jcm's blog

So last time there was a major water crisis in the Cambridge area in which we had reduced pressure due to a water main leak, I noticed something cool: it seems that toilets (at least in this State, if not the entire US) – and presumably other non-essential water devices – have a special inlet valve that operates only when water pressure is above a certain level. The net effect (quite ingeniously) appears to be that, when the water pressure is reduced, the toilet won’t fill. Thus, the lesser available resource is better utilized helping people drink rather than flush toilets.

Anyway. My question is, who designed this? And how prolific is the adoption of this standard? And (presumably) did Cambridge intentionally reduce the water pressure today due to the hurricane in order to avoid sewers from overflowing as people used water in non-essential ways? Inquiring minds want to know.

Jon.

I’m overly critical sometimes, and it’s easy for me to think I have all the answers. So this is an information gathering blog post while I wait for something to finish on my computer. In short, I’m trying to figure out the difference in approach between US Middle and High School vs. my experience with British secondary education.

When I went to secondary school (age 11 – think combination of middle and high school), we had fixed class schedules for the first 3 years. In my case, it was required to study the following individual subjects from age 11 to age 14 (mostly determined by the National Curriculum):

• Art
• Biology
• Chemistry
• Civic Studies
• Design Technology
• English
• French (later German)
• Games (outdoor PE)
• Geography
• History
• IT
• Math(s)
• Music
• Personal Social Education (PSE – sex education, etc.)
• Physical Education (PE)
• Physics
• Religious Studies

Now, I was at a private school, and some of these topics differ if you’re not, but not many (Latin was dropped the year I started…sadly). Most of these are mandated at various “Key Stages” of the UK National Curriculum as required, even if only for a year or so. In some schools, for example, they combine sciences, but you still have to study science from age 11 onwards. Classes were divided into 40 minute “periods”, with a bell in between, and 5 minutes to get to the next class. There were no “hall monitors”, you just asked if you wanted to go to the bathroom and they trusted you. Also, we all wore uniforms (complete with Blazer and Harry Potter style ties with different School Houses), and (private school bit) were required to stand when a teacher or adult entered the room, as a sign of respect. There were no metal detectors, and the most violent thing I recall ever happening was someone stealing some Potassium from the Chemistry lab.

US secondary education is highly regional in nature, and there are very few national standards (No Child Left Behind, etc. don’t actually attempt to set a national curriculum), so what you learn in one state will vary wildly from another, even down to how the Civil War is described (and thus cannot be agreed upon) in history class. It is my understanding that high school here is a lot more like what would be called “college” in the UK (which is not a University, but is instead an alternative system available to 16 year-olds), and middle school is a half-way point. As I understand it, it’s not required to study science, history, or geography beyond a very elementary level. Classes seem to be longer in duration but focused on fewer topics of study, with a lot more choice.

I made no pretence that I disfavor the notion of allowing children to opt out of classes they don’t like. For example, I suck at German…seriously. I just can’t handle the different genders. I would get everything right, except I would be unable to get the right one of the three possibilities. But I’m glad that I was required to study German. I’m also glad that I didn’t have a choice about studying a foreign language, or art, or other topics I might have chosen to avoid if I had had a choice in the matter (I consistently got over 100% in Religious Studies due to a bonus points system, but I might have opted out – I even once managed to get everyone out of an 80 minute test by keeping the teacher side-tracked in a discussion/debate on cryopreservation as applied to the second coming of Christ). After the age of 14, it was possible to drop certain subjects, but not all. For example, German got dropped but a foreign language was required, as was art, both subjects I might have chosen not to pursue with a choice in the matter.

Anyway. If you have links/stories about how secondary education works differently in the US, I would actually be interested. I can hopefully convince myself with enough actual data that not all schools here are just maximum security facilities with metal detectors, cops, etc. and other notions I may have.

Jon.

So over a long weekend, I drove between 1100-1200 miles from Boston to New York, to Washington D.C., to Monticello, to Washington D.C., to Edison, to New York, and back to Boston. In that time, I saw all of the usual appallingly bad examples of driving common in the US. Let me itemize a few that particularly annoy me:

1). Separation distances aren’t known or understood generally. People seem to have absolutely no issue driving a mere few feet behind you when at speed on the highway, but then often drive with wider distance in urban areas. They often seem to have absolutely no comprehension of breaking distances, and so on. Trucks do the same thing, at speed, without engaging any intellectual thought.

2). The speed limit is viewed with the usual contempt, but it is miss-directed such that vehicles generally speed less than in Europe (where limits are higher anyway) but ignore construction speed limits and fail to slow at tolls and other places where safety limits have been imposed. The net result is that drivers react with incredible hostility toward those who slow down in such situations. The new law in Massachusetts (and many states) requiring drivers to slow down and move over for stopped emergency vehicles also seems to be widely ignored.

3). High beams (non-dipped lights) are frequently used indiscriminately on the highway with no regard for other drivers and the impact it will have on their ability to see. Some people do think to adjust their lights when there are oncoming cars, but not while sitting and tailing you (some of these lights are so unpleasantly bright that they can’t be mitigated through the mirror setting), or driving past you and hitting you with glare in your side mirrors.

4). Signals are generally taken as a sign of weakness. Many people never signal at all (their license should be revoked), many frequently change lanes way too often (recently attributed in a study as a significant cause of accidents – that should incur a fine), many trucks do the same (disgustingly dangerous – should result in criminal prosecution).

5). People don’t plan ahead. Rather than reading signs, they’re drinking coffee and juggling fast food without watching the road (probably talking on the cellphone aswell). Then last minute lane changes result in massive tailbacks while people try to get in the lane they should have been in ten minutes before.

Those are just a few of the things that annoy me about the non-standards of driving in the US. It’s not that Americans are bad people in any way, it’s that this country has no real national standards for driving, nor an adequate standardized national driving exam (“drivers ed” is typically non-compulsory for adults). Law enforcement often seem to convey a sense of caring less about things that actually cause accidents (lack of signalling, tailgating, etc.), preferring instead to generate revenue by meeting speeding citation quotas, and missing the point.

Jon.