If I agree with it, it is the truth. If I disagree, it's misinformation.

Yes, this applies to China, USA, UE, Russia and everybody (including you and me).

This is not in America (Full disclaimer: English is not my native tongue)., I was an old-fashioned professor who tried not to give everybody an A. My demands were much lower than I deemed necessary to teach for professional life but I did not want to give away A for free. I had lots of problems with students, who did whatever it took to get an A (every partial they failed produced a jihad against me), and with the dean and administrators that amplified the complaints of the students and pressured me to give away As for free. My father and my mother were teachers and, for them, like for me, academic quality was a religion. I felt dirty when I gave away As for free. I started taking anxiolytics because of so many problems.

The dean got tired with me and they fired me. So I ended up in my 50s with no jobs or prospects. Now, I survive with my wife's salary and some classes I give in another university. This university has told me implicitly that they want good grades. I have learned my lesson. A grades for everybody. It is either this or not having a job.

I understand that students want to have good grades without working. They are young and immature, as all of us were when we were young. But I can't bear grown-ups sc*wing-up students' lives. If everybody receives an A, the degree is worth nothing. Then you have to pay for masters, languages and have lots of connections to have a job. This didn't happen in my time. Having a Bachelor's degree was enough to get a job because it proved that you were hardworking and knowledgeable (Full disclaimer, I have a PhD when this was tough).

You are full of s***. Your argument boils down to "I am right. But I can't bother to explain why. Anyone who wants to know that I am right can investigate for himself" (add some smugness).

This is an unfalsifiable statement. If somebody says something different (such as GP's comment), you only say: "Oh, he's so wrong. Of course I can't bother explaining why. Google it".

Maybe GP's comment is completely wrong. But you can't win the argument by default. GP's comment gave some assertions and you can dispute that with arguments, logic and links. You are not God to say "They are wrong because I say so."

It's no wonder that you love traditional news sources. They are the same as you. "Trust us", "Everybody else is fake news". The same smugness as Rachel Maddow saying Trump could not win in any way https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

These traditional sources were the same media that told us that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. We only had to trust them. The same way we have to trust you because. ... because... because.... Ok, just because.

The cluelessness of the Slashdot community never ceases to amaze me.

Some years ago, the Slashdot crowd never stopped giving examples of ideological purity: they were for immigration, globalization, trade deals, political correctness, the whole thing. They were exquisitely progressive, not like those red-neck morons who were losers and racists and who couldn't understand sophisticated aspects such as globalization.

Every person who disagreed about this topic was answered by a crowd of self-righteous self-important know-it-alls giving lessons from the imaginary platform they thought they were standing on. They thought it would never be their turn. Now that you are biten by your own self-destructive ideology that only benefits the elite, how does it feel to be on your own? Enjoy the consequences of the ideas that you have supported so much. The word "useful idiot" comes to mind.

Once upon a time you coded so fine
Threw the outsourced red necks a dime in your prime, didn't you?
People call say 'beware troll, you're bound to fall'
You thought they were all kidding you
You used to laugh about
Every job that was exported out
Now you don't talk so loud
Now you don't seem so proud
About having to be doubting your next meal
How does it feel, how does it feel?
To be in risk of losing your job
Like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone

Maybe. In another occasion, the same teachers told me that the principal had the right to fire them. They even gave me some examples of teachers that have been fired the previous year. They seemed serious. But I admit I am not an expert in the States and have not read the regulations concerning teachers. I could be wrong.

It was in Houston (Texas). I don't know if it is the same in other school districts.

I remember when I lived in the States. It was the life of a slave. Working, working and more working. I was in a bilingual position in a school (it was a job exchange program between my country and USA).

One day, the principal gathered all the teachers and said:

"We have decided to help our students by giving them one hour more of tutoring classes after your (very long) school hours. These additional hours are strictly voluntary and they won't be paid. But please do it for the kids!"

Being a foreigner, I thought that everybody was going to reject such a clear exploitation. But all the teachers reacted with enthusiasm:

"Yes! We'll do it for the kids! For the kids!"

I said no and everybody look at me with hostility. Afterwards, I realized that I had tenure in my home country and was able to say no. All the American teachers could say no but the principal could fire them with no reason at all. Hence, they did anything that the principal said.

I went back to my home country and keep on working in my high school and, afterwards, in the government and the World Bank. I never worked as much as worked in the States (and the salary was not good).

I am Hispanic guy living in Latin America. Having read Slashdot for ten years, it does not cease to amuse me the fact that most members of the community are very left-wing and their support for left-wing ideas is strong. In spite of being mostly males, mostly straight, mostly bright and mostly whites.

It's like watching Jews cheering Nazism. I don't get it, maybe because you have to be American to understand this self-sabotage.

If "affirmative action" is implemented, who do you think it's going to be the candidate with better qualifications that does not get the job, because there is a woman, a minority or a gay? It's going to be you. (The same with college admissions).

If more civil servants are hired or there is a new program to help "minorities", who is going to pay for them? The woman who is living off welfare and have three kids from different fathers. No, you are going to pay.

If there is a divorce, who is going to lose half his salary and lose his kids forever? The wife? No, you.

Maybe stories like this will awake you. But maybe not. You were brainwashed very well by your teachers and professors since the kindergarten. Now, go back to work and to slave yourselves, that there is a lot of unproductive people to feed.

As I said, it's amusing. American people are strange.