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The Academic Bubble

alternativeright.com

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Re: The Academic Bubble

#21

Post by ahoyhere »

motters wrote: post #16
ahoyhere wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, to put it as inanely as possible. More importantly, they're willing to pander to certain "safe" beliefs in order to lure people in, by expressing things in a way that appeals to would-be intellectuals, using their terminology, and their commonplaces, to persuade them of not only highly toxic but fallacious conclusions.

It might be an idea to data mine submissions to HN to try to uncover if there are any special interest or extremist groups trying to gain leverage in this way by posting articles with relatively plausible titles.

Note: I don't literally mean that the author sat down to lure HN-ites in. Let's not flatter ourselves.

My point is that extremists in one area also hold non-extremist beliefs in other areas. That can lull you into a false sense of sharing an identity with them. And that, according to all kinds of psychological research, can end up with you conforming to their other ideals as well -- if you believe they go part and parcel together, you will, on some level, strive for consistency.

That's why you have to be aware of who's saying what, and why, and what you read, and how you feel about it.

Re: The Academic Bubble

#22

Post by [deleted] »

ahoyhere wrote: post #18
Watermelon wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That article you linked to was not written by Scott Locklin, in case you haven't noticed. Does the fact that an article is hosted at a crypto-racist website invalidate its thesis? Rhetorical. By the way, weeks ago Locklin's post on nanotech was upvoted to the upper stratosphere here on HN.

That's not "crypto" anything. You can't spell out "I'm racist" any more clearly than "But the real black is not on television, and you pull your purse closer when you see him..." Or, by the direct author (and not the one wholly quoted), "It is clear that the few who purchased Black slaves in their day made a lamentable choice." -- and he doesn't mean that, oh, I don't know, slavery is immoral. He means it was a lamen…

[deleted]

Re: The Academic Bubble

#23

Post by yummyfajitas »

ahoyhere wrote: post #10

Did nobody notice the other articles linked at the bottom of this one? For example: "Black Children Do Not Need a Western-style Education" I, for one, would like to see a little bit more criticism of things being posted to HN, and their sources. Because once people know the HN push-button issues, unquestioning readers can be easily lured down the path to thinking and believing very nasty things. Despite what the 'log…

I'm confused. How are facts skewered by intent?

The author cites an article at the NYT which points out that black children are suspended more than whites. He then points out that this suggests black children are more likely to exhibit behavior problems, hindering the education process for better behaved white children. He then advocates segregating black children from white children, except for the minority who have the aptitude for school.

His reasoning and data gathering process seems no worse than most newspaper columns (which are, in general, pretty bad). I don't agree with his conclusion since some of the values he is basing them on differ from mine, but that doesn't mean his facts are wrong.

So how, pray tell, has he skewered facts? And why does that mean we should ignore another author who shares a site with him?

Re: The Academic Bubble

#24

Post by [deleted] »

ahoyhere wrote: post #20
Watermelon wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"That particular article may not have been written by Scott Locklin, but a quick browse of his other works on the same site validates ahoyhere's point." Oh, really? The burden of proof lies on your shoulders. More to the point: citation needed .

Considering he gave you 100% of the means you required to investigate it yourself, one can only come to the conclusion that you are a troll, not interested in truth, but only in gaining attention.

[deleted]

Re: The Academic Bubble

#25

Post by gamble »

It's interesting how many stories appear on HN claiming that too many people have college degrees, when a historically low proportion of Americans have degrees in comparison to other nations. The proportion of Americans with degrees - around 25% - hasn't changed since the 1970s. Back then, that was the highest proportion in the world. However, since the '70s other countries began taking post-secondary education seriously. There are at least ten countries with a higher proportion of college grads. If too many people have degrees in the US, then you'd expect graduates in those countries to be despondent. Heck, Canada is over 40%. The country should be in open revolt if things are really that bad.

