Saturday, July 24, 2021

Wake up, America: The world just isn’t that into you

 To much of the world America looks like a declining power, precisely because it is a declining power


The people with big jobs in Washington came of age in the 1980s and 1990s, when America was the technological marvel of the world, and American inventions created the digital age. We haven’t done a lot lately except code some complicated software.

China has installed about 80% of the world’s 5G mobile broadband capacity, the carrier for the Fourth Industrial Revolution as much as railroads were for the First Industrial Revolution, and is moving much faster towards smart cities, automated ports, autonomous vehicles, self-programming robots and a wealth of other 5G applications.

Asia  Times

12 comments:

Ahmed Fares said...

From the article:

America needs the moral equivalent of a moonshot, a rededication to manufacturing leadership, a revived meritocracy that produces business and scientific leadership.

Except that America is going in the other direction, away from a meritocracy.

Parents have accused America's top high school of a 'purge' after slashing its intake of Asian American students by 20 percent because 'they are the wrong minority.'

Anti-Critical Race Theory campaigner Asra Nomani, whose child graduated from the school this year, claims Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJ) in Virginia is making race a factor in the admissions criteria and discriminating against Asian children.

She said TJ, which ranked the number one school nationwide in the US News Best High Schools report in April and as a public school has no tuition fees, has 'systematically set out to reduce' the number of Asian students joining.

Admissions data shows the class of 2025 has become increasingly diverse with black students making up 7 percent of the year group, up from just 1 percent for the class of 2021.

The proportion of Hispanic students increased from 3 percent to 11 percent while white students climbed from 18 percent to 22 percent.

Asian students continue to make up the majority at 54 percent of the class.

However, this marks a major decrease from 73 percent of the class of 2021 - a decline Nomani said is down to 'new racist standards' in the admissions process.


source: Merit matters: Parents accuse top high school of a 'purge' after slashing number of Asian American students by 20% because 'they are the wrong minority'

Peter Pan said...

If you live in the school district, your children attend a school in that district. Isn't that how a public school system works? I know that realtors use that as a selling point.

Matt Franko said...

LOL meanwhile the Dow is at 35,000…

lastgreek said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
lastgreek said...

In Quebec (in particular Montreal and Laval), there are fewer and fewer English schools each year so you just find one that you like and is relatively close to you.

Of course, you must have the right to send your kid to an English school -- that is, one of the parents must have had an English education in Quebec. I did, so that's why my kid is part of the English Montreal School Board (used to be called the Protestant School Board of Greater Montreal; James T. Kirk of the Starship Enterprise went to such a school: West Hill High School.Today, because of declining enrollment, it's a geezer home.).

The big plus of the English schools in Quebec is that they offer a bilingual education -- even at a level where it's mostly French language instruction. Ergo, your kid upon high school graduation should be fluently bilingual in both officials languages of Canada. I say "should be" unless the kid is a lazy dummy.

As for the French schools, unless they're the rich, private kind where there is English language instruction (because the rich parents insist on providing it because they aren't stupid to deny their kids English), the kids only speak French. Nothing wrong with that if the kids never plan to leave the province or just intend to visit France or any of France's African colonies.

Like I like to tell my French brethren, you are, like me, an ethnic. What makes you special is that currently you are the ethnic majority in the province, and that will eventually change; sorry. Also, another point I bring up, depending on my mood, of course, is that I like to remind them that unlike my ancestors (my parents) who came to this country legally, your French ancestors (English, too) came here as unwelcome settlers and thieves. Yeah, that pisses them off :)

Peter Pan said...

I went to English school in Quebec. I learned how to write in French, somewhat.
Learning to speak French is no problem since half the pupils are francophones, and we all have to communicate in the real world, beyond the school fence.

French speakers are a linguistic majority in Quebec. It would be self-defeating to promote bilingualism among les Quebecois de souche and new immigrants. Without language, what differentiates someone from Quebec from an Ontarian?

lastgreek said...

Quebecers are better looking.

Peter Pan said...

Really? How many people from Ontario have you seen?

lastgreek said...

Yes, really.

Enough. I have seen enough to judge the women of Quebec the most beautiful women of not only in all of Canada but also of all North America. Only the southern belles of the southern states come close (i have my theory on why that is so) :)

Peter Pan said...

Clearly, you are biased.

lastgreek said...

Of course

Peter Pan said...

In my unbiased opinion, the most beautiful women in the world are in South Korea!