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Comment Re:It's got nothing to do with that (Score 1) 97

It depends on where you live. US education is heavily decentralized, in rural kentucky it was still possible until the early 1980s to have 1-12 (kindergarten would have been a pipe dream) in the nearest town. Most districts consolidated first the high schools (9/10-12) and then middle schools (6/7-8/9), but I'm 45 now, I attended a half-day K-8 in my local town. Our local population supported about 1.5 classes (~40-50 students) per grade, so we had a bunch of splits
half day Kindergarten
regular 1st
High 1st/Low 2nd graders
regular 2nd
regular 3rd
high 3rd/low 4th
regular 4th
regular 5th

at 6th grade, a close by k-5 elementary joined with our population
high 5th/low 6th
2 rooms of regular 6th
3 rooms of 7th
2 rooms of regular 8th
1 room of the highest math aptitude ones, we got pre-algebra in 8th grade instead of their general math and our reading was generally higher so we might have read 1 or 2 extra books over the year in our english class
The 4 K-8 schools went to a common 9-12 high school, so that would lead to a 9th grade math breakdown like:
2-3 sections of honors algebra 1, we would net out 1 class of 12th grade AP calculus AB from this
2-3 algebra 1 these kids would end in trigonometry and geometry in grade 12
2-3 pre-algebra these kids would end in algebra 2 and basic geometry in grade 12
2-3 general math these kids would end in algebra 1 and basic geometry in grade 12
The district I grew up in has changed since then, they've got a common 7th-8th building now and the 9th graders attend an isolated building of their own (7-12 is on the same giant physical campus in the middle of our county)

Larger urban districts like the one my kids attend now have opportunities to slot and track high math aptitude earlier, there are some 6th graders that take pre-algebra so their end target would be trig as sophomores and AP Calculus BC as seniors

Comment Re: Drunk in charge? (Score 1, Interesting) 78

Until the 1980s, martinis for lunch were the norm. With cigarettes. Lots and lots of cigarettes. We got to the moon that way. We built the 747 that way. Huge reeducation campaign in the 1908s. You were educated by the same people that ended martinis for lunch. How are we all doing now without martinis and cigarettes for lunch?

I don't drink at all BTW. And really don't give a shit. Just pointing stuff out.

Anyone old enough, reading this, knows this is not an exaggeration.

Comment Re:Look Up... (Score 1) 108

I also wonder how much it would cost to have the flight deck track location based on gps _and_ location based on an inertial reference system; then perhaps warnings could be provided if those locations diverge, and the pilot could opt to use one, the other, or neither as appropriate.

A super high-end inertial reference unit is in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, but I'd wager that something good enough to get you to the other side of a war-zone should be feasible for low five figures; maybe less if it could reuse components from cars or mobile phones.

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