"... Polling and focus groups, including participation as a permanent member of an ongoing polling project ..."
So is this a Sub for these companies to target & market stuff? ~ http://www.healthtransformation.net/cs/our_members
Let's End Adolescence
101–110 of 167 posts
Re: Let's End Adolescence
#102I discarded this guy's argument once I read this paragraph: And experiments such as the one my daughter, Jackie Cushman, is running in Atlanta—where poor children are paid the equivalent of working in a fast-food restaurant to study and do their homework—are examples of a more dynamic future. How is being paid to study and do homework an example of early adulthood? One huge difference between adults and non-adults is…
> One huge difference between adults and non-adults is adults tend to grab every opportunity to improve their skills, and understand that those don't come that often.
Not most of the adults I know. Nor most of the teenagers either, for that matter. Actually, I think "grab every opportunity to improve their skills" describes children under 10 more than any other age group.
Re: Let's End Adolescence
#103Earlier quoted context omitted.
Everyone, whether young or old, intelligent or not, should feel that they are contributing something of value If the average person is not contributing at least the economic value they are consuming, your society is in a death spiral, and it doesn't matter how anyone "feels".
But what does "having a valuable place in society" have to do with not contributing economic value? I don't quite understand you.
If someone's work is worth 100 units/time period but society spends 200 u/t to make them feel good about themselves, then that's a net loss. And this isn't just an academic point; a society that eats itself from inside like this can't last and will be replaced by something considerably less warm and fluffy.
Re: Let's End Adolescence
#104Let's End Politics Stories on Hacker News.
Re: Let's End Adolescence
#105Earlier quoted context omitted.
But what does "having a valuable place in society" have to do with not contributing economic value? I don't quite understand you.
If someone's work is worth 100 units/time period but society spends 200 u/t to make them feel good about themselves, then that's a net loss. And this isn't just an academic point; a society that eats itself from inside like this can't last and will be replaced by something considerably less warm and fluffy.
You're assuming that by providing a "place in society" society is indeed trying to pull the wool over citizens' eyes. I think it's possible for a society to legitimately find good places for everybody to work without it being haberdashery. Just automate all of the pointless, frivolous tasks, and find more meaningful jobs for everybody.
Re: Let's End Adolescence
#106Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah. Because school is ABSOLUTELY a good way to promote individuality and unique thinking. Because most teachers DON'T push for students to adapt to a single way of thinking because it makes them easy to manage. Because students DON'T judge students for individuality, creating a lopsided social ladder that lasts easily into college.
But they are not good enough, they did not succeed in quelling adolescent behavior.
I don't think that the adolescent phase is one of individuality. Quite the opposite. And while I don't completely agree with this article, I do think that a system that treats adolescents like adults would be an improvement.
Not one that makes them work and leave school, mind you. Just one that respects them aging. A part of me feels that if we let teachers swear in front of students, let them act like people than act completely neutral, and start teaching them about how to solve their own problems, we'd find that a lot of the problems in modern society would just vanish.
Every instance in my life that I've felt like rebelling against a system was an instance in my life when I was treated like an adolescent per se. And that happened very rarely: I was lucky enough to have teachers that usually took the time to treat me like an adult. Whenever I see a student in college getting violently drunk and acting like an ass, I would place money on that person originating by acting against some authority figure. (Indeed, I have friends whose families let them drink, and none of those kids are alcoholic whatsoever. I wouldn't call it a formal study, but I think trends say that kids get into stuff like that when they associate that with being grown up.)
Re: Let's End Adolescence
#107Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think it's fair to assume specific phases of life whatsoever: people don't automatically grow up. Some people seem to skip the adolescence phase and go right to adulthood, for better or for worse. However, it IS fair to say that society reacts to people of certain ages as if the sheer fact of getting older meant instant change in mood and personality. And that's harmful.
maturity has little to do with age and everything to do with responsibility. I remember of hearing about a couple who adopted an orphan from Russia. the kid made people uncomfortable because he acted like an adult. Why? he was the oldest kid at his orphanage and had been looking out for younger kids for years.
I agree completely.
Re: Let's End Adolescence
#108I don't think adolescence is a social experiment. Its a part of our biology; some more so than others. The article is solid in regards to stating problems with our youth. Fixing our social and economic structures is a very tough process.
The article draws rapid conclusions from its anecdotes. The U.S.'s social problems can't be summed up or resolved by such simplistic ideology.
Re: Let's End Adolescence
#109I discarded this guy's argument once I read this paragraph: And experiments such as the one my daughter, Jackie Cushman, is running in Atlanta—where poor children are paid the equivalent of working in a fast-food restaurant to study and do their homework—are examples of a more dynamic future. How is being paid to study and do homework an example of early adulthood? One huge difference between adults and non-adults is…
You discarded all of it because you didn't like that one part? This type of behavior always annoys me. There are lots of interesting and important thoughts here. I agree that these ideas need to be closely examined and refined a great deal before being put into practice -- but I'm not just going to shout "FAIL" -- because while that may be gratifying to the ego, it is utterly counter-productive.
I decided that once you took away that key step of "having a clue what an adult is", the rest of the argument fell away like a puff of smoke in the wind. There may be interesting ideas in there, but they are too closely interweaved with dangerous mistakes and incendiary "political linkbaiting".
Re: Let's End Adolescence
#110Earlier quoted context omitted.
For some things (e.g. the hair dressing you mentioned), I concede that licensing requirements are unnecessary, and their use should be reexamined. For others (public defenders, surgeons, structural engineers, etc.) such licensing and formal training is in my opinion critically important. To construe it as purely anti-competitive is pretty misleading. What proportion of top-level architects don't have architecture deg…
What proportion of top-level architects don't have architecture degrees? Today all of them do because it is legally required. My girlfriend is currently attending architecture school and it is beyond useless. She's learned an awful lot about "aura" and "algorithmic design" and precious little about designing buildings for the real world. Architects end up learning everything on the job. In the 19th century, it was no…
Wow. I just read some of your other comments, and you rock. Thanks!