Thread

Plunging test scores are a slow-moving catastrophe

207 points · 414 comments · vinni2

cs702 · 1790440778 · focus · HN ↗
Isn't education the best antidote we have against misinformation, against ignorance, against hateful ideologies, against our least civilized impulses?
Is it possible to have a civilization that works well, with institutions that work well, if the population is poorly educated?
Sigh.
1. cvwright · 1790449626 · focus · HN ↗
  The counterpoint to this is that early 20th century Germany was one of the most advanced, sophisticated, and educated countries in the world.
  In fact the genocide only stopped when a bunch of unsophisticated American (and Russian) farmboys rolled in.
  1. cs702 · 1790459082 · focus · HN ↗
    > was one of the most advanced, sophisticated, and educated countries in the world
    It was also an economic disaster. Surely that contributed.
    t0mpr1c3 · 1790461148 · focus · HN ↗
    WWI was the cataclysm that destroyed the global economy.
    (Its aftermath was a necessary transition, that happened to be disastrously mismanaged.)
    The current proponents of new "realism" who claim that regional empires will co-exist in peace would do well to study the causes of WWI.

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