Re: The Academic Bubble

#26

Post by [deleted] »

yummyfajitas wrote: post #23
ahoyhere wrote: post #10

Did nobody notice the other articles linked at the bottom of this one? For example: "Black Children Do Not Need a Western-style Education" I, for one, would like to see a little bit more criticism of things being posted to HN, and their sources. Because once people know the HN push-button issues, unquestioning readers can be easily lured down the path to thinking and believing very nasty things. Despite what the 'log…

I'm confused. How are facts skewered by intent? The author cites an article at the NYT which points out that black children are suspended more than whites. He then points out that this suggests black children are more likely to exhibit behavior problems, hindering the education process for better behaved white children. He then advocates segregating black children from white children, except for the minority who have…

[deleted]

Re: The Academic Bubble

#27

Post by piguy314 »

yequalsx wrote: post #6
Emore wrote: post #3

Oh. Another "the next bubble is in academe" post. How interesting. It even has the same graph as all others. Fascinating. Excuse my completely non-constructive comment, but am I the only one who thinks this topic has been dissected enough?

It is annoying seeing these posts. However, perhaps there is a great opportunity for hackers in this market. I've created a bunch of my own videos (like Khanacademy but better) and have been teaching online classes for 5 years at a community college. My experience is that roughly 30% of the students pass my class without any interaction from me. They just need to be pointed in the right direction and need to know in…

The biggest barrier to entry in higher education has nothing to do with the context of the education or course material, it's accreditation. In fact it's so hard and expensive to become accredited that most education entrepreneurs just BUY accreditation by purchasing a failing school. Until we address the high barriers to entry, highly entrenched players, and government support of the education industry I doubt any innovation will gain significant traction outside of skills training and tutoring.

Re: The Academic Bubble

#28

Post by [deleted] »

motters wrote: post #16
ahoyhere wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, to put it as inanely as possible. More importantly, they're willing to pander to certain "safe" beliefs in order to lure people in, by expressing things in a way that appeals to would-be intellectuals, using their terminology, and their commonplaces, to persuade them of not only highly toxic but fallacious conclusions.

It might be an idea to data mine submissions to HN to try to uncover if there are any special interest or extremist groups trying to gain leverage in this way by posting articles with relatively plausible titles.

[deleted]

Re: The Academic Bubble

#29

Post by shod »

Watermelon wrote: post #19
T-R wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That particular article may not have been written by Scott Locklin, but a quick browse of his other works on the same site validates ahoyhere's point. Regarding the nanotech article: http://www.acceleratingfuture.com/michael/blog/2010/09/scott... I was wondering myself why that article got so many upvotes.

"That particular article may not have been written by Scott Locklin, but a quick browse of his other works on the same site validates ahoyhere's point." Oh, really? The burden of proof lies on your shoulders. More to the point: citation needed .

A couple of Scott's archived articles turned my stomach, Watermelon. Such as this piece, where he details his preference for foreign women, because they're more submissive, easily-flattered, and wear skirts:

http://www.alternativeright.com/main/the-magazine/the-case-f...

It's extremely revealing that he suggests Mel Gibson's attitude toward women as exemplary.

His articles on class structure expose a rather violent imagination about how best to conduct social intercourse:

"There are two ways of getting along with a lower class person at least to a limited extent. The first way is to beat the [expletive] out of them. They deserve it anyway, and most people lick the boots that kick them."

http://www.alternativeright.com/main/blogs/zeitgeist/social-...

Good grief.

Re: The Academic Bubble

#30

Post by [deleted] »

shod wrote: post #29
Watermelon wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"That particular article may not have been written by Scott Locklin, but a quick browse of his other works on the same site validates ahoyhere's point." Oh, really? The burden of proof lies on your shoulders. More to the point: citation needed .

A couple of Scott's archived articles turned my stomach, Watermelon. Such as this piece, where he details his preference for foreign women, because they're more submissive, easily-flattered, and wear skirts: http://www.alternativeright.com/main/the-magazine/the-case-f... It's extremely revealing that he suggests Mel Gibson's attitude toward women as exemplary. His articles on class structure expose a rather violent i…

[deleted]
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