Did America lose a generation?

[Chinaux]

So what are the conclusions we can get out of this thread?

Hitler was american and listened to rap. This is what led him to do the things he did.

9/11 was an inside plan by the jews of america

 

[Sehnsucht]

9/11 was an inside plan by the jews of america

Protocols of the Elders of Zion has been rebranded under the name Obamacare to appeal to the younger generation.

 

[N.T.A.O ChangeOfHeart 死の剣]

@ Kay kay and @ N.T.A.O ChangeOfHeart 死の剣

I suggest for both of you to bring sources to the table. I get the impression that you guys haven't actually done any research towards your points, and are going off of generalizations. That's bad debating. The burden of proof is on you guys, so you're going to need to prove your point. "Well, uh, I think we were first in education" isn't going to cut it.

What exactly are these 'resources' that you seek from me man. "You reap what you sow".

Also, every part plays its role to distribute chaos in our current society. Thanks.

 

[Thor]

Addressing the OP:

, this is coming from a teenager; not some 60 year old talking About back in his days.
Now kids today are different, as we know. We watch too much TV, we use too much slang, we know about too many inappropriate things that we shouldn't know about.
America was once #1 in education, now its getting closer to last. These other countries are beating America, fast. What will become of Americas future? Will people from around the world come to this country and become the bosses?
Yolo, hashtag swagger, do those words define American children? Kid's here are loosing their common sense, and social media is a major factor. Kids are dying because of it, because of rumors started by mindless others. These are only a couple of reasons why this generation could fail.
Have we lost a generation of kids? Can we trust them to lead the elders 20 years from now?

Our Earth is degenerate in these later days; there are signs that the world is speedily coming to an end; bribery and corruption are common; children no longer obey their parents... the end of the world is evidently approaching.

Or so says an Assyrian clay tablet from 2800 BC: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/histo...s-that-obviously-didnt-happen-9126331/?no-ist

You ignore the other half - there are geniuses who invent things, come up with cures for diseases, make new findings that others have never seen, and more [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuGqKn7YzOo - I knew this guy, he's two years older than me and we communicate from time to time]. The general populace where you are may seem dreadfully ignorant (god that sounds pompous...) but you probably have a sampling bias, wherever you are - I knew plenty of idiots in my high school, but the year I graduated (2014) we had a girl going to every Ivy League school (two for some) and a guy and a girl who got into Stanford (I myself am attending the number one institution for Engineering Physics (my major) in the US).

And he occasionally used the vernacular you dislike - primarily sarcastically, but having an alternative word for "cool" isn't somehow bad, it's just different.

What is common sense? Or rather, to what do you refer when you say people have no common sense? [If this was addressed elsewhere I can read on, but I read part of page 2 and it seemed barely related so I just skipped it]. I'll make a callout to psychology/biology and remind you that the developed part of teens is the limbic system with the cerebral cortex catching up last - I may have names wrong, but I'm positive that (in layman's terms) the part of the brain responsible for logical thinking develops last, while the part that is emotional develops first. As a result, teens may seem illogical, but growth actually partially fixes this problem over time, as people become better at cost-benefit analysis and reasoning out decisions.

P.S: We're only nearing last in education compared to other developed countries - we still beat the vast majority of countries, and I think it may also have to do with who is tested (since tracking in some countries means that only the people who were already labeled most apt for school are still in regular school, while the US puts everyone through it).

I think sweeping blame claims are unhelpful because they imply a single thing could somehow change it - historically, teens are always labelled rebellious and nonsensical or whatever - that's partially due to teens literally having different brains from adults, that thus lead them to different courses of action with the same circumstances [including not understanding why they should follow parent directives], and also seems to be cyclical, since people tend to label different as bad.

 

[Sucumbio]

A Knight's Tale starring the late Heath Ledger puts a great spin in the concept of teens/young adults in different times still behaving as teens/young adults.

 

[N.T.A.O ChangeOfHeart 死の剣]

Addressing the OP:



Our Earth is degenerate in these later days; there are signs that the world is speedily coming to an end; bribery and corruption are common; children no longer obey their parents... the end of the world is evidently approaching.

