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Direction of the Country

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  • #16
    Originally posted by Starlight View Post
    If things are currently at their worst, then they can only get better, right? And vice versa if things are currently at their best.

    I also think "direction of the country" is problematic because different people focus on particular issues when they answer it as varied as abortion, culture, moral issues, economics, corruption, or who's in government. So one person might say the direction of the country is bad because there are too many abortions, while another might say it's good because it has a good economic outlook. It's such a vague question it seems not worth asking in the first place.
    Kind of like the "happiness index"
    That's what
    - She

    Without a clear-cut definition of sin, morality becomes a mere argument over the best way to train animals
    - Manya the Holy Szin (The Quintara Marathon)

    I may not be as old as dirt, but me and dirt are starting to have an awful lot in common
    - Stephen R. Donaldson

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    • #17
      Originally posted by KingsGambit View Post
      I wonder how much those polls parallel with the current economic well being of the respondent. I'm interested in what factors people consider but my theory is that is #1.
      Like most political polls, it depends almost entirely on who paid for the study since the results are pretty easy to manipulate depending on who and what is asked. I once responded to one telephone survey, and it went something like this:

      "Are you in favor of increasing personal income tax?"
      "No."
      "Are you in favor of increasing business taxes?"
      "No."
      "Are you more in favor of increasing personal income tax, or increasing business taxes?"
      "I'm not in favor of either."
      "You have to pick one."
      "But I'm not in favor of raising taxes, period. They're high enough as it is, so put that down as my answer."
      "I can't. You have to pick one or the other."
      "But that doesn't reflect my actual opinion."
      "If you don't answer the question then your entire participation will be thrown out."
      "Throw it out then. Good bye."

      Notice that no matter how someone responded to that particular survey, the results would have said that people were in favor of raising taxes but were "divided" on whether it should be personal income or business taxes that should be raised. I haven't bothered responding to any poll since.
      Last edited by Mountain Man; 06-04-2018, 09:27 AM.
      Some may call me foolish, and some may call me odd
      But I'd rather be a fool in the eyes of man
      Than a fool in the eyes of God


      From "Fools Gold" by Petra

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      • #18
        Originally posted by Cow Poke View Post
        And dumbed it down to a "teaching to the test" policy.
        Yep. Just one example from my own children's education, teachers are fixated on teaching "sight words" instead of phonics, because they want to be sure that children recognize the words on progress tests. During one conference with my daughter's teacher, I mentioned that we were helping my daughter with reading by using a classic book that teaches phonics, and the teacher literally scowled at me with evident contempt. I was so caught off guard by her reaction that I started laughing, which didn't help matters.

        Of course now my daughter can read any word you put in front of her even if she's never seen it before.
        Some may call me foolish, and some may call me odd
        But I'd rather be a fool in the eyes of man
        Than a fool in the eyes of God


        From "Fools Gold" by Petra

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        • #19
          Originally posted by Mountain Man View Post
          Yep. Just one example from my own children's education, teachers are fixated on teaching "sight words" instead of phonics, because they want to be sure that children recognize the words on progress tests. During one conference with my daughter's teacher, I mentioned that we were helping my daughter with reading by using a classic book that teaches phonics, and the teacher literally scowled at me with evident contempt. I was so caught off guard by her reaction that I started laughing, which didn't help matters.

          Of course now my daughter can read any word you put in front of her even if she's never seen it before.
          I still remember the ads for "Hooked on Phonics". They used something like it in my kindergarten, and at home. I was reading through a decent amount of stuff at around 3-4 years old.

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          • #20
            Originally posted by Mountain Man View Post

            Of course now my daughter can read any word you put in front of her even if she's never seen it before.
            00000000000000ars3aaa.jpg

            I'm always still in trouble again

            "You're by far the worst poster on TWeb" and "TWeb's biggest liar" --starlight (the guy who says Stalin was a right-winger)
            "Overall I would rate the withdrawal from Afghanistan as by far the best thing Biden's done" --Starlight
            "Of course, human life begins at fertilization that’s not the argument." --Tassman

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            • #21
              Originally posted by Mountain Man View Post
              Of course now my daughter can read any word you put in front of her even if she's never seen it before.
              When we started teaching our oldest daughter at home, we had a special arrangement with Sam Houston University where their "teacher college" would test my daughter twice a year to see if she was "at grade" on all her subjects.

