Links With Your Coffee - Monday
- Bill Moyers Journal . Susan Jacoby | PBS
The notion that Americans aren't often at the top of the ladder of erudition isn't new. Every year the media points out how poorly U.S. kids perform in math and geography feats compared to many other nations' school children. Susan Jacoby follows a notable scholarly tradition with her new book, THE AGE OF UNREASON.
(tip to Nathan)
- Dick Jones' Patteran Pages:
Not for nothing is the English education system identified as the finest in the world. Maybe it’s our flexibility of approach, our constant adaptation to the shifts & variations in the socio-cultural tides, that provide our approach to curriculum management with its breadth & depth.
The two 16+ Mathematics examination papers featured here (smuggled to me under plain cover by an insider at QCA) indicate clearly those qualities.
1. Simon has 0.5 kilos of cocaine. If he sells an 8 ball to Matt for 300 quid and 90 grams to Ollie for 90 quid a gram, what is the street value of the rest of his hold?
- Review: How Fiction Works by James Wood | By genre | guardian.co.uk Books
James Wood's How Fiction Works makes a passionate case for the novel, arguing that it puts other forms of creative writing firmly in the shade, says Peter Conrad
- Understanding the rules - Paul Krugman - Op-Ed Columnist - New York Times Blog
But we also have to be aware of McCain Rules, under which anything John McCain says, no matter how craven or dishonest, becomes proof of his straight-talking maverickness (mavericity?).
- Chelsea Clinton Talks Policy in Obama Territory
. . .there is no mistaking the political climate at many of the universities and colleges where Ms. Clinton appears. After Steven Lawrence, a student on the Madison campus, left Ms. Clinton’s event wearing a campaign sticker, another student yelled, “I’m ashamed of you!” Mr. Lawrence said he had been leaning toward Mr. Obama, but might shift his loyalties to Mrs. Clinton after hearing her daughter.
“She came off as more of a regular person answering questions, but with an incredible amount of knowledge,” he said.
Elsewhere, Ms. Clinton has been confronted with signs bearing messages like “America deserves better than aristocracy” and “Got Pimp?” a reference to a recent remark by a now-suspended MSNBC host who claimed that Mrs. Clinton was exploiting her daughter.
Comments
Mystery: NY Results Say Obama Got Zero Votes In 80 Districts
If Clinton had gotten 0 votes in over 80 Illinois districts , or if the story had focused on the minority of NY districts where Hillary got 0 votes, I imagine we'd be hearing about it today.
Regarding the dumbing down of ideas (including by Presidents), yeah, that's a problem. People are more concerned about conformity and fitting in that actually having curiosity, and perhaps TV/media (whose consumers are taking in the information passively) are a problem. Or perhaps more accurately (not to dismiss that the passive/active nature of information can be important) is just the fact that most of the content on TV or in movies is of poor quality (and in the case of TV, you have lots of advertising that's working to make people dumb enough to buy their products). A lot does fall upon parents and relatives to actually help their kids learn and be educated investigative citizens, but those parents need to be motivated and able to see that happen.
The other thing on education is deserving of rolling eyes.
Regarding McCain, it's not like the conservatives gave him a pass for his "agents of intolerance" line, which, while a bit glib, is reasonably accurate. Bonafide double-speak and flip-flops ought to be fair game for his rival party to take him to task on.
This just in:
Obama Followers are a cult
Bush adminstration actively helped preditory lending practices using the 1863 National Bank Act
As much as I disagree with conservatives on policy, I feel bad for them for voting bush in as a conservative. The more I know of his adminsitration's policies, the more I know that Neo-conservatives are a completely different entity.
Besides being dismissive (and slightly insulting), she didn't answer the question. The "That's the decision I made at the time" line isn't going to fly for me anymore. I want a president who will acknowledge when better information comes to light, and admits to mistakes, not defend bad decisions in the past.
*slightly offtopic: We're still using "Ms."?
“She cast a vote based on the best available evidence. Perhaps you had clairvoyance then, and that’s extraordinary.”
I don't much like Bill or Hillary, but if Chelsea can come up with stuff like that off-the-cuff, it might be fun having her as first-daughter again.
Somebody tell Chelsea that Hans Blix Said the American Intel was bull, so no clairvoyance was needed.
I was at the event in Madison and I would have to say that except for the question from the student protesting about the war vote she handled everything extremely well. I am an Obama supporter and she did a very good job of convincing me that Hillary wouldn't be such a bad president either...until I went home and knelt before my Obama shrine
In all seriousness though, listening to Chelsea made me want to vote for her mom, listening to her mom, makes me not want to vote for her mom...
Without factoring in the amount of inositol available to Simon, the problem is unanswerable, sheesh.
Not to mention most dems in the house (126/208), and 6 republicans and 1 independent voted against the iraq war resolution. In the senate 21 democratic senators voted against it, chaffee, as a republican and one independent.
I guess a lot of people have "clairvoyance". I would never vote for hillary. Atleast barack is acceptable.
At first I avoided the Jacoby video, even though I was curious. Having finally stolen a moment, I must say: this is superb. She does a fantastic and impressive job cutting right through the bullshit.
Whatever one's sympathies in the democratic primaries, I think her advice about public education and health care is spot on.
Susan Jacoby's thesis is well supported and I can confirm that it is a problem north of the border as well. If you want compelling proof you have only to go to a good public library and read both a current issue of Time and one from, say, the fifties. I doubt very much if any of the high school students I tutor could understand the analysis in the fifties issue. My students are by no means slow but none of them has a broad enough vocabulary to understand what was written. Time is now reduced to "remains to be seen" journalism which assigns equal merit to truly ridiculous ideas and for fear of offending a subscriber, never offers a conclusion.
"I want a president who will acknowledge when better information comes to light, and admits to mistakes, not defend bad decisions in the past." Well Magnolia that would be nice. Can anyone tell me if Senator Obama has ever admitted to a mistake. I don't think that elusive man ever has but since he has cleverly avoided committing to any but the vaguest positions I don't think he will have anything to apologize for until after he becomes president.
Oh yes, shall we call him "slick Willie"?
How about addressing the question instead of making a childish sarcastic remark.
The two that come to mind are going into a land deal with Rusko, and taking drugs.
I thought I did both. The point I was making was, This is the same exact criticisms they have been throwing at the Clintons since 92'. Is it meaningful, no.
Thanks thad. I knew about Rezko.
RedSeven:
No it's not meaningful, grow up.
Yes Dar, you are right, lets live in a world without humor, its only an impediment to your superior powers of reason.
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