Or so says an Assyrian clay tablet from 2800 BC: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/histo...s-that-obviously-didnt-happen-9126331/?no-ist

You ignore the other half - there are geniuses who invent things, come up with cures for diseases, make new findings that others have never seen, and more [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuGqKn7YzOo - I knew this guy, he's two years older than me and we communicate from time to time]. The general populace where you are may seem dreadfully ignorant (god that sounds pompous...) but you probably have a sampling bias, wherever you are - I knew plenty of idiots in my high school, but the year I graduated (2014) we had a girl going to every Ivy League school (two for some) and a guy and a girl who got into Stanford (I myself am attending the number one institution for Engineering Physics (my major) in the US).

And he occasionally used the vernacular you dislike - primarily sarcastically, but having an alternative word for "cool" isn't somehow bad, it's just different.

What is common sense? Or rather, to what do you refer when you say people have no common sense? [If this was addressed elsewhere I can read on, but I read part of page 2 and it seemed barely related so I just skipped it]. I'll make a callout to psychology/biology and remind you that the developed part of teens is the limbic system with the cerebral cortex catching up last - I may have names wrong, but I'm positive that (in layman's terms) the part of the brain responsible for logical thinking develops last, while the part that is emotional develops first. As a result, teens may seem illogical, but growth actually partially fixes this problem over time, as people become better at cost-benefit analysis and reasoning out decisions.

P.S: We're only nearing last in education compared to other developed countries - we still beat the vast majority of countries, and I think it may also have to do with who is tested (since tracking in some countries means that only the people who were already labeled most apt for school are still in regular school, while the US puts everyone through it).

I think sweeping blame claims are unhelpful because they imply a single thing could somehow change it - historically, teens are always labelled rebellious and nonsensical or whatever - that's partially due to teens literally having different brains from adults, that thus lead them to different courses of action with the same circumstances [including not understanding why they should follow parent directives], and also seems to be cyclical, since people tend to label different as bad.

Yes, but if you play attention, teenagers are above the terms 'rebellious' they're now barbaric creatures that have no sense of moral values WHATSOEVER.

And heck, adults are now the new kids that
dress and act like those 'cool kids'.

And the true irony of it all is you want to wave the 'education' as if that will change, anything? Political people in general carry immaculate knowledge, yet they suffer towards budging our economy, and yet other people with little to none real knowledge whatsoever could still understand exactly how to evaporate useless events in our current discombobulated society to save some sort of finical income (the American debt is twenty trillion dollars btw).

My point? Simple, even with all that fancy mumbo jumbo Yale/Harvard knowledgeable education, general people with less education could still figure out ways to save our economy. Education in this current century is truly irrelevant towards how education was spectated back in the old century's.

What people need is not education but discipline, that's how we will shape up America, not be laughed at, and finally discover our lost generation. Thank you.

 

[Thor]

Yes, but if you play attention, teenagers are above the terms 'rebellious' they're now barbaric creatures that have no sense of moral values WHATSOEVER.

And heck, adults are now the new kids that
dress and act like those 'cool kids'.

And the true irony of it all is you want to wave the 'education' as if that will change, anything? Political people in general carry immaculate knowledge, yet they suffer towards budging our economy, and yet other people with little to none real knowledge whatsoever could still understand exactly how to evaporate useless events in our current discombobulated society to save some sort of finical income (the American debt is twenty trillion dollars btw).

My point? Simple, even with all that fancy mumbo jumbo Yale/Harvard knowledgeable education, general people with less education could still figure out ways to save our economy. Education in this current century is truly irrelevant towards how education was spectated back in the old century's.

What people need is not education but discipline, that's how we will shape up America, not be laughed at, and finally discover our lost generation. Thank you.

So said the Assyrians over 5000 years ago. Then they built an empire and got over it.

I have moral values, therefore you are wrong. And what is a moral value that teens seem to lack anyway? Lay them out for me (and if you can't name them all, just list off what you can).

I still don't understand why seeking popularity is necessarily degenerate - having style is often seen as a positive (or do you look down on those who wear suits everywhere?)

The guy I referenced was also mostly uninterested in politics - he's done original research into stars (did so as a high schooler, I didn't understand much of his project though) and looks to do even more with his life.

