EP # 185 The alarming state of literacy in America

Robb (: 00:03

And welcome to another show. Don't get this twisted. I'm Rob along with my co-host as always, Tina. How you doing, Tina? Yeah, better than the one that we already recorded last week that didn't work. If people. If we have, it's been a long time. Salvage. Yeah.

Tina (: 00:10

I'm doing well, I'm awake, we're good. Let's do this.

Tina (: 00:19

Yeah, we're gonna redo one for the first time and I don't even know, I don't think we've ever redone one.

You've always been able to get it together. Yeah. Edit it properly.

Robb (: 00:32

I usually I can salvage it, but but this one I I tried, but it's it's a no bueno. It's all right, and it kind of coincides with what we were going to talk about. We are we are we are stupid as a nation. I just happened to hear on another podcast of some literacy rates and

Tina (: 00:39

That's okay. I hear you.

Tina (: 00:47

You

Tina (: 00:55

Yeah, a little bit.

Robb (: 01:03

So I was like, hey, let's talk about this. man. I mean, so I had no idea until I did a little research. So I was like, hey, I'm going to look and see what it was and and go from there because they kind of talked about what they were. But it was never really like they didn't give all these things that that we're going to talk about. And I was really shocked.

Tina (: 01:04

They're horrible.

Robb (: 01:32

Like, I'm sure people listening are going to be really shocked because, hey, my goodness. I'll go with the top 10 literacy rates. And the first one is probably just the worst. Nationwide, on average, 79 percent of American adults are literate in 2022. So a couple of years ago, 21 percent of adults in the US are illiterate.

illiterate. Even though graduation rates are up. So graduations, yeah, grad-owations are up. So what that should be also telling us is these teachers and schools are letting people through even though they do not understand the curriculum. That is...

Tina (: 02:03

That is crazy.

Tina (: 02:11

Congratulations.

Tina (: 02:30

Mm-hmm.

Robb (: 02:31

That is absolutely horrible and probably isn't a shock with why things are the way they are in this country.

Tina (: 02:35

It is.

Tina (: 02:46

Well, I thought we had that no child left behind thing. So it kind of baffles me as to why we don't have a higher literacy rate because that should have been handled in like kindergarten or first, second by third grade. Kids should really be reading. And why are they getting by at such an early age and then never nobody's ever catching up with them and saying, you got a problem. I don't understand that.

Robb (: 03:01

Mm-hmm.

I think part of that no one left behind is that they're letting people through even though they're not ready. Instead of, like back in the day when we were young, they failed you back. They just, sorry. And I think that's part of what you're talking about with like

Tina (: 03:27

Yeah. Well, that was back in the day when parents, parents were like, yeah, he, kids not getting it. Do it now. It's, know, all kids get a trophy and.

you know, everybody's perfect and they got to be with their with their other age group, but that's not necessarily healthy for them.

Robb (: 03:48

Class? Mm-hmm. I mean, when you look at these statistics, it's a fact. Right? 54 % of adults have a literacy below sixth grade level. Over half.

Tina (: 03:56

Yeah.

Tina (: 04:04

That's freaking scary. Well, that makes sense why we have no more bookstores around, if you think about it. There's no need for them. People aren't buying books.

Robb (: 04:13

Mm-hmm, because no one's reading. Mm-mm, can't read. man. And I don't know how this one correlates, but it says low literacy rates end up costing Americans 2.2 trillion every year. I'm guessing maybe in...

Tina (: 04:20

No.

Robb (: 04:36

subsidies of welfare maybe I'm assuming because if you can't get a job you're going to go and ask the government for money I'm guessing yeah so it says 34 % of people 18 and older with low literacy proficiency weren't born in the United States that kind of makes sense I mean we just have a very high

Tina (: 04:42

possible.

Tina (: 05:03

Okay. Yeah.

Robb (: 05:05

rate of people who come here from other countries. Not a shock. And them having low literacy probably isn't a shock either because schooling in their other countries probably isn't the best either. Let's see. There was one in here.

Tina (: 05:10

We do.

Tina (: 05:21

Right?

Robb (: 05:28

So, New Mexico has the lowest rate with over 30 % of the children being illiterate. Man. Yeah, it's really horrible. I mean, that's pretty bad. New Hampshire has the best with 18 and older. So, 90%. So, man, New Hampshire is throwing them out.

Tina (: 05:39

That is crazy.

Tina (: 05:47

It's...

Tina (: 05:55

Nice. But still, that's 10 % of the kids not getting an education to where they could read.

