The "What Are You Thinking About Right Now?" PIP
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3 hours ago, Matt! said:The U.S Department of Education was established in 1979. Before that comparisons of international education systems were extremely limited and not standardized, so no legit global ranking put the U.S at #1 or Top 10 in any verified way.
Standards have been adjusted over time, mostly to accommodate modern roles like tech-based warfare (parade drone guy has probably never seen the weight room, but he can do more damage on the battlefield than group of marines.)
Conservative media and Pete uses “woke” as a catch-all for any effort to diversify or modernize. DEI programs are about making sure the best talent doesn’t get excluded because of race, gender or background not about lowering standards.
Forget the previous line for a second, let’s quickly compare the current and former SecDefs. Lloyd Austin served 41 years in the Army, retired as a 4-star General and led CENTCOM. Pete Hegseth left the National Guard as a Major after a few years and spent the last decade ranting on Fox & Friends. So tell me, who looks like the "DEI hire" here?
Yeah I can agree the metrics for education systems around the world then were not done correctly.
I disagree on the military issue. To me growing up until within the last 20 years sans the Trump presidencies that I viewed the military's image as badass guys oozing with machismo that was ever becoming pussified with lower standards.
2 hours ago, Cult Icon said:Public schools have been under fire for about 2 decades plus for poor performance (as far as I remember).
That being said American children/parents are also to blame and also anti-intellectual cultures in the US.
The Republican party has anti-intellectual/anti-college strains and so do American white rednecks, blacks, latinos etc.
Agreed on the first 2 sentences.
The Department of Education isn't going to fix the issues besides parents' apathy towards education.
The whole system needs an overhaul and the factory learning system has been outdated for 50 years. Putting more money into it isn't going to solve it.
I forgot that the push for students to universities has been a monumental failure that has hindered 2 generations so far with heavy debt. What a scam!
Universities should only be needed for only certain fields of study.
There's YouTube, Khan Academy, free coding classes, etc out there for free.
We'll have to pivot again as AI becomes more prominent in our everyday lives.
42 minutes ago, Stromboli1 said:I forgot that the push for students to universities has been a monumental failure that has hindered 2 generations so far with heavy debt. What a scam!
Universities should only be needed for only certain fields of study.
There's YouTube, Khan Academy, free coding classes, etc out there for free.
We'll have to pivot again as AI becomes more prominent in our everyday lives.
University isn’t trade school. You don’t just go to memorize facts, it’s about growth. It’s about expanding how you think, learning to collaborate, building networks, thinking critically and being exposed to new ideas, cultures, and perspectives. You don’t just leave with a degree, you leave better equipped to understand the world and function in it. That’s not a scam, that’s growth. You don’t learn that online.
Because if you don’t develop those skills, you’ll always be a sheep, waiting for someone else to tell you what to do.
I genuinely can’t wrap my head around how stupid these people are.
2 hours ago, Stromboli1 said:I disagree on the military issue. To me growing up until within the last 20 years sans the Trump presidencies that I viewed the military's image as badass guys oozing with machismo that was ever becoming pussified with lower standards.
The US military is an imperial bureaucracy with relatively few combat troops. There is more need for people who can work on computers on a desk and work in service/support jobs than say during the Cold War where we had a real large-scale warfare military.
Large scale drone warfare in general, guided artillery, missiles, has basically taken over the battle space, dramatically reducing the value of combat troops and AFVs as lower value.
Bad ass guys like 1980s action heroes is easy- just make better propaganda.
I don't believe America was defeated in 2 useless wars ( Iraq, Afghanistan) because lack of tough guys but because we were poorly led and trained.
Besides our commanders and soldiers being poorly educated for the task we had vast manpower shortages and lack of clear direction & combat morale.
2 hours ago, Stromboli1 said:I forgot that the push for students to universities has been a monumental failure that has hindered 2 generations so far with heavy debt. What a scam!
Universities should only be needed for only certain fields of study.
There's YouTube, Khan Academy, free coding classes, etc out there for free.
We'll have to pivot again as AI becomes more prominent in our everyday lives.
I think that universities should be public and not for-profit like it is in Europe/Asia and elsewhere. It is absurd that higher education is run like a for-profit maximizing business. I think that's the main problem, the content is secondary.
2 hours ago, Matt! said:University isn’t trade school. You don’t just go to memorize facts, it’s about growth. It’s about expanding how you think, learning to collaborate, building networks, thinking critically and being exposed to new ideas, cultures, and perspectives. You don’t just leave with a degree, you leave better equipped to understand the world and function in it. That’s not a scam, that’s growth. You don’t learn that online.
Because if you don’t develop those skills, you’ll always be a sheep, waiting for someone else to tell you what to do.
That was our parents experience in universities.
36 minutes ago, Cult Icon said:I think that universities should be public and not for-profit like it is in Europe/Asia and elsewhere. It is absurd that higher education is run like a for-profit maximizing business. I think that's the main problem, the content is secondary.
It's too late, now it won't make a difference as AI starts making academic fields of study obsolete as it becomes more common.
58 minutes ago, Cult Icon said:The US military is an imperial bureaucracy with relatively few combat troops. There is more need for people who can work on computers on a desk and work in service/support jobs than say during the Cold War where we had a real large-scale warfare military.
Large scale drone warfare in general, guided artillery, missiles, has basically taken over the battle space, dramatically reducing the value of combat troops and AFVs as lower value.
Bad ass guys like 1980s action heroes is easy- just make better propaganda.
I don't believe America was defeated in 2 useless wars ( Iraq, Afghanistan) because lack of tough guys but because we were poorly led and trained.
I was talking about the image of the US military.
All so called wars that the US were involved in post WW2 were senseless. The wars from the 80s to present were about protecting the petrodollar besides being senseless.
Wars are a trillion dollar business with all those contracts being handed out with skimming money off the top by the elites and political elites in addition to the contracts handed out to family members.
45 minutes ago, Stromboli1 said:That was our parents experience in universities.
Please explain.
47 minutes ago, Stromboli1 said:It's too late, now it won't make a difference as AI starts making academic fields of study obsolete as it becomes more common.
That’s not correct. AI might reshape how academic fields operate, but it won’t make them obsolete, not even close. In fact, fields like ethics, education, psychology and philosophy are now more important than ever because of AI. If anything it broadens the scope of those fields, not erases them.
Remember that AI doesn’t generate new knowledge or think/reason like humans. It predicts patterns based on existing data, that’s it.
1 hour ago, Cult Icon said:I think that universities should be public and not for-profit like it is in Europe/Asia and elsewhere. It is absurd that higher education is run like a for-profit maximizing business. I think that's the main problem, the content is secondary.
Agreed. It’s crazy to think that people can’t educate themselves simply because they can’t afford it. Every single person should have the opportunity to pursue an academic/professional path.
8 hours ago, Matt! said:Pretty much this.
...
I mean...that’s just reality. MAGAs need to understand that Europe despises Donald. At least they didn't use the r-word.
Starting to like this Newsom guy.
@Stromboli1 Do Republican voters have a secret club card that gets them gas at $1.99? Because according to AAA/GasBuddy, no station is even close to that price (lowest pumps in TX were around $2.30)
Also..Donald has been repeating that same line for months now, but inflation is actually going up again?
https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/inflation-cpi
https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/inflation/current-inflation-rates/
https://www.pay.gov/public/form/start/23779454
No American can call themselves a true patriot unless they donate at least a third of their monthly income to paying down this debt.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
13 hours ago, Matt! said:
Happy Gilmore 2 is a cameo fest, that being said I had fun with it. I'd give it 6/10 or 6.5/10 if I was generous.