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#1 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Yokohama, Japan
Posts: 25,584
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The education rat race
Longish article by George Packer in The Atlantic:
When the Culture War Comes for the Kids Caught between a brutal meritocracy and a radical new progressivism, a parent tries to do right by his children while navigating New York City’s schools.
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Although this is about upper middle class parents in New York City, Japan also feels a lot like this to me. Most parents here are also competitive and willing to spend extra on their child's education, such as by sending them to Juku after school, or to a private school. With such social pressure on parents, is it any wonder that so many people decide to just not have kids these days? |
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A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool. William Shakespeare |
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#2 |
Muse
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Nashville, TN
Posts: 522
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Packer doesn't say so directly, but he is making the assumption that such bizarre behavior is necessary for the success of your children. He does acknowledge that "New York’s distortions let you see the workings of meritocracy in vivid extremes.", but never admits to the possibility of life outside of New York. It is possible to raise healthy, successful kids without all this pressure, we do it in the flyover states all the time. This particular culture war is fought by an all-volunteer army.
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"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." - Philip K. Dick |
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#3 |
Maledictorian
Join Date: Aug 2016
Posts: 14,296
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At some point it becomes more effort to assist your child compared to just sabotaging the efforts of all the other children.
just saying. |
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#4 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 18,154
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I got a chuckle out of the notion that he "hated the hyper-competitive parents" that made it necessary for him to stand in line in the cold darkness.
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My new blog: Recent Reads. 1960s Comic Book Nostalgia Visit the Screw Loose Change blog. |
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#5 |
Master Poster
Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 2,071
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#6 |
Not a doctor.
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Texas
Posts: 21,964
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Suffering is not a punishment not a fruit of sin, it is a gift of God. He allows us to share in His suffering and to make up for the sins of the world. -Mother Teresa If I had a pet panda I would name it Snowflake. |
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#7 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 18,154
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That's actually an excellent article. Packer, who's reliably liberal if not 100% "woke", seems to have caught on that the local educational establishment is crazy:
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My new blog: Recent Reads. 1960s Comic Book Nostalgia Visit the Screw Loose Change blog. |
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#8 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 5,270
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We don't want good, sound arguments. We want arguments that sound good. |
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#9 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 12,369
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"Sometimes it's better to light a flamethrower than curse the darkness." - Terry Pratchett |
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#10 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Yokohama, Japan
Posts: 25,584
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A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool. William Shakespeare |
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#11 |
Illuminator
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 4,235
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Kids are the most awesome thing that ever happened to me. We are absolutely giddy that we homeschool.
We are doing an intensive rock and roll drumming camp with a former studio musician right now and on the way home the school busses are dropping off the kids. We see moms texting and surfing the 'net, sitting in their new SUV's. Fat girls. We think "shame on you". Because that school is scoring 17th percentile in the world. Tied with Mexico. Spending $36K per student this year. The lazy moms who won't teach their own kids. Of course, what is going on in the schools is social programming and the War on Boys is a nationally integrated system of abuse - just for being boys. So the best solution for us as parents was to have these wonderful children and educate them ourselves. They are farther ahead than we ever dreamed possible. |
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#12 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 13,252
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Yes, apparently The “War on Boys” Narrative Is Back. Ugh. (Ms. Magazine, Jan. 9, 2015). |
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/dann "Stupidity renders itself invisible by assuming very large proportions. Completely unreasonable claims are irrefutable. Ni-en-leh pointed out that a philosopher might get into trouble by claiming that two times two makes five, but he does not risk much by claiming that two times two makes shoe polish." B. Brecht "The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is required for their real happiness. The demand to give up the illusion about its condition is the demand to give up a condition which needs illusions." K. Marx |
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#13 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Sacramento
Posts: 49,876
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Pacifism is a shifty doctrine under which a man accepts the benefits of the social group without being willing to pay - and claims a halo for his dishonesty. Robert Heinlein. |
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#14 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Sacramento
Posts: 49,876
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And someone;'s whole "edgy anti establishment anarchist " routine is getting old.
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Pacifism is a shifty doctrine under which a man accepts the benefits of the social group without being willing to pay - and claims a halo for his dishonesty. Robert Heinlein. |
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#15 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 13,252
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Unlike somebody else's whole pro-establishment and allegedly centrist routine, which is refreshing and brand new every time?
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/dann "Stupidity renders itself invisible by assuming very large proportions. Completely unreasonable claims are irrefutable. Ni-en-leh pointed out that a philosopher might get into trouble by claiming that two times two makes five, but he does not risk much by claiming that two times two makes shoe polish." B. Brecht "The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is required for their real happiness. The demand to give up the illusion about its condition is the demand to give up a condition which needs illusions." K. Marx |
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#16 |
Banned
Join Date: Jul 2019
Posts: 1,990
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#17 |
"más divertido"
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: USA! USA!
Posts: 22,779
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There is a junk / gossip columnist, I think she's in the NY Post, and she uses "only in New York" as a catchphrase for whatever anecdote she shares. The stories could be from just about any city anywhere, like a dispute over a parking space or high rent -- "only in New York!"
Spending per pupil in Alaska is high at $26K, with some rural districts at $30K. Yikes. |
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#18 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Yokohama, Japan
Posts: 25,584
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__________________
A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool. William Shakespeare |
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#19 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Yokohama, Japan
Posts: 25,584
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America’s Education Problem
This is a podcast from the New York Times. Some depressing news about the state of education in America. |
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A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool. William Shakespeare |
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#20 |
"más divertido"
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: USA! USA!
Posts: 22,779
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Thanks. It's in my queue to listen, maybe during my commute. I hadn't been listening to the Daily lately, but try to scan the past few weeks for interesting content.
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#21 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Yokohama, Japan
Posts: 25,584
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I'll just quote a bit from the transcript:
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A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool. William Shakespeare |
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#22 |
"más divertido"
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: USA! USA!
Posts: 22,779
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I listened this morning. Kind of depressing.
The stat that they discussed at the end was that only 14% of students could discern between fact and opinion. They had them read a news article about dairy, then a press release from a dairy advocacy group, and the students were largely unable to tell the difference. Our education system is failing to teach the baloney detector. |
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#23 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Yokohama, Japan
Posts: 25,584
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__________________
A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool. William Shakespeare |
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#24 |
a flimsy character...perfidious and despised
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: People's Democratic Republic of Planet X
Posts: 39,533
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Perhaps there were four choices:
1. A is fact and B is opinion. 2. A is opinion and B is fact. 3. A and B are both fact. 4. A and B are both opinion. So each, randomly chosen, would be 25%, and 75% would be wrong. 86% is not as far off from 75% as it is from 50%. Still, it's awfully troubling. |
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If being a twat was a TV show, Trump would be the boxed set. "...just as a magnet attracts iron filings, "[shemp is] a most notable coward, an infinite and endless liar, an hourly promise breaker, the owner of no one good quality." - Shakespeare |
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#25 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Yokohama, Japan
Posts: 25,584
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I re-read the transcript. It appears that there was a series of questions, not just a single question, so that seems to explain it. 14% was the number that could "reliably" distinguish between fact and opinion. IOW, the percentage that got all of the questions correct.
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A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool. William Shakespeare |
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