Robb (: 06:02

Well, this is 18 and older, but yeah, even so, that means that they got through, 10 % gets through. But I mean, considerably take 10 % to 30 % in New Mexico. That's, mean, yeah. And of course, this state, the state we live in in California, the lowest literacy rate in the country with 23 % of them having little...

Tina (: 06:09

Yeah.

Tina (: 06:15

That's a big difference.

Robb (: 06:25

to no proficiency in reading skills. So welcome to California people. Welcome, because obviously we don't give a shit. So throughout the United States, there were 66 % of children in the fourth grade that couldn't read well in 2013, which is where we're going to go here later on because there's other statistics that...

Tina (: 06:31

That's in California.

Nice. Fucking crazy.

Robb (: 06:52

Don't help that study. Here we go right here. Two thirds of students who cannot read proficiently by the end of the fourth grade will end up in jail or on welfare. Where I guess that that's where our money's going. There you go. Because that's both of them, right? Jail costs us money and welfare costs us money. So just think if

Tina (: 07:06

Damn, there's where our money goes when you said you were asking the heads where it's gonna go. Unreal.

Yep. Yep. Absolutely.

Robb (: 07:21

If your student cannot read by the end of the fourth grade, there, there go two thirds of them. So two out of three are going to end up in jail or one or on welfare. Golly. It not only is it insane, like, I don't know how to fix that. Like who? So you have to kind of ask whose fault is it? Right.

Tina (: 07:37

That's insane.

Robb (: 07:50

I think in this state I'll say because of the size of classrooms and the overcrowding in schools I can probably see why. Right? Rarely any one-on-one time. No? You don't think so?

Tina (: 08:05

No, no. I can't see why at all. No, what about parents? Why aren't parents teaching their kids how to read? You know, I when I was a when I was a mom, I made sure my daughter had to sit on the counter with me while I was making dinner and she had to read a book to me. And that's how we we got her reading. And because of that, she got her masters. mean.

Robb (: 08:15

Yeah, zero.

Tina (: 08:31

You could find time even if you're a stay-at-home Or if you're stay-at-home parent, there's no excuse and if you're a single parent that's always working You still got to make them dinner or do something like that or if they're in the car with you They should not have their phones with them. They should have a book with them. There's ways to get kids to read I think people are just lazy and want to blame everybody else

Robb (: 08:52

Yeah. I think and look, I understand that it's hard. Parents work as a single parent and I read with my son in bed or I had him sit on the couch with me and read a book to me.

Tina (: 09:09

Mm-hmm. Yes.

Robb (: 09:09

So yeah, yeah, it's hard. I mean, don't get me wrong. After a long day at work and cooking dinner and everything that's involved in that. But you have to help your own child. If you put it into the hands of schools, it is your job. And here's the other flip side of that. If you put it in the hands of schools,

Tina (: 09:24

Mm-hmm. That's your job.

Robb (: 09:35

They're going to learn what the school wants them to learn and maybe that's not what you want them to learn. So part of that is taking control because if you don't want the curriculum that they're teaching them, it might be a better idea for you to fix that. At least that's how I see it. Let's see. Based on research conducted, the reading scores.

Tina (: 09:40

Exactly.

Tina (: 09:55

Yeah.

Robb (: 10:04

for the majority of kids between the fourth and eighth grades were higher in 2027 than the scores made in 1992, though not higher than scores two years prior. So they're in 2017, much higher than 1992, which is not too far after we graduated. But in 2015, they were way higher. So yes, the scores are higher, but

Tina (: 10:25

Right.

Robb (: 10:33

That doesn't mean that the schooling is still good. It dropped after a two year period. My problem is this, that we as parents need to take back the school system. People are complaining that our president closed the Department of Education.

Tina (: 10:54

Mm-hmm.

Robb (: 10:59

With some of these statistics that I'm seeing, it almost seems like it was the best thing to do. Because it's not working. I think, you know, look, the state's having control.

Tina (: 11:05

Yeah.

Tina (: 11:09

Well, when there's so much bureaucracy, how does it... It sounds like it's not trickling down to the kids. You know, if we put power back into the school system that's actually doing everything, then maybe they'll fix it. But then I wonder.

Robb (: 11:28

are going to be good and bad, right? In some states, they may want to teach things that you don't want your son or daughter listening to. Kind of a fact. And in that case, move, because I think that's the best thing.

Tina (: 11:32

Mm-hmm.

Tina (: 11:51

Or put them in a different school. There's so many different ways to educate your children that you just gotta find the one that fits your beliefs.

