To many, learning is NOT a payoff(or at least small compared to socializing, video games, or whatever).
Socializing is a payoff to MOST of the students, but school is not necessary for that.
Most adults wouldn't consider "help forming your self-perceptions" a payoff-you think kids are that objective about things?!?

Sorry, not everyone considers things with the same value judgments you do.

"has become"? Was there a time when it wasn't a penis waving contest? Well, other than before their existence.

Lots of people have mentioned scientists using calculus, but LOTS of engineers use it, too. You want to maximize/minimize something, Calculus is how you do it.

And, there was a discussion on Slashdot not long ago about the fact that many scientists misunderstand statistics, and the fact that this causes problems.

I'd say some understanding of statistics would also be useful in a more general way, to avoid being bullshitted by numbers.

They mock American gridlock? Why? It sounds like the major cities are getting it pretty bad, now that they are getting cars.

"secular society"-I find that strange, given that (western) monarchies are usually believed to get their right to rule from (Christian) God. Often there is even an official state religion. Like, a "Church of England".

But, in practice it seems the situations are reverse.

I've never been to Tibet, so I can't say for sure. But, China has ruled Tibet for a while. China claims to currently rule Taiwan, but Taiwan does what it wants. According to China, Taiwan's just a "wayward child", or something similar. So, I'd expect the Taiwanese to consider themselves LESS part China, though I'm sure many Tibetans don't want to be part of that system.

Also, complicating the situation is that apparently, China has been moving a lot of non-Tibetan Chinese into Tibet. They have had kids. If you are born in Tibet, that means you are at least SOMEWHAT Tibetan-so your opinion regarding China ruling Tibet matters at least some from a Tibetan standpoint.

Did you separate racially Chinese and nationally Chinese(as in, living under the PRC's government)? I live in Taiwan, and most people consider the two places to be different countries.

Eh, SOME RPGs help reading. The generation of RPGs I started on probably didn't so much. Dragon Warrior's "You killed the Blob and gained 2 gold" isn't exactly complex grammar.

History doesn't matter to all religions, though. For some religions, it is the philosophy and what you do that matters. I'm a Buddhist, and don't really care whether there was ever an actual guy named Siddhartha Gautama(Buddha's name).

I'd say most of those have the problem of not being skeptical ENOUGH.

Actually, I'm an English teacher. I voted for logic, though.

I consider the ability to think more important than correct grammar or spelling. I used to be a programmer. I think someone who can think will do better than someone who can spell and knows a grammar that is not very similar to many programming languages'. Hell, functional languages ARE logic(in the form of math).

Isn't English 101 already a requirement? I didn't go to college THAT long ago.

I have only had one of my students try to fight. He is small, and his intent was obvious, so it wasn't hard to hold him back. It's Taiwan, and they were yelling Chinese, so I'm not sure. But, I believe the one being attacked was the aggressor. The aggressor was larger, and laughed at the attack.

The attacker is a student who frequently cries in my class. He misbehaves a lot. So I punish him. He cries. He gets angry for some other reason he cries. This student needs to learn some other tactics. Incidentally, the bullied often become bullies themselves. Maybe I can use this as an opportunity to help him learn some better strategies.

Also, I dislike the complete objection to the bullied student being taught to do something different. If a person is frequently treated badly by numerous people, maybe they ARE doing something wrong. The bully should still be punished, but that doesn't mean you can't talk to the bullied.

SPOILER:

The main character was a child who killed several of his bullies. The only way to make SURE someone will never attack fuck with you again. Incidentally, this was integral to the basic idea of the book.

There are reasons that bullies choose their targets. If numerous bullies consistently choose the same target maybe there is a reason. "Blame" goes on the aggressor. But, that doesn't mean that the bullied can't learn new tactics to lessen the amount of bullying.

While your revenge tactic felt good, and I might have done it myself, did it lessen the bullying? Apparently the genius still found you as an acceptable source of homework.

As a teacher, this article makes me think of a student who cries in class a lot. He acts bad. He does this a lot. I punish him. He cries. He gets angry for some other reason and cries.

But, if this student acts like this with his peers, he will probably get bullied. I say that from experience. I like the idea of treating it as a learning opportunity for the kid.