Re: Mind's Eye Exams for schoolkids

Don has just repeated the parable of the grasshopper and ant. Francis
Bacon put the bee forward as an example of industry to follow - though
they actually spend a lot of time incumbent (snoozing). My grandson
is currently in grasshopper mode.

There's a lot to empathise with in Don's tale. I doubt government is
the prime redirector of our savings - this is what the crooked
financial sector does. The model is 'smuggling' - an activity that is
really about stealing tax.

I rather lie the industrious German model. The problem with
Merkelisation is you get so good at producing manufactures it makes no
sense for anyone else to make them and thus have anything worth
exchanging for them and lots of Germans hogging the pool and prime sun-
lounging sites. The old EU idea was that areas would focus on what
they were good at, achieving economies of scale and the diamond of
competitive advantage. These products would thus be swapped between
these amazingly efficient areas. You even hear idiots saying all our
food should be grown in Brazil because its cheaper there.

My question really concerns how much work we need to do in Don's
model. My guess is not much. In economic terms I wonder what could
be efficient about a financial sector doing more than just servicing
productive investment and being allowed to steal as though it was
government.

I must say I don't usually lump porridge, haggis and Gabby together in
my thoughts.

On 19 Sep, 09:11, Allan H <allanh1...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I was even reading that english is a variation of german,,  krauts are
> every where.. which is weird..
>
> what i don't like seeing is the wealth being pissed in to just a very few
> pockets and they don't even bother to pay taxes on the money it makes .
> Allan
>
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> On Wed, Sep 19, 2012 at 7:39 AM, Don Johnson <daj...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > So the Germans are responsible for Haggis as well as all the
> > rest? Figures...
>
> > I always liked the idea of unearned income. In fact, I've really been
> > looking forward to it and it's why I've saved and invested so assiduously
> > over the years. It angers me beyond telling to see my own government
> > pissing my hard earned savings down the toilet to "spread the wealth
> > around" to the multitudes that haven't bother to save a dime. It infuriates
> > me if you want to know the truth.
>
> > dj
>
> > On Tuesday, September 18, 2012 12:55:45 PM UTC-5, archytas wrote:
>
> >> They start earlier in Singapore Gabby.  We had the knowing-how/knowing
> >> what debate here once, but as you can imagine any attempt to say the
> >> Germans had beaten us to the verstahen was met with xenophobia and
> >> references to Hans bombing our chip shop.  Bildung sounds suspiciously
> >> Germanic here too, so we avoided that in favour of cop shows, soap
> >> opera, advertising and thinking it smart of equate Einstein with E =
> >> MC2.  Imagine my disappointment at all the hard work in learning
> >> German on finding a country with advertising soppier than our own!
>
> >> One of my smart nieces could handle spreadsheets at 8.  Many of my
> >> adult charges would be better off with the Alheretic Abacus.  You are
> >> right, of course.  Knowledge, like government, needs to be in the
> >> right hands under the right control.  No doubt if we design the
> >> control, the wrong people would then simply change to its new
> >> rhetoric, as the apparatchiks became entrepreneurchiks.
>
> >> One could design a spreadsheet that showed where human effort goes in
> >> a real time trickle and historic flood to the rich through unearned
> >> income.  We could tinker with it or the rich might use it as a modern
> >> Domesday Book (which shows the English were basically German - imagine
> >> my horror on discovering we Scots and even porridge are basically
> >> German too) and rip us off even more.  I suspect spreadsheet literacy
> >> (which isn't knowing Excel) could put an end to vapid political debate
> >> on such matters as the welfare drain and that financial services
> >> contribute to GDP.  Suspicious minds might wonder less on the vapidity
> >> of Leibniz's desire for a social calculus and more on the absence of
> >> an objective spreadsheet on wealth and its creation and the ever-
> >> presence on television economics of rich prats in City braces telling
> >> us to be thankful we can follow rich rocking horses about to pick
> >> crumbs from their droppings.
>
> >> On 17 Sep, 23:17, gabbydott <gabbyd...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >> > I agree that Wissen+Können should work hand in hand.
