Obsidian Wings

Living Up Down to Expectations

by wj

We are all familiar with the phenomena of a figure in public life who seemed to promise one thing but then failed to live up to expectations. But there are also those for whom we have expectations, who go on to fulfill them (in whole or in part). Today, we have one of the latter:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/supreme-court-allows-trump-restrictions-on-transgender-troops-in-military-to-go-into-effect-as-legal-battle-continues/2019/01/22/e68a7284-1763-11e9-88fe-f9f77a3bcb6c_story.html
So, a 5-4 decision with exactly the split anticipated by everybody (pro and con) after Mr Justice Kavanaugh’s addition to the Supreme Court.

I was particularly taken by the reaction from the Department of Justice:

The Department of Defense has the authority to create and implement personnel policies it has determined are necessary to best defend our nation.

Note, just to be clear, that the Department of Defense did not, repeat double underline NOT, feel the need for this policy. Whether to best defend the nation or for any other reason (costs, perhaps?). Indeed, when the policy was imposed on them, DoD did everything they could to delay implementation. And even after this decision, DoD’s response was:

“As always, we treat all transgender persons with respect and dignity . . . The proposed policy is NOT a ban on service by transgender persons.”

Doesn’t exactly sound like military folks have a burning desire, let alone see a need, to keep transgender individuals out of the military.

Just for some personal context. I think empathy, the ability to put oneself in the other guy’s shoes, is a great thing. But it is possible to see that something is the right thing to do even without that. I’m very much a product of the society in which I grew up. (See my comments in the past on homosexuality and gay marriage.) Which is to say, that I really cannot wrap my head around anyone wanting to change gender. I realize, intellectually, that some people do – and must be pretty desperate to do so, considering what is involved in doing so. But I simply cannot relate to it. Even so, it doesn’t take being able to relate to these people to recognize that the policy is flat out stupid. Emotional, certainly, but not based on reality.

Testing, testing, testing

by liberal japonicus

[Title should be sung to the tune of Rawhide]

This weekend is the weekend of the Daigaku Nyūshi Sentā Shiken (大学入試センター試験). A page giving a brief explanation is here.

As tenured faculty at a university that is a test site for the senta shiken, I have to proctor the test roughly 3 years out of 4 and this year, I don't have to. I generally agree to do everything that my Japanese colleagues do, but this test is one that if I could, I would pull the foreigner card. Imagine taking the worst trait of every standardized test you have ever taken, be it SAT, ACT, MCAT, LSAT, GRE, GCE, whatever, take out any opportunity for individual expression and then cover it completely with a bureaucratic grit to such an extent that one is constantly reminded of the truth of Foucault's observations in Discipline and Punish.

This article gives some basics about the current state of Japanese exams and makes me think that testing is often simply a reflection of demographic trends.The test itself is supposed to be discontinued in a few years and as a strange coinkidink, Japan is privatizing parts of their testing regime. I used to be more up on this, but as I approach retirement, I've stopped keeping track of it.

And here is a research paper discussing Japan's National testing.

One thing that I didn't realize was that Korea has their own version of the test, the College Scholastic Ability Test, which apparently turns all these dials up to 11. While the Wikipedia page notes that

CSAT has been praised for its efficiency, meritocratic factors, and high international results.

Unfortunately, this is just after this paragraph

On the test day, the stock markets open late and buses and subways are increased to avoid traffic jams that could prevent students from getting to testing sites, and planes are grounded so the noise does not disturb the students. In some cases, students are also escorted by police officers. Younger students and the members of the students' families gather outside testing sites to cheer on the students.

Small wonder that "Pressure to perform well on the CSAT has been linked to stress, psychological depression and suicide."

And about Korea's test
www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/11/south-korean-seniors-have-been-preparing-for-today-since-kindergarten
and
a cheating scandal that gives some insight into the testing culture

Coming back to Japan, there was recently a big scandal about one Japanese medical university systematically increasing the exam scores of male applicants, with this Guardian article giving some other details. This is a bigger issue here because medical education is not post graduate, but requires entering a medical university as an undergraduate and going for a longer period of time. One should note that the only reason the Tokyo Medical University scandal was exposed was because of an investigation into a specific bribery allegation, which led to finding all kinds of dirt. While the Education Minister has said that they well investigate other schools, I wonder if, in typical Japanese fashion, schools that are simply discriminating against women are going to be told to 'correct' their procedures with little or no transparency.

But a thread about testing for all of you.

25 Days and Counting

by wj

Article II, Section 3 of the US Constitution requires the President to annually "give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union”. President Washington did so with an address to Congress. But President Jefferson changed the practice to a written report. And so it remained until President Wilson re-established the practice of an address in 1913.

The way this works is, a formal invitation is made by the Speaker of the House to the President several weeks before each State of the Union Address. But not this year! Speaker Pelosi has written to the President to say that there are security concerns, what with the government being shut down. (After all, the Secret Service are one of the groups currently working without pay.) So either they can reschedule “after the government is reopened” or he can submit a written report. Zing! An un-invitation!

Conventional wisdom has seemed to be that Trump would continue the shutdown until the economic pain became too great. That is, great enough to penetrate the information bubble in which he lives. But it appears that Pelosi has found another handle: take away from Trump his opportunity of be the star of an hour long speech to the entire nation (covered on live TV) where he can boast of his accomplishments and generally prance about. And that, far more than mere economic pain, is hitting him where he lives.

[I wanted to do something to include the Brexit mess. Talk about the political polarization on both sides of the pond. But I couldn’t come up with much that would cover both. See, however, an article in today’s Washington Post entitled From Brexit to NATO and the shutdown, Putin is winning so much he might get tired of winning.]

Interview with Rick Perlstein about AOC

by liberal japonicus

I've got a bunch of stuff to put in the previous thread, but I wanted to open up another thread about this interview with Rick Perlstein about AOC.

A pull quote

Well, I don’t think they’re afraid so much for the Democratic Party as they’re afraid for themselves. This is obviously a changing of the guard. When I watch Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez operate with such aplomb and skill and obvious erudition, she reminds me of when people like you and me stood around at a cocktail party or a dinner party and inevitably the conversation turned to, Why are the Democrats where they are? Why don’t they take the fights to the enemy? Why don’t they pivot off troll-y comments from the Republicans, instead of playing the game on their terms? Why aren’t they offering clear, bold, long-term, super-jumbo policy solutions that people can remember instead of triangulating everything the Republicans suggest?

And, suddenly, someone emerges who seems to be listening to all this, who is probably part of those conversations. And, suddenly, she has the power to actually act in a way that the Party hasn’t—a party that, almost forty years later, is still traumatized by the success of Ronald Reagan. It’s a profoundly generational phenomenon, and, clearly, it’s scary.

Discuss

Learning Languages

by liberal japonicus

A discussion about learning languages briefly broke out after the subject of immigrants learning English came up. While I'm not going to be the thread police here, I'm starting this thread to talk about how you and others learned/are learning/used to learn languages rather than societal issues that are involved. Pointless rambles about the nature of language, writing and learning are encouraged.