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
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