3 ms·

I read an academic paper yesterday that read exactly like you. It's crazy hard to parse the words without my eyes glazing over. I fear universities try to teach

by PakG1 8y ago

I read an academic paper yesterday that read exactly like you. It's crazy hard to parse the words without my eyes glazing over. I fear universities try to teach students to sound clever and intellectual, not clear and comprehensible. I just had to vent because I have to slog through a large number of academic papers over the next few weeks and if they're all like this, I might weep from agony. Besides that, parsing your logic, I think you completely missed parent's point.

JauntyHatAngle 8y ago
I apologise, but that is my genuine question, and my genuine thoughts. The way I wrote that is because on issues like this, people get quite charged one way or another, so I wanted to avoid anything personal and just hear the specifics. I'm definitely putting myself into the deep end on this stuff, so I want to hear more on the arguments from both sides - and also the specifics on this case because a lot of it slides past my understanding, and I'd like to know how off base I might be (or not be). I'm kind of sad I'm getting downvoted, and not really told why - I can't halt my opinions if I don't know why they're so against the grain (or against rules or something). What is the parent's point that I missed?
- pshre 8y ago
  Do you only think it is a problem for admission metrics? What about other clearly obvious racial biases. Is it a problem that the NBA lacks Asian players?
  - JauntyHatAngle 8y ago
    >Do you only think it is a problem for admission metrics? No, just one way that arguably is a place to do it. I don't believe there is a silver bullet. >What about other clearly obvious racial biases. Is it a problem that the NBA lacks Asian players? There are some parallels to think about here, but on the whole no, and I think the main reason there is because we view Physical pursuits differently than mental ones. We know that different races have generally different physical attributes, as well as a culture surrounding a specific sport, however I think as a society we view work as a mostly purely mental pursuit (that is arguable too of course), and we do not view it to have a restriction based on race as no particular race is smarter than another. NBA has a base requirement of a certain physical element, which is hard to overcome with the mental side, and if your particular race is known to be taller as a whole than you'll get more people being good at it. I don't think it is as simple as that (culture and race intertwine a fair bit here...) but the low and the short of it I think is that. Culture plays a part in grass roots numbers of people picking up the sport and going with it of course. And there is argument there about whether it should be promoted more to other cultures/races specifically. I don't have an answer though, I don't know much about NBA.
- PakG1 8y ago
  OK, having parsed your comment again on a larger screen, I don't think you've missed the parent's point. But I do think you took an unnecessarily long, roundabout way to ask your question, which I also think didn't need to be asked because I think the parent's view is quite clear. So your question didn't add to the conversation on two points: first, it was really verbose and obtuse; second, it didn't contribute to the conversation because it was unnecessary. A response to the parent would have been much more constructive. And no need for Socratic method here to make points. Just make the point, we're all adults. Yeah, people get charged on these types of topics, but if your own writing is civil and to the point, getting charged is on them, not on you.
  - JauntyHatAngle 8y ago
    Thanks for the comment. I suppose I should have front loaded the comment, I was basically saying there was too wide a net cast by that comment so it was difficult to get into the grits of it. Fair call.
Jamerson 8y ago
I'm really starting to think this site is being used to test AI. Either that, or speakers of English as a second language trying to participate. I see a lot of comments like this: high average syllable count, no actual meaning.

by PakG1 8y ago

JauntyHatAngle 8y ago

I apologise, but that is my genuine question, and my genuine thoughts. The way I wrote that is because on issues like this, people get quite charged one way or another, so I wanted to avoid anything personal and just hear the specifics. I'm definitely putting myself into the deep end on this stuff, so I want to hear more on the arguments from both sides - and also the specifics on this case because a lot of it slides past my understanding, and I'd like to know how off base I might be (or not be). I'm kind of sad I'm getting downvoted, and not really told why - I can't halt my opinions if I don't know why they're so against the grain (or against rules or something). What is the parent's point that I missed?

pshre 8y ago
Do you only think it is a problem for admission metrics? What about other clearly obvious racial biases. Is it a problem that the NBA lacks Asian players?
- JauntyHatAngle 8y ago
  >Do you only think it is a problem for admission metrics? No, just one way that arguably is a place to do it. I don't believe there is a silver bullet. >What about other clearly obvious racial biases. Is it a problem that the NBA lacks Asian players? There are some parallels to think about here, but on the whole no, and I think the main reason there is because we view Physical pursuits differently than mental ones. We know that different races have generally different physical attributes, as well as a culture surrounding a specific sport, however I think as a society we view work as a mostly purely mental pursuit (that is arguable too of course), and we do not view it to have a restriction based on race as no particular race is smarter than another. NBA has a base requirement of a certain physical element, which is hard to overcome with the mental side, and if your particular race is known to be taller as a whole than you'll get more people being good at it. I don't think it is as simple as that (culture and race intertwine a fair bit here...) but the low and the short of it I think is that. Culture plays a part in grass roots numbers of people picking up the sport and going with it of course. And there is argument there about whether it should be promoted more to other cultures/races specifically. I don't have an answer though, I don't know much about NBA.
PakG1 8y ago
OK, having parsed your comment again on a larger screen, I don't think you've missed the parent's point. But I do think you took an unnecessarily long, roundabout way to ask your question, which I also think didn't need to be asked because I think the parent's view is quite clear. So your question didn't add to the conversation on two points: first, it was really verbose and obtuse; second, it didn't contribute to the conversation because it was unnecessary. A response to the parent would have been much more constructive. And no need for Socratic method here to make points. Just make the point, we're all adults. Yeah, people get charged on these types of topics, but if your own writing is civil and to the point, getting charged is on them, not on you.
- JauntyHatAngle 8y ago
  Thanks for the comment. I suppose I should have front loaded the comment, I was basically saying there was too wide a net cast by that comment so it was difficult to get into the grits of it. Fair call.

Jamerson 8y ago

I'm really starting to think this site is being used to test AI. Either that, or speakers of English as a second language trying to participate. I see a lot of comments like this: high average syllable count, no actual meaning.