              She was consistently WAY ahead in English and social studies / geography - but "at grade" in math. She just never could get math. They (SHSU) provided written scholastic evaluations as they knew I was being prosecuted by the State for failure to comply with the Compulsory Attendance Laws* of the State of Texas.



              *there are no such laws - we have "Compulsory Education Laws", not "Compulsory Attendance Laws" -- the prosecution flat out lied in their filings for arrest warrants.
              The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

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              • #22
                Originally posted by Cerebrum123 View Post
                I still remember the ads for "Hooked on Phonics". They used something like it in my kindergarten, and at home. I was reading through a decent amount of stuff at around 3-4 years old.
                Tried and True!
                The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

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                • #23
                  Originally posted by Starlight View Post
                  A lot of US conservatives wouldn't agree with you that education is a good thing...
                  We US conservatives believe that our children should be taught how to think not what to think.
                  Education = how to think
                  Indoctrination = what to think.

                  Only dictators want their people taught what to think

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                  • #24
                    Originally posted by Starlight View Post
                    A lot of US conservatives wouldn't agree with you that education is a good thing...
                    And this nutty declaration is based on what, exactly?
                    The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

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                    • #25
                      Originally posted by rogue06 View Post
                      Considering what the left has done to education here it is obvious they don't think it is a good thing.
                      Yep the left wants to teach our children what to think. we conservatives here in America want or children taught how to think. one is indoctrination the other is education.

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                      • #26
                        Originally posted by Cow Poke View Post
                        And this nutty declaration is based on what, exactly?
                        Nothing since Starlight can't read minds.

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                        • #27
                          Originally posted by rogue06 View Post
                          [ATTACH=CONFIG]28096[/ATTACH]
                          That looks like the kind of logic Dimbulb and Ignorant Roy are using in the abortion thread to defend their assertion that skin cells and sperm are organisms.
                          Some may call me foolish, and some may call me odd
                          But I'd rather be a fool in the eyes of man
                          Than a fool in the eyes of God


                          From "Fools Gold" by Petra

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                          • #28
                            Originally posted by Cow Poke View Post
                            And this nutty declaration is based on what, exactly?
                            He is, of course, equating our objections to certain aspects of the US education system with being against education in general. It's a blatantly obvious logical fallacy, which leads me to assume he does this sort of thing on purpose.
                            Some may call me foolish, and some may call me odd
                            But I'd rather be a fool in the eyes of man
                            Than a fool in the eyes of God


                            From "Fools Gold" by Petra

                            Comment


                            • #29
                              Originally posted by rogue06 View Post
                              [ATTACH=CONFIG]28096[/ATTACH]
                              Hence,

                              Enter the Church and wash away your sins. For here there is a hospital and not a court of law. Do not be ashamed to enter the Church; be ashamed when you sin, but not when you repent. – St. John Chrysostom

                              Veritas vos Liberabit<>< Learn Greek <>< Look here for an Orthodox Church in America<><Ancient Faith Radio
                              sigpic
                              I recommend you do not try too hard and ...research as little as possible. Such weighty things give me a headache. - Shunyadragon, Baha'i apologist

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                              • #30
                                Originally posted by Bill the Cat View Post
                                Kind of like the "happiness index"
                                Not at all. I think questions about happiness are the best questions of all to ask, because it's the thing you most want to maximize.

                                "Direction of the country" by contrast is one of the worst kinds of questions to ask. Some people might answer it as if it had to do with happiness, others might answer it as if it had to do with something else entirely. It's going to get a nonsense mishmash of conflated responses.
                                "I hate him passionately", he's "a demonic force" - Tucker Carlson, in private, on Donald Trump
                                "Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism" - George Orwell
                                "[Capitalism] as it exists today is, in my opinion, the real source of evils. I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy" - Albert Einstein

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