People might understand how to stop the debt, but they'd piss off half of America if they tried doing so - politicians are locally popular but not nationally, which is why Congresspeople have something like a 90% re-election rate, but Congress itself has a 10% approval rating (or whatever) - the people themselves are popular to their people, but this induces gridlock so nothing ever gets done. Making cuts is easy until you have to answer to the voters - the bane of the career politician.

It's then not the education system that must change, but the political one - and people are hopelessly infatuated with their Constitutional right to remain stupid. A monarch with absolute power for 10 years would be far more effective at solving the country's problems than Congress or the President. Why? They'd have real power, the ability to say and make it so - but power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely (and that darn right to remain stupid people are tied to - not ignorant, but stupid), so this is of course an impossibility.

I think people need discipline too, but no one seems to like my ideas about how that would happen, so I usually just laugh it off.

 

[LightlyToasted]

On the note that Japan is one of the most intelligent countries out there, they are not perfect as their birthrate is drastically dropping. While its hard to pinpoint an exact cause, though unemployment is among it, I also read an interesting article on an island typically meant for real couples getaways being used for virtual girlfriends. There was even one resort that started adding an interface for virtual girlfriend's because they were suffering so much from lowered visits from the usual marriage crowd. While obviously virtual girlfriends are not the sole reason for a lower marriage and birthrate, it does point to what many would consider a dropping in emotional intelligence in males there. Emotional intelligence is harder to gauge since their is no standard for it, but it is about how well you can cope with rough situations, as well as interact with others. I'd imagine virtual girlfriends are much easier to deal with since they don't talk back and by virtue of programing, are almost always suited to fulfill a the needs of a man in an easy self serving relationship style. So yes, while America has it's problems, Japan is far from perfect either, as soon, it may not even have younger generations for the older ones to ***** about.

On a smaller scale, Japanese game developers are also pretty piss poor when it comes to knowing what will work globally. And it has even started to affect their movies.

Wherever you go there are ****ty people and amazing awesome people. A lot of our perspectives come from who and what we surround ourselves with. It's easy to miss another countries or even person problems when looking from the outside. It's also possible to miss how amazing they could be on the inside.

I would post links to support these but I need 10 posts to do so! Also HELLO SMASHBOARDS!

 

[Chinaux]

On the note that Japan is one of the most intelligent countries out there, they are not perfect as their birthrate is drastically dropping. While its hard to pinpoint an exact cause, though unemployment is among it, I also read an interesting article on an island typically meant for real couples getaways being used for virtual girlfriends. There was even one resort that started adding an interface for virtual girlfriend's because they were suffering so much from lowered visits from the usual marriage crowd. While obviously virtual girlfriends are not the sole reason for a lower marriage and birthrate, it does point to what many would consider a dropping in emotional intelligence in males there. Emotional intelligence is harder to gauge since their is no standard for it, but it is about how well you can cope with rough situations, as well as interact with others. I'd imagine virtual girlfriends are much easier to deal with since they don't talk back and by virtue of programing, are almost always suited to fulfill a the needs of a man in an easy self serving relationship style. So yes, while America has it's problems, Japan is far from perfect either, as soon, it may not even have younger generations for the older ones to ***** about.

On a smaller scale, Japanese game developers are also pretty piss poor when it comes to knowing what will work globally. And it has even started to affect their movies.

Wherever you go there are ****ty people and amazing awesome people. A lot of our perspectives come from who and what we surround ourselves with. It's easy to miss another countries or even person problems when looking from the outside. It's also possible to miss how amazing they could be on the inside.

I would post links to support these but I need 10 posts to do so! Also HELLO SMASHBOARDS!

Japan believes anything is achievable if you put in enough effort. In the US it's different. People have a completely different mindset in both places.

 

[Sucumbio]

Seems incredulous. I think no nation can claim monopoly over work ethic. Not to mention the Japanese business model is not their invention, but ours. And capitalism is based on the premise of build something from nothing.

 

[FirestormNeos]

So what are the conclusions we can get out of this thread?

Hitler was american and listened to rap. This is what led him to do the things he did.

+10 history teachers cringing with irritation.

