Greeeeeat... Say hello to the "misinformed" generation

[Horticulture Tycoon]

Pretty astounding about how people can't even remember basic "where's your heart?" questions, though. Yipe.

Forget remembering, you can fucking feel it beating! Maybe the problem isn't with their intelligence, but rather that their hearts are as weak as a newborn kitten's.

[elmuerte]

Erm... okay. ALL reference books are based on pre-existing published research. For example, do you believe that the people who write the Encyclopaedia Britannica do the scientific experiments themselves -- or do they just do research before writing their entries?

I actually don't know how people writing reference material verify correctness of the information they write down, or even if they do so at all. Actually, quite a large part of information in reference material like Encyclopaedia Britannica can not be verified at all (i.e. history, assigned names, ...). But considering is has been in development since 1768 I think they recouped quite some of the costs of the research. And in that case it's no longer a matter of costs of production, but the value of information.

But this doesn't have much relation to school books, or does it?

[Noyb]

I found an interesting New Yorker article about American textbook prices a few years ago.

The average price of a book is around fifty dollars, and many, particularly in the sciences, will run you well over a hundred. A General Accounting Office report released this summer found that, since 1986, prices have risen at a pace of six per cent a year—double the rate of inflation. For critics, such numbers are proof that the publishers are manipulating the market. The dearth of competition in the business is an issue, but the fundamental cause of the price spiral is what economists call an agency problem: professors pick the textbooks, but students have to pay for them.

[...]

[Publishers] bring out new, even more expensive editions of popular textbooks every three to four years, in a classic cycle of planned obsolescence.

[...]

One publisher says that revision cycles at his firm are pegged explicitly to sales revenues: falling sales means it’s time for a new edition.

[MrHoatzin]

It is not just states that make the rules, it is individual school districts. San Antonio falls squarely in the middle of Bexar county. It contains a slew of school districts, among them Northside, which is one of the most well-off districts in the nation, and Edgewood, which is amongst the poorest districts in the country. In Texas at least property taxes are directly tied to education spending. The disparity is also shown in all metrics of efficiency of education (text scores, going-to-college rates, dropout rates, etc.). At some point in the last five years city officials decided to institute so-called "Robinhood" Laws that had the rich folks subsidize education for the kids in the barrio. There was crazy outrage from the parents in the rich district. On one hand you heard, "MY CHILD NEEDS HIS MIDDLE SCHOOL OLYMPIC POOL HEATED FOR LATE NIGHT EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES, YOU DAMN DIRTY MEXICAN HIGHWAY ROBBERS" vs on the other hand, "IT WOULD BE NICE IF THESE KIDS HAD TEXTBOOKS, YOU RICH FUCKS".

Education in the US is a real clusterfuck. No one really knows how to fix it. Nobody has the bollocks to do anything drastic. If the federal government steps in, everyone screams STATE RIGHTS, if the state steps in, everyone screams ROBINHOOD. And then in weird backwater middle-of-nowheres, you have the problem of crazy religious motherfuckers who don't want their kids taught no stinkin Darwinism in classrooms, and they will claim some sort of local autonomy to give their kids rotten education if they so desire, etc.

[James]

Pretty astounding about how people can't even remember basic "where's your heart?" questions, though. Yipe.

Indeed. It does make me wonder, though, whether the questions were presented in the multiple choice manner presented in the article or if people were just given a picture of a human and asked to mark the spot; if it's the latter, I could understand people placing the heart on the left side of the chest, as that's where it appears to be judging by heartbeat.

Still, disheartening.

[Horticulture Tycoon]

It is not just states that make the rules, it is individual school districts. San Antonio falls squarely in the middle of Bexar county. It contains a slew of school districts, among them Northside, which is one of the most well-off districts in the nation, and Edgewood, which is amongst the poorest districts in the country. In Texas at least property taxes are directly tied to education spending. The disparity is also shown in all metrics of efficiency of education (text scores, going-to-college rates, dropout rates, etc.). At some point in the last five years city officials decided to institute so-called "Robinhood" Laws that had the rich folks subsidize education for the kids in the barrio. There was crazy outrage from the parents in the rich district. On one hand you heard, "MY CHILD NEEDS HIS MIDDLE SCHOOL OLYMPIC POOL HEATED FOR LATE NIGHT EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES, YOU DAMN DIRTY MEXICAN HIGHWAY ROBBERS" vs on the other hand, "IT WOULD BE NICE IF THESE KIDS HAD TEXTBOOKS, YOU RICH FUCKS".

But see, even though what they were doing might have been well-intentioned and probably beneficial to all involved, I don't necessarily think a local school district should have the power to determine how tax revenues are distributed to the schools. Not only is there obviously a huge risk of a conflict of interest, but let's face it: nobody pays attention to local elections and so you get people running these districts who don't know what they're doing half the time. A big part of the problem is that the local school districts have way too much power over these things.

When I was in high school, my dad was the president of my district's school board (He physically handed me my diploma at my graduation, which was pretty cool), and he was adamant about the schools being fiscally responsible and only using the funds to maximize the value of the students' education and their prospects for college. But still, even though the changes he made were probably beneficial for the district on the whole, the fact is his entire decision-making process revolved around trying to get his two kids into the best college possible. Which is probably not the best way to run a school district... not that I'm complaining.

So then, after my sister and I both graduated and my dad stepped down, the following administration took the huge budget surplus he left them and spent it on, among other things, buying $10,000 trash bins (each!) for the cafeterias that say "thank you!" out loud after you use them. Tax dollars well-spent! So it goes both ways, whether the decisions are beneficial or downright stupid, the local districts shouldn't have the power do decide how their budget is spent.

[MrHoatzin]

Yeah, but someone needs to spend some political capital to embarrass these small taters to behave reasonably. No one wants to deal with crazy hicks screaming that their god-given rights to educate their younguns the way they want to is being trampled upon by some university-educated fancy pants from the big city.

[brkl]

Indeed. It does make me wonder, though, whether the questions were presented in the multiple choice manner presented in the article or if people were just given a picture of a human and asked to mark the spot; if it's the latter, I could understand people placing the heart on the left side of the chest, as that's where it appears to be judging by heartbeat.

Still, disheartening.

It was probably the same pictures as in the article because multiple choice answers are a whole lot cheaper and easier to process.

[James]

Then add another tear to the torrent of sorrow I'm weeping for my species.

Or something.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Still, disheartening.

*groan*

[ThunderPeel2001]

I actually don't know how people writing reference material verify correctness of the information they write down, or even if they do so at all. Actually, quite a large part of information in reference material like Encyclopaedia Britannica can not be verified at all (i.e. history, assigned names, ...).

Man, you just... baffle me.

[James]

*groan*

Believe it or not, that was entirely accidental.

[brkl]

Believe it or not, that was entirely accidental.

Ahah, I was wondering why ThunderPeel felt that was so cringe-inducing and didn't get it until this post

[elmuerte]

"Believe it or not, that was entirely accidental. 10.5/10" -ign.com

[James]

"Believe it or not, that was entirely accidental. 10.5/10" -ign.com

I'm shitting out IGN reviews left, right and centre. 7.9/10