Comrades! We Must Have A Cultural Revolution

[ken_ichikawa]

Yeah ok I am taking this a bit out of context, but the man wants a cultural revolution just like in China. With mass purges and public sector executions and such like!

He is right though, judging by his education he knows NOWT about the history of China!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/8227535/Michael-Gove-my-revolution-for-culture-in-classroom.html

[Pole]

Yeah ok I am taking this a bit out of context, but the man wants a cultural revolution just like in China. With mass purges and public sector executions and such like!

He is right though, judging by his education he knows NOWT about the history of China!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/8227535/Michael-Gove-my-revolution-for-culture-in-classroom.html

UK children may never catch up with the rest of the world in terms of school education.

Here are the reasons why:

- too much sugar in the diet

- lack of physical excercise

- too much time spent on meaningless entertainment (xfactor, computer games, etc)

- wrong role models promoted by the media ('celebrities' instead of engineers)

[Self Employed Youth]

Well the Maths could definitely be improved.

My Chinese friend at college learnt calculus in China in their equivalent of a GCSE.

The amount of calculus required for us to do in A level maths was reduced whilst we were studying it and we had over 4 teacher changes in a year and a full on syllabus change.

In a lot of state schools, students learn the syllabus quickly and have to relearn and relearn the same stuff they already know as others catch up. They get bored and stop attending.

There should be more higher level maths taught to the brightest, and at the same time those struggling should get support to learn the basics.

[jammo]

UK children may never catch up with the rest of the world in terms of school education.

Here are the reasons why:

- too much sugar in the diet

- lack of physical excercise

- too much time spent on meaningless entertainment (xfactor, computer games, etc)

- wrong role models promoted by the media ('celebrities' instead of engineers)

These things were around a hundred years ago, we still did ok. Alright instead of computer games and celebrities we had back then church and the beatles. Distracting from cognitive activity nonetheless. It all comes down to the individual to be honest. There always will be the thick and the intelligent - from any country. One truely great man can forge a country as well - it only takes one great man. Just look at all the great conquerers. The decisions of the very few (great men) will determine the path of the future. All the rest will be forgotten, if not obliterated in the annals of history.

[Pole]

These things were around a hundred years ago, we still did ok.

No, I disagree - and as I said earlier these things weren't around back then and that's why we did ok.

- Sugar? Very little of it available back them (sweets were real treats).

- There were fewer cars and kids played more outdoors or helped the family around the house.

- Entertainment used to be more meaningful than it is today (there's a big difference between working on your plane/train model vs. playing Mario on Wii)

- Church? The wealth of this and many other Western countries was built upon the protestant approach to life (investing into the future oriented - check Zimbardo here:

[stormymonday_2011]

Yeah ok I am taking this a bit out of context, but the man wants a cultural revolution just like in China. With mass purges and public sector executions and such like!

He is right though, judging by his education he knows NOWT about the history of China!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/8227535/Michael-Gove-my-revolution-for-culture-in-classroom.html

As one of the Telgraph posters pointed out during the Cultural Revolution much of the Chinese education system simply ceased to exist

One assumes that after a few years in power Gove and the Coalition government hope to have achieved the same result here.

BTW am I alone in noting how bolshie some Telegraph readers are getting with the current regime. The scorn, bile and vitriol that they poured on Maude''s proposals for charitable donations in shops and ATMs was quite breathtaking. It was only matched by the venom and hatred expressed by the Daily Mail readership. By comparison the pinko liberals at the Guardian were almost supportive. Usually it takes 2-3 years for government ministers to attract this level of derision. I fear the coaltion is running through public goodwill in record time for a government

Edited December 30, 2010 by realcrookswearsuits

[stormymonday_2011]

UK children may never catch up with the rest of the world in terms of school education.

Here are the reasons why:

- wrong role models promoted by the media ('celebrities' instead of engineers)

I think they are simply making the rational choice since there seem to be far more openings for celebs than engineers in the UK and the pay is better.

Edited December 30, 2010 by realcrookswearsuits

[jammo]

No, I disagree - and as I said earlier these things weren't around back then and that's why we did ok.

- Sugar? Very little of it available back them (sweets were real treats).

- There were fewer cars and kids played more outdoors or helped the family around the house.

