Hacker News clearly has a strong interest in education, I find this interesting because I see misguided attempts in trying to educate the masses on HN. The tone

Hacker News clearly has a strong interest in education, I find this interesting because I see misguided attempts in trying to educate the masses on HN. The tone comes off the wrong way and it hurts the substantive content coming from the knowledge many HN contributors have to offer. Some thoughts for HNers and their future attempts at educating others in this forum: The comment threads are here for conversations and the exchange of thought, not for the assignment of homework in the form of white papers/books. Mentioning your sources I'm sure is always welcome, but many seem to assume that anybody who hasn't read the same material as themselves is somehow incapable of contributing to a conversation on the subject at hand. That is an egregiously poisonous mindset. If you want to make the most of your time on HN have more respect for others and synthesize your knowledge. Let a conversation happen. By all means link your sources, but say what you're going to say and don't assign homework. Contextual synthesis > PDF That's my $0.02 (not denominated in Verizon-units). --- With that out of the way --- More related to the article, I've visited Singapore and know a few Singaporeans. One of the main takeaways was that they're hyper-competitive and aggressive in ways I'm not sure US gov'ts/voters would ever really countenance for the sake of progress. The article is rife with Orientalist gawking and murmuring of approval. Typical for the current mode of reporting on how Asia does things differently than the West. (Cf. Friedman's absurd pseudo-capitalist posturing on China) Mentioning the chewing gum ban, seriously? Money quote: "But it's really more about discipline than intelligence."