idleprocess
Flashaholic
Lightlust's first post hit it on the head. There's an ages-long tradition of bemoaning the current generation while being blindsided by favorable nostalgia for one's own generation ... conveniently forgetting hearing nearly the exact same thing from their own elders at the time. Yet things turn out far better than the doomsayers predict.
I also extract savage pleasure from the political grandstanding that goes on during these debates. Everyone has an axe to grind, an opposing ideal to smash (teachers' unions, underfunded schools, corporate greed, social inequality, etc). This idealogical bickering does little to address the fundamental problem, if there really is one. But it's an opportunity to unleash verbal cudgels in the name of problem-solving...
The past several decades have lead to us gathering more information every year than the previous. There is probably more information about the past 5 decades than the rest of hman history. This means we have a relatively shallow sample depth when it comes to gauging long-term performance of, well, much anything.
There's another tendency on statistics - to project short-term trends forever forward. If we tried to project the long-term performance of someone based on the first few years of their education, I think we'd miss at least as often as we'd "hit" - assuming a broad definition of "hit!"
Nonsense. People aren't getting any dumber. I think America's prolonged success has lead to complacency. Our modern era is also great at producing distractions that lead to disjointed thinking patterns becoming normal. Witness the detructive effects of the cellphone, instant/text messaging, and excessive television. No small percentage of the population is more or less incapable of focusing on one task for any prolonged period of time... they're used to "multitasking" (read: jumping from task to task not really getting anything done, but looking quite busy). Ever notice how every cellphone call that comes in is the most important event in the world to most people?
I think people are getting lazy due to the expectation of success simply because they live in America.
I'm also worred about the obsession with self-esteem in kids. Growing up is inherently traumatic. Growing kids need disappointment, failure, dents in their self-esteem, and embarassing moments so they can learn to deal with all of those difficulties later in life... and so they can appreciate success that they have worked to achieve.
I don't understand why so many parents spoil their children rotten. If you're too accustomed to living well during your youth, you're going to go through severe adjustment when you get around to living on your own - nevermind the resulting lack of maturity and discipline. I see this all the time in my own affluent community - high-school age kids driving their own luxury automobiles, wearing designer labels, with their own credit cards, etc. They're unruly while living in the nest and many crash spectacularly when they're finally ejected from their parents' home... no surprise since they never really earned any of their status symbols - regardless of their academic success.
Hm, quite the rant I've posted. Maybe I'll edit it later.
I also extract savage pleasure from the political grandstanding that goes on during these debates. Everyone has an axe to grind, an opposing ideal to smash (teachers' unions, underfunded schools, corporate greed, social inequality, etc). This idealogical bickering does little to address the fundamental problem, if there really is one. But it's an opportunity to unleash verbal cudgels in the name of problem-solving...
The past several decades have lead to us gathering more information every year than the previous. There is probably more information about the past 5 decades than the rest of hman history. This means we have a relatively shallow sample depth when it comes to gauging long-term performance of, well, much anything.
There's another tendency on statistics - to project short-term trends forever forward. If we tried to project the long-term performance of someone based on the first few years of their education, I think we'd miss at least as often as we'd "hit" - assuming a broad definition of "hit!"
Nonsense. People aren't getting any dumber. I think America's prolonged success has lead to complacency. Our modern era is also great at producing distractions that lead to disjointed thinking patterns becoming normal. Witness the detructive effects of the cellphone, instant/text messaging, and excessive television. No small percentage of the population is more or less incapable of focusing on one task for any prolonged period of time... they're used to "multitasking" (read: jumping from task to task not really getting anything done, but looking quite busy). Ever notice how every cellphone call that comes in is the most important event in the world to most people?
I think people are getting lazy due to the expectation of success simply because they live in America.
I'm also worred about the obsession with self-esteem in kids. Growing up is inherently traumatic. Growing kids need disappointment, failure, dents in their self-esteem, and embarassing moments so they can learn to deal with all of those difficulties later in life... and so they can appreciate success that they have worked to achieve.
I don't understand why so many parents spoil their children rotten. If you're too accustomed to living well during your youth, you're going to go through severe adjustment when you get around to living on your own - nevermind the resulting lack of maturity and discipline. I see this all the time in my own affluent community - high-school age kids driving their own luxury automobiles, wearing designer labels, with their own credit cards, etc. They're unruly while living in the nest and many crash spectacularly when they're finally ejected from their parents' home... no surprise since they never really earned any of their status symbols - regardless of their academic success.
Hm, quite the rant I've posted. Maybe I'll edit it later.
Keep in mind this student "completed" all of his English class requirements, but blatantly falls short of expectations. I've also found that lots of "educated" people (you know the guys, the ones who graduated from Cal, UCSB, UCLA, USC, etc. and have egos the size of Jupiter) can't form proper sentences, use proper grammer or participate in intelligent arguments.
if you want. :devil: )
