Shovelhead.....you may have missed the initial post in that this was from a student in my school in a Maryland school system very close to you. It would be bad enough if the student wrote it of his own accord....but my hypothesis was that it was at the prompting of one of my colleagues.
Frightening on many levels
- Thread starter Norton
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grislyatoms
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ESL student, almost assuredly. I hope so, anyway.
Some time ago some acquaintances (high school graduates) named their son after the constellation known as the hunter. They were specific as to the reference.
His name?
Aryan, instead of Orion.
P.S. and no, I am not making this up.
Some time ago some acquaintances (high school graduates) named their son after the constellation known as the hunter. They were specific as to the reference.
His name?
Aryan, instead of Orion.
P.S. and no, I am not making this up.
spartacus2002
Member
I deal with college graduates who write statements with the following in it:
" I dident want to loose it so I tyed it to my belt."
"I rowwed the window up in my car."
FREAKIN' COLLEGE GRADUATES!!!!!!!! :banghead:
" I dident want to loose it so I tyed it to my belt."
"I rowwed the window up in my car."
FREAKIN' COLLEGE GRADUATES!!!!!!!! :banghead:
Samurai Penguin
Member
Totally unrelated post...
Y'know, it really gripes me to no end when the anti-gun lobby takes a letter or video of some inbred, redneck Goober with a first-cousin wife and the IQ of a house plant and attempts to present it as an accurate picture of all gun owners.
So I wouldn't for one minute suggest that we stoop to their level
and spread this letter far and wide on the internet...or pass hard-copies out at gun shows and protests...or send it to our local papers, and try to pass it off as the "typical anti-gun mentality."
'Cause that would be underhanded and wrong, dontcha know. 
Y'know, it really gripes me to no end when the anti-gun lobby takes a letter or video of some inbred, redneck Goober with a first-cousin wife and the IQ of a house plant and attempts to present it as an accurate picture of all gun owners.
So I wouldn't for one minute suggest that we stoop to their level
and spread this letter far and wide on the internet...or pass hard-copies out at gun shows and protests...or send it to our local papers, and try to pass it off as the "typical anti-gun mentality."'Cause that would be underhanded and wrong, dontcha know.
ReadyontheRight
Member
I bet this was written with one of those evil, high-powered computers with a high capacity internet connection. You know the kind...a kid gets ahold of one of those things and he can just spray and pray letters all over the screen, reducing the IQ of thousands of people with just one bulletin board posting. He doesn't have to think or know how to spell. He could even just cut and paste to steal someone else's ideas.
When the founders wrote the First Amendment, they communicated with pens and the printing press. They couldn't have imagined the power of today's computers. Just one click of the finger, and immature messages like this are delivered right to the office of an upstanding member of congress. Once that button is pushed, there's no calling those electrons back. That message will go to its target and do its irretrievable damage.
These high-powered "assault word processors" should be banned, and made available only to professional writers and reporters.
Don't worry, we just want sensible communication control. We're not going to take away your precious computers. But why would someone need a faster internet connection than 56K? Are you some kind of Hacker or something?
When the founders wrote the First Amendment, they communicated with pens and the printing press. They couldn't have imagined the power of today's computers. Just one click of the finger, and immature messages like this are delivered right to the office of an upstanding member of congress. Once that button is pushed, there's no calling those electrons back. That message will go to its target and do its irretrievable damage.
These high-powered "assault word processors" should be banned, and made available only to professional writers and reporters.
Don't worry, we just want sensible communication control. We're not going to take away your precious computers. But why would someone need a faster internet connection than 56K? Are you some kind of Hacker or something?
Justin
Moderator Emeritus
You know, every time I see something like this, it's just a big reminder of just what a terrible return on the investment of my tax dollars public education is. I'm quite certain the future would be better off if I were allowed to invest that money in a mutual fund instead of having it strong-armed out of every paycheck I earn.
Norton- Okay, I forgive you.
