Over the last few months, we've talked about the weird obsession some people upset by the results of the election have had with the concept of "fake news." We warned that focusing on "fake news" as a problem was not just silly and pointless, but that it would quickly morph into calls for censorship. And, even worse, that censorship power would be in the hands of whoever got to define what "fake news" was.
(Score: 1, Troll) by aristarchus on Wednesday February 08 2017, @02:45AM
We've been headed nowhere but down in education for decades now. We're not even in the top ten anymore. Despite throwing neverending piles of progressively (pun intended) more cash at it. You don't get to have alternative facts.
I know this cramps your style, Buzz, but prove it. My facts are not alternative if your facts are not facts at all but Fox News/Trump Inauguration memes!
an education system flush with cash, but which leaves our young and beautiful students deprived of all knowledge, and the crime, and the gangs, and the drugs that have stolen too many lives and robbed our country of so much unrealized potential. This American carnage stops right here and stops right now.
Our young and beautiful students, with pageant scholarships, no doubt, deprived of all knowledge! All! Just look a the American educational carnage! Kids these days are not just a little bit ignorant, they do not just place lower than Finnish kids on standardized testss, the have no knowledge at all. Zip. Nada. Bupkiss!! So I can see why you are so upset, Buzz. You musta been one o' those students!! Oh, the huge manatee!!! (It would be Huge, wouldn't it.)
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday February 08 2017, @03:10AM
Well, you did ask for it, so here you go [cnn.com].
Yay! We only suck horribly instead of atrociously! Fuck's sake, we're the richest nation in the world. We can do better than this.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1, Redundant) by aristarchus on Wednesday February 08 2017, @09:46AM
The US improved on its 2012 performance by moving up to 25 on the list.
Yay! We only suck horribly instead of atrociously! Fuck's sake, we're the richest nation in the world. We can do better than this.
Yeah, but:
In terms of countries’ education expenditures by education level in 2012, the percentage of GDP the United States spent on elementary/secondary education (3.6 percent) was slightly lower than the OECD average (3.7 percent).
And we can do better at interpreting stats? From 36th to 25th? How is such a dramatic improvement possible, whilst American Educational Carnage is going on? And Rank tells us very little. What were the average, mean, and medians? Maybe you only suck moderately, which is remarkable and a salute to your educators, since they have to operate in an environment of American anti-intellectualism, hatred of teachers, revilement of teachers unions, and the insult of having a total idiot appointed to be the Secretary of Education.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday February 08 2017, @10:54AM
Yes, I'm sure that someone just appointed has made a huge impact on past numbers.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Wednesday February 08 2017, @06:44PM
The fact that Betsy DeVos could be appointed speaks volumes more about the state of education in America than any test results. Result, not a cause; symptom, not the disease. Someone asked, how dumb can the US Senate be? And the Trump admin said, "Let's find out!" Now we know, and knowing is half the battle. Unfortunately, we will never actually get to the second half.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday February 09 2017, @02:59AM
You're right, identity is way more important than results. What was I thinking?
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Thursday February 09 2017, @04:33AM
identity is way more important than results.
This is one of the major blockages in right wing feefees in America. It is not about identity, it is about competence. DeVos is incompetent. She also happens to benefit from the Amway fortune, and be the sister of Blackwater founder and ex-patriot, Erik Prince. But all that is neither here nor there, she could not identify "results" because for her, ignorance and religion are the result of what she calls "education". Oh, and "school choice" allows wealthier white parents to choose schools that the poor and non-white cannot afford, even with the wonderful freemarket, government enforced, voucher system.
What was I thinking?
We have discussed this before, Bighty Musstard! It is not "what", it is the lack of "thinking". You have completely changed the topic, avoided addressing the actual stats on American education, well done, oh champion of libertarianism! I will have to take this as an admission that you got nothing, nothing but Trump. And having Trump is actually worse than nothing, as the Republican party is about to find out.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday February 09 2017, @11:21AM
And this is why you will always be a better troll than Azuma Hazuki, though I would have went with "Blighty" instead.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Tuesday February 14 2017, @04:25AM
A "bight" is a version of a "bend", something of a tight knot. A Blight is a disease that affects plants, mostly. I stick by my choice. But if you prefer, you could have it your way.