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

[Lee Corbin]

Al Brooks writes

> 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.

Without such idealism, sacrifice, and patriotism there would not be free, western
nations for you to express such unappreciative sentiments!

Would it have been "foolisth" to have followed Washington at Valley Forge?
Foolish to have landed on the shores of Guadalcanal?  From the perspective
of a majority on this list---alas---the answer is probably "yes".  They're 
interested in saving their own skins (which is highly commendable) but
not interested in doing anything whatsoever for the survival of their group
or tribe.

> 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 ...

Why would they?  Because groups that did not contain such individuals,
cultures that could not or did not foster such attitudes, didn't survive.

Oh, sure, you can point to modern Scandinavia and find any sort of example.
But they won't be around for very much longer, as has been well-discussed
here.

> But to take off the amateur psychology hat, all that really concerns me is
> the future of education, can it be substantially improved?

I'm telling you that it won't matter if it is or not!   You could spend a million
dollars per year educating someone with an IQ of 90 and you still end up with
someone with an IQ of 95 or so.  

> 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.

Sure, that's part of it, but only part of it.  Even in Minnesota the average
IQ of white people is only 105.   But when it's 95 in a few decades, the
situation will simply be worse.

> This might sound as far out a theory as severe pressures, including lack
> of education, causing youths to join the Service,

The services simply don't accept people with IQs less that 80.  And for
each of us who is above 120, remember, there is one who is less than 80.
Moreover, the services are much more racially integrated than society at
large;  young men and women there mix freely while their counterparts
on college campuses self-segregate.  Just visit your local college or
university and go into commons or cafeteria room to see what I mean.

Lee