“Traditionally, schools use this model:
1. Decide on what kids need to know to prepare them for adulthood.
2. Prepare a curriculum based on this.
3. Give students a schedule based on this curriculum.
4. Have educated teachers hand them the info they need, and drill them in skills.
5. The student reads, memorizes the info, learns the skills, and becomes prepared.
6. Students must follow all rules or be punished. This is actually more important than the info and skills, although it’s never said that way.”

Sigh.

“The first basic law of human stupidity asserts without ambiguity that: Always and inevitably everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.”

You will understand this better if you’ve read Ender’s Game.

Completely in favour. BTW Quangos = Quasi-NGOs. Found that out shortly before coming across this post.

Sigh. Felt so sad after reading this.

If you’re a fan (or going to be a fan) of Where the Wild Things Are.

“Hold the silence, void of movement, until it is pregnant with tension. Then ask if you just “blew their minds” in a really out-there voice. Bask in the glow of their appreciative laughter. Bask some more. If the moment is right, make a follow-up joke.”

“What the newspaper unearthed was a near-unanimity of thinking opinion in Singapore, that we really need to open up and move to a more competitive political system. You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone outside of the PAP today who would argue for more of the paternalistic one-party rule the party has represented for so long.”

“…the most important predictor of success is determination. At first we thought it might be intelligence…. But while it certainly helps to be smart, it’s not the deciding factor.”