books are targeted to weuns in the US who are a bunch of idjits rather than braniacs like you and Wout. Ok, I am really not sure exactly what your point is, and english slang is not my best skill.



Is this statement anecdotal or based upon hard evidence or just a guess? And, no offense intended, the past tense of "to pay" is "paid".
I know. I find the misspelling "payed" a bit embarassing.



Like any other endeavor, speaking english and speaking english properly are not always the same thing. If your major premise involves letting us know how smart you are, perhaps you should try to get it right.
No, that was not my intention. I was just ventilationg my thoughts on american textbooks, which I am forced to use. I am not particularly smart, and I don't think that americans are morons. It's the books I'm irritated on.
My spelling might be a bit off sometimes (notmore than some native english speakers though), I find spelling quite easy. It's the structure of sentences that is the hard part, since you sometimes put words in a different order than we do.



I know, I know, English is not your first language, and I appreciate that. I would learn Swedish if I could think of any reason at all for doing so, but I can't. I know, Sweden is a wonderful country, they invented the zipper and the sex change operation and back in the 1700s they were pretty tough until Peter the Great handed them their asses (which could explain the zipper/sex change thing), but. . .Nah, I can't see why anyone would want to learn a language spoken by less than 10 million people. Unless you really like dancing around trees and poles, eating herring and getting drunk.
I did actually not know that we invented the sex change. But the zipper, dynamite, the bearing and a few other things.



Sometime in the mid 90's the Swedish National team was in NYC for a tournament. I don't recall any of them grumbling about what a shit country this was, they all seemed happy to be here.Who have said anything else? Not that I really can think of any reasons to go to the US, I wouldn't mind visiting sometime. As I said above, I have nothing ill against your country, only the textbooks that are written there.

[Ignatz]

As I said above, I have nothing ill against your country, only the textbooks that are written there.

I got my panties bunched up over the other guy and you got in the way, sorry. Perhaps you would consider representing Sweden and joining our coaliton.

On that note, I have read over the various postings and find that The Kingdom of Belgium has never formally joined the coalition thus sanctions are not appropriate. However, should they wish to join, the Dutch and the French will have to stop picking on them.

I too think it would be wonderul if France joined, I vote in favor. One step closer to world peace through kendo. Soon Canada will be eligible for membership once the French speakers and the English speakers come to terms. Of course that also means that the French will have to acknowledge that what they speak in Quebec is, in fact, French or a reasonable facsimile thereof.

Just a suggestion but perhaps our motto might be "Don't be an asshole".

On another note:

I beg to differ, I think it should be "speaking english and speaking english properly is not always the same thing." Because the subject is "thing".

One of the breakthroughs that I have had in trying to learn Japanese is when I learned that the missing subject was something we have in English also. We want to think of English as SVO and then look for the subject. In my sentence you see "Speaking English and Speaking English properly" in the S position but think, correctly I believe, that they are not the subject of the sentence because we want that to be a noun. If we look at it like a Japanese sentence and insert a topic marker you would have "Speaking English and Speaking English properly (wa) these two things are not the same." The way you were looking at it was "Speaking English (one thing) is not the same thing as speaking english properly (another thing).

I get totally pissed riding the subway and listening to native born americans butcher the language while immigants speak better. Damn, maybe I'm French and didn't know it.

[h2o]

I got my panties bunched up over the other guy and you got in the way, sorry. Perhaps you would consider representing Sweden and joining our coaliton.Ah, it's all right. No hard feelings :D
But I wonder what this coalition thing is all about, I might have been a bit sloppy when I read this thread :)

[Fonsz]

Ah, it's all right. No hard feelings :D
But I wonder what this coalition thing is all about, I might have been a bit sloppy when I read this thread :)

It's the greatest thing since sliced bread and a whole new world is open to you, where you can talk nonsense and practice Kendo vigorously, as a means to World Peace.
Now if that isn't a worthy cause then I don't know what is. Since Belgium never formally joined we can still blurt out "Belgian Jokes" as we call them, and feel very smug about ourselves.
I was wondering by the way what the sanctions are if you insist to ridicule a fellow member of the coalition.:grin:

[Ignatz]

I was wondering by the way what the sanctions are if you insist to ridicule a fellow member of the coalition.:grin:

Perhaps we can adapt the "Trunk Monkey".

www.sillyhumor.com/trunkmonkey/

[Mr. T.]

