Warp wrote:
>   I think your comparison is not very relevant. You are basically comparing
> the cultural backgrounds of person who have grown in a western civilization
> to that of a bushman who has grown in the jungle.

Yes. I was just describing an example I read of how something that might 
*seem* to be a purely mathematical and culture-free question might actually 
assume some culture after all.

> or heck, that you can *see*).

I wouldn't call blindness a cultural problem. ;-)

> name of the 50th state. 

Heck, I was in Alaska, in a restaurant with Alaska paraphenalia plastered 
all over the walls, including a newspaper page with the headline "Alaska 
admitted to the Union!" and I asked the waitress whether Alaska was #49 or 
#50, and she didn't know. :-)

>   As I have been saying, the solution to that problem isn't dumbing down
> aptitude tests. That's one of the worst possible solutions.

I agree with most of what you say, yes.  Making it easier for losers to 
accomplish should be done by making losers into winners, not by rewarding 
loserness.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   Forget "focus follows mouse." When do
   I get "focus follows gaze"?

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