 

[N.T.A.O ChangeOfHeart 死の剣]

So said the Assyrians over 5000 years ago. Then they built an empire and got over it.

I have moral values, therefore you are wrong. And what is a moral value that teens seem to lack anyway? Lay them out for me (and if you can't name them all, just list off what you can).

I still don't understand why seeking popularity is necessarily degenerate - having style is often seen as a positive (or do you look down on those who wear suits everywhere?)

The guy I referenced was also mostly uninterested in politics - he's done original research into stars (did so as a high schooler, I didn't understand much of his project though) and looks to do even more with his life.

People might understand how to stop the debt, but they'd piss off half of America if they tried doing so - politicians are locally popular but not nationally, which is why Congresspeople have something like a 90% re-election rate, but Congress itself has a 10% approval rating (or whatever) - the people themselves are popular to their people, but this induces gridlock so nothing ever gets done. Making cuts is easy until you have to answer to the voters - the bane of the career politician.

It's then not the education system that must change, but the political one - and people are hopelessly infatuated with their Constitutional right to remain stupid. A monarch with absolute power for 10 years would be far more effective at solving the country's problems than Congress or the President. Why? They'd have real power, the ability to say and make it so - but power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely (and that darn right to remain stupid people are tied to - not ignorant, but stupid), so this is of course an impossibility.

I think people need discipline too, but no one seems to like my ideas about how that would happen, so I usually just laugh it off.

I agree with all, but the education is still pointless tbh, anyways, no, you are right towards society needing some nature spanking of sure. Everything is pretty agreeable man. Some day American will reach it's pinnacle but for now, no.

 

[Deleted member]

I am also a teenager living in the United States and I thought I was the only one of my age group who thought of it this way. In other words, I completely agree with you. I absolutely despise what's become of our generation. It's only about whether you have 10k Instagram followers and an iPhone 6+ or not. I've seen people get on their knees and sob after dropping their iPhone. Pathetic.
(Sorry if I was getting a little too ranty there :/)

 

[#HBC | Acrostic]

This thread gives me cancer.

 

[FirestormNeos]

This thread gives me cancer.

I highly doubt that. Cancer occurs when cells begin to mutate in a way that is harmful to the human body. What this thread does is merely declare open war against your brain cells.

Not exactly the same thing, but I can see where the confusion comes from.

 

[C.O.M.M]

9/11 was an inside plan by the jews of america

https://search.wikileaks.org/gifiles/?viewemailid=1332210

The truth is always stranger than fiction huh?

As for America losing a generation, I agree to a point. Like others were saying, all generations have their good and their bad but this newer generation in particular have adopted attitudes and mindsets that are harmful to societal progress and have been programmed very efficiently by those who manufacture dissent or otherwise create a complex circuit of bread and games to keep the average, indifferent person from paying too close attention.

America didn't just lose a generation, it more or less lost the democratic values it so cherishes and the nation has been collectively dumbed down to make way for a expansive, powerful government. The two top runners for the Republican and Democratic parties are a currently a Bush and a Clinton, how is this a representative of a democracy when two families can vie for power as much as they want? How is America free when the government works hard to take freedoms away from Americans whilst empowering their own power base to further their political ambitions or policy? How can the people, the very safeguard of a democracy, can allow a bunch of spoiled, corrupted officials utterly break and make a mockery of the very system behave in such a manner? When your officials can break the code of law and behave as they please in power then why should citizens treat those laws as important? The entire society is such a mess.

Glubb Pasha once said that empires go through seven distinct phases of national evolution ranging from the age of pioneers and conquest to the age of decadence and the fall of the empire itself. the USA is on the chopping block of history as far as powerful empires are concerned, meaning it's near the end of the life-cycle (personally, I believe the age of decadence is nearly over and the fall is here)

 

[AfungusAmongus]

https://search.wikileaks.org/gifiles/?viewemailid=1332210

The truth is always stranger than fiction huh?

Nope, this is conspiracy theory hogwash. Find a reliable source.

 

[C.O.M.M]

Nope, this is conspiracy theory hogwash. Find a reliable source.

>Stratfor
>unreliable

If you'd be so kind to specifically point out what makes this a unreliable source? If it's because it's on wiki-leaks then I think you should reconsider the kool-aid you're currently drinking.

