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I'm imagining the scene where a bunch of American Millenials were asked to solve basic math problems and computer literacy tests. "Jeez this is pointless," one
by rquantz 12y ago
I'm imagining the scene where a bunch of American Millenials were asked to solve basic math problems and computer literacy tests. "Jeez this is pointless," one said. "Yeah, reminds me of high school," said another. And they twiddled their thumbs until it was over.
While I'm sure these are relevant statistics, I don't see it having much bearing on real competitiveness going forward. There's no measure of creativity, adaptability, or tenacity. Show me Americans are lagging in those and I'll start to worry.
- consz 12y agoWhat proof is there that creativity, adaptability, tenacity are better skills to have than the ones tested in the article? Or that the skills you mentioned are not consequences of the ones mentioned in the article?
- greenyoda 12y agoFor that matter, the ability of these tests to predict success hasn't been very good over time. From another recent article on HN: "In truth, though, the United States has never done well on international tests, and they are not good predictors of our national success. Since 1964, when the first such exam was administered to 13-year-olds in 12 countries, America has lagged behind its peers, rarely rising above the middle of the pack and doing particularly poorly in science and math. And yet over these past five decades, that same laggard country has dominated the world of science, technology, research and innovation."[1] [1] http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-stem-wont-make-us-successful/2015/03/26/5f4604f2-d2a5-11e4-ab77-9646eea6a4c7_story.html?hpid=z3 http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-stem-wont-make-us... (via https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9285423 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9285423)
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- throwaway43 12y agoBecause America imports all the best brains from all over the world using the H1B program ?
- tfussell 12y agoBut why don't other counties do this if they're so smart?
- atlantic 12y agoI looked through some of the questions. Simple things like being able to read a chart or to calculate an interest rate. How would this not have any bearing on productivity?
- joezydeco 12y agoTenacity can also be defined as doing things you don't always want to do, like taking a skills test.
- weina67 12y agohey rquantz, can you please contact me at weinanas@gmail.com. I have an urgent matter to talk to you about