Robb (: 11:51

I agree. think private school is great. know, look, growing up, obviously not a very religious cat, but, you know, looking at the school system now, and I would definitely put my kid into a Christian school because you're you're at least setting the bar.

Tina (: 12:17

Well, you don't even have to go into private schools. There's, you know, they have schools for different kids that learn differently. I was in magnet school. I went all through magnet school and I did very well in school because of it. Like you could do that. There's you get homeschool. If there's a problem, you could you just getting them out from one area to the next helps. Not every classroom, not every school is the same. But something's got to give.

Robb (: 12:20

Yeah, I mean

Once you see these statistics, think it's something has to change. Period. And when it comes to other countries, we are so far back in education that it's disgusting. Really bad. I'll see if I can find those while we're on here.

Tina (: 12:58

yeah.

Tina (: 13:05

Right?

Tina (: 13:10

What are the statistics in other countries?

Robb (: 13:16

So here's adult literacy statistics. So this would be as of probably 2017 or 2020 when this was taken. The literacy rate for Americans aged 18 and older is 88%. So 12 % of this country is not doing well.

Robb (: 13:46

Let's see. I had read one before. Okay, by country. By country. Where our rate is. Where is the good old US of A. United States is. Yeah.

Tina (: 14:19

I was thinking it was about 87%. I thought that was what we said the other day when we did this podcast the first time.

Robb (: 14:25

Yeah, let's. first time we did this, let's see 86%. You are correct. So 86 % and I'm going to I'm going to name some countries above that that. That I'm sure people would go really.

Tina (: 14:29

The first time we did this before we had technical difficulties? 86, okay.

Robb (: 14:45

Botswana, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Libya at 90%, Ecuador, Turkey, Mexico, 93%. Some of the country. Now we probably have.

Tina (: 14:47

Yeah.

Tina (: 15:05

Mexico has a 93 % literacy rate and we have an 86.

Robb (: 15:15

Lot more people like you have to kind of throw some of that stuff in there. It's like Norway has a hundred percent But they're also a country of probably you know Four million people total we have seven million people in Los Angeles So like you kind of have to throw some of that where we just have a lot of people But I mean, it's scary. I mean a lot of these countries, you know, like the Ukraine

Tina (: 15:32

Yeah.

Robb (: 15:44

is way up there. Croatia, Czech Republic, like these countries have a good literacy rate. Japan is 99%. So I just think that, you know, where we're at, like we have a lot of people in this country. So it is easy to to say, well, you know, they have this great literacy rate and we don't. I think a lot of that goes to how many people we have here.

Yeah, I mean, that's true. So 86 % of the world's population that's 15 years of older is above the literacy rate of the world. Which that's pretty good. I mean, to be fair. But now now here's now here's part of this. I don't think we read last time, but now this kind of makes more sense to

Tina (: 16:16

I don't really think that's an excuse though.

Robb (: 16:44

Of all it says of all the nations of the world over 95 % of them have citizens with literacy skills that are rudimentary and near contemporary achievement. like yes, they're they're literate but like it's on the low end of literacy. They're rudimentary. North Korea has one of the highest rates of literacy in the world. And that's a

Tina (: 17:05

they're still literate.

Robb (: 17:13

Communist country go figure you learn you better learn So look by states New Hampshire's way up on top Alaska Vermont Minnesota, Montana Maine like those are the top ones the bottom ones are New Mexico worst, California, Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana and Nevada and then New York So yeah, so I mean

Tina (: 17:20

Damn it.

Tina (: 17:40

So most of the southern states that are having a Harder time with their literacy rate. Yeah

Robb (: 17:46

Yeah, the South is kind of like in the middle. Yeah, a lot of the South is obviously in the middle and they're at like 78%. North Carolina, 78, Tennessee, 78, Kentucky, 78. So it's kind of all over the board, you know, with social economic. So I think that that has a lot to do with it. When you start looking at...

There are issues with the social economic climate, right? Where you're going to school, your upbringing, who's in the house. There's lots of things that this really have effects on. So it looks like both men and women, or boys and girls, however you want to look at it there, the literacy rates are

of women. In the world as of: 2020

Tina (: 19:04

Right.

Robb (: 19:10

And obviously age wise, I think the older you are right now, like 65 and older on the planet, definitely way less literate. And 15 to 24 is way, way, way up. And I just think that, we live in a computer based world where you can learn on your own. You know, a little it's a little easier to probably learn things now.

Tina (: 19:34

Right?