It's the greatest thing since sliced bread and a whole new world is open to you, where you can talk nonsense and practice Kendo vigorously, as a means to World Peace.
Now if that isn't a worthy cause then I don't know what is.

Don’t forget that some of us practice iaido to make the people in the world live in harmony (iaido) with each other (and cut those who oppose us to pieces :devious: ).


Perhaps we can adapt the "Trunk Monkey".

Now that’s will be a nice resolution: Behave or next time we’ll send the monkey :D

[h2o]

It's the greatest thing since sliced bread and a whole new world is open to you, where you can talk nonsense and practice Kendo vigorously, as a means to World Peace.
Now if that isn't a worthy cause then I don't know what is. Since Belgium never formally joined we can still blurt out "Belgian Jokes" as we call them, and feel very smug about ourselves.
I was wondering by the way what the sanctions are if you insist to ridicule a fellow member of the coalition.:grin:
Ah sounds good. But I guess I'll just do what my country always does and stay "neutral" :p

[Fonsz]

Don’t forget that some of us practice iaido to make the people in the world live in harmony (iaido) with each other (and cut those who oppose us to pieces :devious: ).




Ah yes Iaido, now there's a tricky one. Some people whom will remain unnamed, have called Iaido something for old people when they can't keep up with the Kendo anymore, other people who shall also remain nameless have said that Iaido has nothing to do anymore with the sword but is something like flover arrangement.

I also have mixed feelings towards Iaido which I shall not mention here (although this is the Flames section).
But the point is that one should practice vigorously and if you have the slightest proof that there are people who can practice Iaido vigorously I'm inclined to give it the benefit of the doubt for the sake of World Peace. Even if you're from the High North where people don't really want to be part of the greater community:rolleyes: .

I never thought that a blunt Iaito can cut someone to pieces but you learn everyday.:rolleyes:

[Mr. T.]

Ah yes Iaido, now there's a tricky one. Some people whom will remain unnamed, have called Iaido something for old people when they can't keep up with the Kendo anymore, other people who shall also remain nameless have said that Iaido has nothing to do anymore with the sword but is something like flover arrangement.

Really? I've heard that kendo is like playing with bamboo sticks (unidentified source, how convenient) and has therefore no connections with the real deal.

What was seitei for again, I quote:
By performing Iaido with "real" swords, it is expected to soften the criticism that these days Kendo practitioners only twirl bamboo swords.
(source: ZNKR IAI, English version manual, March 2004)

You need us like we need you, apparently :p


I also have mixed feelings towards Iaido which I shall not mention here

You better not or you're one of the people who stands in the way of world harmony :D


But the point is that one should practice vigorously and if you have the slightest proof that there are people who can practice Iaido vigorously I'm inclined to give it the benefit of the doubt for the sake of World Peace.

Hey, I sweat some times. I hope that counts


Even if you're from the High North where people don't really want to be part of the greater community

Don't worry, I'm an import, as I like to put (to piss off the locals): I'm here to give development aid. Just in case Fryslan decides they want to become independent again. :D


I never thought that a blunt Iaito can cut someone to pieces but you learn everyday. :rolleyes:

Most of kendo folks never go past the bokuto phase. Now that’s a real sword :silly: and wait until I get my shinken (give me a few years). ;)

[Hisham]

Most of kendo folks never go past the bokuto phase. Now that’s a real sword :silly: and wait until I get my shinken (give me a few years). ;)

Somebody whose name doesn't have to be mentioned in the old days of "reality" swordsmanship killed somebody else with a "wooden stick" , which means that your argument has just been erased:D

PS:I got your back Fonz.

