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Forums - Politics Discussion - Only one in three Americans can name the 3 branches of the Federal government

WiiBox3 on 26 July 2012
NiKKoM said:
d21lewis said:
I can't name the positions on a soccer team but I can tell if they're doing what they're supposed to be doing.

(actually, I can. I played it for a while in middle school but you get the idea.)

it's called football... geez...


In your country yes. In the US, parts of Canada, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, parts of the Republic of Ireland and several Pacific island nations it is called Soccer.

From Wikipedia

The Oxford "-er", or often "-ers", is a colloquial and sometimes facetious suffix prevalent at Oxford University from about 1875, which is thought to have been borrowed from the slang of Rugby School.

The term "soccer", derived from a transformation/emendation of the "assoc" in Association football, was popularised by a prominent English footballer, Charles Wreford-Brown (1866–1951).[1] The first recorded use of "soccer" was in 1895.[2] Two years earlier The Western Gazette reported that "W. Neilson was elected captain of ‘rugger’ and T. N. Perkins of ‘socker’"[3] and Henry Watson Fowler recommended socker in preference to "soccer" to emphasise its correct pronunciation (i.e. hard "cc/ck").[4] In this context, he suggested that "baccy", because of the "cc" in "tobacco", was "more acceptable than soccer" (there being no "cc" in "Association"). "Socker" was the form that appeared in the first edition of the Concise Oxford Dictionary (1911).


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Mr Khan on 26 July 2012
TadpoleJackson said:
Judicial, Executive, and Legislative. I even know my governor, senators, and congressman; don't know my state representatives though.

Thanks to redistricting, i actually don't know who my congressman is currently <_>



Monster Hunter: pissing me off since 2010.

NintendoPie on 26 July 2012
Jay520 said:
Mr Khan said:
This is what you get when you cut educational funding (or redirect funds to the football team :/)


More like when the students don't give a shit. I went to some of the worst schools in my America, yet facts as simple as this was always common knowledge for decent students.

That's what I was going to say.

The student's have to give a darn first before anything else.



richardhutnik on 26 July 2012
NintendoPie said:
Jay520 said:
Mr Khan said:
This is what you get when you cut educational funding (or redirect funds to the football team :/)


More like when the students don't give a shit. I went to some of the worst schools in my America, yet facts as simple as this was always common knowledge for decent students.

That's what I was going to say.

The student's have to give a darn first before anything else.

If there is wide scale students not giving a damn, then there are things systemically wrong with a country.  It could be the whole gospel of self-esteem taught, kids growing up in broken homes, or something else at the root of the problems.  But there is something going on wrong, wide scale.

In my case, I did try to substitute teach for a bit in a city school district near me.  Was one of the worst experience I had.  I thought the kindergardners were terrible.  Sheesh, at least I got them to sit quiet.  It was the high schoolers who were a big problem.



the_dengle on 26 July 2012

EXECUTIVE; LEGISLATIVE; JUDICIAL

I AM THE 33.33%



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Farsala on 26 July 2012

Not to surprising, I know a lot more basic government stuff then the people that were in my class. However I think they knew a lot more about basketball then me. Only position in basketball I can think of is Point guard.



richardhutnik on 26 July 2012
Farsala said:
Not to surprising, I know a lot more basic government stuff then the people that were in my class. However I think they knew a lot more about basketball then me. Only position in basketball I can think of is Point guard.

Basketball actually has 3 positions: Guard, Forward and Center.  Point Guard, Shooting Guard, Small Foward, Power Forward, and Center are modern additions that differentiate.  There is also what is seen as a Point Forward, which is a Forward that acts like a PG. 



NightDragon83 on 27 July 2012
NiKKoM said:
d21lewis said:
I can't name the positions on a soccer team but I can tell if they're doing what they're supposed to be doing.

(actually, I can. I played it for a while in middle school but you get the idea.)

it's called football... geez...

Not in the US, Canada, or Australia it ain't... we already have our own brands of football, thank you very much.

By the way... the term "soccer", short for Association Football, originated in ENGLAND back in the 19th century.

Back on topic:  I really thing we need to throw even more money at our education problem here in the states... because clearly the teachers' unions and administratiors aren't getting paid enough.



On 2/24/13, MB1025 said:
You know I was always wondering why no one ever used the dollar sign for $ony, but then I realized they have no money so it would be pointless.

NintendoPie on 27 July 2012
richardhutnik said:

If there is wide scale students not giving a damn, then there are things systemically wrong with a country.  It could be the whole gospel of self-esteem taught, kids growing up in broken homes, or something else at the root of the problems.  But there is something going on wrong, wide scale.

In my case, I did try to substitute teach for a bit in a city school district near me.  Was one of the worst experience I had.  I thought the kindergardners were terrible.  Sheesh, at least I got them to sit quiet.  It was the high schoolers who were a big problem.

Well there are...

Sadly, I'm going to be a High Schooler soon.



crissindahouse on 27 July 2012
leatherhat said:
Mr Khan said:
This is what you get when you cut educational funding (or redirect funds to the football team :/)


America spends more per capita then any other country. Its not the money.

you forget that usa has another system as many other countries and therefore you can't just use financial numbers to compare them. if you want to really learn something in usa you have to go to an college/university, as example here in germany you don't always go to something like that to learn the same as people in usa learn. here in germany you have universities or apprenticeships where you work three years in a company as apprentice and only go to a special school few hours a week to learn theory. it's hard to explain for me^^

you get money from the company but much less as if you would be a full employee with completed apprenticeship. many jobs you have to go to university for in usa work like that here. the government has less costs then because the companies have the costs but therefore they have them in their company learning in the company and working for that company which is not bad for that company. so, in the end government is spending less here per capita but people still learn the same here. (but we still spend too less for the schools they go to before they start with that)

maybe the problem is that universities, especially the top universities get billions for research and whatever but the normal schools where people go to the first years in their life don't really get more than 40 years ago (except the increase of financial capital to work against inflation). but since i don't really know american highschools and such things it is only a theory.