https://www.reddit.com/r/short/comments/76m8g7/im_personally_offended/dofu1g1/
😂😂
Again: https://www.reddit.com/r/short/comments/8osx9z/im_confused_about_the_definition_of_systemic_do/e05ubxz/
Showing posts with label school. Show all posts
Showing posts with label school. Show all posts
Bullies Have Higher Self-Esteem, Social Success Study Finds
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bullies-have-higher-self-esteem-social-success-study-finds-1.3173387
I don't know about this trend of evo pysch explanations, but I'm only posting this because short men are stereotyped as bullies. Evil short boss, cop, villain, etc. Most short men I see are meek and cowardly, because they've been beaten down by society.
You need to have some sense of power to pick on someone, even those weaker than yourself. I've seen many short men who are afraid kids and women can beat them up, let alone other men. Short men literally think they have no power, except perhaps over babies and the disabled.
Obviously there are outliers for every group, but it's strange how short men get "short man syndrome" while tall men get "gentle giant." Do short men have more self-esteem on average? Rhetorical question.
I don't know about this trend of evo pysch explanations, but I'm only posting this because short men are stereotyped as bullies. Evil short boss, cop, villain, etc. Most short men I see are meek and cowardly, because they've been beaten down by society.
You need to have some sense of power to pick on someone, even those weaker than yourself. I've seen many short men who are afraid kids and women can beat them up, let alone other men. Short men literally think they have no power, except perhaps over babies and the disabled.
Obviously there are outliers for every group, but it's strange how short men get "short man syndrome" while tall men get "gentle giant." Do short men have more self-esteem on average? Rhetorical question.
Universities Used to Filter People Out By Height
"Each year, Yale carefully measured the height of entering freshmen, noting with pride the proportion of the class at six feet or more."
"If Harvard had too many Asians, it wouldn’t be Harvard, just as Harvard wouldn’t be Harvard with too many Jews or pansies or parlor pinks or shy types or short people with big ears."
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/10/10/getting-in
Examples of Heightism as an Institutional Form of Prejudice
Sources were copy/pasted from here.
Height restrictions in Ivy League Schools
FDA rules that healthy short kids have a disease called "idiopathic short stature"
Boys committing suicide due to height bullying
Wage gap due to height discrimination greater than gender
Short people less likely to win elections
From: Malcolm Gladwell:
In the U.S. population, about 14.5 percent of all men are six feet or over. Among CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, that number is 58 percent. Even more strikingly, in the general American population, 3.9 percent of adult men are 6’2″ or taller. Among my CEO sample, 30 percent were 6’2″ or taller. . Of the tens of millions of American men below 5’6″, a grand total of ten–in my sample–have reached the level of CEO, which says that being short is probably as much, or more, of a handicap to corporate success as being a woman or an African-American.
....that means 2% of Fortune 500 CEOs are men under 5'6", while 4% are women and 7% are African-American. (African-American women make up less than 2%.)
...when corrected for variables like age and gender and weight, an inch of height is worth $789 a year in salary. That means that a person who is six feet tall, but who is otherwise identical to someone who is five foot five, will make on average $5,525 more per year.
Height restrictions in Ivy League Schools
Sperm Bank height requirements
FDA rules that healthy short kids have a disease called "idiopathic short stature"
Boys committing suicide due to height bullying
http://thesocialcomplex.tumblr.com/post/98522110949/14-year-old-bullied-to-death-for-being-short
http://thesocialcomplex.tumblr.com/post/98520339484/the-truth
http://thesocialcomplex.tumblr.com/post/98520339484/the-truth
Wage gap due to height discrimination greater than gender
http://www.livescience.com/5552-taller-people-earn-money.html ("Height was found to be more important than gender in determining
income.")
Shorter candidates less likely to be hired or promoted
http://epubs.utah.edu/index.php/ulr/article/viewFile/246/218
("One business expert has suggested that an additional four inches in
height “makes much more difference in terms of success in a business
career than any paper qualifications you have” and that
it would be better to be “5 ft. 10 and a graduate of N.Y.U.’s business
school than 5 ft. 6 and a Harvard Business School graduate.” Another
commentator concluded that “being short is probably as
much, or more, of a handicap to corporate success as being a woman or an
African American.”") and http://www.jonathanrauch.com/jrauch_articles/height_discrimination_short_guys_finish_last/
Short people less likely to win elections
"I Teach How to Fit Into a World I Don’t Want to Live In"
"I’ve come slowly to understand what it is I really teach: A curriculum
of confusion, class position, arbitrary justice, vulgarity, rudeness,
disrespect for privacy, indifference to quality, and utter dependency. I
teach how to fit into a world I don’t want to live in." - John Taylor Gatto (former teacher of the year)
I can understand where he's coming from. If a teacher is self-aware about the school system, why perpetuate this culture by churning out more blindly obedient kids? It'd be like attaching your name to the credits of a really bad movie.
In the same vein, I've realized that I was taught to live in a world that's constantly flipping me off. Schools expected me to comply, all the while this society spits on who I am, both physically and mentally. Then they get mad when people like myself say "fuck you, I'm out."
What a load of bullshit.