Robb (: 19:39

That doesn't to me doesn't say you're literate. That just means that you've learned things. But obviously, if you can change your thinking of wanting to learn, I think that's the bigger thing. Right. So you look at like, let's say California, just because it's home. Right. There are places that don't do well. Right. The inner city.

Tina (: 19:46

Mm-hmm.

Robb (: 20:09

or whatever reason. I think a lot of it has to do with with who's in the house. You know, obviously people who come from a two parent household do way, way, way better. And I just think that because now you have you have a much better building block. You have two people in the house that are pushing the child to get an education.

Tina (: 20:11

Mm-hmm.

Tina (: 20:28

Mm-hmm.

Robb (: 20:38

you're less likely to let that person slip into shittier behavior like joining a gang or

Tina (: 20:48

Mm-hmm. Well plus you have two people Available to do the jobs of like a single parent would have to do all of them. So your time is a little more about You have a little more time basically to do what you need to do Because you have two people doing it instead of one So I'm sure that helps plus you've always got one that's seeing things that the other one isn't and And so when you see that your kids having a problem you can make

Robb (: 21:06

Correct. And like I said, you're right. I think it's much easier because time constrictions of a single parent compared to a two parent household. know, look, we were latchkey kids, or at least I was.

Tina (: 21:18

the necessary changes that you need to make to take care of that.

Tina (: 21:32

Yeah.

Robb (: 21:36

But a lot of kids from our time period in the 80s just because I think that's when a lot of people started having to Parents go to work every day. It was started really kind of in the 80s And I came from a single-parent household my dad Yeah, my dad raised me so I had a key around my neck came home and it was up to me to start my homework before he got home so

Tina (: 21:53

70s

Tina (: 22:03

Mm-hmm.

Robb (: 22:04

And I struggled with a lot of things just because I was not a great student. I would rather have doodled in art class than did anything else. Yeah, they were amazing, right? Lots of dicks. Yeah. You know, it was either people getting blown up, shot, or dicks.

Tina (: 22:13

But those doodles were hilarious. Being the kid that was with you was dying and some of the things you drew. I was like, my God, did he just draw that, draw that and pass it around the whole classroom? That's funny. But yeah, we weren't learning to read when we were doing that. What's that?

Robb (: 22:32

No, no, I said it was either people getting blown up or dicks. know, I. Yeah, I mean, I was always I was always doing something like that that really wasn't. It wasn't homework, let's just say that. So. But I did have, you know, I did have a dad who was on my ass because when.

Tina (: 22:38

That's not the picture I remember, but yeah, it's pretty close.

Tina (: 22:54

Yeah, definitely was an homework.

Robb (: 23:00

you know, when report cards came around, he was wondering why my grades were lower and then I always had to pick up the pace and catch up. I just think that it's hard to look at some of these statistics and wonder, for one, how we get out of it. You know, teachers want more money, but they have shittier test results. So how do we hold

Tina (: 23:09

Right?

Robb (: 23:29

Teacher's accountable as well to performance. you know, it's like anything. Should they be looked upon like, hey, if my students get better grades, things look better, right? You get more money or whatever. There's gotta be something because we're not helping the situation. Whatever's going on isn't working right now.

Tina (: 24:00

Right. And no kid should be going. Maybe they just need more time to focus on the basics and trying to get that solid as a foundation before they move on. Maybe that's the kicker. I know when my daughter was in school, their their homework was to read for a half hour every day. And I went one step further. I said, why don't you read to me every day?

Robb (: 24:00

So.

Robb (: 24:27

Mm-hmm.

Tina (: 24:29

And start there because once I got her really reading and understanding what she was reading then she just flourished like she But it was funny even in high school She would she learned how to read out loud because she had to read to me all the time So I would hear in her bedroom reading out loud and it would crack me up. But I was like shit She's reading leave her alone, you know because That was that was a big task for her to take on at the time. She was not having a good time with that

So we just worked and worked and worked at it until until the she got it but You know now i've noticed in the past like 20 years is everybody's got their kids wrapped up in all the extracurriculars from baseball or softball to to art classes to music classes to all these different classes and they spend so much time

Running their kids around when they should be staying at home picking up a book and teaching them how to how to read You know there we we leave our lives so busy that we don't have time for truly what is important and that is connecting having a safe place to be as a family and You know the basics of reading the writing arithmetic like they they should be really proficient in those areas And they're just not but they could throw a ball

Robb (: 25:28

Right. Right.

