For what it's worth, if the biggest education problem we were facing was too much money for Girls' Softball was being siphoned off to Boys' Football (American), we wouldn't be having this discussion.
Who gets to decide whether a Department or a law failed in its intent or not?
Well, can we discuss what we're shooting for?
If what we're looking for is stuff like "our purpose is to provide union jobs to middle class people", we can look at this or that school and say "we are succeeding!" or "we are failing!"
And if the goal is something like "We want 39% of our students to be able to pass a literacy test", we can see if we've got 40% or more or if, seriously, literacy is a very difficult concept and can we really say that a person is "illiterate" (a slur, by the way) just because they aren't good at taking Scantron tests? We shouldn't be judging people on whether they are good at reading Harry Potter books and JK Rowling is a bigot and I don't know why you're in such of a hurry to sell more of her books to vulnerable children.
Gary Tan is talking about California's attempt to force California's universities to water down math standards here.
I mean, if your goal is to get more people accepted to college and more people to graduate from college, making it so that you don't have to know algebra to get into/graduate from college will open doors for the millions who can't do algebra.
But then you go back and wonder "why did we want college graduates?"
And part of it had to do with needing a quick and dirty way to signal "this person is capable of doing algebra".
So in answer to the question "Don't you want more college graduates?", my answer is "yes, but no."
Seems almost inappropriate for me to say that this was an awesome post.
The whole "the purpose of a system is what it does" criticism has, itself, a number of criticisms but it makes sense to look at what a system actually accomplishes and then say something like "a jobs program with zero deliverables? Is that really what we wanted to end up with?"
I'm 100% down with improving education for everybody. Universal literacy! Cuba pulled it off! We should be able to pull it off! Let's look at the trendlines over the last few decades.
A couple of co-workers made noises about joining the Freemasons (and one bugged me to join as well) and after I explained the whole "atheism" thing being a blocker, I did some quick and dirty research into various other fraternal organizations here in town.
You know, the Elks, the Lions, the Eagles... I put together a handful of paragraphs about the history of each one and talked about when they met and how we'd likely be the youngest people there and... well, it fizzled out shortly thereafter.
None have the cachet of the Masons, I guess. (It's one thing to set up for a spaghetti dinner, quite another to assassinate politicians and get away with it.)
As an American, I hear the name "Pierbattista Pizzaballa" and I hope that it's him because I want to talk about Pope Pizzaballa for the next couple of decades.
If the answer is “No, not at freakin’ all!”, then that leads us to a handful of places.
If the answer is something like “well, we should have expectations of a certain amount of tolerance on their part… they can move here but they should know that homosexuality is okay here and homophobia should be left back in their shitty little country”, that’s another thing.
And if the answer is something like Denmark’s harsh laws for immigrant ghettos, that’s another thing entirely.
I'm not saying that you should pick "the other side" over "your side".
If you can't comprehend how someone else might have a different conclusion than the one that is so freakin' obvious to you, I may be able to shed a little light, however.
The Pro-Palestinian left is fairly easy to understand.
Here are some pictures of bombed buildings in Palestine. Here is a picture of a dead person. Here is a picture of a dead child. They were both killed by Israeli bombs. They weren't even Hamas. They were picking flowers for relatives that had died recently and were singing poetry from Palestinian poets when the bombs hit them.
I don't think that the issue is that they're expected to support it, it's that, if one may generalize, they're categorized as having been pretty strong supporters of multiculturalism for a good long while now.
(Yes, yes, not all Jews, etc.)
If your complaint is that too many immigrants are intolerant and haven't sufficiently assimilated into their host culture, well... Okay. That opinion has been floating around out there for a while now.
I imagine you're familiar with the counter-arguments to it.
If you insist on a comment that is somewhat more straightforward, I'll point to something I said back in 2020:
To what extent should we expect immigrants to assimilate?
If the answer is “No, not at freakin’ all!”, then that leads us to a handful of places.
If the answer is something like “well, we should have expectations of a certain amount of tolerance on their part… they can move here but they should know that homosexuality is okay here and homophobia should be left back in their shitty little country”, that’s another thing.
And if the answer is something like Denmark’s harsh laws for immigrant ghettos, that’s another thing entirely.
To what extent ought we expect immigrants to assimilate into their new culture?
And, golly gee, wouldn't it have been swell to hammer that particular point out *PRIOR* to millions and millions moving in?
The brie and apple one is positively divine. I don't want to say that it's my favorite, lest I indicate that I'd be disappointed with one of the others.
But if you haven't tried it, it's very much worth looking for while you're in the freezer aisle.
On “The Department of Good Things”
For what it's worth, if the biggest education problem we were facing was too much money for Girls' Softball was being siphoned off to Boys' Football (American), we wouldn't be having this discussion.
On “Open Mic for the Week of 5/5/2025”
Luigi Mangione's defense team is arguing that Mangione's backpack was searched illegally.
If this holds up, then the 3D-printed gun, fake IDs, and silencer become inadmissable!
Good news for fans of Luigi.
On “The Department of Good Things”
Who gets to decide whether a Department or a law failed in its intent or not?
Well, can we discuss what we're shooting for?
If what we're looking for is stuff like "our purpose is to provide union jobs to middle class people", we can look at this or that school and say "we are succeeding!" or "we are failing!"
And if the goal is something like "We want 39% of our students to be able to pass a literacy test", we can see if we've got 40% or more or if, seriously, literacy is a very difficult concept and can we really say that a person is "illiterate" (a slur, by the way) just because they aren't good at taking Scantron tests? We shouldn't be judging people on whether they are good at reading Harry Potter books and JK Rowling is a bigot and I don't know why you're in such of a hurry to sell more of her books to vulnerable children.
