It is not watered down but adjusted to reality in which kids will grow into workers that need to have basic skills in operating a computer and nowadays some idea that there are issues with security esp. when you get a mail from a widowed old lady from Nigeria needing a means of investing millions in charity etc.
This is not watered down stuff but basics on which if you want to you can build more. Assuming there are still cohding jobs in 20y from now there will be courses doing just that for a minority exactly as today.

As for cohding again - not sure what the fuss is all about - the companies I worked for so far had always a mix of workers from different backgrounds which more or less resembled the society in which they lived. It was similar in every country and company I worked for with exception of one sorry place in Germany where there was not a single local engineer. I also hear from my colleagues in US hat where they are there is indeed skewed racial balance among workers - almost no whites for instance: 3 whites in 100 of workers mostly of East Asia, Indian, Pakistani and Bangladesh origins. One may of course claim this means I have contact people with low pay companies in US. That may be but they still work in IT. So where is the racial problem Obama is addressing then?

I doubt that this is true actually. I base that on the fact that stupidity was with us as long as we have ever been. We still succeeded because we were plenty and were adapting (which is to say - we were adaptable for the events that were like Toba explosion etc). The intelligence played a role but it is not always the exacting brain of a scientist that saved the day in narrow points like the one suspected when said Toba went booom. This is the nature's way - sent quazillions out for only one or two to succeed. Fittness is needed and luck too. OC it helps to have more skills but that is sometimes a burden too - ask any engineer who was so good in his work that he was kept with perks etc at one place for say 20y and then fired when his skills were not needed anymore - how many of them did recover from that to the previously enjoyed level of prosperity. I am sure for some it worked for most esp. if they crossed 50yoa it would be unlikely event. Which again is not all that bad. They are replaced by newer generation and that is good so. That is the life perpetuating itself so to say. When one reached certain level of maturity one sees that the best what one can have is the life or Big Lebowsky.

That parent post is marked troll (23.03.2015 0910cet) is a sign that there are a lots of idiots around. It should be marked funny at least if not insightful. It is for instance not uncommon to see grownup educated people having problems with basic application of counting to their small business. Yet they can count and know all the rules. Maybe this is just them or maybe some broader view at what the actual skills can be used for could help. The again there will always be pupils that would be terrible bored by this low level - story oriented approach as focused training on key subjects is much better at studying foundations of say nuclear physics or microbiology. Yet there is nothing stopping both methods being applied where they are best. Topic like approach to some and focused course for some other. TFA seems to depict the situation where only topics are used which I doubt is working for all areas of science and technology and for all pupils. OTOH we probably need much more communication and negotiation skilled people as we move from producing things into servicing things.
In my professional life I would actually enjoy more software specialists with social, planning and communication skills but instead I have either socially inept geniuses or morons that know nothing but know how to network themselves out of trouble and layoffs. I guess that is another story.

So far they have better results then most developed countries. Can that be said of US?

I may be mistaken but basic counting is part of math. At least in Europe it is, not sure how that looks like in the land of the free tho.

There have been making movies about water problems in California 40years ago. Surely in this many years many almond trees could be planted, grow up and be harvested and commercially used paying back the investment and be replaced by less thirsty crop. or do you think there is a chance for a sudden change in California's climate ensuring sufficient water for huge cities, unlimited irrigation of crop and golf fields?

I knew a story without reference to Putin would be a story wasted. I think however havig little green men in California could cause nuclear conflict faster than it is going to happen anyway so be careful!

I do not mean Germans here.

not sure what the fuss is about. I figured out this no problem there albeit I found it awkward as this never actually happens for number of reasons. The other thing is - if one google urugway syndrom now there is a set of references to the website where all the perverts congregate called /.!

so your anecdotal evidence from US maybe (?) is the reason to abandon well functioning taxi services elsewhere? Hmm - seems like well balanced and informed way of doing stuff.

They say that there are lands where you can get into prison for red light crossing. One of those is a leader when it comes to incarceration of its people. The other closes its prisons because society seemed to have adopted to following the rules and re-socializing the criminals. In some you can get few stones thrown at you (till you die). I am sure which system I prefer and that is not the same as one preferred in US of A.

Finland seems to live without these problems. I wonder why.

now when you mentioned it - NSA did not prevent anything so far unless we believe what they say and ignore available evidence. It did however managed to motivate other nations too look closer at alternatives where that make sense. Here we go then - Putin's fault again and NSA is his puppet!!! Come to think of it, maybe it is other way around - they invented Putin and jihad to increase their budget??? Either way Putin is firmly in the equation that describes NSA reality.

Not sure why parent is being demoted - that is one way Nazis could react to this sort of fake aryans. OTOH there is no regime on this earth that does not like to dispense certificates for money.

I stand up for watching my pr0n and for my political views and although not quite comfy about it being known to everybody I do not care much. If they want to send me to quarry they will anyway. Fuck NSA and current incarnation of authoritarians. They shall rot in hell together with idiots that make it a business to sell my private data to everybody and any attempt of protection against it, socially conspicuous.