Page 4 - Dinuba Sentinel E-edition 5-16-19

Opinion
A4 | Thursday, May 16,, 2019
Fred Hall
Fred Hall - Publisher Rick Curiel - Editor
In My Opinion
Proper grammer being Weroded in today's culture
e’ve often written about the they agree and sorry state of the American continue to publish educational experience stuff which leads
but it has now reached the critical phase where we are about to lose the correct usage of the English language. There can be little doubt that much
of it can be attributed to uncontrolled immigration and our government- mandated usage of the illegal’s native languageinallforms. Teaching methods, social media and a plethora of other methods have also greatly eroded the use of proper grammar. I see an increasing use of incorrect grammar by television personalities and celebrities that is almost painful and yet, these
are the people are children admire and attempt to emulate.
The requirements for U.S. Citizenship are quite specific in requiring applicants be able to read, write and speak Basic English. Therecanbelittledoubt
that requirement is either ignored ortrampledonbybureaucrats. Sad
to say, the people who suffer most economically in the competitive job market are those people with no English skills. This is, after all an English speaking country. It is a perfect example of how liberals, who in their avowed efforts to help people, are actually harming them!
If one will take a moment to
review many of their monthly statements from utilities and
others it becomes obvious, from
the number of languages contained therein, that the bureaucracy has bent over backward to eliminate
the Basic English requirement. The more accommodations we make for something that is improper the more it is accepted as the norm. Our sorry judicial system can also be considered complicit in this ugly development.
The government further displays how irrational it has become by displaying other languages in our voting materials. I always thought that one must be a citizen to participate in the electoral process so by listing a secondary language our officials are either ignoring the requirements of proper voting restrictions or are actually encouraging non-citizen participation. Politicians openly pander to these non- English speaking residents.
That only represents a small portion of our problems when it comes to learning proper usage of a language (English) that people around the world strive to learn. For much of the balance one can blame our educational system and the subversive erosion of social media where everything is so dumbed- down that it leaves one shaking
one’s head at what passes for civil communication in today’s America.
Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, SnapChat or any of the similar modes of communication by any other inane sounding name. There’s not a dime’s worth of difference in any of them. The lowest common denominator is the well-established rule! Twitter, in particular, has become a literal pile of garbagefromrealoutliers. Untilthese people are identified as publishers instead of platforms they will continue to censor information with which
Guest Column
CRobots are taking more jobs
orporate bosses don’t talk electronics giant about it in public, but among hailed as a job themselves — psssst — they creating savior last
to an ever-dumber American population. Publishers can be sued in a court of law for their malfeasance; Congress continues to allow “platforms” to do as they please with no form of
repercussion.
Spelling and punctuation are
no longer a requirement taught by schools as being needed for any sort of intelligent communication. There was
a time when English involved reading and understanding the great works of literature in the Western world. Now, more and more, we find that many of the great books are no longer politically correct and instructors promote far inferior reading as a requirement for students. We have, instead, substituted racial and cultural quotas on curriculum as guides for recommended reading. Where has simple common sense gone?
An interesting contrast to our “woke” modern day education and one from the days when students were taught writing, reading, arithmetic and
history can be drawn if one takes a few moments and goes to the computer and checks on “eighth grade graduation test from 1895.” Very few of us today could hold any hope of passing that examination. Remember, that was
for eighth graders! Probably the most exiting discovery in that bit of historical perusing would be the fact that those listed subjects were still being taught in the classroom—even history!
If I were to offer a single piece of advice to today’s student it would
be as simple as learn to read well,
write well and communicate well. Communication skills can’t be overemphasized in the job market
or about any thing anyone does in
the real world. The garbage we are currently exposed to on a daily basis of phonetically abbreviated words, little or no punctuation and various other ills will have, I suspect, a far more grievous affect on coming generations than anyone can anticipate. I even had a high school teacher once tell me a horror story about one of their students submitting an essay written in social media text scripting.
But, as always, that’s only one man’s opinion.
Postscript: Bynowyou’veprobably taken note of the fact that Colorado recently approved hallucinogenic mushrooms as being approved for use by people with “deep” depression. Some people are already carrying a medical marijuana card and soon
a medical psychedelic mushroom card will be added. What’s next,
a medical cocaine card, a medical methamphetamine card or a medical heroin card? Don’t laugh because California can’t be far behind. Does anyone need more proof of a cultural decline?
Fred Hall is publisher of the Dinuba Sentinel.
Food for thought
Lessons in life from Mr. Olson and a chess tournament
A
something he said he’s been contemplating for some time but finally found peace with this year.
behind to speak with Mr. Olson.