"
Gary Tan is talking about California's attempt to force California's universities to water down math standards here.
I mean, if your goal is to get more people accepted to college and more people to graduate from college, making it so that you don't have to know algebra to get into/graduate from college will open doors for the millions who can't do algebra.
But then you go back and wonder "why did we want college graduates?"
And part of it had to do with needing a quick and dirty way to signal "this person is capable of doing algebra".
So in answer to the question "Don't you want more college graduates?", my answer is "yes, but no."
"
Seems almost inappropriate for me to say that this was an awesome post.
The whole "the purpose of a system is what it does" criticism has, itself, a number of criticisms but it makes sense to look at what a system actually accomplishes and then say something like "a jobs program with zero deliverables? Is that really what we wanted to end up with?"
I'm 100% down with improving education for everybody. Universal literacy! Cuba pulled it off! We should be able to pull it off! Let's look at the trendlines over the last few decades.
Oh no. Oh no no no.
On “Open Mic for the Week of 5/5/2025”
A couple of co-workers made noises about joining the Freemasons (and one bugged me to join as well) and after I explained the whole "atheism" thing being a blocker, I did some quick and dirty research into various other fraternal organizations here in town.
You know, the Elks, the Lions, the Eagles... I put together a handful of paragraphs about the history of each one and talked about when they met and how we'd likely be the youngest people there and... well, it fizzled out shortly thereafter.
None have the cachet of the Masons, I guess. (It's one thing to set up for a spaghetti dinner, quite another to assassinate politicians and get away with it.)
"
As an American, I hear the name "Pierbattista Pizzaballa" and I hope that it's him because I want to talk about Pope Pizzaballa for the next couple of decades.
On “Open Mic for the Week of 4/28/2025”
If the answer is “No, not at freakin’ all!”, then that leads us to a handful of places.
If the answer is something like “well, we should have expectations of a certain amount of tolerance on their part… they can move here but they should know that homosexuality is okay here and homophobia should be left back in their shitty little country”, that’s another thing.
And if the answer is something like Denmark’s harsh laws for immigrant ghettos, that’s another thing entirely.
On “Open Mic for the Week of 5/5/2025”
I hope the left does a better job of welcoming that incel energy than the right did.
What's your thoughts on the best ways to welcome them into the big tent?
"
In this week's "we're all going to die" news, Mark Zuckerberg explains that AI will be able to help friendships in the future. "The average American has 3 friends, but has demand for 15."
I hung out with buddies on Saturday. Two of them, not three.
I've got some ideas about how we'd have incorporated a fourth person into the soirée but none for how we'd have incorporated an AI. Or a dozen.
Maybe he means "after you hung out, you could go home and talk to Alexa about hanging out with your buddies."
On “Open Mic for the Week of 4/28/2025”
Our culture is the natural enemy of Judaism?
"
Well, I ain't the guy complaining about it and expressing incredulity that it happened.
"
It’s not that I don’t understand these conclusions, it’s that I don’t agree with them.
Do you understand that I was speaking to someone who used the following phrases:
"I don’t get it."
"I just don’t get this level of willing blindness."
"
I'm not saying that you should pick "the other side" over "your side".
If you can't comprehend how someone else might have a different conclusion than the one that is so freakin' obvious to you, I may be able to shed a little light, however.
"
Well, at least you'll get to enjoy the benefits that come from being white.
Have you tried shawarma? It's really good.
On “US Department of Education Announces that it is Restarting Loan Collection”
The 5th is today.
On “Open Mic for the Week of 4/28/2025”
The Pro-Palestinian left is fairly easy to understand.
Here are some pictures of bombed buildings in Palestine. Here is a picture of a dead person. Here is a picture of a dead child. They were both killed by Israeli bombs. They weren't even Hamas. They were picking flowers for relatives that had died recently and were singing poetry from Palestinian poets when the bombs hit them.
Here is an interview with a crying woman.
Is your heart so hardened that you are unmoved?
"
I don't think that the issue is that they're expected to support it, it's that, if one may generalize, they're categorized as having been pretty strong supporters of multiculturalism for a good long while now.
(Yes, yes, not all Jews, etc.)
If your complaint is that too many immigrants are intolerant and haven't sufficiently assimilated into their host culture, well... Okay. That opinion has been floating around out there for a while now.
I imagine you're familiar with the counter-arguments to it.
"
What did you think "multiculturalism" meant?
Vibes? Papers? Essays?
If you insist on a comment that is somewhat more straightforward, I'll point to something I said back in 2020:
To what extent ought we expect immigrants to assimilate into their new culture?
And, golly gee, wouldn't it have been swell to hammer that particular point out *PRIOR* to millions and millions moving in?
"
Maybe the LGBT group should do a better job of respecting London's culture.
On “Weekend Plans Post: Found a New Dinner to Add to the Rotation”
The brie and apple one is positively divine. I don't want to say that it's my favorite, lest I indicate that I'd be disappointed with one of the others.
But if you haven't tried it, it's very much worth looking for while you're in the freezer aisle.
On “Open Mic for the Week of 4/28/2025”
I've heard rumors of the IBS conventions but I think that the people talking about them were full of crap.
On “A Backlash Is Coming”
My main thought when looking at the title is "we're already in one".
Followed by "we've *BEEN* in one."
On “POETS Day! Things from William Carlos Williams”
One I wrote back in 2016:
I have eaten
the chickens
that were beside
the red wheelbarrow
forgive me
so much depended
upon them
On “Weekend Plans Post: Found a New Dinner to Add to the Rotation”
If you know what kind of dogs she has, maybe a driver cover with that type of dog on it?
If your budget is only $20 or so, golf balls.