patrick.net

^^ I'd really like to see the conversation wherein a producer agreed to this idiocy.

I couldn't imagine a better parody of the insanity within today's regressive left.

I've always felt our culture works against us. Math & science are strongly associated with being a nerd, which has negative connotations tied to it. Some people have enough self confidence to be proud & exclaim that they're a nerd, but most people feel it's a label they don't want attached to themselves, and so they avoid any behaviors that might lead to someone calling them one - and that means avoiding math, science, and sometimes just plain using your head.

How many times have you heard someone on TV disclaim themselves before doing a tiny bit of math? Like: "Hang tight folks, we're gonna get a little nerdy for a moment - $4 a day times 5 days a week times 52 weeks per year times 10 years = $10,400".

It's sad that someone ballpark-estimating how much they spend on Starbucks feels the need to disclaim themselves before they do some extremely basic math. Children pick up on these cues, and it affects them.

CBOEtrader says

^^ I'd really like to see the conversation wherein a producer agreed to this idiocy.

I couldn't imagine a better parody of the insanity within today's regressive left.

The thing is 90% of the people cringe, including liberals. So it's self correcting. We're not going to follow Canada's bill c-16.

goat says

I've always felt our culture works against us. Math & science are strongly associated with being a nerd

You have a point. But in public schools with enough academic diversity, that is with a high enough population of academically strong college bound students, many of the most respected cool kids are nerds. So you don't have that phenomenon.

But in low income and "inner city" areas, where too many kids are behind grade level, and long since not buying in to education as the best way out of poverty (parents not buying it either - in part because they are uneducated and think it's harder than it is (psychologically more complicated than that)), they don't have a critical mass of higher performing kids setting an example for the others.