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The mystery of India’s deadly exam scam

theguardian.com

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Re: The mystery of India’s deadly exam scam

#101

Post by saint_fiasco »

mikeash wrote: post #98
saint_fiasco wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My guess is that the US used to have objective criteria but because University admissions are so competitive everyone studied just for the test and Universities filled with people who were very good at "book-learning" at the expense of everything else. They wanted students to be more varied, more well-rounded individuals instead of robots who memorize books. So naturally, they started testing for holistic well-rounde…

I always thought it was so they could reject undesirables (wrong ancestry and such) without having to give the real reason.

I heard something similar too, that Harvard felt they were admitting too many Jews so they started using other criteria instead of just the written tests for admission.

Now they are probably using the subjective tests to attract disadvantaged minorities.

Re: The mystery of India’s deadly exam scam

#102

Post by gil »

yeureka wrote: post #38
rdtsc wrote: post #14

It is hard for those in Western countries to imagine what it is like to live in a corrupt state like that. Eastern Europe is like that as well. Corruption is a way of life. It starts from bribing the doctor who will deliver the baby, to bribing kindergarten teachers, to high school teachers, paying to cheat on a state exam, buying a driver's license etc, until bribing the cemetery to take make an extra spot for the d…

I too hate corruption. It's the main reason why the south of Europe is doing so badly. If corruption was lower where I'm from, Portugal, we could easily double our GDP. Corruption makes people miserable and not only the ones forced to pay the bribes. It's like an unwritten and arbitrary set of rules that turns simple transactions into negotiations. This not only saps energy and time but it is also deeply unfair as yo…

I don't think that it is fair to compare corruption in Portugal (and perhaps in any other Southern European countries) with the kind of corruption described in the article.

Yes, you can find corruption over there and especially a lot of influence and favour trading BUT at least people are aware that it is both criminal and wrong, not a way of life or "the way things work".

EDIT: typo

Re: The mystery of India’s deadly exam scam

#103

Post by mercnet »

nashashmi wrote: post #94
yeureka wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I too hate corruption. It's the main reason why the south of Europe is doing so badly. If corruption was lower where I'm from, Portugal, we could easily double our GDP. Corruption makes people miserable and not only the ones forced to pay the bribes. It's like an unwritten and arbitrary set of rules that turns simple transactions into negotiations. This not only saps energy and time but it is also deeply unfair as yo…

I hate to put the blame on to any "one" reason for Southern Europe doing badly, but I came across an article that probably gave a better reason why there was so much difference between North and South Europe, and the theory it presents is religious difference between Protestantism and Catholicism. Protestant (read the bible) & Catholic (follow the pope). This gave the north literary rise, and literary history, and ad…

Sounds like an interesting read, do you have link to the article?

Re: The mystery of India’s deadly exam scam

#104

Post by saint_fiasco »

nashashmi wrote: post #94
yeureka wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I too hate corruption. It's the main reason why the south of Europe is doing so badly. If corruption was lower where I'm from, Portugal, we could easily double our GDP. Corruption makes people miserable and not only the ones forced to pay the bribes. It's like an unwritten and arbitrary set of rules that turns simple transactions into negotiations. This not only saps energy and time but it is also deeply unfair as yo…

I hate to put the blame on to any "one" reason for Southern Europe doing badly, but I came across an article that probably gave a better reason why there was so much difference between North and South Europe, and the theory it presents is religious difference between Protestantism and Catholicism. Protestant (read the bible) & Catholic (follow the pope). This gave the north literary rise, and literary history, and ad…

If that is the case, Southern European corruption should reduce in the future, because now Catholics are literate too.

India still has terrible public education, so it may take them longer to catch up.

Re: The mystery of India’s deadly exam scam

#105

Post by saint_fiasco »

LoSboccacc wrote: post #96
yeureka wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I too hate corruption. It's the main reason why the south of Europe is doing so badly. If corruption was lower where I'm from, Portugal, we could easily double our GDP. Corruption makes people miserable and not only the ones forced to pay the bribes. It's like an unwritten and arbitrary set of rules that turns simple transactions into negotiations. This not only saps energy and time but it is also deeply unfair as yo…

+1 Italian here. It's not just corruption here but almost every social interaction is built as an exchange of favours. From having a job to not getting screwed from the auto shop, you live off a network of people owing you and you get in their circles by owing them back. It's a very powerful system because everyone understands the honour it's based on, you can't track it because it's immaterial and it's so widespread…

>everyone understands the honour it's based on

That's the terrible thing about corruption. Sometimes it's not based in selfishness, but in honor and generosity.