I can understand where he's coming from. If a teacher is self-aware about the school system, why perpetuate this culture by churning out more blindly obedient kids? It'd be like attaching your name to the credits of a really bad movie.
In the same vein, I've realized that I was taught to live in a world that's constantly flipping me off. Schools expected me to comply, all the while this society spits on who I am, both physically and mentally. Then they get mad when people like myself say "fuck you, I'm out."
What a load of bullshit.
Five Politicians Fail Surprise Math Test
Source: http://forums.school-survival.net/showthread.php?tid=35034
5 politicians of the Dutch government were unexpectedly forced to do the math test. The result is remarkable: all of them have failed.
"We have made a real exam environment... The politicians were forced to fill in real example questions."
The bad score makes it clear again that the math test, which high school students are forced to have as a part of their exam, is flawed.
"Without preparation it is impossible to do this test. No wonder all of the politicians failed."
If you want to pass the test, you need to correctly answer at least half of the questions. Students on are required to do the test in order to get their diploma. The PvdA, VVD and the PVV (some Dutch political parties) are in favor of the test, which is intended to increase math skills.
When these politicians were teenagers, did they complete that test before graduating? If so, this shows how students only remember info to pass tests, rather than retaining and using that knowledge in adult life.
If 'math skills' were so important for most people, these politicians would've at least passed. It's almost like these tests should only be forced on those who require it for their profession. Not that this is a new revelation for those who hate school.
If most people absolutely need to read up on a subject to pass its test, that's akin to pulling out a calculator for your groceries. What's the point if we need a textbook to help us every time? Just buy the textbook and carry it around if it's so important.
It's all a waste of time, to stress out over some test that's required to graduate, only to fail that same test years later because none of it was useful on a personal level so you forget.
5 politicians of the Dutch government were unexpectedly forced to do the math test. The result is remarkable: all of them have failed.
"We have made a real exam environment... The politicians were forced to fill in real example questions."
The bad score makes it clear again that the math test, which high school students are forced to have as a part of their exam, is flawed.
"Without preparation it is impossible to do this test. No wonder all of the politicians failed."
If you want to pass the test, you need to correctly answer at least half of the questions. Students on are required to do the test in order to get their diploma. The PvdA, VVD and the PVV (some Dutch political parties) are in favor of the test, which is intended to increase math skills.
When these politicians were teenagers, did they complete that test before graduating? If so, this shows how students only remember info to pass tests, rather than retaining and using that knowledge in adult life.
If 'math skills' were so important for most people, these politicians would've at least passed. It's almost like these tests should only be forced on those who require it for their profession. Not that this is a new revelation for those who hate school.
If most people absolutely need to read up on a subject to pass its test, that's akin to pulling out a calculator for your groceries. What's the point if we need a textbook to help us every time? Just buy the textbook and carry it around if it's so important.
It's all a waste of time, to stress out over some test that's required to graduate, only to fail that same test years later because none of it was useful on a personal level so you forget.
"It's Not School's Fault You Didn't Teach Yourself"
You can watch the video, but it doesn't really matter. He's basically ranting about how useless most subjects in school are. I thought it was annoying.
He also backpedaled on the title by saying kids should stay in school. What he meant was that the pointless subjects shouldn't stay in school, but the kids should. At least that's what he said in the comments.
So this was basically a glorified "schools need reform" video (which has been done to death), but good job being an edgy poseur by using "don't stay in school" as the title. Just another coward who's afraid of voicing an "extremist" opinion. Nice hair.
What I really want to discuss are the comments saying "it's not school's fault you didn't teach yourself laws, taxes, etc." I've seen this not only in the YouTube comments (which are notoriously dumb), but also on reddit (which I also think is dumb but many believe otherwise).
Here's my problem with their point...
WHY ARE WE IN SCHOOL IF WE HAVE TO TEACH OURSELVES THE IMPORTANT SHIT ANYWAY?
Sure... Some adults will use what they memorize in school, but since school is supposed to cater towards everyone in a general manner (hence why they shove us into the same mold), how about teaching what everyone needs to know?
I actually found the video above from school-survival.net, and this quote sums up the pro-school comments perfectly:
"I guess you just proved my point that school is wasting my time; it's supposed to be a tool to help us in life, but it won't teach us anything that everybody needs to know. Instead, we memorize and regurgitate facts we'll forget and never use."
Schools Churn Out Workers Who Are Trained to Do 1925 Labor
Article quoted from here
A hundred and fifty years ago, adults were incensed about child labor. Low-wage kids were taking jobs away from hard-working adults.
Sure, there was some moral outrage at seven-year olds losing fingers and being abused at work, but the economic rationale was paramount. Factory owners insisted that losing child workers would be catastrophic to their industries and fought hard to keep the kids at work--they said they couldn't afford to hire adults. It wasn't until 1918 that nationwide compulsory education was in place.
Part of the rationale to sell this major transformation to industrialists was that educated kids would actually become more compliant and productive workers. Our current system of teaching kids to sit in straight rows and obey instructions isn't a coincidence--it was an investment in our economic future. The plan: trade short-term child labor wages for longer-term productivity by giving kids a head start in doing what they're told.
Large-scale education was never about teaching kids or creating scholars. It was invented to churn out adults who worked well within the system.
