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There have been school districts lately that have been getting rid of advanced math classes in the name of equality.
Equity, not equality. Big difference in modern parlance.
This story is typically seen as a critique of socialism, but it's more likely that Vonnegut intended it as a critique of critiques of socialism [1]. Vonnegut himself was a socialist [2], and the absurdist tone of the story reinforces this idea. [1] https://s3.amazonaws.com/arena-attachments/197545/03882696bf... [2] https://tribunemag.co.uk/2021/04/kurt-vonneguts-socialism-fr...
Now, I myself detest socialism, in part because I believe it establish a stupid, reductionist and overbroad "equality" as a goal in its own right and unleashes many forces to tear down excellence, freedom and accomplishment in its pursuit. I expect if this consequence of socialism were better understood we'd have far fewer socialists. But this is by no means obvious, and of course there will be many socialists who don't agree.
It's on Youtube. I remember watching it once back in the late 90's but haven't watched it since, so I can't vouch for its quality but it's definitely a nostalgia trip. The more recent "2081" adaptation might be better.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There have been school districts lately that have been getting rid of advanced math classes in the name of equality.
Like the sibling poster said this is probably a cost cutting measure. However, I really hate the dichotomy of “special ed” vs “gifted/advanced” that permeates education. Every student has special educational needs, and by that I mean not just academics. I excelled in school with no real effort and never got the support I needed in other areas because, clearly, I was doing great. I now have a 2e kid that goes to a Wal…
Their original proposal would ban all but remedial coursework, so your kids would get the same treatment as everyone else (by intentionally lowering everyone's achievement; especially the special needs and gifted kids).
I can only assume the people pushing this are trying to sabotage the school system, but they claim to have good intentions, and hide behind all sorts of woke double speak.
In other news, the schools no longer fund science or art classes. Instead, the parents pay the public school $1000's per year per student (tax deductible) so we can have those programs.
Also, the facilities are crumbling and have all sorts of obvious health and saftey issues. This is in an extremely affluent part of the state and a top ranked school.
My kids will be fine (the parents at the school happily throw money at the problems -- it's cheaper than private school, after all), but I don't see how kids in poorer districts will be able to pretend to have a middle school education, regardless of whether they earn a California high school diploma, or not.
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Why can't it be both at the same time? Vonnegut was both a great thinker and a great writer (the former is typically a precondition for the latter).
Vonnegut was brilliant, but I never found his writing subtle. He generally was pretty straightforward about things. imho, Harrison Bergeron should be taken at face value as his indictment against holding back the gifted among us. Remember that his exemplars aren't great Randian industrialists, but like... dancers. Artists. Quietly intelligent men like himself. Vonnegut isn't saying "the strong should triumph and stan…
Because they have genders, right?
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, not a statement of identity politics.
It's not clear to me if the story is supposed to be a second degree satire of left-leaning doctrine or a third degree satire of right-leaning fantasies. No matter its goal, the story hits a raw nerve. The mix of emotions over inequality, natural superiority, and its implications one way or the other is one of the strongest cocktails, I feel.
What's a first degree satire look like then?
Captive to our smartphones, distracted constantly by an endless succession of oh-so-important notifications for trivial things. Who in modern life does not feel a little like Harrison Bergeron with his federally-mandated thought-train-interrupting earpiece? And who among us cannot sympathize with Albert Brock, The Murderer? https://www.readkong.com/page/the-murderer-by-ray-bradbury-8...
Complaints of this type go back over a century. Before smartphones, people complained that nobody was socializing because they were all busy reading newspapers. I think it's safe to call this argument tired at this point.
These same historical ills attributed to all of these activities are being recycled against today's social media, even here on HN.
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> USians We have a word for this in English: Americans.
He knows. It's bait and you swallowed it. This is the part where you get a lecture about Central and South America.
> like something the cat drug in TIL that drug is a valid alternative to dragged. In fact about as common according to #google hits.
Google hits reflect popular usage, not proper usage. In many cases (like this one, and the even weirder "snuck") there is a big difference between those two...
Equity equalizes downward.