And I, you're right. think that is part of the problem. We're so locked up. Well, because we're, you know, we're trying to give our children a well, or a fun experience. mean, look, everyone wants a fun experience. I, that, I think that that's a great thing, but you also can't make it the only thing. I mean, look, I love sports, but

Tina (: 26:00

They could paint a picture. Yeah, it totally is. I see that with my own friends.

Tina (: 26:11

Keep up with the Joneses.

Tina (: 26:24

Mm-hmm.

Robb (: 26:26

there's like, look, you can't live your life through your child either. I think that's what a lot of people do. And look, if that's your thing, awesome. best thing that ever happened is my son didn't ever want to get anywhere near a wrestling ring. So I've, I kind of won there. He's just wasn't into it. It wasn't his thing. So at the end of the day, you know, I'm, I'm kind of happy that

Tina (: 26:35

Right.

Tina (: 26:45

Yeah.

Robb (: 26:56

He didn't go down that route. It's it's kind of nice. I didn't have to worry about that. And maybe he won't be a cripple by the time he's, you know, 40. Because he's just not into that. So there is something good there. But I also think that, like, we've we've turned. Kids. Into. iPad babies.

Tina (: 27:11

Right.

Robb (: 27:26

You know, we, we just hand them an electronic piece and they're babysitters for them. So, boy, that, that, that could be the bigger problem as well. That we're just, we're letting, we're letting our own time as adults, you know, we, we still want to be, you know, doing something or

Tina (: 27:28

for sure.

Robb (: 27:54

trying to catch up on everything else in life, laundry and cleaning and all the rest of the stuff and we're really putting our children in front of a TV or an iPad to babysit them. I can tell you right now most places I go to eat that have kids they're staring at a screen. Almost all of them.

Tina (: 28:13

Mm-hmm.

Tina (: 28:19

Absolutely.

Robb (: 28:21

And then they wonder why when they don't have a screen in their hand they're bonkers and jumping and running and sitting upside down and not paying attention and not eating. I, I, man, I, you know, I mean, I hate to say that I was a tyrant, but I probably was with my kid, but my kid didn't fucking get stupid at the dinner. If I took him out, my son sat down because he knew.

Tina (: 28:34

Right?

Robb (: 28:48

Like you just knew. You don't play that shit there. you learn quickly. So, I mean, again, I think a lot of this stuff comes to that. They get home and they're so used to being on an iPad that they don't want to do anything else. Or they're so used to YouTube, they don't want to do anything else. So school is boring.

Tina (: 29:00

Right.

Tina (: 29:16

Mm-hmm.

Robb (: 29:17

So none of them want to learn anymore. And then teachers are kind of behind the eight ball. So if you have a good one, and there are good teachers out there, I don't want to shit on all of them, but they're behind the eight ball. What do you do? You know?

Tina (: 29:33

Well.

Robb (: 29:35

Yeah

Tina (: 29:36

I think that I think that I believe that in most cases from the teachers that I've come across and dealt with, the teachers are overwhelmed. I don't think it's at a teacher level. I think it's at a school level. I think it's at a making get your money, get your grades so that you're making the money, but not because kids need to learn just because the school needs its money. So

Robb (: 30:04

They just want to make sure that your kid is going to school and they're there for attendance. Because that's how they get paid. Yeah, that's how they get paid. I mean, boy. I just think, I wish I had an answer for it because, you know, we talked about it even on the first time we tried doing this and we still couldn't come up with anything, right? Like, what did we do? And...

Tina (: 30:04

I don't know, I'm having a hard time with that.

Tina (: 30:12

so they get their money, Yes.

Robb (: 30:33

I think school choice is big and I know people hate that but school choice is great. I think that if you want to send your child to another school that's out of your district and you're willing to get up in the morning and drive your kid and pick them up or whatever however you need to do it and you think it's going to be a better education for them have at it. You know if the school in your in your neighborhood is shit why would you ever send them?

Tina (: 30:39

Yeah.

Tina (: 30:45

do it.

Tina (: 30:51

Mm-hmm.

Robb (: 31:02

It doesn't make sense to me. It's, you know, so I think school choice is good and I know people don't like that because not everyone can send their child. Well, no. That's and again, that's unfortunate. Then if you can't send your child, you need to pick up the ball and run with it. You need to be the person making sure that they're getting an education and their teachers helping them and

Tina (: 31:04

Right? That's true.

Robb (: 31:30

You're doing your best. And if your literacy is down, you find a way to have someone tutor them. You know, there's thankfully there's a lot of free tutors in the school districts and they'll find someone to help them. But I think you also have to be the person to really ride your child because once they get to a certain grade and obviously.

