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If we could stop telling kids they need to go to school, and instead tell them why they should want to, that might reduce the stress of having to perform well.

If we could stop telling kids they need to go to school, and instead tell them why they should want to, that might reduce the stress of having to perform well. If you don't go to school, you will not die in a gutter. But if you do go to school, you will be very well prepared for life. Tell this to your kids.

mrguyorama 8y ago
>If you don't go to school, you will not die in a gutter. America does not have a sufficient safety net for this to be true
- DATACOMMANDER 8y ago
  Care to provide an example of someone (literally or figuratively) dying in a gutter in the US within the last few years? I’m talking about someone dying of hunger or exposure here, not overdosing.
  - eli_gottlieb 8y ago
    This happened just last year: https://www.necn.com/news/new-england/Mans-Death-Spotlights-Winter-Struggles-of-Homeless-469823853.html https://www.necn.com/news/new-england/Mans-Death-Spotlights-...
    - DATACOMMANDER 8y ago
      The article says that the man’s drinking “played a significant role” in his death. I don’t buy the idea that he slept outside only because there literally wasn’t enough room for him in the shelter. If that were truly the case, more than one homeless person would have died in that area for the same reason, and it would have been a major national story.
      - eli_gottlieb 8y ago
        We had a bunch of people die in Boston during that same cold snap for lack of space in shelters. What makes you think the nation was or will be so scandalized by a bunch of homeless nobodies dying of exposure?
        DATACOMMANDER 8y ago
        Okay, a few things. First, while my original question was partly rhetorical, I’m always willing to change my beliefs based on new information, so if you can provide a citation for the claim that a bunch of people died of exposure in Boston due to insufficient shelter space, I’ll stand fully corrected and admit that it does happen in the US. Second, if that’s indeed the case, I find it appalling. Finally, assuming it still happens, I’m still very inclined to believe that it’s both extremely rare—like one in a hundred thousand or even a million people per year—and much rarer than it was, say, 100 years ago. (I have no idea what the rate was in 1919, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was something crazy like one in a thousand or even higher. If we go back 200 years, a rate of 1-2% wouldn’t surprise me.)
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
  - peterwwillis 8y ago
    People die of exposure in the US all the time. Starvation in the US is extremely rare, and basically only affects children and the elderly or people who can't feed themselves.
- peterwwillis 8y ago
  There is no need for evidence of a "sufficient safety net" to prove this is true. Here is an experiment you can use to test the theory: 1) Find a person who has no formal education and ask them if they have died in a gutter. 2) If they reply at all, then they have probably not died in a gutter. This evidence will be sufficient to prove that the lack of a "sufficient safety net" is immaterial, and that a lack of an education will not mean you will die in a gutter. Further, let's add some real data. Approximately 32 million adults in the United States are illiterate [1]. If your theory was correct, we should have a lot of clogged up gutters. And while lower literacy rates have significant consequences on things like job availability, they are in no way indicators that someone will die in a gutter. [1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2016/11/01/hiding-in-plain-sight-the-adult-literacy-crisis/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.6f95fc63c589https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2016/11/01/hiding-in-plain-sight-the-adult-literacy-crisis/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2016/11/...
eli_gottlieb 8y ago
>If you don't go to school, you will not die in a gutter. My younger brother wasn't so hot on school. Damned smart (for comparison, multiple people in our family have doctoral degrees ;-)), but not very enthusiastic for academic or white-collar matters. If we hadn't been helping him through his 20s, he'd be dead in a gutter by now.

mrguyorama 8y ago

>If you don't go to school, you will not die in a gutter. America does not have a sufficient safety net for this to be true

DATACOMMANDER 8y ago
Care to provide an example of someone (literally or figuratively) dying in a gutter in the US within the last few years? I’m talking about someone dying of hunger or exposure here, not overdosing.
- eli_gottlieb 8y ago
  This happened just last year: https://www.necn.com/news/new-england/Mans-Death-Spotlights-Winter-Struggles-of-Homeless-469823853.html https://www.necn.com/news/new-england/Mans-Death-Spotlights-...
  - DATACOMMANDER 8y ago
    The article says that the man’s drinking “played a significant role” in his death. I don’t buy the idea that he slept outside only because there literally wasn’t enough room for him in the shelter. If that were truly the case, more than one homeless person would have died in that area for the same reason, and it would have been a major national story.
    - eli_gottlieb 8y ago
      We had a bunch of people die in Boston during that same cold snap for lack of space in shelters. What makes you think the nation was or will be so scandalized by a bunch of homeless nobodies dying of exposure?
      - DATACOMMANDER 8y ago
        Okay, a few things. First, while my original question was partly rhetorical, I’m always willing to change my beliefs based on new information, so if you can provide a citation for the claim that a bunch of people died of exposure in Boston due to insufficient shelter space, I’ll stand fully corrected and admit that it does happen in the US. Second, if that’s indeed the case, I find it appalling. Finally, assuming it still happens, I’m still very inclined to believe that it’s both extremely rare—like one in a hundred thousand or even a million people per year—and much rarer than it was, say, 100 years ago. (I have no idea what the rate was in 1919, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was something crazy like one in a thousand or even higher. If we go back 200 years, a rate of 1-2% wouldn’t surprise me.)
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
- peterwwillis 8y ago
  People die of exposure in the US all the time. Starvation in the US is extremely rare, and basically only affects children and the elderly or people who can't feed themselves.
peterwwillis 8y ago
There is no need for evidence of a "sufficient safety net" to prove this is true. Here is an experiment you can use to test the theory: 1) Find a person who has no formal education and ask them if they have died in a gutter. 2) If they reply at all, then they have probably not died in a gutter. This evidence will be sufficient to prove that the lack of a "sufficient safety net" is immaterial, and that a lack of an education will not mean you will die in a gutter. Further, let's add some real data. Approximately 32 million adults in the United States are illiterate [1]. If your theory was correct, we should have a lot of clogged up gutters. And while lower literacy rates have significant consequences on things like job availability, they are in no way indicators that someone will die in a gutter. [1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2016/11/01/hiding-in-plain-sight-the-adult-literacy-crisis/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.6f95fc63c589https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2016/11/01/hiding-in-plain-sight-the-adult-literacy-crisis/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2016/11/...

eli_gottlieb 8y ago

>If you don't go to school, you will not die in a gutter. My younger brother wasn't so hot on school. Damned smart (for comparison, multiple people in our family have doctoral degrees ;-)), but not very enthusiastic for academic or white-collar matters. If we hadn't been helping him through his 20s, he'd be dead in a gutter by now.