It isn't 'conspiracy theory hogwash', it's leaked intelligence information from Stratfor, a group considered to be a leading think tank on global intelligence for over twenty years. Not only have Stratfor confirmed the hack and this information in the article matches the time frame in which Stratfor was hacked as seen by there statement here: http://www.stratfor.com/hacking-news#axzz3NP5nYLFs

Either way, if Mossad agents had a hand in helping Al Qaeda members plan the 9/11 attacks (Which, given the history of similar organizations like the KGB and CIA and the countless terrorist groups and dictatorial regimes they've both supported, is not a long shot by any means.) Plus, from a geopolitical perspective it is the best possible thing to happen to Israel, akin to how the British cheered for Pearl Harbor because it meant U.S intervention in the the war. The events of 9/11 meant that Israel now had a powerful ally active in the Middle East to fight the enemies on her border. In fact, Netanyahu even said to a bunch of supporters that 9/11 was very beneficial to Israel when he said "We are benefiting from one thing, and that is the attack on the Twin Towers and Pentagon, and the American struggle in Iraq," and it had "swung American public opinion in our favor." We also have the dancing Israeli's that day and how obviously suspicious their actions and statements were during that day (On an Israeli talk show state they "were there to film the event" implying the possibility of some sort of foreknowledge. That's not including statements by people working in U.S intelligence stating that the company that these guys claimed they were working for was heavily suspected to be a Mossad cover. http://archive.org/stream/9-11CopBr...ce-IsraeliMossadInvolvementInAttacks_djvu.txt

I'm considering the possibility that the U.S or CIA may have assisted or even allowed these events to take place since the New American Century document written and designed by the top-dogs in the conservative party at the time (Including **** Cheney) more or less describes the need for a new Pearl Harbor in order to invite American intervention in key geopolitical hot-spots around the world, this happened with 9/11 and the USA now had a 'moral obligation' to bomb other countries under the guise of freedom, security and righteousness, and that turned out to be a bunch of bull. Either way, dominating oil means the U.S can continue to support the petrol-dollar an the economic dominance of the U.S dollar relies on this since the currency is more or less backed by oil. OPEC nations will only sell oil in American dollars and that makes dollars very valuable since OPEC will only deal in dollars. This is very important and explains the early years of the Bush and Obama Administrations foreign policy choices when they bombed Libya and Iraq, both of who tried and resisted selling in dollars in favor for other currencies and both are currently are now on the verge of collapse due to meddling by western powers. Makes sense right?

When it comes to the darkness in mens hearts, when it comes to geopolitical ambition and the horrors of black operations and all the evil they bring onto people through conspiracy, war, famine and greed. The term "conspiracy hogwash" seems naive in the context you place it in because as history undoubtedly proves, these organizations will do whatever means they deem necessary to get what they want.

 

[#HBC | Acrostic]

Seems incredulous. I think no nation can claim monopoly over work ethic. Not to mention the Japanese business model is not their invention, but ours. And capitalism is based on the premise of build something from nothing.

He said so. Therefore it must be true.

 

[Claire Diviner]

And heck, adults are now the new kids that
dress and act like those 'cool kids'.

Aren't you talking about those going through a mid-life crisis? I hear that was always a common thing throughout history.

 

[N.T.A.O ChangeOfHeart 死の剣]

Aren't you talking about those going through a mid-life crisis? I hear that was always a common thing throughout history.

No, I mean in general, thirty to forty to heck fifty year old women dressing provocatively and acting like a teenager or even better yet, dumb young adults.

Grown men wearing skinny jeans and acting like they're teenagers, calling women an object, disrespecting authority reason why things like Trayvon Martin RIP. Or heck once more dumb young adults that are on Facebook like kids, raising their kids like barbaric piece of trash and above all that, they write they're doing a good job with themselves and there kids.

There is no real structure or closure to separate this from that, it's just tangled up with bs.