> >> > Yet I don't see why this should start as late as by the age of 14. I
> >> > imagine it's easier to handle the spreadsheets from that age onwards.
> >> > Each well-defined cell can then be accurately filled with the specific
> >> > content to generate the best future as desired. Immediate modification
> >> > option included and easily scalable.
>
> >> > On Mon, Sep 17, 2012 at 11:53 PM, archytas <nwte...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >> > > We'll have to convert you to carbon dioxide as a propellant Allan.
>
> >> > > At one point I used to do remedial maths with engineers.  I rarely
> >> got
> >> > > through.  In the course f a class I could shift most of the class to
> >> > > get stuff right, but they'd forget in a week.  These same people
> >> could
> >> > > perform reasonably well in jobs.  At higher academic levels I had
> >> > > people who could intercourse the inverse differential of Zarkian
> >> time-
> >> > > travel who couldn't boil and egg because they waited for the gas to
> >> > > come on without a match.
>
> >> > > We could almost do with a control group who don't do school so we
> >> > > could see if it really does make much difference.  I suspect a lot f
> >> > > it is learning to do what you are told in order to be employable
> >> doing
> >> > > just that.  My best students didn't learn much from me.
>
> >> > > On Sep 17, 7:14 pm, Allan H <allanh1...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >> > >> Kid are trained to read a book then answer questions based on what
> >> they
> >> > >> read. Unfortunately that is what and how they have been taught to
> >> learn.
> >> > >> Creating and even bigger problem..  the computer games are not any
> >> better
> >> > >> in creating creative learning.
>
> >> > >> I agree with you at 14 the education should split with 7 year more
> >> > >> training available for on going training ..  everything goes,,
> >>  maybe they
> >> > >> will create a trade in computer programming??  I think they put to
> >> much
> >> > >> garbage into the educational system.
> >> > >> Allan
>
> >> > >> On Mon, Sep 17, 2012 at 7:18 PM, archytas <nwte...@gmail.com>
> >> wrote:
> >> > >> > I'd like to see kids out of school at 14.  I'd give everyone 7
> >> years
> >> > >> > of further free training or education after that.
>
> >> > >> > In England we are admitting our GCSE exams were never worth spit
> >> and
> >> > >> > that coursework is a dud method.  I suspect what we aren't doing
> >> is
> >> > >> > admitting how useless education really is for most people.  Having
> >> > >> > kids in school so they can commune with each other and be minded
> >> until
> >> > >> > 14 is fair enough.  The few who can benefit from academic study
> >> need
> >> > >> > to be encouraged to both fit in with the rabble and be given the
> >> > >> > chance to establish learning fellowship amongst themselves.  Much
> >> of
> >> > >> > this could now be a university of the air.
>
> >> > >> > The plan in England is to go back to exams, strangely at 16 given
> >> the
> >> > >> > assertion school is to be forced on everyone until 18.  We had a
> >> plan
> >> > >> > for grammar schools, technical and secondary moderns once.  The
> >> > >> > current lunacy is really just a reversion to that.  Our grammar
> >> and
> >> > >> > public schools broadly taught dross about classics and empire.
>
> >> > >> > From what I see walking the dog, our schools fail to do much with
> >> most
> >> > >> > kids.  Litter is a big problem.  I tested three 101 classes for
> >> > >> > research purposes last year to see if any of them could write
> >> > >> > spreadsheet cells and do literature search.  That was 110 people
> >> and
> >> > >> > the results were zero.  Extending the test a bit into such matters
> >> as
> >> > >> > which are the world's largest manufacturers (some of these people
> >> have
> >> > >> > economics at A level) or the origins of world wars in trade and
> >> > >> > finance also zilch.
>
> >> > >> > In front of these know-littles was a 101 programme about learning
> >> a
> >> > >> > few chapters of books in order to answer questions based on them.
> >> > >> > Work makes more sense as education than this.
>
> >> > >> > --
>
> >> > >> --
> >> > >>  (
> >> > >>   )
> >> > >> |_D Allan
>
> >> > >> Life is for moral, ethical and truthful living.
>
> >> > >> I am a Natural Airgunner -
>
> >> > >>  Full of Hot Air & Ready To Expel It Quickly.
>
> >> > > --
>
> >  --
>
> --
>  (
>   )
> |_D Allan
>
> Life is for moral, ethical and truthful living.
>
> I am a Natural Airgunner -
>
>  Full of Hot Air & Ready To Expel It Quickly.

--