Of course, it worked. Several generations of productive, fully employed workers followed. But now?
Nobel-prize winning economist Michael Spence makes this really clear: there are tradable jobs (making things that could be made somewhere else, like building cars, designing chairs and answering the phone) and non-tradable jobs (like mowing the lawn or cooking burgers). Is there any question that the first kind of job is worth keeping in our economy?
Alas, Spence reports that from 1990 to 2008, the US economy added only 600,000 tradable jobs.
If you do a job where someone tells you exactly what to do, they will find someone cheaper than you to do it. And yet our schools are churning out kids who are stuck looking for jobs where the boss tells them exactly what to do.
Do you see the disconnect here? Every year, we churn out millions of of workers who are trained to do 1925 labor.
The bargain (take kids out of work so we can teach them to become better factory workers) has set us on a race to the bottom. Some argue we ought to become the cheaper, easier country for sourcing cheap, compliant workers who do what they're told. We will lose that race whether we win it or not. The bottom is not a good place to be, even if you're capable of getting there.
As we get ready for the 93rd year of universal public education, here’s the question every parent and taxpayer needs to wrestle with: Are we going to applaud, push or even permit our schools (including most of the private ones) to continue the safe but ultimately doomed strategy of churning out predictable, testable and mediocre factory-workers?
As long as we embrace (or even accept) standardized testing, fear of science, little attempt at teaching leadership and most of all, the bureaucratic imperative to turn education into a factory itself, we’re in big trouble.
The post-industrial revolution is here. Do you care enough to teach your kids to take advantage of it?
A hundred and fifty years ago, adults were incensed about child labor. Low-wage kids were taking jobs away from hard-working adults.
Sure, there was some moral outrage at seven-year olds losing fingers and being abused at work, but the economic rationale was paramount. Factory owners insisted that losing child workers would be catastrophic to their industries and fought hard to keep the kids at work--they said they couldn't afford to hire adults. It wasn't until 1918 that nationwide compulsory education was in place.
Part of the rationale to sell this major transformation to industrialists was that educated kids would actually become more compliant and productive workers. Our current system of teaching kids to sit in straight rows and obey instructions isn't a coincidence--it was an investment in our economic future. The plan: trade short-term child labor wages for longer-term productivity by giving kids a head start in doing what they're told.
Large-scale education was never about teaching kids or creating scholars. It was invented to churn out adults who worked well within the system.
Of course, it worked. Several generations of productive, fully employed workers followed. But now?
Nobel-prize winning economist Michael Spence makes this really clear: there are tradable jobs (making things that could be made somewhere else, like building cars, designing chairs and answering the phone) and non-tradable jobs (like mowing the lawn or cooking burgers). Is there any question that the first kind of job is worth keeping in our economy?
Alas, Spence reports that from 1990 to 2008, the US economy added only 600,000 tradable jobs.
If you do a job where someone tells you exactly what to do, they will find someone cheaper than you to do it. And yet our schools are churning out kids who are stuck looking for jobs where the boss tells them exactly what to do.
Do you see the disconnect here? Every year, we churn out millions of of workers who are trained to do 1925 labor.
The bargain (take kids out of work so we can teach them to become better factory workers) has set us on a race to the bottom. Some argue we ought to become the cheaper, easier country for sourcing cheap, compliant workers who do what they're told. We will lose that race whether we win it or not. The bottom is not a good place to be, even if you're capable of getting there.
As we get ready for the 93rd year of universal public education, here’s the question every parent and taxpayer needs to wrestle with: Are we going to applaud, push or even permit our schools (including most of the private ones) to continue the safe but ultimately doomed strategy of churning out predictable, testable and mediocre factory-workers?
As long as we embrace (or even accept) standardized testing, fear of science, little attempt at teaching leadership and most of all, the bureaucratic imperative to turn education into a factory itself, we’re in big trouble.
The post-industrial revolution is here. Do you care enough to teach your kids to take advantage of it?
To Be a Hero, You Have to Be a Deviant
“To be a hero, you have to learn to be a deviant, because you’re always going against the conformity of the group.”
Read the full article: The Systemic Crushing of Young Nonconformists and Anti-Authoritarians.
Read the full article: The Systemic Crushing of Young Nonconformists and Anti-Authoritarians.
Therapist and Teacher Spend Time As Students
A therapist goes to middle school and tries to sit still and focus. She can’t. Neither can the kids.
"I’m immersed in a local middle-school classroom environment. I quickly realize I’m not the only one having a hard time paying attention. About 50 percent of the children are fidgeting and most of the remaining children are either slouched in the most unnatural positions imaginable or slumped over their desks. A child suddenly gets up to sharpen their pencil. A few minutes later, another child raises their hand and asks to go to the bathroom. In fact, at least three children have asked to go to the bathroom in the past twenty minutes. I’m mentally exhausted and the day has just begun. I was planning on observing the whole day. I just can’t do it. I decide to leave right after lunch."
Teacher spends two days as a student and is shocked at what she learns
"I could not believe how tired I was after the first day... In every class for four long blocks, the expectation was for us to come in, take our seats, and sit down for the duration of the time. By the end of the day, I could not stop yawning and I was desperate to move or stretch... I was drained, and not in a good, long, productive-day kind of way. No, it was that icky, lethargic tired feeling. I had planned to go back to my office and jot down some initial notes on the day, but I was so drained I couldn’t do anything that involved mental effort (so instead I watched TV) and I was in bed by 8:30.
