4 ms·

So true. I'd been happy if the education system pick a side and either focus on career preparation or humanity enrichment. But nowadays it pretends to do both

So true. I'd been happy if the education system pick a side and either focus on career preparation or humanity enrichment. But nowadays it pretends to do both and failed at them miserably. Thus I can't help but think that the system is just a giant marketing scheme to make $140 off a hardworking family.

patio11 17y ago
I read a very disturbing argument once which comes back to me when discussing what higher ed does and does not do. Paraphrased: "The higher educational system is the only authority in America which is socially permitted to discriminate based on IQ, via entrance requirements. This is pretty useful, and accordingly everyone else pays them astounding amounts of money to do it. Given that they have a monopoly on discriminating based on IQ, they don't need to do anything else well."
- ekanes 17y ago
  Even sadder is that IQ doesn't correlate to happiness or success nearly as well as the ability to defer gratification. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deferred_gratification http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deferred_gratification See also the marshmallow test on that page. Too bad we don't (systematically) teach our kids stuff like this along with the regular curriculum.
  - asciilifeform 17y ago
    > Too bad we don't (systematically) teach our kids stuff like this along with the regular curriculum I know of no evidence that delaying gratification can be taught with any degree of effectiveness. The original study used babies, who were later tracked through (well-predicted) success or failure in life. Control of one's impulses appears to be a very basic "brain organ" with rather limited capacity for training.
    - ekanes 17y ago
      I also don't know of any evidence that it can be taught, but it strikes me as teachable. Patience, kindness, politeness, etc are all teachable modifications of our natural instincts. The original kids in the study were 4 years old.
- asciilifeform 17y ago
  > The higher educational system is the only authority in America which is socially permitted to discriminate based on IQ The famous lawsuit which resulted in this situation: http://supreme.justia.com/us/401/424/case.html http://supreme.justia.com/us/401/424/case.html That is when employers were officially prohibited from using IQ tests. Our current situation is a direct result of this.

patio11 17y ago

I read a very disturbing argument once which comes back to me when discussing what higher ed does and does not do. Paraphrased: "The higher educational system is the only authority in America which is socially permitted to discriminate based on IQ, via entrance requirements. This is pretty useful, and accordingly everyone else pays them astounding amounts of money to do it. Given that they have a monopoly on discriminating based on IQ, they don't need to do anything else well."

ekanes 17y ago
Even sadder is that IQ doesn't correlate to happiness or success nearly as well as the ability to defer gratification. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deferred_gratification http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deferred_gratification See also the marshmallow test on that page. Too bad we don't (systematically) teach our kids stuff like this along with the regular curriculum.
- asciilifeform 17y ago
  > Too bad we don't (systematically) teach our kids stuff like this along with the regular curriculum I know of no evidence that delaying gratification can be taught with any degree of effectiveness. The original study used babies, who were later tracked through (well-predicted) success or failure in life. Control of one's impulses appears to be a very basic "brain organ" with rather limited capacity for training.
  - ekanes 17y ago
    I also don't know of any evidence that it can be taught, but it strikes me as teachable. Patience, kindness, politeness, etc are all teachable modifications of our natural instincts. The original kids in the study were 4 years old.
asciilifeform 17y ago
> The higher educational system is the only authority in America which is socially permitted to discriminate based on IQ The famous lawsuit which resulted in this situation: http://supreme.justia.com/us/401/424/case.html http://supreme.justia.com/us/401/424/case.html That is when employers were officially prohibited from using IQ tests. Our current situation is a direct result of this.