[ExI] Update on the Hawaiian observatory shutdown

[William Flynn Wallace]

academic elites are grudgingly recognized.

 spike


I am confused.  Your post seems to suggest that academic achievement is
somehow being suppressed.  Explain please.  bill w




On Fri, Sep 20, 2019 at 9:21 AM spike jones via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

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> *From:* extropy-chat <extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org> *On Behalf
> Of *SR Ballard via extropy-chat
> *Subject:* Re: [ExI] Update on the Hawaiian observatory shutdown
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> >>…But I don't want to see 'elite' become a dirty word.  bill w
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> >…Unfortunately, it already is, and has been as long as I’ve been able to
> understand that type of nuance.
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> >…Elite is used in mainly two contexts “the elite” which is an extremely
> loaded, negative statement, or a self-aggrandizing one, and “an elite
> ____”, where the blank is usually a martial reference, such as “fighting
> force”, “sniper”, “martial artist”. Only occasionally would it refer to
> other things in a matter-of-fact, non-judgemental way.
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> There is an important subtlety at play: the term elite is often viewed
> with suspicion unless it refers to athletes.  In the world of sports, the
> elite athletes are celebrated, paid outrageous sums of money, offered huge
> salaries for saying nice things about a product, etc.  We love our
> celebrated athletes.
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> Elite scholars?   Hmmm… a bit problematic.  Should not all students be
> elite?  (ehhh no.)  Is it fair that some students are better than others?
> (Ja.)  Why should we allow academic excellence and superior achievement?
> (Allow?)
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> My experience has been positive in turned academics into a sport.  I am a
> volunteer coach for American Math Competition and Science Olympiad.  We are
> trying to organize a Codeo team (programming competition.)  For some odd
> reason, academic super-achievement is OK so long as it is an actual sport.
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> Granted of course: as team sports go, the academic sports carry the lowest
> status and the funding for it is carried by the parents.  But, it is
> allowed to exist, and academic elites are grudgingly recognized.
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> I claim progress.  I competed in American Math Competition when I was a
> senior in high school.  Our newly-formed team won the county championship.
> We had a blast.  But our school never acknowledged it, never (as far as I
> know) even knew that we had won that.  Now, both AMC and Science Olympiad
> are at least recognized sports.  When our team won a medal last year they
> mentioned our academic elites over the intercom.  That’s progress.
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> Elite academics are nowhere near being offered sponsorships.
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> spike
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