Notice the "regardless of the circumstances".

Yeah, however I just took this as a generalization, since it'd be quite a statement to say that someone tried everything.

I didn't even realize what people meant by saying "just concentrate" until I took my first methylphenedate when I was 25.

Not meaning to troll, but if you try some acid, you'll realize there's a whole spectrum of "awareness" and "concentration" that you weren't aware of, if you feel such a difference from methylphenidate. (Just make sure to have some good weed and relaxing, interesting, positive music, in case it gets too much.)

Medicating with amphetamine all the time is obviosuly quite moronic.

I'd even say it's dangerous and should be a criminal offense to prescribe that without having 99.99999% proof, judging from my (extensive) experience with party kids and goers.

ADHD/ADD are real but often overdiagnosed

That was exactly my point.

Expecting things to be customized to our particular level of interest in unrealistic.

That's also true (mostly), however some kids adapt better and some worse.

It is, but if they'd force Uber and other apps to do so, they'd also encroach on the territory of the "original" ride-sharing services, which are rather established in Germany. Also, it'd make Uber's (main) model meaningless, so obviously they're going to fight it.
An interesting tidbit, is that it's quite difficult to have a technically insecure car in Germany, due to the heavy regulation and police checking anything suspicious, so I believe they (Uber) should just find an insurance company willing to fully insure their drivers (or provide a quick and easy process for them to do so themselves) and it'd probably be fine.

She has trouble focusing on anything regardless of environmental variables.

As others have pointed out, in most cases this is called "being a kid." If something's presented in a boring way, try to do that differently. And, more importantly, try to think outside your box and find out things on which she does focus pretty well.

Yes, except that people use ride-sharing to get more than just their gas, without getting a commercial license (technically this is probably illegal). So similar rules should apply to Uber as well, as we could assume that drivers only take others for a ride with it, if it's "on their way" (never-mind their "way" being "cruising around town").

to transport people commercially you need a "commercial transport license"

Unless you're just sharing the cost.

How about that airplane you travel on?

You mean, like Airbus,Iliushin, Tupolev, and a few others? Or are you talking about Sir George Cayley?

Enjoying that computer you're using? Americans invented that.

Have a look at this please.
Europe's got the brains and US has^H^H^Hhad the money.

Certainly, he had a disposition towards this happening, but it was marijuana that pushed it over the limit and completely fucked his entire life.

That would have happened in any case. Stop scaring the kids! Just remember, it's all in your head.

I believe, the question was, whether there's been an advance in the depth-sensing algorithm in the sense that you don't need a specific IR pattern (i.e. a grid) like in the Kinect anymore, but that just a couple of IR emitters are enough.

Yeah, chemo and radiotherapy is so much *FUN* (especially with grade 3 and 4 types) !!
What I meant was: when do we get our nano-bots that swim in the lymphatic and vascular systems and destroys any cancer that spreads already?

You seem to live with the misconception that oncologists try to heal the patient (well, maybe some do). Their job is to get rid of cancer. Sadly.

You know, I've imagined a more... elaborate comparison, with personal experience. But I guess thanks for the meaningless (no source, no age, no time...) statistics anyway.

I never said or implied that there's one way to teach, I'm sorry that you got this impression. I duly acknowledge the fact that there's people who are more inclined to liberal arts or humanities than science, as well as people who "understand" sports better, and that different teaching methods should apply to an empathetic person than to one who's more rational.
What I did say is that lowering the bar because of a couple of mouth-breathing idiots is just as retarded, and, since the majority of the students in the three schools I've visited in Berlin + surroundings were peer-pressured into cultivating a "fuck it" attitude towards learning (reflected, btw, in my later studies at Berlin Tech, when people only worked through the required points of an assignment, instead of exploring further on their own), unfortunately, the kids that want to learn something are forced to go to extra-curricular activities, which further labels them as nerds and excludes them from their peer.
I really, really, strongly disliked this fact, and this has also been acknowledged as an issue (though I lack the proper source, right now).
To conclude, I believe raising the difficulty (or level, actually, since the stuff's not difficult and some of you guys have THIRTEEN years to finish!) does make sense. Fostering an intellectual community does make sense. And turning the tables to have the weaker students at least *try* to catch up to the rest of the class instead of them pulling the others (and eventually the whole economy) down, is a good idea.
The weak students are the ones, who should go and attend tutoring, not the other way around. (It's paid for by the government anyway, so the argument that weak students usually come from the lower layers of society is moot in this case.)
And if they're so bad that they can't finish a program that other students in other countries can, then draw consequences.

I sincerely doubt that teaching matrices in 7th grade raises "understanding and awareness".

It did at least in one case. I'd also have loved an intro to lambda calculus in the later years. Things have advanced since the 60's/70's but the curriculum adjusts in the opposite direction for some reason.

I have to say that you seem to make the mistake of regarding quantity equivalent to quality. [...] I find it pretty hard to believe that you [...] actually read and not merely skimmed them.

Well, I personally didn't read all of them, only the ones I *knew* I was going to be questioned on (like War and Peace, for instance). This usually amounted to like 50% of the list (we had a liberal teacher). But, since the "examination" was quite deep and required an actual understanding of the plot, characters, historical context, and many other dimensions of the book in question, you *had* to *read* and *understand* the book or risk getting a bad grade. Then again, my cute neighbor read *ALL* of them!
Feel free to ask someone, who went to school in Moscow or St. Petersburg (don't know about other cities, but I'd wager the situation was very similar), if you need confirmation. I know it's hard to believe for someone used to sparing the "poor kids" and providing them pre-chewed information laced with the teacher's opinion, instead of pushing the kids to solve problems on their own.

we usually cover one book per month during lessons (if that much) but in detail.

Yeah, I remember being bored on the second week of some of Duerrenmatt's or Lessing's (shorter) works, when a minority came prepared and we were reading the whole book in class (especially great, when it's that idiot, who never learned how to read properly and couldn't bind two syllables together), instead of discussing the plot, analyzing the literary style, etc. We were "reading" The Judge and his Hangman for 3 (three!) months. Seriously! WTF?!?
What I'm trying to say here is that maybe it'd be worth a consideration by the education panel to give a list of 20 books and let the students choose at least 2 of them to read over the holidays, but no, that'd be against the almighty law of not giving them *any* homework over summer. ; )

Judging by my (subjective, of course) experience, I'd say the general literacy of the population that went to school in the USSR is way higher than the general literacy of the "average German". I wouldn't expect otherwise, after I've overheard parents in DE say things like: "Oh, I really don't think my kid should go to a gymnasium, the load's too high (LOL), he/she's better off in a real [10 years total] or hauptschule [8/9 years total]", or a teacher deciding where your kid's going instead of you and/or the kid.
Eventually, when people get out of school, their prospect is to find an apprenticeship as a salesman or some other job that's going to be virtually non-existent, when RFID & Co hit the market, or their job as a construction worker get's automated away by an oversized 3D printer.
I never understood why the level of expectations in DE is so low in general.
As a comparison, in 2010 the attainment rate of tertiary education in RU vs DE is 54 (1st place) vs 25.4 (23rd place) percent for (25 to 64 year olds) source: OECD interactive tool.

Regarding PISA, of course you can dump most of the results, if they come during your last lesson and say whoever's finished can go home...*facepalm*
And regarding matrices (and other concepts): it just raises the student's general understanding and awareness of subjects. It's just one example of the "level-difference" that really stood out and that's why I mentioned it. I wish someone would have shown me this, back in school too, but maybe I'm just a nerd.

It is also the only sci-fi series (AFAIK), where the characters have to go take a dump.