I have to call bs on this one, having taught English in a Japanese town for five years and constantly talking with other teachers and university professors from around the country.
Japanese school children are taught the wrote-method training. Monbukagakusho and their ever increasing workload for the teacher doesn't really help much either. Constant repetition and memorization, quantity over quality. Everything they learn is for passing entrance exams. You can pass the entrance exam to Todai and never even fully matriculate, but you can get a good job on that basis alone. Their education system seems to almost expunge any curiosity, creativity and free thinking.
Case in point: English (or any language other than their own). Sure, they memorize tons of vocabulary, but they can't speak to save their lives, and the ones that can manage speak the cursed 'katakana' English. The kids need a pattern to speak and write. If you give them a comic with the bubbles blotted out and tell them to come up with their own, well over half cannot do it and instead write English vulgarities or leave it blank. It is incredibly rare to have a student actually come up and speak English out of their own volition, or indeed show any academic proficiency for fear of bullying by their classmates (the nail that sticks out is hammered back in).
The elevator system also adds emphasis to the fact that you don't even need to go to school to graduate. You CANNOT fail, no matter how hard you try. Should the class fail a test, the teacher will give out the test corrections and then give the SAME EXACT TEST within the week, and keep doing the same test until ALL students pass. This is because it is mandatory to keep children in school until they hit high school, but even some high schools (not all) continue the elevator system, so by the time you hit university many students don't know shit from their left hand. But they sure know their maths well! (well, some of them anyway...)
I think you also wanted to add "Waseda" to the list of the big three. However, they are not the end-all-be-all universities they used to be. Ritsumeikan in Kyoto is renown for its academic excellence as well as APU in Oita. Seinan Gakuin University in Fukuoka is considered one of if not the top school in Kyushu and very respected throughout Japan.
Whilst Spiderman was chasing the portly kleptomaniac around the hazardous maze filled with random innocents, the Jedi Knights guarded the entrance and waved their hands saying "This is not the exit you are looking for..." to which the evil Hutt had no choice but to return the sacred picture book.
But it makes Baby Jebus cry, and anything that makes that twat cry is a big no no in Good Ole America (TM). People need any excuse to justify their hate, especially by the religious zombies.
I have to agree with you. I don't know if these baby geniuses really can look fondly back on their childhood and say 'yeah, I had a great time.' without the shadow of their parents flogging them with 'you must learn this!' or 'you must do that!'
While their parents may mean well, the old adage of 'the road to hell is paved with good intentions' will no doubt ring true in this situation as well. Yes, give your child the best possible, but leave them to enjoy life rather than go blind reading and studying subjects that could very well be useless to what they end up choosing in the long run.
If she were my daughter, I would no doubt encourage a healthy education but mix it up with other activities. Much like the old fighting between the Confucianists and the Taoists of books vs. nature, there needs to be a balance that the child chooses, not the parents. Take her out, apply what she learned in those books in the real world. Have fun with gravity, blow up stuff with chemistry, launch a brick into the neighbor's window with physics, have her kick her cousin's ass with applied kinesthetics of martial arts, etc. Then when she's old enough to think and understand for herself she can use what she learned in her earlier years to choose whatever the hell she wants to do and I as her parent would continue encouraging and supporting her. Hopefully her father will ease up before she breaks.
Once again, what would seem a basic 'right' is being brutally oppressed by an organization under the cloak of 'religion'. I wonder just how much longer this will continue? Until we are all 'clears' or cleared out of our money from the lawsuits?
Unfortunately in our police state, this might be considered an act of terrorism or some stupid thing like that. "you don't trust your government, ergo you are unpatriotic, ergo you are a terrorist."
oh how far has the US fallen.
Whilst this might be construed as a troll, and my moderation hit might reflect that, you have to think about the people who are hired as airport security. They are not the best or brightest, and seeing the amount of problems that are caused by simple misunderstandings, ignorance, etc. (although many of these problems are the administrations problems NOT the airport security people), this is just another drop in the bucket. Of course, there are exceptions and I have personally met very bright airport security people, but mostly in the international section of the airport.
This is, indeed, good news! This, plus wind-power, some recent excellent solar-power breakthroughs and throw in hydro, will no doubt drastically reduce the dependency on foreign oil. However, I am a bit hesitant to do the truffle-shuffle just yet because of the oil cartel and hits powerful hold on certain Washington big-wigs and other powerful old farts. Correct me if I'm wrong (which is most of the time), but weren't a few of the alternative power studies debunked by 'independent research' funded by big oil companies? I can't seem to recall off the top of my head...
