I hear that at many places in the United States (although I'm sure it's
not the only country in the world with this problem, but I get the
impression that it's one of the worst of its kind) boards of education
are often staffed by people who are completely illiterate in terms of
science and education. And it's precisely these people who decide what
is and isn't taught at schools. Apparently they get to those positions
for political reasons and because of a buddy system, not because they
would be the most competent for that position.

Thus you get things like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNspEpMK7FE

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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On 11/4/2012 1:30 AM, Warp wrote:
> I hear that at many places in the United States (although I'm sure it's
> not the only country in the world with this problem, but I get the
> impression that it's one of the worst of its kind) boards of education
> are often staffed by people who are completely illiterate in terms of
> science and education. And it's precisely these people who decide what
> is and isn't taught at schools. Apparently they get to those positions
> for political reasons and because of a buddy system, not because they
> would be the most competent for that position.
>
> Thus you get things like this:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNspEpMK7FE
>
Yeah, sadly, they have no qualifications, often, other than that they 
support the politics which ever set of morons happen to outnumber the 
sane people at the time. You get similar stupidities in the schools 
themselves, where the administration staff is more likely to have a 
business degree, than an education degree, because, you know.. this 
isn't like say, rocket science, where you need the thing to actually 
work, and have to spend real money on things that really work, but more 
like a fast food restaurant, where the point is the spend as little 
money as possible, on the cheapest possible things, needed to achieve 
merely *adequate* results (and, as can be seen in right wing politics, 
if its not working, the solution is, apparently, to close the failing 
business, and make everyone attend, and overburden, the ones that 
actually provide adequate service). But, its still the fast food of 
education. No one, unless you can afford it, gets to have, for free, a 5 
star school, and if you can afford it, then... well, you just have to 
put up with the ideology, the bad taste in decoration, and all the rest 
of the pretentious crap that goes along with someone serving you 
lobster, instead of fish tacos, containing someone dyed to look like 
crab (or the educational equivalent). And, of course, certain things 
will *never* be on the menu, even if they are needed there, because the 
chef doesn't believe in them.

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> I hear that at many places in the United States (although I'm sure it's
> not the only country in the world with this problem, but I get the
> impression that it's one of the worst of its kind) boards of education
> are often staffed by people who are completely illiterate in terms of
> science and education. And it's precisely these people who decide what
> is and isn't taught at schools. Apparently they get to those positions
> for political reasons and because of a buddy system, not because they
> would be the most competent for that position.
>
> Thus you get things like this:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNspEpMK7FE
>

In many countries of the western hemisphere, the religious factions feel 
they are losing ground to the godless heathens, so they will sometimes 
try to "regain control" by trying to run for office and steering the 
country back into the Right Path(tm).  In many cases, the only places 
they will be able to win elections are local elected offices that are 
not very popular and where the candidates often run unopposed.

If you think about it, very few people will be interested in running for 
a board of education position.  This is not a very glamorous position. 
Therefore those who run usually have an axe to grind with the way the 
schools are currently run, so you will usually end up with very 
polarized views.  Too much sports / Not enough sports.  Too much 
religion / Not enough religion.  Too much of THIS religion / Not enough 
of THAT religion.  Etc...

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/*   gmail.com     */}camera{orthographic location<6,1.25,-6>look_at a }

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On Sun, 04 Nov 2012 04:30:43 -0500, Warp wrote:

> but I get the impression that it's one of the worst of its kind) boards
> of education are often staffed by people who are completely illiterate
> in terms of science and education.

Not just BoEs, but legislative bodies.  One of our US house of 
representatives members on the science committee thinks that evolution 
and the big bang theory are "from the devil".

We've got representatives who talk about it being God's will when a woman 
is raped that the baby be carried to full term, and that if it's a 
"legitimate rape", the female body has "ways of shutting that down" (so 
the woman doesn't get pregnant - IOW, if she wasn't 'legitimately' raped, 
she must've 'wanted it' and if she got pregnant, that means that it 
wasn't a "real" rape.  I guess.)

It's a sad, sad state of affairs.

We need to have some sort of intelligence test for our elected leaders.  
If they can't pass basic science, history, and math, they shouldn't be 
allowed to hold political office.

But I'm saying that partly because I'm getting absolutely sick and tired 
of this election.  Tomorrow can't be over soon enough.

Jim

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On 06/11/2012 01:32 AM, Jim Henderson wrote:
> It's a sad, sad state of affairs.

I'm sorry - *which* century do you live in? Because it sounds like the 
Dark Ages...

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> We need to have some sort of intelligence test for our elected leaders.
> If they can't pass basic science, history, and math, they shouldn't be
> allowed to hold political office.

No, you need some sort of intelligence test for the *voters*, otherwise 
they will just vote against such leader testing or vote to make it so 
easy it's pointless.

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Am 06.11.2012 11:12, schrieb scott:
>> We need to have some sort of intelligence test for our elected leaders.
>> If they can't pass basic science, history, and math, they shouldn't be
>> allowed to hold political office.
>
> No, you need some sort of intelligence test for the *voters*, otherwise
> they will just vote against such leader testing or vote to make it so
> easy it's pointless.

A "wisdom test" seems to me closer to the mark. While stupid people are 
dangerous, some highly intelligent ones aren't any better.

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Le 06/11/2012 13:04, clipka a écrit :
> Am 06.11.2012 11:12, schrieb scott:
>>> We need to have some sort of intelligence test for our elected leaders.
>>> If they can't pass basic science, history, and math, they shouldn't be
>>> allowed to hold political office.
>>
>> No, you need some sort of intelligence test for the *voters*, otherwise
>> they will just vote against such leader testing or vote to make it so
>> easy it's pointless.
> 
> A "wisdom test" seems to me closer to the mark. While stupid people are
> dangerous, some highly intelligent ones aren't any better.
> 


Some "common sense" tests, as well as a reality check of current price
should also be mandatory.

Some of our politics are so disconnected from normal life they would be
ready to say the price of bread, butter, local transportation ticket or
meat is ten or more time the actual price. Or the opposite direction (if
they got a life, twenty years ago). They now only bother to check before
the election, as long as they do not mix their notes...

And for countries that have minimal wages, politics should be paid only
that amount. (the argument about corruption is void and demonstrated so
by their predecessors: no amount of salary for the politics is to
protect against the lobbies, so no point in big money any more: you want
the power while pretending to serve the community, we do not pay more
than a minimal full-time job. In fact, the surface-cleaning people in
charge of the toilet might get paid better than the president... oh dreams)

I, for once, regret the old Athenian random designation system: you get
in charge for a year, randomly chosen amongst the voters, and cannot
resign before term.

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scott <sco### [at] scottcom> wrote:
> No, you need some sort of intelligence test for the *voters*, otherwise 
> they will just vote against such leader testing or vote to make it so 
> easy it's pointless.

Who exactly voted for those scientifically illiterate people to be put
in the government's scientific committee?

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:
> Not just BoEs, but legislative bodies.  One of our US house of 
> representatives members on the science committee thinks that evolution 
> and the big bang theory are "from the devil".

The people who appoint completely incompetent people to those positions
would certain not want for a completely incompetent person to perform
eg. heart surgery on them. I would like to see the politician who allows
a witch doctor who thinks that heart problems are caused by evil spirits
to perform surgery on them. Yet they put completely incompetent people on
the science committee?

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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