tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post5115749723093008439..comments2024-03-28T08:17:14.194-04:00Comments on the daily howler: Tom Friedman, taking dictation from experts!<b>bob somerby</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02963464534685954436noreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-25993924157438752442018-11-03T08:14:53.758-04:002018-11-03T08:14:53.758-04:00تميزنا باننا الافضل دائما فى جميع خدمات نقل العفش
...تميزنا باننا الافضل دائما فى جميع خدمات نقل العفش<br /><a href="https://www.alraid-sa.com/" rel="nofollow">افضل شركة تنظيف منازل</a><br /><a href="https://www.alraid-sa.com/%D8%B4%D8%B1%D9%83%D8%A9-%D9%86%D9%82%D9%84-%D8%B9%D9%81%D8%B4-%D9%85%D9%86-%D8%AC%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%89-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%B6/" rel="nofollow">نقل عفش من جدة الى الرياض</a><br /><a href="https://www.alraid-sa.com/%D8%B4%D8%B1%D9%83%D8%A9-%D8%B4%D8%AD%D9%86-%D8%B9%D9%81%D8%B4-%D9%85%D9%86-%D8%AC%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%89-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%AF%D9%86/" rel="nofollow">شحن عفش من جدة الى الاردن</a><br /><a href="https://www.alraid-sa.com/%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%86%D8%A7-%D9%86%D9%82%D9%84-%D8%B9%D9%81%D8%B4-%D8%AC%D8%AF%D8%A9/" rel="nofollow">دينا نقل عفش جدة</a><br /><a href="https://www.alraid-sa.com/%D8%B4%D8%B1%D9%83%D8%A9-%D8%B4%D8%AD%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%B6-%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B5%D8%B1/" rel="nofollow">شحن عفش من الرياض لمصر</a><br />noorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15129655513968510353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-91651842927346746812013-10-29T19:27:00.616-04:002013-10-29T19:27:00.616-04:00There really is a secret. Or at least a partial ex...There really is a secret. Or at least a partial explanation for part of the reason the Finns and Chinese students appear to be highly motivated in the higher grades. Both countries have a bone-breaking college entrance exam that is actually based on content learned, rather than being designed to pin-point some mystical quality called "aptitude", disconnected to curriculum. Moreover the Finnish and Chinese tests also appear center on language study, foreign and domestic. They also appear to be paid for, designed, and administered by university professors in consultation with the central government rather than being outsourced to newspaper publishers peddling test-prep and "educational economists" in the pay of ideologically slanted "Institutes". <br /><br />Learners can excel when they and everyone else know exactly what is expected of them. - EAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-44427740919542537292013-10-29T09:38:09.360-04:002013-10-29T09:38:09.360-04:00We used to compare our education system – disfavor...We used to compare our education system – disfavorably – to Japan. That comparison didn't hold up well. And neither does the comparison to "China." <br /><br />As Tom Loveless notes, China gets very favorable treatment in deciding which small number of its provinces are sampled for PISA, and invariably, it only selects ones in which there are "families strongly committed to formal education and able to afford the tuitions and fees of high school." Moreover, Shanghai is NOT China. In Shanghai, parental' "expenses for tutoring and weekend activities ...at the high school level...exceed what the average Chinese worker makes in a year." Too, "Shanghai has an economically and culturally elite population with systems in place to make sure that students who may perform poorly are not allowed into public schools."<br /><br />The bigger point here is Tom Friedman, and what a tool he is. He and the "talented" and oh-so-privileged Amanda Ripley are birds of the same faux feather, two peas from the same poser pod, two cuts from the very same charlatan cloth. And the big question is why anyone pays attention to them? Why indeed.<br /><br />We already from the Daily Howler just how bad Amanda Ripley. But if you doubt what the DH says, go to the source herself. On her website, Ripley tells us she's an "investigative journalist" who provides "groundbreaking research." But she cites Eric Hanushek. And she tells us that here’s been absolutely no increase in “academic performance” over the last 50 years in the U.S. Cowabunga.<br /><br />And Tom Friedman? I think Matt Taibbi described him well: "It's not that he occasionally screws up and fails to make his metaphors and images agree. It's that he always screws it up...Friedman is an important American. He is the perfect symbol of our culture of emboldened stupidity."<br /><br />If only the members of the "punditry" class would practice the critical thinking they deem to be important for others.<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-86006902923448382612013-10-29T01:55:04.031-04:002013-10-29T01:55:04.031-04:00mm, I am delighted to hear about what you're d...mm, I am delighted to hear about what you're describing for northern Virginia (esp. the Latin!). But there's no way US foreign language teaching in primary or secondary schools approaches what happens in (the right places in) Europe or Asia -- or in elite schools in South America and Mexico. either. <br /><br />Maybe that's not okay, but it's not terrible, either. There may be things we do better than those others, and there's only so much time in a day.mchnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-78302772101504763222013-10-28T21:41:38.896-04:002013-10-28T21:41:38.896-04:00Honest question: is it worth it to study foreign ...Honest question: is it worth it to study foreign language when there are so many bilinguals because of immigration? I mean for employment purposes. It seems like the employer would always be able to hire a bilingual if it was essential to have a foreign language speaker.<br /><br />If that is the case, then it really is a bad idea to take the time from courses that might help in their careers.