[Mr. T.]

Somebody whose name doesn't have to be mentioned in the old days of "reality" swordsmanship killed somebody else with a "wooden stick" , which means that your argument has just been erased:D

PS:I got your back Fonz.

Perhaps, but the guy knew how to use a "real sword" to. If we're talking about the same guy, before he started the smash skulls with wooden stick, he cut lots of people apart with a real sword. So he passed the bokuto phase, started to use real swords and decided to go back to the bokuto.

A bokuto (bokken) is not a sword it's a wooden stick resembling a sword. Just because you can kill someone with a wooden stick that looks like a sword doesn't make it a sword. Just a very nice looking club. I could make a weapon of a toothbrush it still doesn't make it a knife.

So my argument still stands :D

[Fonsz]

Somebody whose name doesn't have to be mentioned in the old days of "reality" swordsmanship killed somebody else with a "wooden stick" , which means that your argument has just been erased:D

PS:I got your back Fonz.

Yes I forgot about that one, thanks for bringing this up. You just showed that you got what it takes. Is your country by the way willing to join our Coalition? The more the merrier I would say and it is good PR for your country.



Hey, I sweat some times. I hope that counts


Well if that's true than I suppose that there are no objections to extend our Kendo World Peace Coalition with the odd "Iaido" practioner as long as there are not too many. We have to keep it exclusive you know. In the meantime, we have to ask what the founding father and lifelong President, the honorable Mr. Ignatz thinks of this watering down of our pact.

We eagerly await his fair and just judgement.

[Mr. T.]

Well if that's true than I suppose that there are no objections to extend our Kendo World Peace Coalition with the odd "Iaido" practioner as long as there are not too many. We have to keep it exclusive you know.

Hip hip hooray, the iaidoka is allowed to stay:laugh:

[piggy]

Perhaps, but the guy knew how to use a "real sword" to. If we're talking about the same guy, before he started the smash skulls with wooden stick, he cut lots of people apart with a real sword. So he passed the bokuto phase, started to use real swords and decided to go back to the bokuto.

A bokuto (bokken) is not a sword it's a wooden stick resembling a sword. Just because you can kill someone with a wooden stick that looks like a sword doesn't make it a sword. Just a very nice looking club. I could make a weapon of a toothbrush it still doesn't make it a knife.

So my argument still stands :D



Sword (Old English (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_English_language): sweord (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sweord); akin to Old High German (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_High_German): swerd, "wounding tool"; Proto-Indo-European (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Indo-European_language): *swer-, "to wound, to hurt") is a term for a long-edged, bladed weapon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bladed_weapon), consisting in its most fundamental design of a blade (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade), usually with two edges for striking and cutting, a point for thrusting, and a hilt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilt) for gripping.~wikipedia.com


Sounds like a sword could be wooden to me.





A knife is a sharp-edged hand tool used for cutting (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cutting). A knife usually consists of a blade, commonly less than 12 inches (30cm) in length, attached to a handle. The blade of a knife is usually pointed and may have one or two cutting edges. Knives have been used as tools (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tool) and weapons (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weapon) since the Stone Age (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_Age).




And I don't know about you but if you sharpen a toothbrush in the right way I guess you could make a knife out of it.:ko:

[Lloromannic]

It's the greatest thing since sliced bread and a whole new world is open to you, where you can talk nonsense and practice Kendo vigorously, as a means to World Peace.
Now if that isn't a worthy cause then I don't know what is. Since Belgium never formally joined we can still blurt out "Belgian Jokes" as we call them, and feel very smug about ourselves.
I was wondering by the way what the sanctions are if you insist to ridicule a fellow member of the coalition.:grin:


I wonder if I may join the coalition as the representative of the Republic of Mexico.

[Fonsz]

I wonder if I may join the coalition as the representative of the Republic of Mexico.
I have no objection to your application. We will have to wait what the right honorable Mr. Ignatz will say. There is a small matter to be solved about Iaidoka who claim that they sweat while practicing. This serious matter is under close scrutiny, so it will take some time.

