Once more with feeling

On Aug 26, 2:39*am, Ryan Cousineau wrote:

Chung: Greg's trying to get you a voucher system. And they say
libertarians are heartless!

God bless Greg, and his love for the Chunglet!

I think voucher systems have good points but they're not a panacea. A
larger problem is the balkanization of US education, and voucher
systems (at least, as they are usually proposed) don't address that.

On Aug 26, 1:20*am, Ted van de Weteringe
wrote:

Between sessions you mean? My point about too much diversion I made with
one session in mind.

Yeah, I don't pay too much attention to within-session variability
anymore, and I certainly wouldn't know if there's a HR-watts
divergence: I don't wear the damn HR bra anymore.

A few weeks of wearing the HRM may answer my own question.

Maybe. I think that after I got the PM I started to understand the
dose-response relationship a lot better. I never got that during the
time I used a HRM.

On Aug 26, 2:37*am, Ryan Cousineau wrote:

But you're still slow, right?

Dumbass,

Old enough to be a master? Check.
Fat? Check.
Slow? Of course.

Robert Chung wrote: I
I don't wear the damn HR bra anymore.

Me too, since the transmitter belt plastic of my PT broke, I
never felt the urge to replace it.

In article
,
Robert Chung wrote:

On Aug 26, 2:39*am, Ryan Cousineau wrote:

Chung: Greg's trying to get you a voucher system. And they say
libertarians are heartless!

God bless Greg, and his love for the Chunglet!

I think voucher systems have good points but they're not a panacea. A
larger problem is the balkanization of US education, and voucher
systems (at least, as they are usually proposed) don't address that.

As a childless foreigner, I shouldn't care much, but...

http://www.slate.com/id/2197768/#demneabash

I would merely point out that Canada's education system is similarly
Balkanized (fairly strong municipal-level school boards), there doesn't
seem to be any sort of outcry about the quality of the schools to match
that in the bad parts of the US system.

I mean, people always complain about schools, but no amount of school
quality would be enough for their little snowflakes (and I can't
disagree).

But given that the problem seems to be more of a matter of failed
neighborhoods (and in the case of Detroit, possibly a failed city),
maybe a more thoroughly nationalized system would be a good idea.

BTW, tell everyone here about the gallic disdain for standardized
testing in the school system.

PS: don't tell the half of my family that are, one way or another,
teachers. Or my employer, an educational institution.

--
Ryan Cousineau http://www.wiredcola.com/
"In other newsgroups, they killfile trolls."
"In rec.bicycles.racing, we coach them."

Ryan Cousineau schreef:
I would merely point out that Canada's education system is similarly
Balkanized

Organized crime has also risen to Balkan-like proportions:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7581764.stm

On Aug 26, 9:50*am, Ryan Cousineau wrote:

I would merely point out that Canada's education system is similarly
Balkanized (fairly strong municipal-level school boards), there doesn't
seem to be any sort of outcry about the quality of the schools to match
that in the bad parts of the US system.

Hmmm. I don't know how much outcry you guys make but that'd be
consistent with Phil Gramm's claim that we've become a nation of
whiners.

BTW, tell everyone here about the gallic disdain for standardized
testing in the school system.

The French disdain standardized tests, but they don't disdain
standards.

In article
,
Robert Chung wrote:

On Aug 26, 9:50*am, Ryan Cousineau wrote:

I would merely point out that Canada's education system is similarly
Balkanized (fairly strong municipal-level school boards), there doesn't
seem to be any sort of outcry about the quality of the schools to match
that in the bad parts of the US system.

Hmmm. I don't know how much outcry you guys make but that'd be
consistent with Phil Gramm's claim that we've become a nation of
whiners.

I think that national whininess is a nearly-inherent characteristic of
certain elements of modern democracy. My theory is that having realized
that dissatisfaction is the impetus behind so many reforms, perpetual
dissatisfaction is the default mode of reformers.

In other words, Canada also claims to be a nation of whiners.

BTW, tell everyone here about the gallic disdain for standardized
testing in the school system.

The French disdain standardized tests, but they don't disdain
standards.

I was being a little sarcastic, given that they invented maybe the
second most famous standardized test ever:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_...ent_and_career

I guess this is my way of saying that any disdain for the quality of
American education runs smack into the reality that everything from the
Flynn Effect to the general performance of US economy (recent ****ing
and moaning notwithstanding) to the popularity of the US education
system suggests that the kids are alright.

--
Ryan Cousineau http://www.wiredcola.com/
"In other newsgroups, they killfile trolls."
"In rec.bicycles.racing, we coach them."

On Aug 26, 5:44*pm, Ryan Cousineau wrote:

I guess this is my way of saying that any disdain for the quality of
American education runs smack into the reality that everything from the
Flynn Effect to the general performance of US economy (recent ****ing
and moaning notwithstanding) to the popularity of the US education
system suggests that the kids are alright.

For the obvious reason, I don't critique grammer/typos/spelling/
style... in rbr, and this is not meant that way: That is one long-ass
sentence.

My US education has not prepared me to parse Canadian English.

On Aug 26, 12:50*am, Ryan Cousineau wrote:

I would merely point out that Canada's education system is similarly
Balkanized (fairly strong municipal-level school boards), there doesn't
seem to be any sort of outcry about the quality of the schools to match
that in the bad parts of the US system.

I mean, people always complain about schools, but no amount of school
quality would be enough for their little snowflakes (and I can't
disagree).

But given that the problem seems to be more of a matter of failed
neighborhoods (and in the case of Detroit, possibly a failed city),
maybe a more thoroughly nationalized system would be a good idea.

It's not just failed neighborhoods. For example, look
at Southern California. One might say that it is
understandable that a poor city (various places in
South L.A. County like Compton or Inglewood) would
have lousy schools. One might also understand that
most of the schools in the LA Unified school district
are crap - it's so big that it's paralyzed by its own
bureaucracy, and has many poor or needy people/kids.

But why are the schools in Pasadena crap? (As judged
by test scores, for example.) Pasadena is only ~150K
people, not part of the LAUSD, and has some poor
people but plenty of middle class and well off people.
But the schools are crap. A major part of the problem
is that nobody with political will cares, because all the
parents who can afford it have sent their kids to private
school or moved to La Canada, where the schools are
OK but the houses are hideous expensive because
everyone wants to move there.

It's a self-fulfilling prophecy and if Kaus had his way
and did away with teachers' unions tomorrow, it would
still be like that. I used Pasadena as an example
because I know it, but it is hardly the only one.

BTW, tell everyone here about the gallic disdain for standardized
testing in the school system.

PS: don't tell the half of my family that are, one way or another,
teachers. Or my employer, an educational institution.

In the US, higher education is a completely different
set of problems than grade and secondary education.
Lots of people come here for higher education. For
our high schools, not so much.

Ben