It's just that old ideas about being honorable, a good provider, putting family and friends first and all that, are actually pretty terrible in modern bureaucracies.

Re: The mystery of India’s deadly exam scam

#106

Post by gauthr »

mercnet wrote: post #103
nashashmi wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate to put the blame on to any "one" reason for Southern Europe doing badly, but I came across an article that probably gave a better reason why there was so much difference between North and South Europe, and the theory it presents is religious difference between Protestantism and Catholicism. Protestant (read the bible) & Catholic (follow the pope). This gave the north literary rise, and literary history, and ad…

Sounds like an interesting read, do you have link to the article?

The article was probably based on this book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Protestant_Ethic_and_the_S...

Re: The mystery of India’s deadly exam scam

#107

Post by JimmyM »

stefantalpalaru wrote: post #97
JimmyM wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it has likely been downvoted by people from countries that do not speed. I have only ever seen Americans and Canadians talking about the necessity to speed to keep up with the flow of traffic (and they have a higher rate of fatal RTAs per 100,000 than most Western European countries – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-r... – Canada is close to Italy, a country that is well known in We…

> Italy, a country that is well known in Western Europe for terrifying traffic Is it? The death toll is average to low compared to the rest of Europe: http://ec.europa.eu/transport/road_safety/pdf/gis/mapcare_fa... And it's low compared to the rest of the world: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-r...

The death toll is definitely low compared to Eastern Europe. It is very very low compared with the rest of the world. However, in much of Western Europe it is still perceived as being a place where people drive dangerously.

The main reason for how people in the West of Europe seem to perceive Italian driving has traditionally been Rome: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/31986...

My personal experience travelling in both Sicily and Rome was that people don't pay attention to lanes and don't care about traffic lights at all, and they're not afraid to drive quickly around tight corners and down narrow streets – this is not unique and is similar to how some areas of the UK drive, for example rural Essex and rural Wales have a lot of this.

Italy may have an unfair reputation as being a dangerous place to drive, but it does have that reputation in Western European countries.

Re: The mystery of India’s deadly exam scam

#108

Post by defiblep »

nashashmi wrote: post #94
yeureka wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I too hate corruption. It's the main reason why the south of Europe is doing so badly. If corruption was lower where I'm from, Portugal, we could easily double our GDP. Corruption makes people miserable and not only the ones forced to pay the bribes. It's like an unwritten and arbitrary set of rules that turns simple transactions into negotiations. This not only saps energy and time but it is also deeply unfair as yo…

I hate to put the blame on to any "one" reason for Southern Europe doing badly, but I came across an article that probably gave a better reason why there was so much difference between North and South Europe, and the theory it presents is religious difference between Protestantism and Catholicism. Protestant (read the bible) & Catholic (follow the pope). This gave the north literary rise, and literary history, and ad…

It could go back even further than that - Rome ran on patronage, and maybe the southern states didn't fall as far as the northern ones.

Re: The mystery of India’s deadly exam scam

#109

Post by gosub »

nashashmi wrote: post #94
yeureka wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I too hate corruption. It's the main reason why the south of Europe is doing so badly. If corruption was lower where I'm from, Portugal, we could easily double our GDP. Corruption makes people miserable and not only the ones forced to pay the bribes. It's like an unwritten and arbitrary set of rules that turns simple transactions into negotiations. This not only saps energy and time but it is also deeply unfair as yo…

I hate to put the blame on to any "one" reason for Southern Europe doing badly, but I came across an article that probably gave a better reason why there was so much difference between North and South Europe, and the theory it presents is religious difference between Protestantism and Catholicism. Protestant (read the bible) & Catholic (follow the pope). This gave the north literary rise, and literary history, and ad…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Weber#The_Protestant_Ethic...

Re: The mystery of India’s deadly exam scam

#110

Post by saint_fiasco »

Angostura wrote: post #65
lmartel wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the posted speed limit is 55 and everyone but you is going 80, then exceeding the speed limit avoids danger. There's your situation. [Of course, you'd never get a ticket in this situation, and I think there are even legal provisions regarding respecting the "flow of traffic" in some US states.]

Just to be clear, don't try this in the UK. If everyone is going at 80, everyone will get a ticket, thanks to automated speed cameras.

Hypothetically, it it were true that going at 80 is safer because everyone else is going at 80, wouldn't you have to choose between a risk of paying a fine versus a risk of losing your life? That sounds messed up.
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