<br /><br />We've trained a lot of language teachers so I don't expect it to change because the interests of the kids will be trumped by the interests of the teachers, sorry to say. <br /><br />If anyone is really interested in learning a foreign language, there are a lot of resources to help him/her. To keep it in the public schools, there really should be a better justification by now. Lionelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06336249052780481883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-21811439730311393342013-10-28T21:30:47.908-04:002013-10-28T21:30:47.908-04:00I think it was LBJ who said it: "An educatio...I think it was LBJ who said it: "An education is what you've got when you forgot everything you learned."<br /><br />Maybe it has to do with British colonization,whatever, the Chinese expect those kids to use that English so they'll try harder to teach English than here in the US where practically all the kids are required to take foreign language but hardly any will use it. Even when they travel, they don't use it because most places they go, the people who deal with tourists speak more and better English than the Americans speak whatever they took in school.<br /><br />And there is a tremendous cost to forcing American kids to take foreign language. If they don't like it and/or don't do well, its one more thing turning them off to school. They might have been able to take something else and it might make a difference in their whole life experience. Maybe taking Spanish means missing out on a course that could have life changing.<br /><br />60 years of telling Americans their kids need to learn a foreign language. Look at the results. If its really necessary to learn Spanish in the SW, people will learn Spanish just like immigrants have to learn English to get by here where I live in the NE. They don't have to be able to read Don Quixote in Spanish. Lionelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06336249052780481883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-9316332066826483252013-10-28T19:56:53.891-04:002013-10-28T19:56:53.891-04:00America is an insular country because of the isola...America is an insular country because of the isolationist movement at the end of World War I. Commenters here may not believe it, but it is historical fact. Before that there were many bi-lingual children, mostly German speaking, whose mother tongues were supported in school. French and Latin were also required until the 1960s. Physicians had to take German when my relatives were studying medicine in the 1960s. - E. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-36778206358026510612013-10-28T17:32:57.183-04:002013-10-28T17:32:57.183-04:00Hey, Marcus. Can you read? They received introdu...Hey, Marcus. Can you read? They received introductory lessons in Spanish on a weekly basis starting in first grade. Is that elementary enough for you? mmnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-66150104322938279482013-10-28T17:04:35.089-04:002013-10-28T17:04:35.089-04:00WTF?
So what if Shanghai did well on PISA? How d...WTF?<br /><br />So what if Shanghai did well on PISA? How did they do on TIM&PEARL? And WhyTF haven't we been told about it by Somerby?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-38731303674308816742013-10-28T16:36:34.740-04:002013-10-28T16:36:34.740-04:00um, mm? We are referring to ELEMENTARY school here...um, mm? We are referring to ELEMENTARY school here. Not 7th grade. So yes, it IS unheard of here. Please try to keep up. Marcushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15389630474070227576noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-78219458281695501892013-10-28T16:00:54.333-04:002013-10-28T16:00:54.333-04:00"to compensate for the extra time which has t..."to compensate for the extra time which has to be taken from other things such as math and science."<br /><br />Gosh, skeptonomist habilis, you have a pretty limited view of human nature. Only math and science have value? No Marx? No Augustine? No Shakespeare? Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-23989957618009281782013-10-28T15:56:15.643-04:002013-10-28T15:56:15.643-04:001. English is a common denominator so that widely ...1. English is a common denominator so that widely disparate countries can communicate in a shared language, much as French was before it. It says nothing about China's acknowledgement of the USA's leadership. It says more about the breadth of the UK's colonization -- the British were speaking English all over the world while the USA was still a colony. 2. American kids do not learn other languages because we are isolated on a continent where they rarely encountered people speaking other languages. That is changing and now they will need to speak at least Spanish if they wish to be hired for more jobs, especially in the SW. 3. Nothing you learn is wasted effort because knowledge opens doors and permits people to take advantage of more opportunities in life. 5. Kids who major in a foreign language in college tend to visit countries where that language is spoken. That is especially true if they wind up as language teachers. 6. Bahrick (1984) showed that once learned, Spanish is not forgotten over 50 years, so no they do not forget what they've studied. Nor do college students immediately forget other info they learn in their courses. If they did, there would be no point in anyone going to college, especially not with today's tuition costs.<br /><br />American kids during Revolutionary times learned French, Latin and Greek as part of a normal education.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-87376638237312218562013-10-28T15:30:29.064-04:002013-10-28T15:30:29.064-04:00How could they? Allowing gays in the military des...How could they? Allowing gays in the military destroyed Unit Cohesion. Once you lose cohesion, unit comprehension falters and finally unit memory fails.<br /><br />Next thing you know marriage memory is out the window and people are banging box turtles in the streets.<br /><br />KZ (From Doom, Where Teachers are Kings and King's teachings are taught)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-3281122145345975482013-10-28T15:18:51.538-04:002013-10-28T15:18:51.538-04:00Friedman: earnest re-stater of the status quo. IOW...Friedman: earnest re-stater of the status quo. IOW, a waste of time.