High school students are sitting passively and listening during approximately 90 percent of their classes... It was not just the sitting that was draining but that so much of the day was spent absorbing information but not often grappling with it... I was struck by this takeaway in particular because it made me realize how little autonomy students have, how little of their learning they are directing or choosing.
I lost count of how many times we were told be quiet and pay attention... It’s really hard to do, and not something we ask adults to do day in and out... I have a lot more respect and empathy for students after just one day of being one again. Teachers work hard, but I now think that conscientious students work harder."
On one hand, it's nice how teachers and therapists are conducting these practices. On the other hand, it's troubling when some adults need to go back to school to realize the obvious. Did they suddenly erase their teenage years when they graduated?
"I’m immersed in a local middle-school classroom environment. I quickly realize I’m not the only one having a hard time paying attention. About 50 percent of the children are fidgeting and most of the remaining children are either slouched in the most unnatural positions imaginable or slumped over their desks. A child suddenly gets up to sharpen their pencil. A few minutes later, another child raises their hand and asks to go to the bathroom. In fact, at least three children have asked to go to the bathroom in the past twenty minutes. I’m mentally exhausted and the day has just begun. I was planning on observing the whole day. I just can’t do it. I decide to leave right after lunch."
Teacher spends two days as a student and is shocked at what she learns
"I could not believe how tired I was after the first day... In every class for four long blocks, the expectation was for us to come in, take our seats, and sit down for the duration of the time. By the end of the day, I could not stop yawning and I was desperate to move or stretch... I was drained, and not in a good, long, productive-day kind of way. No, it was that icky, lethargic tired feeling. I had planned to go back to my office and jot down some initial notes on the day, but I was so drained I couldn’t do anything that involved mental effort (so instead I watched TV) and I was in bed by 8:30.
High school students are sitting passively and listening during approximately 90 percent of their classes... It was not just the sitting that was draining but that so much of the day was spent absorbing information but not often grappling with it... I was struck by this takeaway in particular because it made me realize how little autonomy students have, how little of their learning they are directing or choosing.
I lost count of how many times we were told be quiet and pay attention... It’s really hard to do, and not something we ask adults to do day in and out... I have a lot more respect and empathy for students after just one day of being one again. Teachers work hard, but I now think that conscientious students work harder."
On one hand, it's nice how teachers and therapists are conducting these practices. On the other hand, it's troubling when some adults need to go back to school to realize the obvious. Did they suddenly erase their teenage years when they graduated?
Teacher Forced to Resign After Allowing Students to Express Themselves
I decided to visit school-survival.net for the first time in ages and found this little gem:
"RIO RANCHO, NM (KOAT/CNN) - Jesus and drugs; the two topics merged in a New Mexico classroom, costing a teacher her job.
A high school student wrote a story for class about Jesus Christ giving out pot.
"I'm not there to judge them. I'm there to encourage them,” said teacher Katrina Guarascio.
Guarascio said her creative writing class is a safe place students can find their voices, express themselves and talk freely.
The assignment was to take a fairy tale or legend and re-write it in modern times.
"More students want to be creative and they want to write,” she said.
One student changed the Biblical story about Jesus handing out bread and fish to the poor to Jesus handing out marijuana to the sick.
"I don't take any personal offense. It's not written for me. It's written for them. It's how they can express themselves."
But according to the Guarascio, during a peer review, one of the other students got highly offended by the story, told her parents, and then the teacher was put on administrative leave while the district investigated.
Guarascio said then she felt forced to resign as well as targeted and harassed.
But leaves her students with a final life lesson.
"If they have something to say, say it. Not everyone's going to agree with you. But that doesn't make your point invalid or worthless. Tell your story," she said."
An open-minded teacher felt forced to resign. What a joke.
"RIO RANCHO, NM (KOAT/CNN) - Jesus and drugs; the two topics merged in a New Mexico classroom, costing a teacher her job.
A high school student wrote a story for class about Jesus Christ giving out pot.
"I'm not there to judge them. I'm there to encourage them,” said teacher Katrina Guarascio.
Guarascio said her creative writing class is a safe place students can find their voices, express themselves and talk freely.
The assignment was to take a fairy tale or legend and re-write it in modern times.
"More students want to be creative and they want to write,” she said.
One student changed the Biblical story about Jesus handing out bread and fish to the poor to Jesus handing out marijuana to the sick.
"I don't take any personal offense. It's not written for me. It's written for them. It's how they can express themselves."
But according to the Guarascio, during a peer review, one of the other students got highly offended by the story, told her parents, and then the teacher was put on administrative leave while the district investigated.
Guarascio said then she felt forced to resign as well as targeted and harassed.
But leaves her students with a final life lesson.
"If they have something to say, say it. Not everyone's going to agree with you. But that doesn't make your point invalid or worthless. Tell your story," she said."
An open-minded teacher felt forced to resign. What a joke.