- Entertainment used to be more meaningful than it is today (there's a big difference between working on your plane/train model vs. playing Mario on Wii)

- Church? The wealth of this and many other Western countries was built upon the protestant approach to life (investing into the future oriented - check Zimbardo here:

I agree the entertainment was different (Church instead of TV and Wiis). But I don't see what qualifies previous versions of entertainment as being more virtuous - given that some people today and in the past are and were lazy - verses the type of entertainments available. In the past people had less time for entertainment, commonly they had to work up to 7 days a week to survive (and ergo had less time to think for themselves). Nowadays the ability for one to become more supine to the temptations of gluttony and ignorance are more than ever exploited by the subversions and groupthink of our peers. But still - look at the elements on the internet which expose said efforts and reveal the evermore complex methods they expose us to. Back when sugar was a treat - so was living beyond the age of 50. Now we have more than ever the best chance of gaining a real cultural evolution. I've lived in both worlds - the train models, ships and planes - and the Wii, Xbox and other bad bad things. None of either made me culturally minded, only experience and to be brutal, age.

Edited December 30, 2010 by jammo

[Tiger Woods?]

These things were around a hundred years ago, we still did ok. Alright instead of computer games and celebrities we had back then church and the beatles.

I disagree. Yes, there were distractions, but not to the same degree. I started university in 1987 so, for instance, home pcs existed, but they weren't truly engrossing as they are these days. I studied hard at university etc. and learnt a lot. Most of us were able to maintain focus, though one fellow I know, who is now a professor of statistics, did get a 2.1 instead of a 1st because he discovered Hack on the university Vax in the last 6 months of his degree.

I know that if I was born 10 years later things may have turned out very differently. With a change in perception of opportunities and a change in the entertainment technology it has become much easier to become completely engrossed in pointless time wasting...like posting on HPC for instance, or playing Quake or an MMO. It is much more difficult to be future oriented in the way Zimbardo outlined in the youtube video above. I know that over the past 10 years or so I have certainly become much less future oriented. When I went through school it was believable that if you worked and studied hard etc. rewards would come your way. Do you really think a clued in 18 year old would believe that now? It all seems so very much hit and miss now, and that is a strong disincentive.

Edited December 30, 2010 by Tiger Woods?

[copydude]

These things were around a hundred years ago, we still did ok. Alright instead of computer games and celebrities we had back then church and the beatles. Distracting from cognitive activity nonetheless. It all comes down to the individual to be honest. There always will be the thick and the intelligent - from any country. One truely great man can forge a country as well - it only takes one great man. Just look at all the great conquerers. The decisions of the very few (great men) will determine the path of the future. All the rest will be forgotten, if not obliterated in the annals of history.

Excellent post.

Despite growing up with the Church and The Beatles, I survived. My daughters survived watching Neighbours.

In the end, or often from an early age, you make up you make up your own mind about influences.

Life is only complicated when Governments and Mainstream Media (same thing) tell you repeatedly and rather earnestly what or what not to think and try to condition the whole prevailing psyche and perspective.

You can see this with the current character assassination of Wikileaks' Assange, for example.

Edited December 30, 2010 by copydude

[Dorkins]

So Gove wants British schoolchildren to compete with Koreans to see who can be the best forcefed automatons students? And what is it Koreans do with their excellent STEM qualifications? Make electronic toys so they can forget about how crushing their real lives are.

What this country really needs is to slow down, simplify, and take stock. Life is not a race and the UK is not slipping behind anybody.

The economic strain on the social fabric has been getting steadily worse year after year for decades. Now we have dual income by necessity rather than choice, professionals in their 30s unable to live in a house a postman could have bought a generation ago, a working class which fares better on the dole than in a job, and a society that expects life for the have-nots (the bottom 95%) to get harder with each coming year.

But Cameron, Clegg, Osborne, Gove, Cable, and King will all play their parts. They will tighten the screws a little more, strain the social fabric a little more in the name of economic progress. Turning social capital into monetary capital is not real growth, but it kind of resembles it, so I guess that's all that matters.

[workhou]

So Gove wants British schoolchildren to compete with Koreans to see who can be the best forcefed automatons students? And what is it Koreans do with their excellent STEM qualifications? Make electronic toys so they can forget about how crushing their real lives are.

What this country really needs is to slow down, simplify, and take stock. Life is not a race and the UK is not slipping behind anybody.

The economic strain on the social fabric has been getting steadily worse year after year for decades. Now we have dual income by necessity rather than choice, professionals in their 30s unable to live in a house a postman could have bought a generation ago, a working class which fares better on the dole than in a job, and a society that expects life for the have-nots (the bottom 95%) to get harder with each coming year.