ReadyontheRight- Computers are more dangerous. They can have 1. high power processors. 2. high power, large capacity memory. 3. high power, large capacity hard drives. 4. high speed internet connections. 5. large viewing displays. Now, I don't know about you, but not even reporters and proffessional writers need that kind of power. It's just not responsible. Children with access to this kind of "computing", if you can call it that, just grow up to be hackers. We should limit processor speed, memory speeds and capacity, and hard drive speeds and capacity, and access and speeds of the internet. It's for the children, they are our future.
ReadyontheRight- Computers are more dangerous. They can have 1. high power processors. 2. high power, large capacity memory. 3. high power, large capacity hard drives. 4. high speed internet connections. 5. large viewing displays. Now, I don't know about you, but not even reporters and proffessional writers need that kind of power. It's just not responsible. Children with access to this kind of "computing", if you can call it that, just grow up to be hackers. We should limit processor speed, memory speeds and capacity, and hard drive speeds and capacity, and access and speeds of the internet. It's for the children, they are our future.
Cellar Dweller
Member
Can I get a job as a guard at a "gun prison?" I'd really enjoy the part about taking them out for fresh air and exercise...
I'd even bring my own ammo, as long as I didn't have to clean all those bad guns afterwards...Okay, note the inference (if you can): No license, go to jail. If one doesn't want jail, then turn their gun in. Nothing about "one should get a license, and/or training or at least some range time." Just jail or turn-in....
B
boofus
Guest
The moral of this story is:
Listen to all the zombie fighting tactics and prepare! The antis are becoming more and more braindead and zombie-like as we speak. Soon they will come for your guns and try to eat your brains. Be ready.
Listen to all the zombie fighting tactics and prepare! The antis are becoming more and more braindead and zombie-like as we speak. Soon they will come for your guns and try to eat your brains. Be ready.
Samurai Penguin
Member
ROFL @ RotR, zpo & boofus...!
Andrew Rothman
Member
Condemning the educational system on the basis of this letter is like condemning the gun culture on the basis of Harris and Kleebold.
THIS IS NOT WRITTEN BY A NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKER!
It's written by a right-off-the-boat immigrant.
Get it?
So lay off the writing skills. The logic skills, by all means, go to town.
But Spot77 nailed it: "forced down an impressionable mind by somebody with vision wide enough for only their own views."
By the way, let's see how well you write Somali after a year in-country.
THIS IS NOT WRITTEN BY A NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKER!
It's written by a right-off-the-boat immigrant.
Get it?
So lay off the writing skills. The logic skills, by all means, go to town.
But Spot77 nailed it: "forced down an impressionable mind by somebody with vision wide enough for only their own views."
By the way, let's see how well you write Somali after a year in-country.
Matt Payne,
I know how our ESL students in our building write and I gotta tell you, they are more literate than this. The majority of our immigrant children are of Indian or African origin and usually their parents are highly educated and quite fluent in English, if not in a "unique" dialect. I respectfully disagree that the author of this letter is of foreign origin.
I get written assignments of this level on a regular basis and the authors are as native born as I am.
I know how our ESL students in our building write and I gotta tell you, they are more literate than this. The majority of our immigrant children are of Indian or African origin and usually their parents are highly educated and quite fluent in English, if not in a "unique" dialect. I respectfully disagree that the author of this letter is of foreign origin.
I get written assignments of this level on a regular basis and the authors are as native born as I am.
It wouldn't surprise me one bit if this was the work of a life-long English speaking HS student. Heck, I've seen this level of literacy from college students, let alone high school kids.
Regardless of the amount of time the writer has been speaking English, it's a sad representation of weak minded acceptance of lies and propaganda.
Regardless of the amount of time the writer has been speaking English, it's a sad representation of weak minded acceptance of lies and propaganda.
molonlabe
Member
amazing, simply amazing.
Heraclitus
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I had a bizarre daydream when I read this. In it was Xerxes demanding that Leonidas and his men put down their nail files and curling irons or die, and Leonidas singing back in a sweet, velvety voice: "Come and have us!"
Excuse me while I barf...
Excuse me while I barf...
sturmruger
Member
You got to love public schools. Just to give you an idea how much money we are wasting on our schools. Minneapolis MN spends around $15K per student, per school year.
