Sweden better than the USSA

[DGuller]

They are ethnically homogeneous.

So?

It's a lot easier to get people who are like you in significant ways to agree to do things in the same way.

Translation:  we have black people. 

[DGuller]

Raz, what you consider to be an obvious and inescapable inference of Skippy's statement actually has virtually no relationship to it.

Bullshit.

[Ape]

Sweden has a universal system of school vouchers, with private for-profit schools competing with public schools. Denmark also has vouchers—but ones that you can top up.

We do, but the voucher system has completely undermined the public school system and are at the moment turning the public schools into a school for 2nd class children i.e. the physcially disabled, the mediocre, the children with special needs (e.g. dyslectic kids) etc. Not to mention the rampant grade inflation within the private owned schools (come to us, we'll give you good grades, wheter you deserve them or not! ) or even outright bribes to children (come to us, you get a "free" laptop)

No the Swedish school system has been in a decline ever since the economic crisis in the early nineties.

[Valmy]

We do, but the voucher system has completely undermined the public school system and are at the moment turning the public schools into a school for 2nd class children i.e. the physcially disabled, the mediocre, the children with special needs (e.g. dyslectic kids) etc. Not to mention the rampant grade inflation within the private owned schools (come to us, we'll give you good grades, wheter you deserve them or not! ) or even outright bribes to children (come to us, you get a "free" laptop)

No the Swedish school system has been in a decline ever since the economic crisis in the early nineties.

The Swedish public schools or the schools in general?

Anyway the US schools have been in a decline ever since July 5th 1776 it seems like.

[garbon]

Our universities are pretty good.

[Valmy]

Our universities are pretty good.

Higher education is a bit of an abortion these days but yeah our main Universities are still carrying the torch

[Sheilbh]

We do, but the voucher system has completely undermined the public school system and are at the moment turning the public schools into a school for 2nd class children i.e. the physcially disabled, the mediocre, the children with special needs (e.g. dyslectic kids) etc. Not to mention the rampant grade inflation within the private owned schools (come to us, we'll give you good grades, wheter you deserve them or not! ) or even outright bribes to children (come to us, you get a "free" laptop)

The British version of school vouchers includes a 'premium', so schools get more money for disabled children, children with special needs, children from poor backgrounds etc. The idea is to avoid social dumping. We'll also keep external exam boards and they're regulated. Exams are normally marked externally in the UK (often by other schools I think) and are moderated externally. So a big problem we had was exam boards (who sell their product to schools) basically showing teachers how to teach the exam. But hopefully that can be addressed, generally I'm a fan of the reforms - though there are issues.

I do find the American reaction a bit odd though. We're too big and homogenous for socialism! We're too big and homogenous for liberalism!

[Admiral Yi]

Maybe you mean heterogeneous?

[Sheilbh]

Maybe you mean heterogeneous?

Indeed

[Valmy]

I do find the American reaction a bit odd though. We're too big and homogenous for socialism! We're too big and homogenous for liberalism!

That is the knee jerk reaction whenever somebody says something good about the Scandis.  Nevermind that most of the ideas in that article are ideas alot of Americans have supported.

[Ideologue]

Our universities are pretty good.

Higher education is a bit of an abortion these days but yeah our main Universities are still carrying the torch

Lololololololololol ok.

[garbon]

Our universities are pretty good.

Higher education is a bit of an abortion these days but yeah our main Universities are still carrying the torch

Lololololololololol ok.

Have you attended one of our main universities?

[Ideologue]

Yes.

[garbon]

Oh, the Trojans?

[Ideologue]

Stop that.  I went to the flagship university of my state and one of the oldest law schools in the U.S.

If you want to say that Ivies, Stanford, Chicago, and and two or three of the UCLA system schools are pretty good, whatever, but "our" universities include a lot more than ten or twelve top schools that actually provide value (or, rather, signal value--even Ivy League educations aren't worth very much in and of themselves).

And taken altogether "our universities" are in trouble deep.