But Cameron, Clegg, Osborne, Gove, Cable, and King will all play their parts. They will tighten the screws a little more, strain the social fabric a little more in the name of economic progress. Turning social capital into monetary capital is not real growth, but it kind of resembles it, so I guess that's all that matters.

I agree. I've just finished working in South Korea. You find when you ask Korean people,

"What do you do in your spare time?"

They might answer, "I drink coffee." or "I sleep."

The reason for this is that the pace of change from being a broken third world country similar to Vietnam maybe, has been so dramatic that people are still conditioned to prize work over everything else and be extremely competitive as a trait. Maybe in the future they will start to develop hobbies but it will take time.

Westerners on the other hand have been able to develop the concept of free time where you can pursue your heart's desire. Alongside this westerners price individualism whilst Korean culture follows collectivism, which further compounds the issue. Doing your own thing is not good. Being agreeable is good manners.

Group think is a problem in Korea, the ability to analyse a problem independently is often lacking. For example beliefs about the health benefits of Kimchi or blood types are widely held amongst professional people.

If you get the chance read "The Geography of Thought" It shows how western and Asian cultures affect the way Western and Asian people approach life.

When you look at it this way, how can the UK be globally competitive against this kind of culture so Alien to our own, our only saving grace is that our language dominates the business world and Asians have to master it before they can master global business. However this is changing quickly..

[aa3]

Somehow China got truly great men to power.. maybe it took the cultural revolution to break the old order. I look at their current leaders and really am in awe of their genius, vision and leadership ability. While frankly most politicians in western nations I roll my eyes at.

Personally I blame democracy.. great men have always forged the future against the will of the masses. When the masses see the results, they later claim they were with them the whole way. As an example, look at great proposals made for Britain. It is usually a see of negativity in the responses from the general public.

A 'leader' doesn't ask for his follower's approval, he simply does and the followers.. follow.

[ccc]

These things were around a hundred years ago, we still did ok. Alright instead of computer games and celebrities we had back then church and the beatles. Distracting from cognitive activity nonetheless. It all comes down to the individual to be honest. There always will be the thick and the intelligent - from any country. One truely great man can forge a country as well - it only takes one great man. Just look at all the great conquerers. The decisions of the very few (great men) will determine the path of the future. All the rest will be forgotten, if not obliterated in the annals of history.

Now I wasn't around a hundred years ago so I will have to trust what I read. However based on that - if you think people exercise today as much as 100 years ago or eat similar amounts of sugar then you need help !!

[Dorkins]

Somehow China got truly great men to power.. maybe it took the cultural revolution to break the old order. I look at their current leaders and really am in awe of their genius, vision and leadership ability. While frankly most politicians in western nations I roll my eyes at.

Personally I blame democracy.. great men have always forged the future against the will of the masses. When the masses see the results, they later claim they were with them the whole way. As an example, look at great proposals made for Britain. It is usually a see of negativity in the responses from the general public.

A 'leader' doesn't ask for his follower's approval, he simply does and the followers.. follow.

What? All China has done is allow market forces in so that private companies install the technology the developed nations already invented. No "genius" required.

[Jack's Creation]

Somehow China got truly great men to power.. maybe it took the cultural revolution to break the old order. I look at their current leaders and really am in awe of their genius, vision and leadership ability. While frankly most politicians in western nations I roll my eyes at.

Personally I blame democracy.. great men have always forged the future against the will of the masses. When the masses see the results, they later claim they were with them the whole way. As an example, look at great proposals made for Britain. It is usually a see of negativity in the responses from the general public.

A 'leader' doesn't ask for his follower's approval, he simply does and the followers.. follow.

Why are you so in thrall to psychopaths?

[Dave Spart]

UK children may never catch up with the rest of the world in terms of school education.

Here are the reasons why:

- too much sugar in the diet

- lack of physical excercise

- too much time spent on meaningless entertainment (xfactor, computer games, etc)

- wrong role models promoted by the media ('celebrities' instead of engineers)

Believe this or not but in Singapore school children routinely can be found swatting prior to their exams in the early hours of the morning at McDonalds at Changi Airport, so all the above apply to children in Singapore too; not through any inadequacies of the system but because of the way they are over committing themselves.

Having said that, one lesson children in the UK would benefit from is a visit to Asia.