you'll, like, totally be workin' with a bunch of chicks dude, man...

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On some nights I still believe that a car with the fuel gauge on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. - HST

1983 300SD - 305000
1984 Toyota Landcruiser - 190000
1994 GMC Jimmy - 203000

https://media.giphy.com/media/X3nnss8PAj5aU/giphy.gif

Oh the horror!

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TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth

Should have put the 'cool' emotiwhatever at the end...

It should have read as a positive situation

edited

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On some nights I still believe that a car with the fuel gauge on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. - HST

1983 300SD - 305000
1984 Toyota Landcruiser - 190000
1994 GMC Jimmy - 203000

https://media.giphy.com/media/X3nnss8PAj5aU/giphy.gif

Not just CC's. Schools as well. We actually had two campuses that used to have "shop's" in them but they were converted to regular classrooms a while back when "shop" was dropped.

- Peter.

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2021 Chevrolet Spark
Formerly...
2000 GMC Sonoma
1981 240D 4spd stick. 347000 miles. Deceased Feb 14 2021
2002 Kia Rio. Worst crap on four wheels
1981 240D 4spd stick. 389000 miles.
1984 123 200
1979 116 280S
1972 Cadillac Sedan DeVille
1971 108 280S

That's still available here. Last summer I took conversational Spanish in the evenings on my own dime. I paid about 400 bucks all told for the semester and learned a good bit.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 401,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 26,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.
99 Mazda Miata 183,xxx miles.

More stupid kids going to college decreases cost, per student. You just keep them cycling through remedial and freshmen classes, that's where the money is. Graduate school is money pit unless the they are on TA or soft money.

Same story here in Harford County, Maryland (NE of Baltimore City). Both at the HS, and CC level, auto shops have been discontinued. I cannot comment on the male/female leadership as a cause, but it seems plausible. Besides, the entire culture is more feminized than a few generations ago, and that is probably a natural thing.

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

Tom, I had dinner with a guy last weekend and we got to talking about education. He has three daughters. His idea is rather than spend 200k for a college education, he'd give 100k to each to travel the world for a year. Then, he's invest 100k for them in a business and help them get started. In his opinion, they'd have a three year head start and be miles ahead of their contemps, many of whom hit the bricks with a 200k collar and bleak prospects.

He also felt, and I agree, that the cost of higher education is unsustainable and the system is going to collapse. I understand that Obama has lowered the income limits and the payback term needed for debt loan forgiveness to 20 years. OK. But in the meantime paying 20 % of your income for student loan debt service for the next 20 years is going to keep many wading through knee high water. I think it's criminal what higher ed is doing to the youth today. I'll never give my school another dime while they continue to screw guys like you. It's all about empire building and protecting their own.
My $.02.

And I think if govt. backed off of financing higher ed, prices would indeed go down.

Canada has a much better handle on higher education costs than the USA. They have very few private universities and are focused on good quality public universities. Their costs at a public university are lower than US costs and since they lack the expensive private institutions, their overall higher education costs are significantly lower. It's about $13k per year for tuition, room and board and fees on the average in Canada. My way of looking at that is that $1k per month is a reasonable cost for a college education. (If you're a Quebec resident however, you can attend McGill University for a tuition costs of $2038 per year if you can get in)

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

I'm in favor of open entry universities but as the US system stands right now, it has very substantial problems. Open entry colleges spend huge amounts of money teaching 6th grade level math, english and reading. Those classes are funded with public money. It is a huge waste of resources. The statistics on students who enter college at that level are very dismal. Only a very small percentage end up graduating from college or earning a college certificate of some kind. A very high percentage of those students were unmotivated in high school and remain unmotivated in college. Those kinds of students shouldn't suck the resources away from highly motivated students. There should be some means of dividing the motivated from the unmotivated. perhaps a rule that if in high school your ACT or SAT scores are not college level, you can't go to college until you're 26 yrs old or prove yourself by passing college level tests in reading, writing and math.

As an example, I teach at relatively small school. This spring we have 14 sections of 5th and 6th grade math, 18 sections of middle school math, and 33 sections of high school math. That's 65 classes with 25 students each non of which counts as college credit That's the equivalent of 31 full time teachers educating below the college level. That compares with 50 sections of Math being taught at the college level. So, more than half of our effort in Math is aimed at less than college level. English numbers are probably a little less.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Isn't this where the philosophy of " all children are equal" runs into the real world?
In the academic realm, as in most others, there are people with an aptitude, and people who lack that aptitude. Fitting the round peg into the square hole is costly.....and stupid.
We need to elevate, in the public mind, the value of trades-people. The colleges have done a good job of making it seem that everyone should go to college. Its time to reverse that thought, but maintain the dignity of all.

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

My FIL teaches math at both the high school and state university level. His experience has been the same.

OTOH, my 14yo son in middle school is currently taking a high level class with a teacher who appears to put little more than minimum effort into teaching the subject matter. My son is often confused after class. Extra help sessions have proven pointless where questions are often met with a "We went over that already in class, you should have paid more attention or taken better notes." Questions in class are met with a similar response.

We started going to my FIL's for dinner twice a week for dinner & math, within 5 minutes he's up to speed and then they'll spend the next 1/2 hr. going over the next chapter. He picks it up very quickly, when he's actually taught how to do it. My son has always loved math, now he dreads it. He has always done very well for teachers who had high expectations for him and were considered "tough" teachers, so that's not the issue. But it does go to show the negative ramifications a teacher can have on young minds.

Just as an aside, meetings with the administration have proven as effective as the teacher's extra help sessions. It always turns into a discussion of how disorganized my son is, the homework that was wrinkled up in the bottom of his backpack, he's too quiet and doesn't ask questions in class, etc. He was diagnosed with ADHD back in 2 or 3 grade, we're well aware of what his shortcomings are and what we need to do to help him succeed. We've also seen what he can do when he is actually taught.

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

Sounds as if a lot of people at your son's school just want to fill a POSITION and get a paycheck, instead of actually doing their JOB of teaching.

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Just say "NO" to Ethanol - Drive Diesel

Mitchell Oates
Mooresville, NC
'87 300D 212K miles
'87 300D 151K miles - R.I.P. 12/08
'05 Jeep Liberty CRD 67K miles
Grumpy Old Diesel Owners Club

I will say that it has been the exception, our experience otherwise and with my daughter so far has been great. But if you consider how many parents either don't pay attention (for whatever reason, some of which may be valid) or don't care, it would be very easy for a kid to just fall through the cracks and to be written off when there may be more to it.

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

The problem is the funding mechanism -- there is no financial negative feedback for a student who is subsidized by the state. Chances are that if a student had a stake in tuition cost then he would be more likely to either choose not to go or if her goes, take it serious.