 

[MasterExocuter]

I am not some old man either I am a 16 year old boy in high who see the same problems in our country that you see. no matter where you turn the disease called social media is there ready to infect you with its nasty ways and in my opinion and it is painful to say this but my generation is the worst it is filled with filth and nobody values morals. it just saddens me about my generation everybody wants to be cool nobody wants to be their selves everybody wants to look good, everybody wants to be in the it crowd instead of being who they really want to be. maybe I can say these things because I don't have a social media account and I have never had a cellphone in my life I just do not know if there are any actual leaders instead of followers in the generation I was born in and you are right America is going down the drain fast and it is partly the schools system's fault because their inability to change up what they do with each student. they treat all of us the same instead of going the extra mile to give just a little bit of care to each of us and if they did that maybe their would be less and I am saying this from the stereotypes of my culture dopeboys, crackheads, hoochiemamas, gangsters, hoes and public aid queens. my point is unless something comes around to save this generation we are doomed as a country to keep going down the global ranks.

 

[mark welford]

Regarding the music of my culture I agree that the Hip-Hop now is no good but looking past that the genre goes deeper than what's on the surface now. Not all of it is bad it's just people need to dig for the real music that talk about real life issues. Songs like Bobby B*tch or Hot ***** are doing nothing than making the problem worse and that is why I don't listen to the music of now. But some songs in my opinion that are gold to the genre are by 2pac and they relate real to the issues of now and they are Changes and Keep ya head up. But there is great music farther than that and as of late I have been listening to a lot of 70s and 80s groups that some of you might never heard of like Zapp, Parliament-Funkadelic, Earth, Wind and Fire, Gap Band and Cameo. My point is that some people just look at the surface and judge when sometimes they have to dig to find the treasure and there is more to African American music than what is destroying and creating chaos in this generation.

 

[AfungusAmongus]

If you'd be so kind to specifically point out what makes this a unreliable source? If it's because it's on wiki-leaks then I think you should reconsider the kool-aid you're currently drinking.

1. Sources are unreliable by default.
2. Wayne Madsen is notoriously unreliable.

 

[Empty Number]

Where are you hearing this? Even if people are doing stupid things, that doesn't mean our education system is bad, it just means our society of teenagers does stupid stuff. Which is true for all generations. Nothing about this has changed, like I said before.

Our education system is at par if not better than most countries.

I know this is an old thread/reply, but if you look at data that compares the test scores of the US and other countries at face value, we are mediocre. This is true. However it does not tell the whole story.

If you adjust these test scores and compare along similar socioeconomic groups, you would find that the US settles into place near the top of the heap. Not at the top, but quite near.

http://www.epi.org/publication/us-student-performance-testing/

• If U.S. adolescents had a social class distribution that was similar to the distribution in countries to which the United States is frequently compared, average reading scores in the United States would be higher than average reading scores in the similar post-industrial countries we examined (France, Germany, and the United Kingdom), and average math scores in the United States would be about the same as average math scores in similar post-industrial countries.

• A re-estimated U.S. average PISA score that adjusted for a student population in the United States that is more disadvantaged than populations in otherwise similar post-industrial countries, and for the over-sampling of students from the most-disadvantaged schools in a recent U.S. international assessment sample, finds that the U.S. average score in both reading and mathematics would be higher than official reports indicate (in the case of mathematics, substantially higher).

• This re-estimate would also improve the U.S. place in the international ranking of all OECD countries, bringing the U.S. average score to sixth in reading and 13th in math. Conventional ranking reports based on PISA, which make no adjustments for social class composition or for sampling errors, and which rank countries irrespective of whether score differences are large enough to be meaningful, report that the U.S. average score is 14th in reading and 25th in math.

• Disadvantaged and lower-middle-class U.S. students perform better (and in most cases, substantially better) than comparable students in similar post-industrial countries in reading. In math, disadvantaged and lower-middle-class U.S. students perform about the same as comparable students in similar post-industrial countries.

I am an upper level Mathematics educator - primarily Calculus - in a public school in Minnesota. It pains me to see people get up in a huff over our "low test scores", and then go on and blame the public education system - wanting to privatize it. In reality, those same people should be wondering what we can do to help those people in need, people in poverty. Socioeconomic status is the primary correlating variable when it comes to predicting academic performance. If you want students to perform better overall, it must start by beginning to address poverty and the growing income gap.

