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[Morrigi]

You certainly can't use math as a vehicle to explain why various races or genders are inferior, since math is the highest intellectual creation of our species and Certain People just can't hack it.

It's currently futile to try with science as well. People have tried and failed repeatedly.

[Loud Whispers]

I know art is important. Not as important as " the big 4" History/geography, maths, English, and science.

I presume you meant "language" instead of "English", 'cause holy crap ethnocentrism otherwise.

Presumably he is talking about the America.

You definitely can't indoctrinate through history.

You've never had a Chinese history teacher go on about WWII then

You certainly can't use math as a vehicle to explain why various races or genders are inferior, since math is the highest intellectual creation of our species and Certain People just can't hack it.

It's currently futile to try with science as well. People have tried and failed repeatedly.

Not really. You can just look and observe at any characteristic a sex or race possesses and pick any where it is brilliant in some way, and as such superior. Ashkenazi IQ, European and Asian upper body strength, Kenyan muscle-fibres, the phenotypical variability and muscle-building testosterone of males with mechanical thinking or the social excellence and heightened senses that the average female inherits, science today is really telling us how much we are different, how much is biological. It's not all that hard to accept that we are not all the same to be equal.

[10ebbor10]

Someone broke the Irony cynism button.

[Loud Whispers]

Someone broke the Irony cynism button.

What is cynism?

[Frumple]

Cynicism misspelled, I imagine.

[10ebbor10]

Cynicism misspelled, I imagine.

+1

Literal dutch-English translation doesn't always work.

[Loud Whispers]

Cynicism misspelled, I imagine.

A shame. I was hoping there was a button somewhere that released young swans into the wilds.

[scrdest]

Cynicism misspelled, I imagine.

A shame. I was hoping there was a button somewhere that released young swans into the wilds.

A swan is a Cygnus, a young one is a Cygnet. Learning taxonomy from songs since 09.01.1977.

[Angle]

Back to art again, eh? Let me take a crack at it.

Personally, I would say art is important for children because it helps develop one of humanities greatest advantages - abstract thinking. Let me show you an example. Imagine a mountain made of pencils, or a tree that grows upside down, or some other utterly bizarre thing you would never encounter in real life. What would that look like? What properties would it have? Where would you find such a thing? What uses would it have? What could you do with it? What dangers might it represent? You are capable of imagining such a thing, and of attempting to answer those questions. This may not sound especially useful, but it is what allows for most all of the amazing things we do. Without that the jump from

Spoiler: This (click to show/hide)

to

Spoiler: This (click to show/hide)

To

Spoiler: This (click to show/hide)

3

And from there to the rest of math, would be impossible. Likewise, our ability to come up with complicated, cohesive theories, like those that make up all of modern science, or those that allow for large scale cooperation, would also be impossible. You remember similes and metaphors? That's what I'm talking about. The list goes on, but I think you know what I mean by now.

[Vector]

True.  For more on this subject, I recommend Lakoff's "Where Does Math Come From?"  It suggests that a great deal of mathematical maturity comes from finding the correct metaphor for a particular abstract notion--when is it best to see the whole numbers as a system with addition and multiplication, when as an ordering system, when as an expression of cardinality?

[Max White]

Lets not kid ourselves, we all know maths was invented by Issac Newton so that we would all have to learn it as payback for his strange hair. Then some people actually enjoyed maths so he invented physics so he could throw stuff at those people.

Newton was a jerk.

[MonkeyHead]

Lets not kid ourselves, we all know maths was invented by Issac Newton so that we would all have to learn it as payback for his strange hair. Then some people actually enjoyed maths so he invented physics so he could throw stuff at those people.

Newton was a jerk.

Actually, he was well known for being a gread A asshat.

[scrdest]

Also, in his time, Newton wasn't actually famous for his scientific work, but for his accomplishments with Royal Mint. And amusingly, he wasn't supposed to actually DO anything with it, the job was a synecure, but he took it seriously.

[10ebbor10]

US healthcare really sucks, apparently.

[Sheb]

Actually, this is what get me so mad every time see US commentators or politicians railing about the need to cut Medicare or face crippling budget deficit.

You don't need to cut Medicare. You can expand coverage to anyone, from birth do death. You just need to turn it from being a way to subsidize healthcare companies into a way to deliver healthcare.

You're just doing it wrong. And you're actually doing worse than just about every single other develloped country. If only US politicians weren't so busy ignoring the rest of the world while talking about how great Amurrica is, maybe you could realize we all figured out the solution to your problem and just copy it.

But no, that would be turning into a socialist Eurotrash hell, which for some reasons is a bad thing.