[kmann]

Nothing magical about it, it's fundamental. I'll find the reseach and provide it for you when time permits.

[Dreamtwister]

Paraphrase: "I'm not nationalistic, but everybody else's country sucks."

Wow, and I thought we were making progress.

[midnight-gamer]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'Y')ou think you're not "scientifically ignorant"?

Try taking Gideon's Science Quiz . . .

[Heineken]

Gideon: I apologize for my earlier, nasty post. I was in a bad mood this morning when I wrote it. Again, truly sorry.

[th1nk3r]

Gideon, i liked your test ('cause i scored a 21), but i must say i do not understand your particular dislike for a state school system. I mean, I would suppose you oppose it on principle and all, since you're a fan of Ayn Rand. But you can't say that such a system couldn't work, and work very well. I am the product of such a school system, infact it was a communist one. In my class of 25, i estimate that at least 22 of us would have scored 18 or better on your test.

On a different topic, your posts seem to express very contradictory ideas. You cite "moving the world toward a time when killing each other isn’t a normal reaction to disagreement" on your list of things that count, yet you resort to some of the worst name-calling when confronted with different ideas and principles from your own. On a discussion forum, such verbal violence is infact the intellectual equivalent of a killer attitude. It baffles me how you can expect to both get away with your dismissive attitude towards anyone who isn't you fellow libertard and at the same time appear as an open-minded, educated person.

[nocar]

Most Nobel prizes in science go to Americans. Europeans (and perhaps the rest of the world too) are very jealous about that.

Yet the US seems to have a very high proportion of their population quite ignorant about science and also about other countries. (Possible also in other areas that I have not been able to observe)

It seems to me that the USA is outstanding in its degree of inequality, in knowledge as well as in income and wealth.

nocar

[EndOfSewers]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Torjus', 'Y')ou are right, but that ancestor could probably be classified as an ape, couldn't it?

[EndOfSewers]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Dreamtwister', 'T')he reason textbook regurgitation is bad, is because it doesn't necessarily require understanding of the subject matter.

[bshirt]

Gideon;

wow...what a post!

I completely agree with 98% of your huge post and wish you the best. "Daycare dumpers"....sounds appropriate to me. Yep, boldly speaking the truth as you see it has a lot going for it. Jesus pissed off boatloads of people all the time and even completely lost his cool with bankers. Same with Emerson, Bacon and just about anybody who thought for themselves.

But no violence whatsover? ACIM? Boy, that's a rough row to hoe. I don't know if I agree but I surely again wish you the best. Maybe some higher spiritual powers will cover your six. Hope so!

[EndOfSewers]

My point was that regurgitation != comprehension, and that multiple choice exams that don't require the student to work out the answer are useless. Obviously my approach wouldn't have been much use with an engineering or math exam. But in a lot of subjects you can pass a multiple choice exam with nothing but a cursory knowledge of the subject matter and the ability to read the question carefully and discard the red herrings amongst the answers.

[Tyler_JC]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ElijahJones', '
')
And what you said is true in many disciplines. Now extrapolate the effect into the overall intellectual quality of American life >>>>>>> we all have bachelors degreess now, they are treated like nothing almost without internships and recommendations from proven professionals. Hell a high school diploma from Japan is worth more than some of our associates degrees.

[th1nk3r]

Gideon, i have about one page of comments for every phrase in your reply to my post, but i'll keep those comments for myself I will just say some things that need to be said so you can better understand where my previous message was coming from. You seem to think that i was accusing you of something, which is totally not the case. I was just making a neutral observation. Your verbal violence does not bother me one bit, because i am emotionally detached from any of my intellectual battles. Your passion actually helps me understand you better, which in every argument, like in war, is the key to winning the debate.

However, since i am only a lurker, it is natural for me to try and correct the things about this forum which make an impact on its quality. That is the only reason why i brought up your behavior. i would like to see more rational dialogue and less passionate name-calling. Although the latter does not affect me, it tends to get in the way of clever ideas being put on the table, which is what waisting my time to read internet fora is all about.

Oh, and being an anarcho-communist myself, i like pissing off libertarians just for fun, especially the ones i appreciate most. You know, its like with pre-teen kids... she may not know it, but the fact that you pulled her hair means she's the girl you like

And no, English is not my native language, and it was quite tabu in the Eastern Bloc at the time i entered school, so as a result i learned to speak french (from school) and italian (from tv) before i ever knew a word of it. Fortunately, i'm young enough that by the time i got to fifth grade and started learning the second foreign language, they finally dropped Russian from the curricula. Looking in retrospect, Russian and Mandarin would have been easier to learn at a young age, leaving English for later, because my mom started learning English at 47 and she did pretty well.

[Lighthouse]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('bshirt', 'N')ot to mention Darwin's evolution theory is just that, a theory.

For these pollsters to claim ignorance of the population for not 100% buying mankind evolved from apes is total bullshit.

[kestrel91316]

I think 28% is generous.

Furthermore, from what I can tell, the 72% are perfectly HAPPY in their scientific illiteracy. They prefer being stupid, and have NO INTELLECTUAL CURIOSITY whatsoever.