 

[MasterExocuter]

I know this is an old thread/reply, but if you look at data that compares the test scores of the US and other countries at face value, we are mediocre. This is true. However it does not tell the whole story.

If you adjust these test scores and compare along similar socioeconomic groups, you would find that the US settles into place near the top of the heap. Not at the top, but quite near.

http://www.epi.org/publication/us-student-performance-testing/



I am an upper level Mathematics educator - primarily Calculus - in a public school in Minnesota. It pains me to see people get up in a huff over our "low test scores", and then go on and blame the public education system - wanting to privatize it. In reality, those same people should be wondering what we can do to help those people in need, people in poverty. Socioeconomic status is the primary correlating variable when it comes to predicting academic performance. If you want students to perform better overall, it must start by beginning to address poverty and the growing income gap.

So what you're saying is that if you compared the test scores of mid-upper class students in America to the same socio-economic demograpic in maybe England or France (hypothetical), that we come out on top? And that when you average the test scores of lower income or gangsters or whatever you call them (some low income people can be smart though, I've seen it happen), then the overall score is not that great?

 

[Empty Number]

So what you're saying is that if you compared the test scores of mid-upper class students in America to the same socio-economic demograpic in maybe England or France (hypothetical), that we come out on top? And that when you average the test scores of lower income or gangsters or whatever you call them (some low income people can be smart though, I've seen it happen), then the overall score is not that great?

If you restrict your comparison to students from families of similar incomes internationally, then students from the US average 6th in reading and 13th in math. Hardly mediocre by any means, and actually quite good.

 

[#HBC | Acrostic]

So what you're saying is that if you compared the test scores of mid-upper class students in America to the same socio-economic demograpic in maybe England or France (hypothetical), that we come out on top? And that when you average the test scores of lower income or gangsters or whatever you call them (some low income people can be smart though, I've seen it happen), then the overall score is not that great?

Oh my god.

 

[MasterExocuter]

Oh my god.

Hey man I wasn't grouping "Gangsters" with "lower income". They're separate, however I'd like to point out that gangsters tend to fit under the "low income" category. NOT saying lower income people are gangsters. Sorry to confuse you. Man, now I actually feel bad for phrasing something strangely :|

 

[#HBC | Acrostic]

Hey man I wasn't grouping "Gangsters" with "lower income". They're separate, however I'd like to point out that gangsters tend to fit under the "low income" category. NOT saying lower income people are gangsters. Sorry to confuse you. Man, now I actually feel bad for phrasing something strangely :|

"whatever you call them"

 

[Empty Number]

Hey man I wasn't grouping "Gangsters" with "lower income". They're separate, however I'd like to point out that gangsters tend to fit under the "low income" category. NOT saying lower income people are gangsters. Sorry to confuse you. Man, now I actually feel bad for phrasing something strangely :|

Acrostic was referencing the fact that your statement was racially charged and quite offensive. The use of "Gangster" - which you seem to be using as a stand-in for "Urban Black Male" - is ridiculous when factually if someone is impoverished and receiving welfare it is far more likely that they are a rural white person rather than an urban black person. That you seemed to specifically single out black people when mentioning people of low income is not acceptable.

The more you know.

 

[MasterExocuter]

Oh, I see. I guess I should have said etc. instead of "whatever you call them".

 

[MasterExocuter]

Acrostic was referencing the fact that your statement was racially charged and quite offensive. The use of "Gangster" - which you seem to be using as a stand-in for "Urban Black Male" - is ridiculous when factually if someone is impoverished and receiving welfare it is far more likely that they are a rural white person rather than an urban black person. That you seemed to specifically single out black people when mentioning people of low income is not acceptable.

The more you know.

Sorry, I fail to see where I single out black people in my post.By definition, gangsters are not necessarily black. Gangsters can be any race, and I didn't mention anything about black people or white people. I apologize if It did sound offensive, and what I said was poorly phrased.

 

[Empty Number]

Oh, I see. I guess I should have said etc. instead of "whatever you call them".

