[extropy-chat] all that concerns me is the future of education

[Al Brooks]

It was a foolish remark on Kerry's part, an aborted attempt to gain a higher percentage of anti-war votes for Tuesday's election, however there is some validity in what he said, having to more with below-the-threshold pressures than education. Certain clueless young men (do you remember clearly how you felt at age 18?) are strongly pressured in many ways including via school, a certain number of male youths are if not manipulated then at least severely pressured into proving their old-fashioned manhood by joining the Service. When you think about it, unless someone is subliminally pressured why would they risk not only being shot and blown up in combat, but also risk getting third degree burns on large areas of them? Such is not the everyday risk we incur by driving a car, but is a radical risk, and as you know much of our behavior is influenced by what we are barely aware of or unaware of-- traditions, remnants of the past, peer & family pressures, and so forth. But to
 take off the amateur psychology hat, all that really concerns me is the future of education, can it be substantially improved? Now, there is one if not *good* then maybe excusable reason for having a lesser school system, and this is not a reference to higher ed, which is acceptable. 
  As regards K-12, there could possibly be a fear of de-linking the races, if students were held more accountable for improving their performance the gap in performance between the races/ethnicities might become more pronounced. This might sound as far out a theory as severe pressures, including lack of education, causing youths to join the Service, yet there are many personal and societal threads, conscious or not, in inexperienced adolescents lives that influence their behaviors. What I want to discover is can mass education be improved or are demographics against it? If I find out the latter is the case then I will forget about it and switch to some other obsession. If we don't worry about one thing then it is something else.
  

>Al, I notice your email address is kerry_prez. The irony here is that
>senator Kerry destroyed any remnants of his possiblity to become president
>with a single comment similar in spirit to this one.

>Careful, Spike. What you should have written is "with a single ironic 
>comment at Bush's expense that was maliciously and misleadingly spun 
>by his opponents as a comment similar in spirit to this one."

>This is not a party-political observation (I don't get a vote in the 
>States). It's a matter of comprehending the context. Of course, maybe 
>I'm wrong about this and Kerry just happened to utter a remark in 
>public equivalent to Bush or Cheney, say, blurting out in public 
>that Halliburton is corrupt and all elected politicians are morons. 
>Seems unlikely. Nor am I even convinced that he "told the joke 
>wrong"--I suspect he assumed his audience was smart enough to make 
>the leap to his ironic intent: "Hey, guess who's got himself mired in 
>Iran... it's that booze-sucking brainless frat boy in the White 
>House!" (I keep making that kind of mistake myself, assuming people 
>will understand and laugh at my ironic quips when all too often they 
>tend to stare open-mouthed and aghast.)

>Damien Broderick 


 
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