Things that make you question our future

chava said:

I'd blamed covid restrictions as well, but it seems it is not that really. Swedish non-lockdown kids are slipping behind, and the asian kids (suffering from pretty rough lockdowns) do well as always in the latest PISA results. UK does surprisingly(!) well, however

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UK switched to evidence-based synthetic phonics a few years back and is reaping the rewards.

Sweden is not geared up to challenge at the top of the table, hampered as it is by pedagogical egalitarianism.

I remember 20 years ago encountering the lowest group of a differentiated class of 11 year olds in an English lesson, none of whom could really read at all. Don't think that happens any more thanks to exigent exams and proper pedagogy.

What's funny is that Wales and Scotland did not switch to proven better techniques and are way behind England in PISA...backwaters gonna backwater.

0bleak said:

I don't remember any that were filthy here in the states. Some may have been dark, but not to us at the time since we didn't know the meaning.
I guess I'm too old and out-of-touch, but I still find it, if not concerning, then at least somewhat interesting, that 5 year olds are already being exposed to stuff that sexually explicit even if they don't know the meaning.

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I think you're totally right to be concerned, we're far, far too lax about these things these days. The sexualisation of little kids is the one of the worst aspects of modern day society without a doubt, I fucking hate it, and it's obviously become a far worse problem than it was before.

i'm not a kid but i think the internet fried my brain as well, i can hardly read a book any more, just permanently distracted

graphs extracted from some nonsense article about THE CODDLING



I know you love graphs!





graph action @mixed_biscuits @Mr. Tea @HMGovt’s Glorious Return!

Post shift decompression journal entry 223,
see also themes surrounding *stoned thoughts and *depopulation

With sons, with so much random violence and maintaining a mix of both broad and specific interests, you have to talk it out and share concerns which people often see as burdening others when it’s the opposite. There was only fist and boot related violence when my own generation were at school. Even football was mild comparatively and 50% attire led. Now? Wtf

Different to having girls, yet mates with daughters go to same krav classes and they‘re already skilled killers. Add broad range of nutrition and exercise as fun, ie easy bits

Concern for parents is what if their Mum or myself go early? Plan mf? You think your legal shit is in order? You can’t leave a mess. Had my first son with an ex well before later 3 with Mrs Wash. Depopulation? Get tae fuck

Hope they remain friends throughout their lives, stand by and support each other when shit flies. Conviviality isn’t a specialty between my own brothers and sisters even if we have each other’s backs. It’s not about perfection, it’s about being there.

Wife and I are old enough and round the block enough times to know death but they haven’t experienced it on the same level. And frequently they beat you to the punchline, “we’re going to burn you in the garden if you drop haaaa” (feverishly accesses NHS child psychology services), except degrees of saltiness are part of humour’s layered truths

Ironically, drugs too. The freedom to explore but hopefully impart some lived experience with the rise of completely different compounds which can turn up in practically anything illicit

Imparting the need for rubbers when only the oldest really grasps the reality of spontaneity and intimacy and requiring protection with sex. How bringing new life into the world changes everything in multiple ways and in multiple worlds, so try and wait until you’re old enough to be responsible etc etc etc etc, as if such attempts at logic ever got in the way of hormonally-charged male brains

What disturbs are conditions among Britain generally. How decrepit it can look and feel, rivers we visit on bikes overflowing with sewage, just makes you grimace at times. You can hit sections every season and see dead fish wiped, floating or draped on flagstone. Weird too. Flies, algae clogged, nothing can live beyond a few breeding seasons. Shrinking green spaces, particularly. The only choice is to move once the youngest has completed his next step up

Future of planet Earth? You have to feel for the ol’ girl and her future, don’t you. If you’d asked me this at 25 years of age would have just patiently small-talked until asking you if you could score

WashYourHands said:

rivers we visit on bikes overflowing with sewage, just makes you grimace at times. You can hit sections every season and see dead fish wiped, floating or draped on flagstone.

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I can remember canal holidays in my teens ( we're talking late 70s here ) and bloated fish floating, so no change really

Aye but canals generally have a higher shopping trolley count etc any way

I get what you’re saying though

Nottingham’s marina has had horrific years

william_kent said:

I can remember canal holidays in my teens ( we're talking late 70s here ) and bloated fish floating, so no change really

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Can you still recall your last summer? Can you still see it all?

WashYourHands said:

Aye but canals generally have a higher shopping trolley count etc any way

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the worst way to view any town or city in the UK is by canal

I have many prejudiced opinions of UK towns and cities based on my observations from canal holidays

OXFORD: supposedly "gleaming spires", but to me on the canal, meth drinkers gathered around a fire and some some fat guy trying to entice me and my brother on the towpath with the phrase "look at the duckies"

Clinamenic said:

Can you still recall your last summer? Can you still see it all?

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I've posted and deleted many photos from my various holidays from last year

deep anti forum moves

but here's one from when I was in Harajuko, Tokyo last year (2023 )



and for context: ( 2023 )

US has the best schools outside of Asia:

chava said:

US has the best schools outside of Asia:

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This is a county where a burger chain launched a "1/3 pounder" to challenge the McDonald's quarter-pounder, but it flopped because everyone assumed 1/3 is smaller than 1/4 because 3 is smaller than 4.

chava said:

US has the best schools outside of Asia:

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I don't see how the US can cherry pick their best performers to boost their ranking. The US are below us full stop.

Mr. Tea said:

This is a county where a burger chain launched a "1/3 pounder" to challenge the McDonald's quarter-pounder, but it flopped because everyone assumed 1/3 is smaller than 1/4 because 3 is smaller than 4.

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If they'd just called it a 1-and-a-third-quarter-pounder it would have been obviously bigger.

I think I read somewhere once that teaching to the PISA test on a national basis is a thing, so maybe the results should be taken with a pinch of salt.