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-44533734229801575682013-10-28T15:09:46.392-04:002013-10-28T15:09:46.392-04:00Having given up on The Moustache of Wisdom's w...Having given up on The Moustache of Wisdom's wisdom many years ago, I have no problem seeing that Bob has deconstructed Friedman very well. Friedman is simply a mouthpiece of the 1% using the megaphone of the nyt to spread his message. As Bob points out, the time spent teaching in the Shanghai school doesn't make sense when you look at three 35 min classes taught, but supposedly 70% of the teacher's time is teaching. Then, in the US the majority of the time is teaching is a bad thing. I'm glad that Bob reads Friedman for me so I don't have to.<br />MikeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-42031965969737508412013-10-28T15:00:44.390-04:002013-10-28T15:00:44.390-04:00That the Chinese make such an effort to teach Engl...That the Chinese make such an effort to teach English just goes to show they expect the USA to continue to lead the world.<br /><br />American kids have never taken to foreign langueage study and it should be an elective. Very few of them will have any need for it and it is a disservice to them to waste the effort, class time and opportunity to learn something more useful or simply more to their liking. <br /><br />They expect these Chinese kids to use English a lot. American kids can major in a foreign language in college and never use it again. Of course they are going to forget it and maybe they'd have forgotten anything else they might have studied.Lionelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06336249052780481883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-69806873289265111182013-10-28T14:50:46.932-04:002013-10-28T14:50:46.932-04:00People who are bilingual generally learn their lan...People who are bilingual generally learn their languages in the home. Studies show the primary advantage comes from the need to decide which languages to use in which context in daily life, not from having classes in language in school. It isn't that smart kids are choosing to learn more languages. It is that people who grow up with multiple languages spoken around them at home and in the neighborhood, need to make extra cognitive decisions about which words to use when, and that enhances cognitive flexibility and attention to context more generally.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-82103710049852788632013-10-28T14:36:15.319-04:002013-10-28T14:36:15.319-04:00I wonder if any of our friends remember what the &...I wonder if any of our friends remember what the "Friedman Unit" is.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-33477702307893409942013-10-28T14:25:49.517-04:002013-10-28T14:25:49.517-04:00Someone who has absorbed multiple languages, espec...Someone who has absorbed multiple languages, especially after childhood, is probably smarter than average. The question is whether teaching multiple languages improves general abilities enough to compensate for the extra time which has to be taken from other things such as math and science.skeptonomisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14867814619333835249noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-66885187499191978952013-10-28T13:19:38.203-04:002013-10-28T13:19:38.203-04:00There was an article in yesterday's Sunday Bos...There was an article in yesterday's Sunday Boston Globe about how in China parents have to bribe admissions officials and cultivate connections to get into the better public schools, aside from their kids studying day and night for years in an effort to gain admission. Students who don't get into the elite public schools wind up in inferior private schools.AC /MAnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-69586451675891265412013-10-28T13:08:46.190-04:002013-10-28T13:08:46.190-04:00Beating is the main law enforcement technique for ...Beating is the main law enforcement technique for local police in China: “After showing us the bumbling pettiness of much of the officers’ work, [the documentary film] Crime and Punishment takes a more challenging turn when a group of young farmers are caught with an illegal load of timber. After the farmers are subject to the seemingly de rigueur beatings, a pair of officers accompanies one of them back to his village to collect evidence and photograph the stumps of illegally logged trees.”Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-76509604950364513462013-10-28T13:00:20.285-04:002013-10-28T13:00:20.285-04:00Wealthy parents have always provided their childre...Wealthy parents have always provided their children with an edge in foreign languages, hiring au-pairs for their toddlers, etc. The teaching of foreign languages in US public elementary schools was halted as unpatriotic in the aftermath of World War I. - EAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-11908162633977294422013-10-28T12:58:33.874-04:002013-10-28T12:58:33.874-04:00We're serving minnesotaroni for lunch as soon ...We're serving minnesotaroni for lunch as soon as the analysts get back in the kitchen. <br /><br />ZarkAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-46551582993429843312013-10-28T12:58:12.713-04:002013-10-28T12:58:12.713-04:00Don't forget that the teachers too have grown ...Don't forget that the teachers too have grown up in a culture that beats both children and adults for failure. They would be extra motivated to do extra well in their teaching because doing a poor job in anything invites beating. Beating has been a key component of "re-education" practised by Chinese prisons. From the South China Morning Post (Feb 15, 20130: "Lijia Zhang says changing the conservative mindset that normalises domestic violence [wife-beating] in China will not be easy, but the support for two women in recent cases has been heartening."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-41266040700973725522013-10-28T12:55:58.305-04:002013-10-28T12:55:58.305-04:00I have 3 children who have either passed through o...I have 3 children who have either passed through or are going through the public school system in N. VA. And I can tell you for a fact that they started required foreign language in 7th grade. In addition there were introductory lessons in Spanish on a weekly basis throughout elementary school starting in 1st grade. My middle daughter is now a senior in HS and is taking her 6th year of Latin. So no, on the contrary, it is not unheard of here.mmnoreply@blogger.com