Submitted via IRC for Sulla
Despite seeing it millions of times in pretty much every picture book, every novel, every newspaper and every email message, people are essentially unaware of the more common version of the lowercase print letter "g," Johns Hopkins researchers have found.
Most people don't even know that two forms of the letter -- one usually handwritten, the other typeset -- exist. And if they do, they can't write the typeset one we usually see. They can't even pick the correct version of it out of a lineup.
[...] Unlike most letters, "g" has two lowercase print versions. There's the opentail one that most everyone uses when writing by hand; it looks like a loop with a fishhook hanging from it. Then there's the looptail g, which is by far the more common, seen in everyday fonts like Times New Roman and Calibri and, hence, in most printed and typed material.
Source: http://releases.jhu.edu/2018/04/03/jhu-finds-letter-weve-seen-millions-of-times-yet-cant-write/
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 06 2018, @09:24AM (3 children)
I remember the Good Old Days of the Prussia-based American school system, where it still focused on mindless regurgitation of facts and blind obedience, and where the vast majority of the populace was still profoundly uneducated. But at least it didn't have No Child Left Behind! Therefore, since it was marginally better in one or maybe even a few aspects, it was overall good. Ah, the Good Old Days...
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Bot on Friday April 06 2018, @11:55AM (2 children)
> Prussia-based American school system, where it still focused on mindless regurgitation of facts and blind obedience
the teacher was the god
the pupil knew it
the pupil did what the teacher wanted until he could break free
Now
the teacher is nothing
peer pressure is everything
peer pressure is not endogenous but driven by propaganda and marketing
the pupil does not know, nor do you
the pupil does what the system wants or suicides
Account abandoned.
(Score: 5, Informative) by acid andy on Friday April 06 2018, @01:40PM (1 child)
The teacher's pressure and the institutionalization that goes on in the school system breeds obedient subordinate workers. The market driven peer pressure breeds obedient consumerists. Both things benefit big business, largely at the expense of the individual's freedom, identity and emotional security.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 4, Informative) by Virindi on Friday April 06 2018, @04:20PM
Yes, obedient drones help BIG business. As in, large bureaucracies that mainly survive because of their bigness.
But it should be added that an obedient, nonquestioning populous hurts the actual market (price vs. quality ratio), and as well small and medium business. In small business being unable to think has a much bigger penalty.
In modern times we have "solved" this with the "huge hype = millions in startup VC" model. Yay.
Obedient drones also make uneducated customers of course. Which makes markets work less to drive positive change.