He seems to be ageless — but one of America’s great singers, Tony Bennett, is 86 years old today. He started performing at age 10 and fought in the U.S. Army in France and Germany. After the war, Bennett became very popular and had a succession of top hits. As rock music became dominant, he faded from the music scene for awhile. But he staged a comeback in the 1980s and recorded a Grammy-Award winning album at age 68. In addition to his singing talent, Tony Bennett also is an acclaimed artist. When Bennett first became popular, Americans spent an average of slightly less than $16 annually on records, radio and television. Now, we each spend over $22 a year for recordings alone. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau, online at <www.census.gov>.
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Per usual good old Vance County education is ranked near the bottom .
Well I guess if you want to look on the “bright side” of things……113th out of 115 isn’t too bad is it? Really? It’s disgusting and it starts at the top and trickles all the way down. Too much $$$$ is spent on the FAT CATS over on Graham Ave. and not enough $$$ goes into the classrooms. I see it’s Tax Free Weekend so I guess all the good teachers will do what they are forced to do and that is go by supplies for their classrooms with their own money due to budget restrictions. If you have a child in any Vance County Public School you are doing your child a disservice if you aren’t trying to either get them into the Vance Charter School or some other alternative setting. They aren’t being taught by the good teachers of yesteryear b/c most all of them are retired. The ‘new’ breed of teachers are for lack of a better word…..well I’ll leave that alone. How many times has your child come home and told you that Mr. “X” or Ms.”X” gave them a ‘free day’ on a Monday b/c the teacher was out too late and hadn’t gotten over his/her weekend yet? I bet more then 25% have heard it. The really sad part is that in a county with well over 100 Churches you have less than 1/2 doing their part in the nurturing/educating of the youth. I’m sure a few will have Back2School Bashes,etc. but get the lay people into the schools and help mentor these young souls….especially the lost ones!!!!!! For the Churches that do Talk the Talk and Walk the Walk…GOD BLESS YOU and for the ones that just Talk the Talk…..Well you know the rest!!!!
Deception–My but you paint with a broad brush.There are many excellent teachers in the Vance County Schools . Parents of so many of the students just don’t care whether their kids learn–and do not support them in their endeavors.
You owe an apology to the dedicated teachers who are doing their jobs–despite the sorry school board and administration at Graham Avenue.
Just my opinion, any others out there appreciate the teachers // Let’s hear it!
Prudence-you are correct in the fact that ‘some’ very good teachers still exist. The problem is @ the County/State Level where $$$$ isn’t used the way it should be. Vance County’s bloated personnel over on Graham Ave. keep saying one thing and do another. I pose this ? to HiH bloggers…When is the last time you saw any members of the Board of Education at one of the local schools? I say less than 1% of parents have seen an ELECTED official that cared enough about the schools to visit other than at a graduation ceremony when usually the Chairman/Chairwoman attend.
Another issue is the fact that a lot of ‘new’ teachers come from Penn/NJ/NY/MD down to N.C. to teach b/c they can’t find jobs in their states b/c their states actually care enough about the teachers that they pay them accordingly. They come down here..work 3-5 years and get experience and back up north they migrate. Next….another batch of ‘new’ teachers and the cycle continues.
Lastly and probably more sadly is the FACT that a vast majority of parents either don’t know or don’t care about what goes on at the school their children attend. Lots of kids go home to empty houses or roam the neighborhood until a guardian can get home from the internet cafes, bingos, or the store. If the Public School would operate on a LEAN budget over on Graham Ave. where even the secretaries have secretaries then more funds would be available and Miss/Mr. “x” wouldn’t have to take $$$ out of their salary to buy supplies. I have checked nearly every elementary grade level school list and children are being asked to provide things that the State/County should provide such as sanitizer,kleenex,etc. Vance County is 113th out of 115 districts for a reason!! One of the main reasons is they do what the definition of STUPIDITY really is: Keep doing the same thing(s) and expect different results? Now my friends is pure STUPIDITY!!!!!!!!!!
You are correct Deception.
The Board of Education wasted I don’t know how many thousands of dollars for a “Superintendent Search” and then did exactly what they planned from the get go. Central Office is overstaffed for sure. The Board and the administration do not want input from concerned taxpayers. I thought if there was a new principal hired, the position had to be advertised–am I wrong?
Prudence-I agree that some ‘new blood’ with NEW IDEAS needed to be brought into Vance County and not the same ole’, same ole’. Here’s an interesting statistic, check the North Carolina School Districts and see how many of the Superintendents have Doctoral Degrees…..Does VCS Superintendent? Not that I believe a piece of paper or another degree makes you more/less qualified but it does give your area more credibility when you are telling students that they need to continue on and get a ‘higher learning’……Why did VCS Board of Education hire someone w/o a Doctoral Degree when I know for a fact that candidates with Doctoral Degrees applied for the position. I guess the Board of Education was satisfied with being 113th out of 115 b/c not much has changed except for the worse.
I found an interesting article in today’s edition of the Oxford Ledger from a columnist named Steve Powell(sp?) It was something to the effect of ‘saving our young black boys’…..my ? to him would be that if a columnist wrote something about saving young white boys the paper probably wouldn’t print it. I’m not sure if he works for the Oxford Ledger but I found the article to be somewhat true but very discriminatory…especially towards young white boys. Why would a paper allow an article to be written..and put it in the paper when it is clear that it’s slanted towards a certain race.