Does this bring anything to the table that Groovy doesn't?

As far as I'm concerned, this is completely unheard-of in my country. Standards are generally pre-set, and if half of the class fails where the previous year's students had few problems, well, that's their problem, nobody's going to lower the standards for this year's class.

The philosophy that schools are intended to teach a certain well thought out base of knowledge and only pass those who demonstrate that they've learned all of it is not universal.
 
It requires a great deal more maturity and responsibility and humility. The teacher needs to be a lot more self critical about what's in the curriculum, the students and parents need to be prepared to accept the fact that their talent and discipline may not be sufficient for the role they've decided they're interested in, and society needs to be prepared to accept that neither needs nor expectations will make a person capable if they don't have the talent or determination necessary.
 
What's popular these days is to just throw together a curriculum that relates to the course subject without regard for whether or not the students can absorb it, then just sort the class from best to worst and push the best ones forward. It's less demanding on the teacher, and it never allows their competence as a teacher to be subjected to critical analysis. It's also less demanding on the students... the teacher doesn't set the bar, the students do. And, society as a whole can look at the schools churning out certified, educated citizens and tell themselves they're doing just fine.
 
This way, when everything goes to shit, they can blame the "other", the ones who didn't play ball with the system, for their societies collapse. And, that's the most important thing. Because no pain is so bad that it can't be made 10 times worse by having someone tell you that it's your own damned fault and knowing that they are right.

It isn't "Voodoo Zombie Kung Fu Womens Prison" movies. Because that turned out to be completely awesome!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt04...

My favorite beer was called "Hops Candy" because it had so much hops in it. All I see coming from this is that, in the name of saving money, they found a way to make mass produced beer taste even worse.

But at least the bar will be dry.

He'll never be employed to engage in shady illegal practices after throwing his employer under the bus like this.

It's a good day.

Under Bush, our country was attacked despite the fact that FBI agents tried unsuccessfully to warn about it; gasoline more than quadrupled in price (very suspicious; he's an oil man); got us into two wars, one of which was not only completely unnecessary but led to the rise of ISIS; took office in some of the best economic conditions I've seen in my life and left the economy in worse shape than any time since the great depression.

I never thought I'd see a worse President than Carter, who was far worse than Obama, but Bush proved me wrong.

Under Obama the wars are over, unemployment is half of what it was, gasoline is half what it cost under Bush. He's by no means a great President, but you have to remember that the Republicans' #1 agenda was to make his a failed Presidency.

The two best Presidents in my lifetime were, I think, Eisenhower and Clinton.

How else would you characterize this song from their third album?

"After Forever"

Have you ever thought about your soul - can it be saved?
Or perhaps you think that when you're dead you just stay in your grave
Is God just a thought within your head or is he a part of you?
Is Christ just a name that you read in a book when you were in school?

When you think about death do you lose your breath or do you keep your cool?
Would you like to see the Pope on the end of a rope - do you think he's a fool?
Well I have seen the truth, yes I've seen the light and I've changed my ways
And I'll be prepared when you're lonely and scared at the end of our days

Could it be you're afraid of what your friends might say
If they knew you believe in God above?
They should realize before they criticize
that God is the only way to love

Is your mind so small that you have to fall
In with the pack wherever they run
Will you still sneer when death is near
And say they may as well worship the sun?

I think it was true it was people like you that crucified Christ
I think it is sad the opinion you had was the only one voiced
Will you be so sure when your day is near, say you don't believe?
You had the chance but you turned it down, now you can't retrieve

Perhaps you'll think before you say that God is dead and gone
Open your eyes, just realize that he's the one
The only one who can save you now from all this sin and hate
Or will you still jeer at all you hear? Yes! I think it's too late.

You should *fight the hypocrites because they are much more dangerous than those who are fundamentally heretics*

Agreed.

You're not much of a student of history, are you?

Yes, and it must evolve into a system of decentralized food and energy production, decentralized manufacturing, local recycling, etc.

Your false dichotomy does not change the realities of the status quo.

Why do you feel entitled to live in huge herds, when nature repeatedly strikes such herds down? Spread out a bit and you won't create the perfect storm of circumstances that create these terrible plagues. You ought to know better, but you do it anyway, so you deserve what comes of it.

Yes, which is why I installed Thunderbird. I now still have my old 10+ year old email address and a stable email client. My phone's email client works well with the yahoo email as well.

Just install a real email client and your problems vanish.

Cheney is an evil man who was Vice President during the worst administration I've seen in my 62 years and possibly the worst in history.

Yes, if you listen casually to early Black Sabbath music, it sounds like a celebration of evil, but if you listen carefully it's actually Christian music. Hell, Iron Maiden's two minutes to midnight is an anti-abortion song. Twisted Sister was hauled in front of Congress for the "bloody" song under the blade; the song is about undergoing surgery.