“Mr. Olson,” I said. “I didn’t raise my
hand for the chess tournament.” “That’s okay, Rick. You’ll do fine,” he
said.
“Mr. Olson, I don’t know how to play
chess.”
“You don’t?” he asked. “Well, do you
have someone at home that you can practice with?”
“Well, maybe my brother.”
fter 43 years as a teacher at Lincoln Elementary School, Greg Olson announced last week that he will be retiring at the end of this school year,
As many Dinubans over the years, I was privileged to have had Mr. Olson as my sixth grade teacher back in the day. And, as many of his students would also testify, Mr. Olson made a profound impact on my life.
In fact, one of my favorite stories I like to tell involves a lifelong lesson I learned while in his class. I’ve probably shared the story a hundred times, because it means that much to me.
So, as he heads off into retirement, I would like to share with our readers my favorite Mr. Olson story.
I was a six grader at Lincoln Elementary School and school, at the time, was more a place to have fun than it was for learning. Not to say I wasn’t the best student. I could generally keep up the best of them, so long as I applied myself.
That’s where Mr. Olson stepped in.
One day, as I was finding ways to goof off in the back of the classroom, something I admit was not out of the norm for me at the time, Mr. Olson began taking signups for a chess tournament. I heard the announcement and, because I had very little interest in chess, carried on with what I was doing – probably chatting or cracking jokes.
In the midst of my shenanigans I could hear Mr. Olson calling out the names of those in the class who were signing up.
“Ok, Brian... Carl.... Nathan...” Mr. Olson called out each name as they raised their hand. I went on with my business.
“Matt, okay, got you down... Any others?” he continued.
I was in the middle of a laugh when I heard, “Rick... okay... I got you down too.”
I raised my head with a confused look on my face. Befuddled, I said, “Wait, what?”
“I got you,” he said with a smile.
“But I didn’t raise my hand.”
“That’s okay, I got you,” he said reassuringly.
Soon after, the bell rang to go to recess and I stayed
Rick Curiel
“Okay,” he said.
With that, he opened his desk drawer and pulled out a
chess set.
He advised me, “Take this home and practice. If you do
that, you’ll be just fine.”
And so, I did just that. The next few weeks I learned the
game of chess and practiced with my brother any chance I got.
Come tournament time, I was surprised to find that the effort of learning and practicing the game actually paid off. I was winning.
Long story short, I ended up getting third place in the tournament. I think I even made the paper.
But more importantly, as an eleven-year-old boy growing into his adolescence, I learned one valuable lesson. Regardless of ones initial abilities, with time, effort, a willingness to learn and practice, one can achieve in any arena – even ones you may think are outside your comfort zone.
I, like a myriad of other students, am grateful for the many lessons given by Mr. Olson in Room 3 at Lincoln Elementary School – especially those not found in the curriculum books.
I am sure I speak for many students, staff and parents when I say thank you Mr. Olson for answering the call to teach. You have been, and will continue to be, a blessing in my life and in the life of many others.
Enjoy your retirement, you’ve truly earned it.
Rick Curiel is editor of the Dinuba Sentinel. He can be reached at editor@thedinubasentinel.com
whisper excitedly about implementing a transformative “AI agenda” across our economy.
AI stands for artificial intelligence, the rapidly advancing digital technology of creating thinking robots that program themselves, act on their own, and even reproduce themselves. These automatons are coming soon to a workplace near you.
Not wanting to stir a preemptive rebellion by human workers, corporate chieftains avoid terms
like automation of jobs, instead substituting euphemisms like “digital transformation” of work.
Privately, however, top executives see AI as their path to windfall profits and personal enrichment by replacing whole swaths of their workforce
with an automated army of cheap machines that don’t demand raises, take time off, or form unions.
As tech exec Kai-Fu Lee confided to the New York Times, he expects AI to “eliminate 40 percent of the world’s jobs within 15 years.”
Some CEOs are so giddy about AI’s profiteering potential that they openly admit their intentions.
Take Foxconn, the Taiwanese
Jim Hightower
year by Donald Trump. It was given $3 billion in public subsidies to open a huge manufacturing plant in Wisconsin, but it’s now reneging and declaring that it intends to replace 80
percent of its global workforce with robots within 10 years.
Corporate apologists say displaced humans can be “reskilled” to do something else. But what? Where? When? No response.
Executives try to skate by the human toll by saying that the machine takeover is the inevitable march of technological progress. Hogwash! There’s nothing “natural” about the AI agenda — it’s a choice being made by an elite group of corporate and political powers trying to impose their selfish interests over us.
OtherWords columnist Jim Hightower is a radio commentator, writer, and public speaker. Distributed by OtherWords.org.
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