Tina (: 31:45

Mm-hmm.

Tina (: 31:55

an advocate for, be an advocate for them.

Robb (: 31:59

Well, and look, the statistics show after fourth grade, if they don't have literacy, they're screwed. They'll never catch up. Fourth grade, like what year is that? Fourth grade is like what? Five, six, like that's eight years old. Eight years old, if you're not reading an eight, there's a...

Tina (: 32:07

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Tina (: 32:17

Nine.

Robb (: 32:27

bigger problem. And it's it starts. It starts at home. And like we talked about it, if you were the person at home is can't read and obviously you look at the statistics, there's a lot of there's a lot of. You know adults that can't do it.

Tina (: 32:30

Yeah.

Tina (: 32:50

You know, when I had adopted my daughter at eight years old, did not know how to read. But she did it. I mean, we got her there. It just took a lot of work.

Robb (: 32:51

And again, why didn't she read? Product of the environment? Yeah, so.

Tina (: 33:07

A lot of work.

Tina (: 33:13

It's a school situation for sure. Environment, yeah, her mom wasn't paying attention at the time, I don't know.

Robb (: 33:21

So it was probably several things because it's not just one, right? Because we know it, but it's not just one. It's both. Look, if you're not behind your child and then send them to school, the teacher saying, hey, you need to do this isn't going to help. Right? Because they're only going to want to learn if they want to learn. So I think, I think

Tina (: 33:29

Right.

Tina (: 33:34

Mm-hmm.

Tina (: 33:43

Right.

Tina (: 33:49

Right?

Robb (: 33:50

really putting a foundation of look, you have to learn. I always tried to tell my kid like, I want you to be better than me. Not the same. You know, like one time he kind of got mad at me he was like, you know, I'm gonna I'm gonna make it and I'm gonna do better than you. And I was like, I hope so. I hope you do 10 times better than me. Yeah, I mean, that's

Tina (: 34:04

Mm-hmm.

Tina (: 34:14

Please. Yeah.

Robb (: 34:18

That's reality of, of your child and you. I don't want you to be me. I don't want you to just get through life and, and, you know, do well or do okay or do enough. You know, I want you to be able to enjoy yourself and do well and, and, you know, then yeah, not behind the eight ball every week.

Tina (: 34:25

Yeah.

Tina (: 34:41

live a little better.

Robb (: 34:47

You know hoping that you can pay the rent no one wants that nobody wants that and And look I know people who've made it who didn't graduate high school You've done well You know gone off have a career some of the medical industry And they want to get their GED and I think that that's something to strive for if you want to go back and get your GED to Make yourself feel better. You should

Tina (: 34:53

All

Tina (: 34:59

Yeah.

Yeah.

Robb (: 35:16

But, you know, obviously that person is literate.

Tina (: 35:23

You have to...

You have to do what it is to make you better. You have to you have to feel good about yourself. And if you didn't graduate high school, I'd imagine you wouldn't feel very good about yourself because you didn't meet the expectation. So if you if you're not feeling good, that would be a great thing to do just to say you did it. Needs to happen.

Robb (: 35:48

I agree. Look, I didn't do well in school. Did okay. I stressed out to graduate. There was a couple of classes that I hated. But I passed them to get through. So it's the truth.

Government, really didn't care much for. I didn't like the teacher to tell you the truth. It really wasn't the class. It was just the teacher. Which again, just goes to show you that that could ruin a kid. One, you know, one shitty teacher could ruin you. So and I think that you have as an adult or your parent, you have to be the one person goes, listen, that's it's one speed bump. You know, you can hate your teacher, but still do well.

Tina (: 36:13

Yeah.

Tina (: 36:23

Mm-hmm.

Tina (: 36:27

Mm-hmm.

Tina (: 36:35

Yeah.

Robb (: 36:39

But yeah, like that is graduating high school. You know the end all not really, probably not anymore. Although getting a degree these days really isn't the end all either. Truly, think. I think now if your best bet is a trade. For sure.

Tina (: 36:53

Yeah, I've noticed that. It's kinda crazy.

People are not getting jobs with degrees.

Tina (: 37:08

I know. still believe that school is the better way to go. I've had a trade and you know, it has not made me to the point successful where I could retire and be, you know, in a good place. It kept me going. kept, you know, kept, I got everything I needed. But I don't feel like I ever made it made it. It was just something to keep me going.