Dropout Feels Guilty Because He Became Financially Successful
"I earn around $140,000 a year. In my particular field I'm considered an expert. I've been awarded by the company that makes the product, and have written several books about it. And then was hired by that company to work on the product. I sound like a success, don't I? I never finished high school. I've never lied and said I did, I just always conveniently left that part of the application blank. Because of that, I feel like a fraud. A shyster. Like I really don't know anything at all - I should be working at an oil change place, or delivering pizzas, or anything else. I can't shake this feeling. I don't know if I'm good, or if I'm a good hustler."
I think it's funny how this person feels bad about defying the dropout stereotype. Schools tell dropouts that we're lazy and stupid failures, so when some dropout earns more money than a graduate, the former feels like they cheated the system.
The fact of the matter is that this system is broken in the first place. Just because you don't have a sheet of paper doesn't mean you cheated. It means you did something well without a sheet of paper saying you can do it.
Also related is how people underestimate the emphasis on these sheets of paper:
"How many times do people giddily point out that Bill Gates dropped out of college. If anything emphasis on a degree is taken far more seriously in the east."
Degrees and diplomas are on completely different levels. A college dropout gets less flak because college is where you go to specialize in some field (or they're advertised as such, anyway). Meanwhile, a high school dropout is made to seem like they never fully developed as an adult, like they never learned the basics. Many people, whether from the East or West, assume dropouts can barely even read or write. I'm sure you've heard it all before. "That guy only has an 8th grade education." What does this even mean?
It's all designed to force us onto one path and one path only. If we all left school to find our own way, schools would be out of business and the job market would be further flooded by unemployed applicants, so they guilt trip us into staying. If you choose the "wrong" path anyway and end up for the better, then good, fuck them.
All quotes were taken from this thread.
"IQ Tests Exclude Part of What I Consider Intelligence"
The following is quoted from an article by psychologist Bruce Levine:
In graduate school, psychologists receive training in administering, scoring and evaluating intelligence tests. I immediately noticed that these IQ tests excluded a good part of what I considered intelligence. On the most respected IQ tests, there were no tasks that assessed someone's ability to read between the lines, see truth beyond obfuscation, and detect bullshit. Ernest Hemingway said,
"The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in, shockproof shit detector." I had always thought that such a "shockproof shit detector" was a significant aspect of intelligence -- but not according to these IQ tests.
In 1994 Richard Herrnstein, another Harvard psychologist, co-authored The Bell Curve, an influential book celebrating the value of these intelligence tests. Herrnstein wrote, "The identification of IQ with attractive human qualities in general is unfortunate and wrong. ... For example, a person can have a terrific sense of humor without giving you a clue about where he is within thirty points on the IQ scale. ... Many witty people do not have unusually high test scores."
Thus, if we trust this Harvard psychologist, we conclude that Jon Stewart as well as George Carlin, Richard Pryor and Mark Twain could all conceivably have low IQs and be classified as unintelligent.
In graduate school, psychologists receive training in administering, scoring and evaluating intelligence tests. I immediately noticed that these IQ tests excluded a good part of what I considered intelligence. On the most respected IQ tests, there were no tasks that assessed someone's ability to read between the lines, see truth beyond obfuscation, and detect bullshit. Ernest Hemingway said,
"The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in, shockproof shit detector." I had always thought that such a "shockproof shit detector" was a significant aspect of intelligence -- but not according to these IQ tests.
In 1994 Richard Herrnstein, another Harvard psychologist, co-authored The Bell Curve, an influential book celebrating the value of these intelligence tests. Herrnstein wrote, "The identification of IQ with attractive human qualities in general is unfortunate and wrong. ... For example, a person can have a terrific sense of humor without giving you a clue about where he is within thirty points on the IQ scale. ... Many witty people do not have unusually high test scores."
Thus, if we trust this Harvard psychologist, we conclude that Jon Stewart as well as George Carlin, Richard Pryor and Mark Twain could all conceivably have low IQs and be classified as unintelligent.
I'll Be Happy When...
This video is about how people tend to think they'll be happier once they graduate highschool, but end up miserable in college. Then they believe they'll be happier after college, and so on.
I think most of us figure this loop out eventually, some fortunately sooner than later. What I wanted to discuss is whether or not happiness is all it's cracked up to be.
When I am angry or depressed, I lift weights or something and end up stronger. Meanwhile, other people swallow drugs/alcohol and waste their negativity. I believe that is a mistake. Unhappiness exists for a reason. If we were happy all the time, we wouldn't appreciate it, let alone accomplish anything of value. It's a yin and yang type of thing.
I guess the question is whether or not happiness is an attainable goal. You'll either never reach it, or it will eventually end, and you'd end up chasing the same goal after it's been taken away. Like pushing up a boulder while it's rolling down the mountain. You'll be stuck in the same spot until you give out.
Sounds like a waste of time. Just do whatever you want to do. If you're happy or sad along the way, embrace it. Unhappiness is what drove humanity to build all our comforts and convenience. The destination of happiness is negligible. It's what we do to get there that matters, and personally, sitting in a classroom doesn't seem like it'd cause a cataclysmic improvement.
