Re: [Gnu-arch-users] OT: trained dependency

[Frank Pohlmann]

> If you can get the top 10% of the people in a
> country to spell words
> correctly with reasonable frequency and add numbers
> with more than two
> digits in them and get the right answer, then you're
> doing better than
> most countries.

I am not quite sure which statistics you are using,
but I consider your comment fairly polemical. I have
lived in quite a few countries and travelled to about
40, but I hardly ever found this impression to be
accurate. 

> 
> The US has difficulty getting the top 10% to
> identify a word when they
> see it.

Oh, come on. There are quite a few countries on this
planet with 40 % illiteracy - India being one of them
- so please, get a grip. I know that the US public
school system has its share of problems, but I find
this comment unhelpful.

*Disclaimer: I am a German citizen living mostly in
the UK and sometimes in India. I lived in the US for a
while and found California rather congenial. And
funnily enough, they can read and write there.

> encountering people who are noticably capable until
> you get down to
> around 1%ish)

Literacy and numeracy are important, but I dont think
your concept of ability is particularly inclusive.
Example: if I get hit by a car and end up in hospital,
I would like someone to empathise with me. This is a
very rare ability, but important in many professions.

-frank



> 
> -- 
>   .''`.  ** Debian GNU/Linux ** | Andrew Suffield
>  : :' :  http://www.debian.org/ |
>  `. `'                          |
>    `-             -><-          |
> 

> ATTACHMENT part 1.2 application/pgp-signature
name=signature.asc
> _______________________________________________
> Gnu-arch-users mailing list
> address@hidden
> http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/gnu-arch-users
> 
> GNU arch home page:
> http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/gnu-arch/ 


        
        
                
___________________________________________________________ALL-NEW Yahoo! 
Messenger - all new features - even more fun! http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com