I taught several generations of EMTs

[nadinbrzezinski]

(Posted in another thread but deserves it's own OP)

with a broken down board, and chalk I bought myself. We used and reused and reused equipment to teach them how to spike a bag. Yep, those bags that they did not throw away at the ER, we used and reused and reused.

They were fine EMTs... but if we had the resources we would not have had to do some things that a few here might find questionable. Such as... teach them how to start an IV on each other, because I did not have a training arm. Or the ever so favorite and gagglingly fabulous, insertion of a nasogastric tube. When they had to do that to dad, well been there, done that, in training. Again they were fine EMTs, but there is a limit on how far you can do when you don't have the resources.

And there were a few things we could not teach without a training manikin, see CPR. I am sure in a class room teaching jenny and bob how to read there is the equivalent of the CPR manikin. By the way back then I had somebody donate a resuci baby to us... and I manage to scrounge a ten year old adult resusci ani... if I had to buy both of them new it would have been close to 4K we did not have.

I will ask this. Have those of you applauding what is going on ever been in education at any level? I am sure there are equivalents to what I have described. And yes I used sand to teach as well, effectively... but again there is a limit. Now the way it looks to me, some people will be fine if we just go back to teaching kids how to do math at the beach with shells... (Yes we did that, to help with a few kids at risk)... or for that matter, teach them their letters on chalk boards that you can use and reuse. Granted, they could be effective... I mean they once were considered state of the art. Hell, for all I care, perhaps go down and find some of the real old readers... (wait, a few public schools are doing that anyway).

Is that what Americans want? Suffice it to say that we are near the bottom or the middle best case, on OECD education indicators, yes I have them handy if you want me to cite them... there is quite a bit to go... down that is. Perhaps then people will buy a clue. But one of the problems is the absolute lack of respect for anybody in this country with book learnin' just sayin'.