I shouldn't be taking the time for this, but...
The best point I've ever heard made on this discussion was by Jerry Pournelle (Google for him if you don't know him- very interesting guy). He said, rightly so, that the problem is that we want all kids to go to university and make lots of money, which simply cannot happen- if we do, we end up with the plight I find now, where having a four year degree today means what having a high school degree meant fifty years ago. Simply put, this is not Lake Wobegone where all children are above average- the bell curve exists whether we like it or not, and not all kids are smart enough to attend university. But without a university degree they're stuck with dead-end jobs in fast food and the like.

The solution to this is to bring back the old trade schools, where the kids of average to middling intelligence could learn to become carpenters, plumbers, masons and all the other skilled trades that would guarantee them a living when they got out of school. Keep the universities strict in their admissions- no one with grades below a given average- and have funds available for poorer students who qualify academically.

But it's not politically correct to imply that not all kids are created equal in intelligence, or even that intelligence matters- Shaniqua deserves all the same chances that the brighter kids get, and No Child Left Behind shall be our motto.

Fuck...
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Fri 18 Apr 2008, 18:45, Reply)