'Algebra for none' fails in San Francisco

Post by userbinator » Mon, Apr 17, 2023, 7:32 PM UTC

foldr wrote: post #438

userbinator wrote: post #425

Earlier quoted context omitted.

among experts ...and the policies that lead to the situation in the article were also developed by "experts". The amount of political ideology surrounding this stuff is immense. The truth is black and white (pun intended) but people don't want to see.

So, a few comments down from a substantive comment by testfoobar, we've arrived at the inevitable comment saying almost explicitly that black people are dumb. If you want to just say this out loud, there are corners of the internet where you can do it. Hopefully this is not one of them.

Post by froh » Mon, Apr 17, 2023, 7:47 PM UTC

HideousKojima wrote: post #294

froh wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

where do we draw the line what's "basic"?

Being able to take an arbitrary word problem and turn it into an algebraic equation (or series of equations) and be able to solve it. That a huge percentage of kids graduate high school being unable to do that means several people (mostly parents but likely the school system too) failed them.

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Apr 17, 2023, 7:55 PM UTC

pseudostem wrote: post #222

icelancer wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The rich families are not the problem here. The public schools with the tyranny of low expectations are the issue.

I will have to disagree with both you and GP to a certain degree. A developed country is not where even the poor have cars, it's where even the rich use public transport - a quote attributed to many including LKY. Extrapolating this to the current argument (disclaimer: not read the article), if the same system is thrust onto the rich and poor alike, it should get better over a period of time, no? This is a complicate…

Post by pandaman » Mon, Apr 17, 2023, 8:16 PM UTC

GoblinSlayer wrote: post #461

pandaman wrote: post #455

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you saying that your parents are millionaire college professors and they have not told you anything other than to do your homework? That sucks, I imagine most parents are more involved with their children. My parents are just research scientist but I had no problem learning from them, they answered all kinds of questions for me.

Father is a plumber, mother is an accounter. I had a problem with understanding fractions, mom helped me. There was no more help, because I understood everything else myself and they don't know more advanced topics, because they had school program long ago. My brother is decently educated and knows school program, but can't help his kids - they just don't understand (their (modern) school has zero discipline).

Post by NoMoreNicksLeft » Mon, Apr 17, 2023, 8:38 PM UTC

staunton wrote: post #450

NoMoreNicksLeft wrote: post #394

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You ask two questions that are at odds with each other. If schools were bad, but modern society can't function without them, which would you pick? If you say it can't function without them, then are they good regardless because you want it to continue to function? Like, no matter how bad they are? Or do you draw some line or another? "It's ok if they make kids dumb and compulsive consumers, but they can't go torturin…

You seem to have very nuanced concepts of "good and bad", which I don't fully grasp. I was starting from a rather simpler world view. Yes, I want society to function. Societal collapse is imho extremely bad. Even regardless of collapse, I still much prefer living (and having gone to school) in a country that has schools. At no point did it seem to me what the point of school is to make people dumb. That wasn't the US…