Where I feel like, you know, I have my daughter has her masters. My cousin has her masters. These guys have the potential to make tons of money doing stuff that I can't do. I mean, we're it's funny because in psychology is what her degree is in. You know, she gets paid the big bucks to do what I do while I'm cutting hair. And so I'm like, well, maybe I should have just went into psychology because. I'd make a lot more money and do a lot less work.

Robb (: 38:04

Right.

Yeah. My thing is, look, I think having a degree is awesome in things that are useful. Right? Like, obviously, if you're getting a doctorate, it's, being a doctor is important. But, you know, some of these degrees in, you know, gender studies is nonsense.

Tina (: 38:08

You know, so I wonder about that. I've even toyed with the idea of going back to school for that.

Tina (: 38:24

Yeah.

Robb (: 38:35

You're never gonna use it. No one gives a shit and it's useless and you've just spent $110,000 to pay back your tuition to not have a job. And you know, call me an asshole. So be it. That's the truth. Yeah. So the flip side of that is you could have paid $70,000 and got a plumbing degree or a plumbing, you know, became a plumber and

Tina (: 38:50

and it's way more than 110,000 unfortunately.

Robb (: 39:02

be able to take that trade anywhere in the country and work on any kind of plumbing. My thing with a trade generally is that it's a job you can take anywhere, which is huge, and it's never gonna go away. There's a couple of things that are never gonna go away, like plumbing, the medical field, ever. It's something you can have forever. Being a contractor, being able to build a house,

Tina (: 39:09

Yeah.

Robb (: 39:31

There's always going to be needs for these trades that are, again, outside the norm of most degrees. Yeah, a business degree is awesome. It is. And you can make a lot of money, but you're not guaranteed. Most plumbers come through, and if you can take that, you're going to start making money right away. Even if it's on the low end of things. I don't know. I just think that we're at a spot where

For one, newer kids coming out of high school have no idea how to use their hands, right? Which is also a problem, I think. Right?

Tina (: 40:17

Well, that's because instead of them being on their, or instead of them learning how to do art and learning how to play instruments, they don't have the finger dexterity to do anything other than press the buttons on their phone, which aren't even buttons anymore. There's no, there's no, there's no feeling to everything that these kids are going through.

Robb (: 40:20

No, exactly.

It's funny too because my kid is a gamer and he plays on a PC so he taught himself how to He never took a class in school to learn how to type. He's done it on his own. And I did read something the other day about dexterity and

Tina (: 40:44

They literally are not feeling a thing, not even a push of a button. It's kind of sad.

Tina (: 41:00

Good

Robb (: 41:12

IQ. They said that people who are gamers are having much larger IQs and have way better hand dexterity because they're used to using their hands and fingers. So now are you going to be able to put that to something else? That's the bigger thing. Can you take that and roll it into something different or something that'll make you money? I think, you know,

Tina (: 41:21

What?

Robb (: 41:39

I think we need less games, but that's my own opinion.

Tina (: 41:45

Well, games are great, but not video games. Like all the video games that I'm seeing kids come in with and they're sitting in my chair and I'm cutting their hair while they're playing their game. They're violent. They're teaching things that they, know, kids already, they shouldn't even be put in a situation to have to deal with that on a daily. And yet they're playing it as it's as it's something fun. Board games, cards.

dominoes, backgammon, stuff like that. Why are they not playing those games? Why are they not getting interaction? Why is it just talking to somebody through a headset who is God know where doing God know what, God knows what, and not getting interaction from family members and friends and people in the community that should be looking out for other children?

I mean, I always did. had my daughter's friends all the time and we played Yahtzee and backgammon and dominoes and cards and even with my friends. that's how you connect with people. You interact and build a relationship and you start to, you know, have friendly competitions and stuff of that nature. that.

That to me builds a hell of a lot better person than these video games that are stuck in everybody's hands.

Robb (: 43:10

Yeah. I just think that the lack of social interaction is another thing that's really degrading, degrading the intelligence of people. It's just, it's too easy to type.

Tina (: 43:17

Huge.

Tina (: 43:24

Yeah.

Robb (: 43:28

You know, with a phone that now fixes all the words. You don't need to know how to spell them. you. I'll tell you what to do when you get off. We get off here. You need to do something about that. There's it shouldn't do that anymore, but.

Tina (: 43:36

Not mine. Mine needs to have an adult version, because I'm tired of changing the word ducking.

