As IF Times

Source: Trump wants to dump the Paris climate deal, but 71 percent of Americans support it, survey finds – The Washington Post

One of the unforeseen benefits of the last election is the enormous favor conferred upon people by the outing of most of the popular media outlets. The already stretched credibility of the Washington Post, New York Times, CNN, among others, visibly snapped as their blatantly partisan reportage blew up in their faces like a prank cigar.

The great favor to which I refer is the time that will be saved by the public totally ignoring any articles with their bylines.  When you visit the most popular news aggregator, Google News, the majority of the linked articles are from the above mentioned sources. Once you bypass all of the detritus, spurious spin and manufactured hysteria concocted by these media outlets, taking in the day’s real news should only take 5 minutes.

Now that the initial shell shock of the loss by their favored candidate has subsided, their focus is now on the devastating effect that an incoming Voldemort administration will have on a naïve public.  Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

The surprising shock (to them) of  electoral defeat is mainly attributed to favorable polls, which up until decision day, were convincingly pointing to a Clinton victory.  You can imagine the outraged customers of the pollsters demanding refunds as if they were at Macy’s on the day after Christmas.

Pollsters haven’t had a good time of it over the past while, with the failure to predict the Brexit vote another recent yuuge failure.  Legitimate sampling is an effective statistical analysis tool and properly employed is the basis for many decisions in all industries.  In the case of recent political polling, I suspect that samples were taken from homogenous groups which were likely skewed towards a given response.   I also suspect that the same people were tired of the same pollsters asking the same questions.  After the 10th time, none of your damn business would be the box ticked.

It’s amusing then that in the linked story, a survey of 2000 people, from Chicago, was offered as proof that Americans ‘favored’ the Paris climate deal even as Trump was skeptical of it.

Chicago.  To ask a question of that type to that pool of respondents is like asking frat boys on their opinion of bikinis vs burkas.  The article is essentially worthless.  But rather than having to read the entire story, people can make more efficient use of their time by noticing the source of the story, which in this case is, surprise, The Washington Post.  As noted earlier, they can simply ignore the story and go directly to the football scores.

link Human beings are getting dumber | News.com.au.

According to this article, the progress of human evolution has stopped, at least intellectually.  Judging by what’s considered newsworthy in the world today, but mainly in the U.S., it may be hard to refute this assertion.  On any given day, a scan of popular ‘news’ sites will reveal as much general flotsam and entertainment fluff as there is hard news and analysis.   This is true for Google News, Bing News or Yahoo news (for those that still  use Yahoo).  Even the venerable Wall Street Journal will feature gripping stories about the latest Hollywood gossip.  We can’t even include newspapers anymore since papers such as the NY Times, Washington Post among others have long abandoned their pretense of being in the news business.

The commercial component to fame is greater than at any time in human history due to the ease of access to information and so the pursuit and monetization of fame has eclipsed the quaint goal of genuine work in popular culture.  Of course, in a free society, people can do as they wish; they can choose to take rigorous academic studies at school, or they can choose the far more glamorous route of pursuing their singing/acting/dancing/pro sports careers.  In fact, some may even have talent and deserve every success that may come to them.   Statistically, that is not the case for the general population.   The amount of American Idols are vastly outnumbered by those Americans that are idle.

The real downside that arises from the fortunate few achieving commercial success is that they are sought out for their opinions.  Since many individuals that make it commercially big these days are young, their exposure to life and intellectual development is likely undeveloped at best and misguided at worst.  How often do we hear about celebrity X making statements on Global Warming, or the plight of penguins on shrinking ice floes.  While they may be uber talented entertainers, asking their opinions of weighty issues is akin to asking a dancing bear his opinion on the Palestinian conflict.   Unfortunately, these opinions are absorbed as immutable fact by the adoring fan base who want to be just like their hero.   In any society, it is normal for the people to emulate those that are successful.  Let’s see, Justin Bieber, Ferrari; college degree, Hyundai, hmm…

Contrary to what the article implies, I think it’s more likely that people are allowed to be dumber or even encouraged.  In light of the numerous instances of uneducated people achieving fabulous success, it’s a hard case to make that a good education is worth the effort.  Combine that with standards that have fallen off precipitously in the public schools and as a society, we are allowing humans to become lazy in their cognitive and problem solving processes.  Anecdotal studies have shown that school systems focus more on passing students than they do on demanding competence.  At very young ages and right through to universities, students are steered towards worldviews which don’t always stand up to critical scrutiny.  But they go along to get along.  An old trading mentor of mine used to say that when you ask a 5 year old to explain why 2 plus 2 equals 4, he’ll say “because the teacher said so”.  In very simple terms, garbage in, garbage out.

In a study by the education firm Pearson, they illustrate the declining standard of schooling in America. The study shows that the U.S. is ranked 17th in the world for education systems,  http://thelearningcurve.pearson.com/the-report .  Compare that statistic with the those on this study: http://rossieronline.usc.edu/u-s-education-versus-the-world-infographic/  which shows that the U.S. by far spends the most money overall and per capita on education.  Clearly, the issue is not money.  Something must be wrong with both execution and expectations.  Finally, the following anecdote was sent to me, author unknown, which captures what has become of education in the U.S.  I am happy to credit whomever authored this:

The evolution of teaching math:
1. Teaching Math In 1950s
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price. What is his profit?
2. Teaching Math In 1960s
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price, or $80. What is his profit?
3. Teaching Math In 1970s
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80. Did he make a profit?
4. Teaching Math In 1980s
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80 and his profit is $20. Your assignment: Underline the number 20.
5. Teaching Math In 1990s
A logger cuts down a beautiful forest because he is selfish and inconsiderate and cares nothing for the habitat of animals or the preservation of our woodlands. He does this so he can make a profit of $20. What do you think of this way of making a living?
Topic for class participation after answering the question: How did the birds and squirrels feel as the logger cut down their homes? (There are no wrong answers, and if you feel like crying, it’s ok. )
6. Teaching Math In 2009
Un hachero vende una carretada de maderapara $100. El costo de la producciones es $80. Cuanto dinero ha hecho?
7. Teaching Math In 2013 Who cares, just steal the lumber from your rich neighbor’s property. He won’t have a gun to stop you, and it’s OK anyway cuz it’s redistributing the wealth.