When I am angry or depressed, I lift weights or something and end up stronger. Meanwhile, other people swallow drugs/alcohol and waste their negativity. I believe that is a mistake. Unhappiness exists for a reason. If we were happy all the time, we wouldn't appreciate it, let alone accomplish anything of value. It's a yin and yang type of thing.
I guess the question is whether or not happiness is an attainable goal. You'll either never reach it, or it will eventually end, and you'd end up chasing the same goal after it's been taken away. Like pushing up a boulder while it's rolling down the mountain. You'll be stuck in the same spot until you give out.
Sounds like a waste of time. Just do whatever you want to do. If you're happy or sad along the way, embrace it. Unhappiness is what drove humanity to build all our comforts and convenience. The destination of happiness is negligible. It's what we do to get there that matters, and personally, sitting in a classroom doesn't seem like it'd cause a cataclysmic improvement.
"Hate is good as any to keep a person going, better than most."
Society's Coercion and Mental Health
Unengaging employment and schooling require all kinds of coercions
for participation, and human beings pay a psychological price for this.
In nearly three decades of clinical practice, I have found that coercion
is often the source of suffering.
Here’s one situation that I’ve seen hundreds of times. An intelligent young child or teenager has been underachieving in standard school, and has begun to have emotional and/or behavioral problems. Such a child often feels coerced by standard schooling to pay attention to that which is boring for them, to do homework for which they see no value, and to stay inside a building that feels sterile and suffocating. Depending on the child’s temperament, this coercion results in different outcomes—none of them good.
Some of these kids get depressed and anxious. They worry that their lack of attention and interest will result in dire life consequences. They believe authorities’ admonitions that if they do poorly in school, they will be “flipping burgers for the rest of their lives.” It is increasingly routine for doctors to medicate these anxious and depressed kids with antidepressants and other psychiatric drugs.
Other inattentive kids are unworried. They don’t take seriously either their schooling or admonitions from authorities, and they feel justified in resisting coercion. Their rebellion is routinely labeled by mental health professionals as “acting out,” and they are diagnosed with oppositional defiant disorder or conduct disorder. Their parents often attempt punishments, which rarely work to break these kids’ resistance. Parents become frustrated and resentful that their child is causing them stress. Their child feels this parental frustration and resentment, and often experiences it as their parents not liking them. And so these kids stop liking their parents, stop caring about their parents’ feelings, and seek peers whom they believe do like them, even if these peers are engaged in criminal behaviors.
In all societies, there are coercions to behave in culturally agreed upon ways. For example, in many indigenous cultures, there is peer pressure to be courageous and honest. However, in modernity, we have institutional coercions that compel us to behave in ways that we do not respect or value. Parents, afraid their children will lack credentials necessary for employment, routinely coerce their children to comply with coercive schooling that was unpleasant for these parents as children. And though 70% of us hate or are disengaged from our jobs, we are coerced by the fear of poverty and homelessness to seek and maintain employment.
In our society, we are taught that accepting institutional coercion is required for survival. We discover a variety of ways—including drugs and alcohol—to deny resentment. We spend much energy denying the lethal effects of coercion on relationships. And, unlike many indigenous cultures, we spend little energy creating a society with minimal amount of coercion.
Accepting coercion as “a fact of life,” we often have little restraint in coercing others when given the opportunity. This opportunity can present itself when we find ourselves above others in an employment hierarchy and feel the safety of power; or after we have seduced our mate by being as noncoercive as possible and feel the safety of marriage. Marriages and other relationships go south in a hurry when one person becomes a coercive control freak; resentment quickly occurs in the other person, who then uses counter-coercive measures.
In the 1970s, prior to the domination of the biopsychiatry-Big Pharma partnership, many mental health professionals took seriously the impact of coercion and resentful relationships on mental health. And in a cultural climate more favorable than our current one for critical reflection of society, authors such as Erich Fromm, who addressed the relationship between society and mental health, were taken seriously even within popular culture. But then psychiatry went to bed with Big Pharma and its Big Money, and their partnership has helped bury the commonsense reality that an extremely coercive society creates enormous fear and resentment, which results in miserable marriages, unhappy families, and severe emotional and behavioral problems.
(Original article)
Here’s one situation that I’ve seen hundreds of times. An intelligent young child or teenager has been underachieving in standard school, and has begun to have emotional and/or behavioral problems. Such a child often feels coerced by standard schooling to pay attention to that which is boring for them, to do homework for which they see no value, and to stay inside a building that feels sterile and suffocating. Depending on the child’s temperament, this coercion results in different outcomes—none of them good.
Some of these kids get depressed and anxious. They worry that their lack of attention and interest will result in dire life consequences. They believe authorities’ admonitions that if they do poorly in school, they will be “flipping burgers for the rest of their lives.” It is increasingly routine for doctors to medicate these anxious and depressed kids with antidepressants and other psychiatric drugs.
Other inattentive kids are unworried. They don’t take seriously either their schooling or admonitions from authorities, and they feel justified in resisting coercion. Their rebellion is routinely labeled by mental health professionals as “acting out,” and they are diagnosed with oppositional defiant disorder or conduct disorder. Their parents often attempt punishments, which rarely work to break these kids’ resistance. Parents become frustrated and resentful that their child is causing them stress. Their child feels this parental frustration and resentment, and often experiences it as their parents not liking them. And so these kids stop liking their parents, stop caring about their parents’ feelings, and seek peers whom they believe do like them, even if these peers are engaged in criminal behaviors.
