DD,

As to predictors of future behavior ... well, if a test is designed  
to test the kinds of future behavior that a society has set up as  
important, then of course that test is going to predict success at  
those kinds of behaviors. The behaviors that earn rewards in a  
society such as high-paying jobs, stock portfolios, and so forth, are  
shaped by the ideology of a particular culture. A capitalist society  
has different values from a socialist (and I mean socialist, not  
communist and not totalitarian) society. Different societies value  
different kinds of behavior. Just as one small example, many  
societies value improvised oral verbal performance as much as or more  
than high-level literacy skills. Our schools do not acknowledge or  
give credit to such skills. If they did, we might graduate better  
oral  communicators. I find that my students are not good at  
explaining orally what they know or what they learn.

In my experience, "political correctness" is a phrase used by those  
who don't believe one should be careful of one's language, looking  
out not to offend. If you knew your language would offend, you could  
have added a mitigating bracket, such as "as we called them in those  
days". "Nubile chick" (note, nubile means "fertile") can be phrased  
as "good-looking girl". As to "dummies", why don't you ask the  
parents of a "dummy" what they would like their child to be called?

As this is a grammar list, may I politely point out that you need to  
review comma rules?

Dr. Johanna Rubba, Ph. D.
Associate Professor, Linguistics
Linguistics Minor Advisor
English Dept.
Cal Poly State University San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
Ofc. tel. : 805-756-2184
Dept. tel.: 805-756-2596
Dept. fax: 805-756-6374
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
URL: cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba

To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at:
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
and select "Join or leave the list"

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/