Stopping Bah: Fill & Download for Free

When you’re writing to any other person online, do not address them with ‘dear’.It’s still acceptable when writing emails or to someone you already know, but when you’re connecting with strangers, probably don’t use it.I messaged you 3 times, why aren’t you replying dear?Dear, I have a question. Can I ask that?No.In the age of internet, no matter your intention, this just looks creepy.During the grammar classes in schools, we were all taught to start with Dear Sir/ Dear ma’am.It’s good for letters and e-mails (even though now various offices are doing away with dear), it’s a bit impolite in the online setting.The Sirs/Ma’ams (even mams) fly left and right when Indians interact with a stranger on the internet.Many people commenting on my answers refer me as ‘Sir’ even though I’m probably younger than them, and it just feels odd.You can use (not overuse) the sirs/ma’ams if the recipient is elder to you.But Dear?Hello Divyansh, can you answer my request?Cool. I’ll see.Hello dear, can you answer my request?Bah! No.Hey Divyansh, nice pic.OMG she loves me.Nice pic ‘deer’.OMG I’ve got a crazy-stalker.Just my 2-cents. Stop using ‘dear’ to address strangers in online communities.Just lead with the name. It’ll be better.

It’s not that schools are underfunded—it’s the way the money is used.Look at a school system’s football fields and gymnasiums. Look at their field houses. Look at the baseball diamonds, the soccer fields, the tennis courts, the wrestling mats, the track equipment, the dressing rooms provided for athletes. Look at the number of coaches (all getting supplements) during any game or event. Athletes and coaches will try to tell you that “sports pay for themselves.” Don’t believe it. Add up the cost of equipment (provided), uniforms (provided), transportation (provided), referees, athletic directors, coaching supplements, coaching uniforms, shirts, shoes, hats, etc. (provided)—even for sports that generate basically no income. Oh, yes—there’s also the maintenance cost for all the venues.Now look at administrative offices in any school. The kids may be sitting at old, carved-up desks, but the principal, the assistant principal(s), the guidance counselors, the deans, the secretaries—are NOT. Office space, furniture, phone lines, computer equipment—those cost.Now look at Central Office. The last school system in which I taught had a central office that occupied the entire top floor of the tallest building in town. High-rent district. It was filled with high-paid Poo-bahs who rarely, if ever, saw an actual student. Each office (equipped with even better “stuff” than in principals’ offices) also had at least one secretary and often one or more assistant Poo-bahs. Down the street in another building was the IT department—in a newly-decorated space with state-of-the-art computers—far away from any student. Another system actually had a snack bar with a full-time employee there to make coffee and serve snacks to said Poo-bahs. The superintendent in one school actually got a NEW CAR every two years! The Poo-bahs went on “retreats” and “fact-finding” tours regularly. They were sent to warm places during the winter and cool places during the summer to bring home yet another new idea or grant which would be a reason to call meetings and “train” teachers and which would be abandoned when it (1) failed miserably or (2) wasn’t the next new thing anymore.Meanwhile, these same systems had fire alarms that went off randomly, air-conditioning that seemed to stop working on the hottest days, servers that went down and stayed down, sometimes for days at a time. I personally have taught more than a few classes that had NO textbooks—others had textbooks so old that they were useless. Teachers had to buy, in some cases, their own copy paper, their own whiteboard markers, their own (and sometimes their students’) supplies like pens, paper, notebooks, notebook paper. We had students go hungry every day while the principal’s office provided pizza for the coaches and other hangers-on.Finally (sorry this is long, but you asked), look at the number of people getting a paycheck who never, EVER have contact with a student. The school system has become so bloated that the necessary players (a student and a teacher) have become little more than a distraction. Education has become a cash cow for all kinds of positions and goods and services that have absolutely nothing to do with that student-and-teacher relationship that is the basic reason the school exists. We had a friend who once did an analysis of a school system in another state. He found back then that only 14 cents of every dollar was spent on actual classroom needs. The other 86 cents went for administrative and other costs. I’m sure that today the total is even less than that.

I’ll point out just one.Neighborhood committees.These invasive aunties that poke their noses into your daily lives.They have their origin in the Chinese countryside, where matters would be settled by the village elders. After the Communists came to power in China, where 90% of the population lived in the countryside, they were transformed into a grassroot democratic force, often led by the now empowered female elders who had all the zeal to apply their newly given voice on others.Party all night? You've just earned a visit by the old ladies to lecture you on why you should not bother the sleep of others, and how young people should study hard and sleep early and contribute to the society.Don’t clean up after meal or cook for the wife? You're soon to be taught a lesson on the importance of gender equality (submission to the females) when the gossip reach their ears.Kids playing with firecrackers or slingshots or other dangerous things in the street? You may get a surprise visit by some old ladies dragging your crying kid along and lecturing you in front of your family and friends on how to be a responsible parent.Secretly having a third child or something that goes against the policies of the Communist Party? You just keep those curtains shut tight or the old ladies will peek through and call the cops on you.This is unthinkable in the West. “Who the hell are you to come into my house and manage my family?!” And in the American South, “Leave my property on the count of three or I’ll shoot! … One… Bah!! Bah!! Bah!!” But in East Asia, or at least where Confucianism is prevelant, the collective community and the village public led by the elders have always stood above individuals since ancient times. If it’s an elder, and especially an older woman in the Chinese case, thanks to the Communists for gender “equality”, you simply can’t touch them, even if they break into your life and smack you silly, unless you want to have a mob of old women descend upon you.I'm pretty sure most Chinese born before or during the 80s have had some frustrating bitter sweet memories of these neighborhood ladies. They’re a bothersome bunch, and pain in the ass if you’re a man, but they’re also the ones who alert you that your house is on fire, or the ones who chase away the burglars trying to enter your house, with their walking sticks. Now with urbanization, the flexibility of employment and the freemarket of housing, the neighborhood committee is less present since people don't know each other as much. They are transforming, taking on a role more similar to NGO or community service or election organizer, but very present and invasive still, like how they participated in the surveillance and enforcement of the strict lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Oh, and did I mention your divorce application now has to be counciled a couple of times by these aunties before the government would even process your request?A popular Chinese online video from January 2020: an old man from the neighborhood committee in a village stopping people from visiting their families during the Chinese New Year.So far, I’ve only seen something similar in Cuba and in a few Japanese films set in the countryside, wouldn’t this be considered odd in your country?