In all societies, there are coercions to behave in culturally agreed upon ways. For example, in many indigenous cultures, there is peer pressure to be courageous and honest. However, in modernity, we have institutional coercions that compel us to behave in ways that we do not respect or value. Parents, afraid their children will lack credentials necessary for employment, routinely coerce their children to comply with coercive schooling that was unpleasant for these parents as children. And though 70% of us hate or are disengaged from our jobs, we are coerced by the fear of poverty and homelessness to seek and maintain employment.
In our society, we are taught that accepting institutional coercion is required for survival. We discover a variety of ways—including drugs and alcohol—to deny resentment. We spend much energy denying the lethal effects of coercion on relationships. And, unlike many indigenous cultures, we spend little energy creating a society with minimal amount of coercion.
Accepting coercion as “a fact of life,” we often have little restraint in coercing others when given the opportunity. This opportunity can present itself when we find ourselves above others in an employment hierarchy and feel the safety of power; or after we have seduced our mate by being as noncoercive as possible and feel the safety of marriage. Marriages and other relationships go south in a hurry when one person becomes a coercive control freak; resentment quickly occurs in the other person, who then uses counter-coercive measures.
In the 1970s, prior to the domination of the biopsychiatry-Big Pharma partnership, many mental health professionals took seriously the impact of coercion and resentful relationships on mental health. And in a cultural climate more favorable than our current one for critical reflection of society, authors such as Erich Fromm, who addressed the relationship between society and mental health, were taken seriously even within popular culture. But then psychiatry went to bed with Big Pharma and its Big Money, and their partnership has helped bury the commonsense reality that an extremely coercive society creates enormous fear and resentment, which results in miserable marriages, unhappy families, and severe emotional and behavioral problems.
(Original article)
Businesses and Social Connections
"I am old enough to have learned how things work in the business world.
Whenever I took a hard look at how jobs are filled in companies, almost
all the middle to upper management were filled by.... close blood
relatives or inlaws of the person doing the hiring, political
connections, and females who look like porn stars, almost all the MEN
were stuck at the bottom of the organizational chart."
Sure, lots of businesses still care about academics at first glance, but trust me, connections matter just as much, if not more. A good word from someone important filters you out form the rest of the same old resumes. Being conventionally attractive helps too, but we all can't have that one.
Sure, lots of businesses still care about academics at first glance, but trust me, connections matter just as much, if not more. A good word from someone important filters you out form the rest of the same old resumes. Being conventionally attractive helps too, but we all can't have that one.
"Taller People Are Smarter," They Say
Study Finds Genetic Link Between Height and IQ
"A team of researchers at Edinburgh University in Scotland has found a correlation between genes associated with height and those associated with intelligence. In their paper published in the journal Behavior Genetics, the group describes how they studied the DNA of 6,815 unrelated people and discovered what they describe as a direct correlation between height and intelligence—taller people are smarter, they say."
Read more . . .
Here's a comment from where I found this study (supportfortheshort.org): "So if you're looking for a MENSA or even just a plain old rocket scientist, all you have to do is try the NBA, the NFL or the WWE. The talent is "immeasurable."
I will say it's convenient how race and gender override IQ. For example, one cannot claim women or some other country is inferior (even though they're shorter on average), because that would be politically incorrect.
There was even a time when people linked brains with race or gender and claimed it was genetic. Look at this clusterfuck Wikipedia page about race and intelligence, or the one for sex differences in intelligence. Why so much debate? Why of course, society got offended so they made countless studies until they're finally able to say it's all environment and not genetic. Height is just different though.
I've seen studies saying the link between height and IQ is actually nutrition, rather than the height itself, it's just that malnourished people are smaller. In other words, if you're genetically short, then your intelligence has nothing to do with height. Then there are the others simply stating taller is better. Either way, I guarantee claims like this being made about some other group would be met with more offense.
Since society equates intelligence not just with IQ but also academics, I'll leave you with a question like back in school: on average, would a 6'0 black woman be more intelligent than a 5'0 Asian man? I used the word clusterfuck already, but once we combine IQ with not just height, but also race and gender, now that's a mess.
If you want my views on IQ itself, I concur with what psychologist Bruce Levine thinks: "IQ Tests Exclude Part of What I Consider Intelligence."
Dropout Revolutionizes Menstrual Health In Developing Countries
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26260978
A school dropout from a poor family in southern India has revolutionized menstrual health for rural women in developing countries by inventing a simple machine they can use to make cheap sanitary pads.
"Luckily I'm not educated," he tells students. "If you act like an illiterate man, your learning will never stop... Being uneducated, you have no fear of the future."
His wife Shanthi agrees with him on this point. "If he had completed his education, he would be like any other guy, who works for someone else, who gets a daily wage," she says. "But because he did not complete school, he had the courage to come out to start a business of his own. Now he's employing other people."
That is one smart man right here.
Although there was one troubling part:
He created a "uterus" from a football bladder by punching a couple of holes in it, and filling it with goat's blood. He walked, cycled and ran with the football bladder under his traditional clothes, constantly pumping blood out to test his sanitary pad's absorption rates.
