[strayptr]

I'm not sure if the elites of HN have spent much time among today's average youth, but they certainly aren't learning a common memetic foundation. They barely graduate from high school. And in fact, the average youth are what drag down today's achievers. The achievers are made to feel there's something wrong with them, and that it's a sin against the collective to try to be better than average.

Yet averages are precisely the problem. You throw your achievers together with the average, giving them nowhere to go and no outlets to explore. Programming is one of the few outlets, as it isn't compulsory, yet here we're talking about ripping that one away too.

I figured out what the original comment reminded me of:

https://www.maa.org/external_archive/devlin/LockhartsLament....

"We are helping our students become more competitive in an increasingly sound-filled world."

[mindcrime]

I'm not sure if the elites of HN have spent much time among today's average youth, but they certainly aren't learning a common memetic foundation. They barely graduate from high school. And in fact, the average youth are what drag down today's achievers. The achievers are made to feel there's something wrong with them, and that it's a sin against the collective to try to be better than average.

FWIW, I graduated high-school in 1991, which is probably before some posters here were born. And everything you just said was true in 1991 as well. I have a hunch it was true quite some time before that as well.