I wonder what the health issues might come out of this? Some of the 'wearable' monitors I have read about require a type of constant light flashing directly into the eye at a much closer range than the traditional monitors. I would love to have a very portable computer, but I also value my eyesight, especially since I have slight retinal decay.
No one ever got fired for buying Microsoft?...oh wait. But seriously, this whole licensing crap is really pissing off many people/companies who most likely have legit copies that mysteriously flag as illegal. While this is indeed old news, I'm glad this will bring some new people to the FOSS camp as an alternative to draconian licensing deals, etc. The more positive news for FOSS, the better, no?
This is incompetence on both ends, really. Security is not something that only the contractor has to worry about, its something the users also have to worry about. The government should freaking train their employees and get them to pass classes of security, especially in the DHS. If you don't pass, your pay gets docked or whatever. The NIST has some damn good guidelines for securing XP boxen, so I don't understand why they don't implement those policies (they are free, right???) and train their personnel to use them.
Yes, Unisys may have screwed up, but then again, its all about the better mousetrap and all...
Honestly, this has got to be one of the coolest things in a very long time for NASA. Not only has their multi-million project blown away the three-month lifespan, but the amount of data being recorded has got to be making those NASA scientists and the scientific community cream in their pants on a regular basis. We can learn with greater detail how planets and the galaxies are created, and begin to develop a very crude technical draft for mars colonization. The more data we take, the better the chances that, while probably not in our lifetime, soon enough the first stage of extraterrestrial colonization can be planned and executed. Great stuff!!!
Ok, so the MPAA and Mediasentry are doing this 'devious' thing. But how will this go when the program suddenly causes computers to go haywire, etc? Can they sue mediasentry et al?
Slashdot Mirror
Last noises heard from dying aliens: "Ack, ack, ack..."
No no, the last words heard were: "Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnn!!!!"
Japanese school children are taught the wrote-method training. Monbukagakusho and their ever increasing workload for the teacher doesn't really help much either. Constant repetition and memorization, quantity over quality. Everything they learn is for passing entrance exams. You can pass the entrance exam to Todai and never even fully matriculate, but you can get a good job on that basis alone. Their education system seems to almost expunge any curiosity, creativity and free thinking.
Case in point: English (or any language other than their own). Sure, they memorize tons of vocabulary, but they can't speak to save their lives, and the ones that can manage speak the cursed 'katakana' English. The kids need a pattern to speak and write. If you give them a comic with the bubbles blotted out and tell them to come up with their own, well over half cannot do it and instead write English vulgarities or leave it blank. It is incredibly rare to have a student actually come up and speak English out of their own volition, or indeed show any academic proficiency for fear of bullying by their classmates (the nail that sticks out is hammered back in).
The elevator system also adds emphasis to the fact that you don't even need to go to school to graduate. You CANNOT fail, no matter how hard you try. Should the class fail a test, the teacher will give out the test corrections and then give the SAME EXACT TEST within the week, and keep doing the same test until ALL students pass. This is because it is mandatory to keep children in school until they hit high school, but even some high schools (not all) continue the elevator system, so by the time you hit university many students don't know shit from their left hand. But they sure know their maths well! (well, some of them anyway...)
I think you also wanted to add "Waseda" to the list of the big three. However, they are not the end-all-be-all universities they used to be. Ritsumeikan in Kyoto is renown for its academic excellence as well as APU in Oita. Seinan Gakuin University in Fukuoka is considered one of if not the top school in Kyushu and very respected throughout Japan.
Whilst Spiderman was chasing the portly kleptomaniac around the hazardous maze filled with random innocents, the Jedi Knights guarded the entrance and waved their hands saying "This is not the exit you are looking for..." to which the evil Hutt had no choice but to return the sacred picture book.
But it makes Baby Jebus cry, and anything that makes that twat cry is a big no no in Good Ole America (TM). People need any excuse to justify their hate, especially by the religious zombies.
Of course shagging a sheep with a sheep-skin condom would be ... ironic?
Yousa people gonna die?
Seppuku?
I think you mean "I missed the joke..."
graffiti was written in special glow in the dark compounds all over london tubes in klingon, ancient greek, hieroglyphics and linear-b soon after.