ReadyontheRight
Member
"All your gun that is been made are belong to us..."
notbubba
Member
"should spent one year for each bullet in the gun"
"the gun should be 10 year in jail."
But what are the gun & bullet going to do when they get out of jail, have they been rehabilitated?
Do they have the job skills to keep them from a life of crime?
"the gun should be 10 year in jail."
But what are the gun & bullet going to do when they get out of jail, have they been rehabilitated?
Do they have the job skills to keep them from a life of crime?
Daniel T
Member
pax:
I'm not Matt payne, but it seems to me that this letter was written by an ESL student. Why? The spelling is correct, while the grammar is not. Also, the use of the word "reputedly". What kind of stupid non-educated high-school student is going to even know what "reputedly" means?
Unless Norton cleaned up the spelling, I'm positive that this was from someone for whom English is not a native language.
I'm not Matt payne, but it seems to me that this letter was written by an ESL student. Why? The spelling is correct, while the grammar is not. Also, the use of the word "reputedly". What kind of stupid non-educated high-school student is going to even know what "reputedly" means?
Unless Norton cleaned up the spelling, I'm positive that this was from someone for whom English is not a native language.
Andrew Rothman
Member
Nothing is certain. It could be written by a teacher wishing to impersonate an ESL student.
But, in my well-informed opinion (I used to teach English in Mexico), the structure of the language in the letter suggests with an overwhelmingly high degree of certainty that the writer is not a native speaker of English. Such writers, at least initially, attempt a word-for-word translation from their native tongue.
To wit, note just one sentence.
"Is* about time to let** the gun owner*** to be**** more careful of their gun***."
* "Is" in the place of "It is." This is common to speakers of romance languages -- in Spanish, for example, one would correctly write, "Es mi patria." (This is my homeland). "Es" means "is," so the sentence would commonly be written by an English Language Learner as "Is my homeland."
** "Let" and "make" (force) are often confused, as are do/make/take.
*** Failure to pluralize -- another mark of a language learner.
**** Use of infinitive in the place of a cojugated verb, as Don Gwinn pointed out.
Pax, I shouted because of the pointless exercise of turning a single blissninny letter into a condemnation of public education. It was just silly.
There's plenty to condemn in the letter, but the poor writing is pretty flippin' clearly a language barrier issue, not a fault in the child's education.
But, in my well-informed opinion (I used to teach English in Mexico), the structure of the language in the letter suggests with an overwhelmingly high degree of certainty that the writer is not a native speaker of English. Such writers, at least initially, attempt a word-for-word translation from their native tongue.
To wit, note just one sentence.
"Is* about time to let** the gun owner*** to be**** more careful of their gun***."
* "Is" in the place of "It is." This is common to speakers of romance languages -- in Spanish, for example, one would correctly write, "Es mi patria." (This is my homeland). "Es" means "is," so the sentence would commonly be written by an English Language Learner as "Is my homeland."
** "Let" and "make" (force) are often confused, as are do/make/take.
*** Failure to pluralize -- another mark of a language learner.
**** Use of infinitive in the place of a cojugated verb, as Don Gwinn pointed out.
Pax, I shouted because of the pointless exercise of turning a single blissninny letter into a condemnation of public education. It was just silly.
There's plenty to condemn in the letter, but the poor writing is pretty flippin' clearly a language barrier issue, not a fault in the child's education.
JoeWang
Member
This writer highlights the need for public education reform instead of gun control. Baaa!
mfree
Member
I'm somewhat fresh out of high school and college, and I can tell you that it was frustrating sometimes to realize that you're adrift, paddling against the current in a tide of well-meaning but utterly mindless morons. A couple even made it through class in my wake.
But, that's the human world... half the population is going to be below average no matter how hard you fight. But, illiteracy in the modern school system is inexcusable...
But, that's the human world... half the population is going to be below average no matter how hard you fight. But, illiteracy in the modern school system is inexcusable...
Andrew Rothman
Member
JoeWang, have you even read the comments in this thread?
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