Troubling statistics about Prince Rupert's kindergarten children

General Forums Prince Rupert Forum
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[quote=“gum”]
A post states that the primary reason for failing kids is that their parents are unprepared to parent them, and throwing money at the problem won’t help.

The knee-jerk ad hominem reaction is to equate me to Rush Limbaugh.  There is a lack of logic at work here.  First misunderstand the post and the poster’s intentions.  Then come to a conclusion which doesn’t make logical sense.[/quote]

The great thing about HTMF is that you can just go back and re-read what somebody wrote instead of accepting their back-peddling.

You brought up the “left wing mantra” – and you essentially said those who didn’t “have their act together” are the causes of poverty.

In other words, you had a knee-jerk reaction, then came to a conclusion which doesn’t make logical sense.

I wish I had such a great welcome to HTMF.  In hindsight, all I had to do was be a troll.

Codybear, if you are poor, then according to Gum, it is your fault, and you don’t “have your act together.”  So get on that will ya?

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I thought this thread was about education and kindergarten kids? Kids don’t vote.

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For those who have trouble following simple logic.

1.  There are a lot of poor neglected kids.

2.  Poverty is not the reason they are being neglected.  Poverty and parental neglect are both caused by other, more complicated factors.

3.  By stating the above I have somehow become Rush Limbaugh.

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No, you become Rush Limbaugh by insulting those who might disagree with you in advance.  ie:  “Left-wing thinking is crap” and “For those who have trouble following simple logic.”

Rather than take on an argument and its merits, you want to insult others, call them names and question their intelligence.  You dismiss others by labeling them.

That’s exactly like Rush Limbaugh.

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Bigots tend not to understand when they are being bigots.

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Hehe. So true.

Typical right winger though… State something then backtrack…  :unamused:

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And that is exactly why I wrote my comment.  Since I only know gum by the few posts he put here, the similarity between his posts and Limbaugh’s discourse immediately jumped at me.  Perfectly logical! 
I also wasn’t sure if gum was a male or a female in which case I would have guessed Ann Coulter. :smiley: 

Would you believe I share the same view?  I think that there are lot of  people (from left, center and right)  that also agree with you there. 
If you would have used this angle instead of jumping and blaming the left-wing right away, maybe your message would have been heard.  “The medium is the message”,  isn’t it?

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Sorry Gregory but I was making a comment on the post from gum regarding paying taxes, my obviously mediocre attempt at humour  :confused:  Myself, I am very rich in all the ways that matter so I would say I do have my act together  :smiley:

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Saw this on another site, and thought of this thread…

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That is why it is not worth reading this forum or posting on it.

The level of discourse is about like this:

Person A: I think X because of Y and Z.

Person B: You are _______.  (fill in the blank: racist, bigot, idiot, etc).

Not exactly intellectually stimulating.  Adios.

31

Well, you didn’t say “I think x because of y and z” You said.

So… really… If you’re going to talk smack… Especially on a board full of left wingers (I speak for the ones whom I know are. Not generalizing) Shouldn’t you EXPECT the people of this board to call 'em as they see 'em.

And since when is insulting someone’s political views, considered to be intellectually stimulating? You asked for it, yet you complain when you get what you deserve?

LAME…

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Person A: “The above quote illustrates the failure of our school system.”

Person A: “All left wing thought is crap.”

Person A: “For those who have trouble following simple logic.”

Persons B, C, D & E: “You sound like Rush Limbaugh.  How about not insulting people if you want to have a conversation with them?”

Not exactly intellectually stimulating, no.  You want to insult people and not be called on it.  You want to question others’ intelligence without a response.  You claim others can’t follow simple logic and then say all left wing thought is crap.  Awesome!

So if you’re going to take your ball and go home because people disagree with you, then that’s just fine.  But wouldn’t it be better to rise above all this crap and stop insulting people?  How about you realize that a lot of us (as BigThumb pointed out) probably agree with you. 

And some of us that agree with you have NDP cards in our wallets.  You’re not convincing others of your point of view by insulting them. 

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Ok, now that gum is gone, has anyone any thoughts about the actual subject of the thread or has this been completely hijacked by a discourse of typical HTMF name calling? I actually believe this to be a crucial issue in Prince Rupert, far more serious than most of the threads that have been written about ad nausea.

One cannot escape certain facts that those that live in poverty tend to fair worse in life by social standards such as education, health, politics and future income growth.

Such obvious income-related outcomes for parents affect how kids learn because they have less access to some of the types of educational opportunities that kids of wealthier backgrounds are blessed with.

In simple terms, it’s not about who is more intelligent or what family is trying to provide an educational opportunity for their child.

For example, a Tim Hortons counter clerk. If you make $28,000 per year as a single mother of even one child, you will inherently find it more difficult to provide the kinds of educational and social opportunities a family with a dual-parent income of say roughly $100,000 (number reached for argument sake). That doesn’t mean a mother wouldn’t try to provided that opportunity. It also doesn’t mean she is lazy. Perhaps she was a longtime fishplant employee whose out of a job because the salmons droves have turned to trickles.  But as the sole wealth provider – meager at that – she does what she can. Yet, it still may not be enough.

There are some studies out there that also provide some background info, but I am fairly tired and will have to point them out at a later time. Essentially, one study showed, as far as I can remember, that most upper-middle class families were far more involved in their kids education because they actually had more time to do so.

My point is that just societies, where everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed, are partially based on well run education systems. If people want a successful Prince Rupert, education should be a top priority.

I think it’s a safe altruism that those who are well-educated fair better in life than those who dropped out of high school. The goal of our education system should be making sure our kids fair better.

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Wow, eleven posts and all your wisdom has been exhausted.

So to make sure we understand, you logged onto the forum, raised an interesting topic, offered up a theory but provided little in the way of documentation, threw in some bombastic but condescending and arrogant opinion, insulted a few folks who didn’t see things your way or challenged your theory, dismissed the forum as worthless and non stimulating (though it did elicit some 1500 posts, some good some bad) and now you’re finished.

Not bad work for a weekend, not sure what you’ll do with the rest of your life though.

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[quote=“Huh?”]
I wouldn’t blame TV. And I wouldn’t blame poverty. They are factors, starting points and obstacles that can be overcome. What the community - including the school board – needs to do is search for reasonable answers such as Success by Six and Strong Starts and work from there. [/quote]

Of course none of this is solely the result of excessive television watching or stark poverty. Television has its educational uses and people do rise above their “stationâ€

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[quote=“Butterfly Fear”]
Of course none of this is solely the result of excessive television watching or stark poverty. Television has its educational uses and people do rise above their “stationâ€[/quote]

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[quote=“Huh?”]
I think parents need to keep thinking of education as much more than a memory card model. You don’t just plug your kids into the school for the day, expect them to download data and eject them at 3 p.m.

We should surmise that the actual issue isn’t income level or intelligence, but opportunity. How can the community provide all kids with an opportunity to learn? [/quote]

Nicely put! Opportunity and awareness are key.

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Yes, they are. So, how does the community improve our education system? It’s an amazingly hard road to travel for answers because it’s fraught with potholes such as parental involvement and volunteerism. But when you look at these K stats and begin to really assess what’s happening, it’s equally an amazing opportunity to have a real effect on your community’s success.

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Stark poverty?  Over half the world’s population lives on less money than a Canadian lives on welfare. Over 3.4 billion people.  Not to mention the free healthcare for those less fortunate in our society. Something most people on this earth are not privileged enough to receive.  I bite my tongue when people use the word poverty but have to comment when one uses “stark poverty”.

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We don’t live in a third world country. “Stark povertyâ€