Winston who?

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Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 9:48 pm

Nice to see that the public education in the UK is just as bad as it is here in the US. I thought that we were the only country mass producing numpties. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,328088,00.html

Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 9:54 pm

As mush as I think the link is interesting, I have to disagree with your remark about American education systems. does the phrase "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't male him drink." ring a bell?

Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 9:57 pm

^^ That's assuming the horse is being led to the water. Rolling Eyes

I'm glad we aren't the only one w/ a jacked up education system, but fear the consquences of a global trend. Shocked

Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 9:59 pm

@ thefife

Then based on what you said, the fault lies with the parents as well as the teachers.

Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 10:04 pm

Shit! I'm sorry I even brought this up.

Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 10:05 pm

To quote Susan StoHelit

Quote:

Sometimes I really think people ought to have to pass a proper exam before they're allowed to be parents. Not just the practical.

Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 10:11 pm

Risking getting away from the intended point of the thread...there's plenty of blame to go around. There's basically a systemic problem w/ many levels of breakdown in educational, social, political, & economic systems that are basically too complicated to thoroughly discuss within the confines of this post. And also is verging on breaking the forum rules since such a discussion would most likely be couched in ideological belief systems and thought patterns. I don't have the statistical data on hand, but speaking from experience.

Anyway, glad to know we're not the only dummies on the planet! Thumbs up

Edit: @YW That will teach you won't it.

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Mar 2007 Posts: 2628

I'm not surprised that some people believe that Sherlock Holmes is real and Winston Churchill is made up.
Come on, guys.
What forum are we on?

Some people really believe they've won the lottery or that theres oodles of money waitng to get smuggled into their account

And Susan StoHelit had a very valid point

edit to change make to made Embarassed

Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 10:20 pm

Back on topic...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0359078/

If you liked the Comic Strip GLC and The Strike all those moons ago, this'll tickle you - some people get it, others don't, but a better film than the reviews say to my mind Smile

Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 10:34 pm

thefife wrote:

... there's plenty of blame to go around. ...

I blame it on the fact those people are humans, a large portion of which are pretty stupid. Everywhere and at all times.

Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 10:38 pm

@KD Isn't it common knowledge humans are stupid? I mean not in the US & apparently the UK where the stupidity has reached epic proportions, but in other places. Smart places. It's a wonder the species is not extinct right now.

Western Union · Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 10:38 pm

�Surveys� like these aren�t worth the paper they�re written on. Companies commission them with built-in bias to engineer the results they want, then release the findings to try and get a free mention in the media. Since when is a repeats TV channel an authority on education? And the Mail are notorious for printing these sort of foaming-at-the-mouth, aren�t-the-youth-of-today-awful articles. Meanwhile UKTV Gold get a mention on Fox News of all places.

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 1:25 am

kleindoofy wrote:

I blame it on the fact those people are humans, a large portion of which are pretty stupid. Everywhere and at all times.

Yes, KD, approximately 50% of all the people are below median intelligence Shocked

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 1:32 am

^^^^^

It's the mean that has me worried.

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 1:55 am

KD: Isn't the mean an IQ of 100 though?

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 2:56 am

^^^^ Yes. 70 is considered near demented, 140 near genius.

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 2:56 am

The statistics say that 68% of people fall within one standard deviation of the mean on an IQ exam. That translated to 34% on the 100 up to 119 and 34% will score 100 down to 85. see here http://www.wilderdom.com/intelligence/IQWhatScoresMean.html

Awww, it would take too long to explain, sorry, carry on...

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 4:53 am

75% of statistics are made up, or is it 60%?

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 5:40 am

I agree Mr. Fishe. Figures don't lie, but liars know how to figure!

Even in that most mythical of all hobgoblins, the "unbiased survey", you'll see a line of print somewhere at the end that goes like "Results were compiled from several different respondents over different times at different places. These results can be considered accurate within +/- 2.5%, 9 times out of 20"

Same thing as when you read about the same event printed in 2 different newspapers with conflicting ideologies, or when you hear opposing political parties release press statements on the same set of facts.

"I've never lied in my life. But I can make the truth look like a pretzel." - A lawyer-friend of mine.

That's one of my favourite quotes!

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 2:09 pm

Ex wrote:

As mush as I think the link is interesting, I have to disagree with your remark about American education systems. does the phrase "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't male him drink." ring a bell?

I know I'm being a jerk here, but I cannot help it. Normally I wouldn't point out such a silly mistake. But the context of this is priceless. I'm pretty surprised that no one else here caught that.

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Mar 2007 Posts: 2628

You guys have been awfully restrained.
Nobody commented on my Churchill being "make up"
A shade of lipstick?

On education-
Only those who want to will learn. The others will just muck about no matter the calibre of the teaching staff.

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 3:42 pm

kleindoofy wrote:

^^^^ Yes. 70 is considered near demented, 140 near genius.

Wait, so I'm a near genuis?

Thank you.

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 4:12 pm

kleindoofy wrote:

^^^^ Yes. 70 is considered near demented, 140 near genius.

Wait so I AM a genius?

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 4:31 pm

beening the step father of a teacher . (state teacher of the year a couple years ago infact)( just being a proud dad here) the biggest prob is a overly PC world with under funding of programs, and elimanation of meny others because of the dumbing down of are socity (eye spel gud) and the liberal mind set IE grades are bad they hurt your feelings because you get compared to others and if they have better grades it could emotionly scar you for life. we need to go back to the good old basics the 3 R's ( i know i know only one of those words start with a R)

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 4:53 pm

Mr Fishe wrote:

�Surveys� like these aren�t worth the paper they�re written on. Companies commission them with built-in bias

I worked for a PR agency for a couple of years. Surveys were made up by the boss, his wife and some 20something girls sat around a table on a Monday morning, the rest of the week was spent on the phone finding people who gave a sh*t enough to print it.

I was there when they made up a survey that found men who help with the ironing make better lovers, on behalf of a ironing board cover manufacturer. Of course the Sun picked that one up, next they were debating it on the radio. I was so tempted to ring up and say I was there when it was made up, but it would have cost me my job, and the lie was much more fun to believe.

If you see a survey that says 'Lard Is Good For You!', the smallprint will reveal that it was commissioned by the British Fat Council, or somesuch.

The Daily Mail gets off on 'The Country Is Going To Hell In A Handcart! (driven by Henri Paul)' headlines anyway, and I would never believe anything on Faux News on a point of principle.