Today’s post is funny, but then again it’s not really. I come across people everyday that can’t spell let alone put a few words together. Andrew Powell from Montreal Canada found this original article on Yahoo – America’s educational system captured in a single photo.
Well here’s something to make your old English teacher gasp in horror: A road contractor hired to paint the word “school” on a freshly paved stretch of highway near Southern Guilford High School in North Carolina rendering the traffic area in question a “shcool” lane.
But fear not for the surely confused area youth! The contractor, an area company named Traffic Markings, has already corrected the error.
This isn’t the first such mishap on record. Last year, for instance, a Miami area road crew offered the variant spelling of “scohol,” while in 2007, a Kalamazoo team managed to do the same “h” and “c” reversal.
Chalk it all up to a bad day’s wrok.
Today’s lesson – especially for high school students is this: You’re in school for a reason – to learn skills and develop aptitudes like reading, writing, math, research and now typing (properly) on a keyboard which is no longer something you can avoid. I know most high school students think a lot of what they do is a waste of time, but here’s the thing most don’t fully realise – you’ll NEVER, EVER go back to high school.
That means if you don’t pick up and DEVELOP those study skills and aptitudes, you’re #$@%#$ for the rest of your life and career. You won’t get the best promotions, job offers and certainly won’t get the biggest paychecks.
I see it every day – people who would like to write better, but just can’t. For whatever reason, when they should have learned the skills, they didn’t. It’s sad to see – because it’s a handicap. They have to hire other people to write for them. When they send email correspondence, the errors and poor grammar reflect poorly on who they are. Often, a prospect will lose confidence in them just because of that.
That’s painful to see – especially when there is NO QUICK FIX. What you DON’T learn in high school can take 10 to 20 years to learn as an adult – partially because of the lack of time, partly because adults don’t learn as quickly and mostly because trying to UNLEARN something is harder than learning it in the first place!
Anyway, those are my thoughts for the day – I am not sure why I understood this in PRIMARY SCHOOL, but I can remember vividly my classmates in high school who didn’t take it seriously and can now see the definite (wide) chasm between the successful and not-so-successful. It can all be traced backwards to high school and sometimes primary school just like CSI determining who committed a murder – all the clues are there.
The only question is – if you’re in high school or university, will you start to take the basics more seriously?
After years of fighting this batte with my son, he is finally getting it! His grades are up, his self-esteem is up and he wants to go to college and get a good career. Only six months ago, he was faiing, and had a “who cares” attitude. College didn’t seem to interest him, he just wanted a job and to move out. How did he make this turn around. We treated him as a tenant who got free room and board and that is it. If he wanted a cell phone, internet, weekends out to see friends, he had to save up in the form of his 1st quarter grades. The better his grades the better the package of privileges he could earn. Just like when we were first out on our own. He had to wait to afford the things he wanted and work his butt off to get them. He got a 3.0 average! Oh did he suffer without his stuff and appreciated the value of these things. Hard work is the way to get the things you want in life.
Renee, That is an AWESOME story! Thanks for sharing. Parents today need to get back to basic discipline with their kids. I see too many who are too weak to be strong. Kids need you to be strong. Your son is lucky to have a mother who is strong enough and cares enough to be tough when it counts.
Well done!
I am sure you will be an inspiration to a lot of other parents and kids who read this!
Onward and upward!
Marc
Oh, my- that picture is hilarious and tragic all at the same time. I wish there was a better way to show kids just how important their education is. So many leave high school and have to play years of catch up in college just because they didn’t fully grasp the importance of what they were doing every day- or were supposed to be doing at least- for the last four years.