No, the football vajajay isn't what troubles me, that's pretty hilarious. It's this next part:
Everyone thought he'd gone mad. At the same time, his wife got fed up - and left.
"So you see God's sense of humour... I'd started the research for my wife and after 18 months she left me!"
It wasn't really about her leaving because he had gone mad, because she returned the moment he found success. He wasn't exactly clinically "crazy" nor abusive. I think she just didn't like how her husband's reputation fell.
What is with people leaving whenever others talk shit about their lover? It's like they're attracted to how their partner is perceived rather than the actual partner. This is probably the same reason lots of women only go after tall or rich guys. They just can't handle the negative gossip. "He's too weird, too poor, too short, etc."
A good wife would've stuck with that Indian man, because even though women were the ones who needed pads, he humiliated himself for their sake. 18 months isn't an impressive loyalty record in my book.
A school dropout from a poor family in southern India has revolutionized menstrual health for rural women in developing countries by inventing a simple machine they can use to make cheap sanitary pads.
"Luckily I'm not educated," he tells students. "If you act like an illiterate man, your learning will never stop... Being uneducated, you have no fear of the future."
His wife Shanthi agrees with him on this point. "If he had completed his education, he would be like any other guy, who works for someone else, who gets a daily wage," she says. "But because he did not complete school, he had the courage to come out to start a business of his own. Now he's employing other people."
That is one smart man right here.
Although there was one troubling part:
He created a "uterus" from a football bladder by punching a couple of holes in it, and filling it with goat's blood. He walked, cycled and ran with the football bladder under his traditional clothes, constantly pumping blood out to test his sanitary pad's absorption rates.
No, the football vajajay isn't what troubles me, that's pretty hilarious. It's this next part:
Everyone thought he'd gone mad. At the same time, his wife got fed up - and left.
"So you see God's sense of humour... I'd started the research for my wife and after 18 months she left me!"
It wasn't really about her leaving because he had gone mad, because she returned the moment he found success. He wasn't exactly clinically "crazy" nor abusive. I think she just didn't like how her husband's reputation fell.
What is with people leaving whenever others talk shit about their lover? It's like they're attracted to how their partner is perceived rather than the actual partner. This is probably the same reason lots of women only go after tall or rich guys. They just can't handle the negative gossip. "He's too weird, too poor, too short, etc."
A good wife would've stuck with that Indian man, because even though women were the ones who needed pads, he humiliated himself for their sake. 18 months isn't an impressive loyalty record in my book.
Ditch the Baby Rules In School
"We want kids to be safe and to look after them, but we end up wrapping them in cotton wool when in fact they should be able to fall over."
The link is about a school which scaled back its physical rules on the playground, which I think is a fine idea.
It's better to let loose safely and frequently, rather than pent everything up and explode into a brawl. The latter is what happens when you forbid kids from playing and sit them down at a desk for hours. Those who are energetic eventually do something foolish when they aren't allowed to go crazy, and by "crazy" I don't mean bouncing balls in PE class. I mean climbing trees and wrestling in pits, activities which aren't allowed in most schools.
It's better to let loose safely and frequently, rather than pent everything up and explode into a brawl. The latter is what happens when you forbid kids from playing and sit them down at a desk for hours. Those who are energetic eventually do something foolish when they aren't allowed to go crazy, and by "crazy" I don't mean bouncing balls in PE class. I mean climbing trees and wrestling in pits, activities which aren't allowed in most schools.
This also reminded me of how I got sent to the principal's office for messing around with my friends in elementary. We occasionally gave each other little shoves and jabs, but I was usually unlucky, for there was always a teacher behind me who made it seem like I was murdering my pals. If I wanted to fight any kid when I was younger, they would be crippled or dead by now. Even after explaining how my buddies and I weren't serious, they would punish me anyway "because rules."
Either the staff think kids can't roll on grass without dying, or they simply want to get as many students in trouble as possible, essentially making a serious deal out of nothing because they crave school drama.
"Oh, you gave your best friend a smack on the arm? I, the righteous guardian of children, cast you to the principal's office!"
I see what these control freaks are doing, and they can fuck right off with their mollycoddling.
Considering how schools are fine with students being drugged up on Ritalin and anti-depressants, I doubt they really care about the well-being of their youth. They're just afraid of lawsuits if a child gets injured, but that's the paranoid attitude which is ruining childhood fun these days. Quit worrying about what may or may not happen and let kids be kids.
I see what these control freaks are doing, and they can fuck right off with their mollycoddling.
Considering how schools are fine with students being drugged up on Ritalin and anti-depressants, I doubt they really care about the well-being of their youth. They're just afraid of lawsuits if a child gets injured, but that's the paranoid attitude which is ruining childhood fun these days. Quit worrying about what may or may not happen and let kids be kids.
Pedantic
There's nothing wrong with focusing on the details, but someone who is pedantic makes a big display of knowing obscure facts and details. Pedantic means "like a pedant," someone who's
too concerned with literal accuracy or formality. It's a negative term
that implies someone is showing off book learning or trivia, especially
in a tiresome way. - Source
This describes half of the academic types back in school.
This describes half of the academic types back in school.
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