Furthermore bear in mind that there are no patches or badges that show membership of this exclusive coalition. Photoshopped Menjo's or other "proof" of membership of our organisation are always fake because we don't have any. Membership has only duties and nothing else.
We propagate World Peace through vigorous Kendo practice. Nothing more nothing less.

I hear Mexico is a beautiful but underestimated country. I have been in Tijuana twice in my life and I really enjoyed it every time. But since the President of our Coalition has some more experience with the Hispanic community and speaks fairly reasonable Spanish, he will let you know in due time.

Thank you for the interest in our Coalition and hopefully we will meet in the dojo or somewhere else.

[Mr. T.]

Sword (Old English (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_English_language): sweord (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sweord); akin to Old High German (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_High_German): swerd, "wounding tool"; Proto-Indo-European (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Indo-European_language): *swer-, "to wound, to hurt") is a term for a long-edged, bladed weapon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bladed_weapon), consisting in its most fundamental design of a blade (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade), usually with two edges for striking and cutting, a point for thrusting, and a hilt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilt) for gripping.~wikipedia.com


Sounds like a sword could be wooden to me.

And I don't know about you but if you sharpen a toothbrush in the right way I guess you could make a knife out of it.:ko:

Crap... I hate to be wrong, but you're right :(


There is a small matter to be solved about Iaidoka who claim that they sweat while practicing. This serious matter is under close scrutiny, so it will take some time.

As the self-apointed representative of the Empire of Fryslan I would like matter to be solved quick and fair. (Yes folks, I'm going for independence :wink: ).


Furthermore bear in mind that there are no patches or badges that show membership of this exclusive coalition.

And I wanted a gi full of patches :D


We propagate World Peace through vigorous Kendo practice. Nothing more nothing less.

And world harmony by practising iaido if I have a say in it (and it’s obvious that I don’t)

[Ignatz]

I vote to admit Mexico!! Welcome to the movement. I have no objection to Iai people joining, we could use a little harmony.

[piggy]

I vote to admit Mexico!! Welcome to the movement. I have no objection to Iai people joining, we could use a little harmony.



What about Italy?

[Ignatz]

What about Italy?
If I may be so bold as to speak for the coalition, Italy is in. Damn, it's starting to be like Alice's Restaurant, a movement.

[Spendius]

I'm not entitled to speak for my country, but I'll do so anyway (after all I'm French...) : it would be an honor for France to be part of such a well intentioned and respectable coalition, as long as UK stays out.
In addition, I must say that France will remain neutral regarding possible sanctions towards the Kingdom of Belgium, and is even ready to put veto in case these sanctions would evolve into extensive reprisals (my sensei and all my sempai are Belgians, I need to cover my ass since any of them can kick it anytime :D)

[Hisham]

Is your country by the way willing to join our Coalition? The more the merrier I would say and it is good PR for your country.

I'm honored that you asked and i accept your offer wholeheartedly.
BTW Mr T i think if we take the Kendo's broader sense then iaido and IMHO any JSA is naturally included so in a way this coalition isn't making an exeption by having you as a member.

[Mr. T.]

it would be an honor for France to be part of such a well intentioned and respectable coalition, as long as UK stays out.


I doubt it will be possible, we don't need them for world peace (we've got the Republic of Texas for that:D). But for the world harmony thing they are essential. Don’t worry we, we don’t do chanting.

Now that the world peace coalition is growing, isn’t it time for a name? Because “I’m a part of that kendo peace thing” doesn’t sound impressive.

[Spendius]

I guess it should be okay, world harmony seems an ideal well worth some concessions from every party, but only as long as they don't come up with strange ideas involving lamb and mint together...