Robb (: 43:54

You may need to upgrade your iOS. yeah, mine doesn't. Mine says fuck all the time. So that's good. But I think there's a setting where you can change it where it says it's okay. But I mean, look it, just in general, you don't even know how to, you don't need to know how to spell, you just need to know sort of what it sounds like and it'll fix it for you. So I think that that's part of the problem.

Tina (: 43:56

It's still doing that.

Mine never even gives me an option.

Tina (: 44:10

Okay

Robb (: 44:21

They've made things so dumbed down that now you don't have to learn. if you had to write it down, you couldn't. I mean, look, they don't even do cursive Nope.

Tina (: 44:30

Right.

Tina (: 44:34

I know that blows my mind that again is teaching a child how to have like fine motor skills and they don't even teach it anymore. My nephew cannot read a card at 19 years old that I wrote because I hand write it. I was like no you're gonna learn you sit here and I'm gonna teach you how to read this real quick.

Robb (: 44:51

It's yeah. I mean, just think. I mean, that's kind of how some people think it like our Constitution is written in handwriting. If if if you couldn't read that, you don't know what the Constitution is. I mean, obviously you can look it up online and you can see it in plain text, but just think about things like that. We've dumb people down so much. And it's funny to see like.

Tina (: 45:02

Mm-hmm.

Robb (: 45:17

millennials and and the new generation are like, why do need handwriting? Well, it's like, like, because we know how to write. That's why. You know, it's. Yeah.

Tina (: 45:28

so that your fingers will work on little tiny things that need help. know, your body needs help in doing them. Like fixing a screw on your eyeglasses or, you know, a... Tweezing a hair out of your eyebrows. Those all take fine motor skills. I don't know. my God, that's a bitch even when you have them.

Robb (: 45:50

Putting the thread through a needle head. That's... Yes, that's what I'm saying. Like, that's like, ugh.

Tina (: 45:57

Because I am using needles every weekend. Yeah, I use a needle every weekend doing the pine needle. Yeah, using the pine needle baskets. And if you could see it, you're lucky because the needles that we use are really thin. It blows my mind how there's a lot of days I can't get it. And I'm a hairdresser. My hands work for everything. I'm always into art and stuff. And still I have those days. So I couldn't imagine if people don't even have

Robb (: 46:05

Yeah.

Mm-hmm. What would you do?

Tina (: 46:26

Any of the training to do that it would be frustrating as hell I don't know. I'm having a hard time with with things that are going on in society Well, there's a cheater you get the cheater that that does it for you that threads the needle But I don't I sit there yeah the cheater Just like with chopsticks you ever see people with chopsticks with the cheater in between them

Robb (: 46:35

Mm-hmm, right a cheater. boy. Gotta love that. I don't know how to.

Tina (: 46:55

Use the freaking chopsticks, but a lot of people don't know how to do it. So they they rubber band a piece of paper in between or they have little plastic things that cheat.

Robb (: 47:04

interesting. No, I didn't know. I just use a fork. Yes, I find it. would go and get pho with the girl who cuts my hair sometimes and see me. There's a really good pho place and see me. I mean, really good. They have the best chicken pho. And we go in there on time and of course.

Tina (: 47:12

that's another way of cheating.

Robb (: 47:32

she's using chopsticks and I'm like, can I get a fork and a spoon? And the guy's like, yeah. Maybe, but I finished all that fucking soup. So like, it is what it is. I mean, get it, but you know, I know when in Rome be Romans, but if you're eating it in America, fuck off. Like, me a fork.

Tina (: 47:40

Shame the shame.

Tina (: 47:47

right?

Tina (: 47:56

Hehehehe

Robb (: 47:59

Anyway, any last words for our show on how stupid this country is? Sounds like a good push for people out there. Just

Tina (: 48:05

If you got a kid, I hope that you take the time to make sure they know how to read. And if they're not reading at a really high level, you have your work cut out for you and you need to get started on it ASAP. That's what I say.

Robb (: 48:28

You know take take your child's education seriously because their future depends on it you're gonna die You know what I mean like they need to be able to be ready for the world So yeah, check us out on the old social medias. We're on all of them. I'm posting all the time now and I'm gonna teach Tina how to share one of these days and then and then Yeah

Tina (: 48:29

Yep. Do your job.

Yeah.

Tina (: 48:54

Tina doesn't like phones, so...

Robb (: 48:58

And then check us out on pretty much anywhere you can hear podcasts where every single place. And it's an opinion show. Don't get it twisted. Keep coming back every Wednesday. For Tina, I'm Rob. We'll talk to you later. Bye.

Tina (: 49:11

See ya.