#changing standards

Due to the educational curriculum, I am unfortunately good at regurgitating information. Thus, my speaking patterns are about 90% references. -- Anon Guest

Shayde didn't like the SPOEns, mostly because they disturbed her on an emotional level. This was a pity because, as a group, they were among the few that could understand her. Rael, one of that select group, had to reflect that it was the fault of the pre-shattering education system of the late twentieth century.

Creeping featurism on a system designed in the era of steam had to mess kids up. The fact that Humanity hung onto it for an entire century after it was no longer necessary was a testimony to how ridiculous Humans could be. The advent of computerised assessment systems just made things worse.

It began with a need for clerks to do the paperwork. Thus, education focussed on having a neat hand and an ability to recite multiplication tables. A grounding in classical literature and the ability to comprehend the written word for nested information was also important to the managers of the era of steam. Then the world changed... War disrupted everything. Leaped technology forwards, and the system once reliable began to decay.

Don’t knock it ’till you’ve tried it. I swore I’d never do it. But there I was on a gurney, begging my doctor to please, for the love of God, give me a flipping epidural right this minute. It was the birth of our third child, Lilly, and up until that point, I had insisted on enduring labor pains without medication. Ridiculous, I know. Something a crunchy California nurse had said during my first…