No. That's not the point. See my previous post. Here are some acceptable ways to refer to people of low income:

• People of low income
• The impoverished
• The disadvantaged

At no point is it OK to equate "people of low income" with "gangsters" as you did. It's not that you're grouping them together, but rather to many people "gangster" means "black person", and by irresponsibly saying such things you are giving credence to the stereotype that black people are poor.

EDIT: I know you didn't mention specifically "black people", but the term you used is racially charged so that in many people's minds they think of a black person at that word's mention. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that you didn't mean harm, but it's not really your intent that matters - it's the power and effect your words have in the minds of OTHER people.

Words are powerful, use them mindfully and responsibly. Think what might go through someone's mind upon reading your message or hearing your speech, and choose your words thoughtfully and with regard for others. That's all.

 

[MasterExocuter]

No. That's not the point. See my previous post. Here are some acceptable ways to refer to people of low income:

• People of low income
• The impoverished
• The disadvantaged

At no point is it OK to equate "people of low income" with "gangsters" as you did. It's not that you're grouping them together, but rather to many people "gangster" means "black person", and by irresponsibly saying such things you are giving credence to the stereotype that black people are poor.

EDIT: I know you didn't mention specifically "black people", but the term you used is racially charged so that in many people's minds they think of a black person at that word's mention. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that you didn't mean harm, but it's not really your intent that matters - it's the power and effect your words have in the minds of OTHER people.

Words are powerful, use them mindfully and responsibly. Think what might go through someone's mind upon reading your message or hearing your speech, and choose your words thoughtfully and with regard for others. That's all.

It may have seemed like I was equating people of lower income with "gangsters", however I was trying to come up with different types of people that fit into the low income group. I wasn't using "or" to group them together or equate them, or even ellaborate on "lower income people". It's kind of like saying, puppies are a type of dog, but not all dogs are puppies. In this case, I'm linking the fact that gangsters are generally low income people, however not all low income people are gangsters. It just happens that there's a positive correlation between increases in crime rates and areas of income inequality. I hope this cleared up any misconceptions about what I said, and I'll try to be more careful in how I phrase things so that topics like these don't get off track.

 

[#HBC | Acrostic]

I hope this cleared up any misconceptions about what I said, and I'll try to be more careful in how I phrase things so that topics like these don't get off track.

"... some low income people can be smart though, I've seen it happen..."

 

[AfungusAmongus]

Socioeconomic status is the primary correlating variable when it comes to predicting academic performance. If you want students to perform better overall, it must start by beginning to address poverty and the growing income gap.

I'm inclined to agree, but correlation can mean a variety of things. Maybe poverty and academic underachievement share a cultural cause, such as a cycle of ineffective parenting. If this is the case then we should encourage family planning (having kids only when your life is in order) and destigmatize birth control and abortion. Obviously it's not ideal for kids to be starting families during high school, especially when they cannot pay their own bills. Safe and intellectually stimulating school and home lives are both important for academic and economic success.

 

[#HBC | Acrostic]

I'm inclined to agree, but correlation can mean a variety of things. Maybe poverty and academic underachievement share a cultural cause, such as a cycle of ineffective parenting. If this is the case then we should encourage family planning (having kids only when your life is in order) and destigmatize birth control and abortion. Obviously it's not ideal for kids to be starting families during high school, especially when they cannot pay their own bills. Safe and intellectually stimulating school and home lives are both important for academic and economic success.

Obviously not. It's so wrong, but it feels so good.

 

[MasterExocuter]

"... some low income people can be smart though, I've seen it happen..."

Don't you agree that it is more difficult to get a good education if you grow up in poverty/low income? And I think that it is becoming increasingly difficult for many people to attend college because of increases in prices for college tuition. Some colleges are even trying to make it a requirement that freshmen live on campus, which costs even more money. Yeah, I sounded like an idiot when I said, "I've seen it happen", however haven't you ever read or heard accounts of people who came from the depths of poverty yet they were determined to succeed, pursued an education and became successful? It's something that appeals to people, because it enforces the feelgood idea of "you can do anything if you try hard enough". Also, If you find anything wrong with my posts, just PM me. I'm more than happy to edit them. And if you're going to quote my post, at least explain why you did so, or what it is about my post that you disagree with.

 

[#HBC | Acrostic]

I mistakingly hit the submit post button.