Rub it down in habañero sauce. That should take care of it.
I'd give mod points for this brilliant piece of advice.
OP's story also made me laugh. Good stuff. I love slashdot =)
I have to agree with you. I don't know if these baby geniuses really can look fondly back on their childhood and say 'yeah, I had a great time.' without the shadow of their parents flogging them with 'you must learn this!' or 'you must do that!'
While their parents may mean well, the old adage of 'the road to hell is paved with good intentions' will no doubt ring true in this situation as well. Yes, give your child the best possible, but leave them to enjoy life rather than go blind reading and studying subjects that could very well be useless to what they end up choosing in the long run.
If she were my daughter, I would no doubt encourage a healthy education but mix it up with other activities. Much like the old fighting between the Confucianists and the Taoists of books vs. nature, there needs to be a balance that the child chooses, not the parents. Take her out, apply what she learned in those books in the real world. Have fun with gravity, blow up stuff with chemistry, launch a brick into the neighbor's window with physics, have her kick her cousin's ass with applied kinesthetics of martial arts, etc. Then when she's old enough to think and understand for herself she can use what she learned in her earlier years to choose whatever the hell she wants to do and I as her parent would continue encouraging and supporting her. Hopefully her father will ease up before she breaks.
Once again, what would seem a basic 'right' is being brutally oppressed by an organization under the cloak of 'religion'. I wonder just how much longer this will continue? Until we are all 'clears' or cleared out of our money from the lawsuits?
Unfortunately in our police state, this might be considered an act of terrorism or some stupid thing like that. "you don't trust your government, ergo you are unpatriotic, ergo you are a terrorist." oh how far has the US fallen.
Like it or not, I believe "humans" are the worst of all monsters. Unlimited potential for evil, and the will to do so at any time.
Whilst this might be construed as a troll, and my moderation hit might reflect that, you have to think about the people who are hired as airport security. They are not the best or brightest, and seeing the amount of problems that are caused by simple misunderstandings, ignorance, etc. (although many of these problems are the administrations problems NOT the airport security people), this is just another drop in the bucket. Of course, there are exceptions and I have personally met very bright airport security people, but mostly in the international section of the airport.
I find your lack of faith...disturbing. =)
Oh, wait you meant identification tech. Stupid title got me confused...
What a shitty story. The plot was pure crap, like if monkeys took a dump on their typewriters and sold the output. We should flush out these posts!
This is, indeed, good news! This, plus wind-power, some recent excellent solar-power breakthroughs and throw in hydro, will no doubt drastically reduce the dependency on foreign oil. However, I am a bit hesitant to do the truffle-shuffle just yet because of the oil cartel and hits powerful hold on certain Washington big-wigs and other powerful old farts. Correct me if I'm wrong (which is most of the time), but weren't a few of the alternative power studies debunked by 'independent research' funded by big oil companies? I can't seem to recall off the top of my head...
I wonder what the health issues might come out of this? Some of the 'wearable' monitors I have read about require a type of constant light flashing directly into the eye at a much closer range than the traditional monitors. I would love to have a very portable computer, but I also value my eyesight, especially since I have slight retinal decay.
No one ever got fired for buying Microsoft? ...oh wait. But seriously, this whole licensing crap is really pissing off many people/companies who most likely have legit copies that mysteriously flag as illegal. While this is indeed old news, I'm glad this will bring some new people to the FOSS camp as an alternative to draconian licensing deals, etc. The more positive news for FOSS, the better, no?
Yes, Unisys may have screwed up, but then again, its all about the better mousetrap and all...
Honestly, this has got to be one of the coolest things in a very long time for NASA. Not only has their multi-million project blown away the three-month lifespan, but the amount of data being recorded has got to be making those NASA scientists and the scientific community cream in their pants on a regular basis. We can learn with greater detail how planets and the galaxies are created, and begin to develop a very crude technical draft for mars colonization. The more data we take, the better the chances that, while probably not in our lifetime, soon enough the first stage of extraterrestrial colonization can be planned and executed. Great stuff!!!
Looks like instead of the spoon, it's Uri that will be bent. Too bad he won't go to jail, I'd like to see him 'bend' out of that one =)
Ok, so the MPAA and Mediasentry are doing this 'devious' thing. But how will this go when the program suddenly causes computers to go haywire, etc? Can they sue mediasentry et al?