[Fonsz]

So far we have:
The Republic of Texas
The United States of America
The Kingdom of the Netherlands
The Republic of Mexico
The Republic(?) of Italy (From North to South)
The Kingdom of Morocco
The Republic of France
(The odd Iaidoka who claim that they sweat during practice)
On the waiting list are:
The Kingdom of Belgium
We all solemnly declare that we practice Kendo vigorously as a means to propagate World Peace.
Members should at least have the intention to visit each other to practice Kendo vigorously. We will try to not make fun of Fellow Members at least not in public or in writing. Entre nous is ok.
I think that this is a good start of a strange thread of which I forgot what it was all about.
Any changes in this declaration should be decided by the right honorable Mr Ignatz.
I have to stop now because I'm getting all emotional.......:spchless:

[Hisham]

What about a name for the coalition?

[Ignatz]

Any changes in this declaration should be decided by the right honorable Mr Ignatz.
I have to stop now because I'm getting all emotional.......:spchless:

Please, my thoughts are no more important than anyone else's. I can't remember what it was that started this either but it is good *wipes a tear from his eye*

I think that any country that wants to join only need to state its intention to abide by the precepts as set forth by Fonz above (and try not to be an a-hole)

In spite of my Irish history, if the UK wishes to join, then bless them. That being said, if France wishes to attempt to educate them as to the meaning of the term "food", assuming that it is in the interest of World Peace, good for them.

Suggestions for a name?

[nodachi]

"I think that any country that wants to join only need to state its intention to abide by the precepts as set forth by Fonz above (and try not to be an a-hole)"

So when a formal document is created for this organization, will the phrase "try not to be an a-hole" be on the actual document?

That would be great... :)

[Ignatz]

So when a formal document is created for this organization, will the phrase "try not to be an a-hole" be on the actual document?

That would be great... :)

I certainly hope so, I think that is an important concept in the quest for World Peace.

[Lloromannic]

So far we have:
The Republic of Texas
The United States of America
The Kingdom of the Netherlands
The Republic of Mexico
The Republic(?) of Italy (From North to South)
The Kingdom of Morocco
The Republic of France
(The odd Iaidoka who claim that they sweat during practice)
On the waiting list are:
The Kingdom of Belgium
We all solemnly declare that we practice Kendo vigorously as a means to propagate World Peace.
Members should at least have the intention to visit each other to practice Kendo vigorously. We will try to not make fun of Fellow Members at least not in public or in writing. Entre nous is ok.
I think that this is a good start of a strange thread of which I forgot what it was all about.
Any changes in this declaration should be decided by the right honorable Mr Ignatz.
I have to stop now because I'm getting all emotional.......:spchless:

Shouldn't we make a pledge to try and preserve the civility?

If this motion is accepted then I'd move for the coalition to report Issac Ru to the mods as he signed on yet again. (see Used Bogu thread)

I believe Mr Ignatz is not aquainted with him, he is so lucky.

[Ignatz]

Shouldn't we make a pledge to try and preserve the civility?

If this motion is accepted then I'd move for the coalition to report Issac Ru to the mods as he signed on yet again. (see Used Bogu thread)

I believe Mr Ignatz is not aquainted with him, he is so lucky.

That's a tough one. One of the things that has gotten us together (besides Kendo) is a warped sense of humor. If we put ourselves in the position of being the kendo world's police force we kind of lose the thing that makes it all possible. And remember, it has been suggested that we each pledge not to be an a-hole.
Now I'm not saying that there is nothing to be done about uncivility (or at least uncivility without any redeeming literary or comedic value) but I would suggest that rather than tattling, the members of this coalition can use their strongest weapon, their rapier like wit (or their shinai like wit as the case may be) Buttheads don't like it when you make fun of them.
And there is the ignore button. I am always open to suggestions.

[drizzt]

The ignore button is the only way Isaac sounds inteligent.

[Mr. T.]

If this motion is accepted then I'd move for the coalition to report Issac Ru to the mods as he signed on yet again. (see Used Bogu thread)

Somebody did (not me), he got banned.

[drizzt]

I reported him about 4 times in less than thirty minutes :)

[Lloromannic]

Somebody did (not me), he got banned.

I did, among others.

[drizzt]

i felt i had a right to since it was my thread he screwed up.....