[LUAU] Things I didn't get to say on Tuesday

[Jim Thompson]

since I took too long on the first half of the presentation.

 From my notes:

Our greatest natural resource is not trees or hydrocarbons or fresh  
water -- it’s the human mind and its seemingly boundless power to  
improve our lives. Be it a new form of energy, or mode of  
transportation, or cure for a deadly disease, the human mind has the  
potential to radically improve our lives.

To realize this potential we need an education system that helps  
children and young adults acquire the knowledge and thinking skills  
needed to find creative solutions to existing and future problems.

The past several decades have witnessed the systematic "dumbing down"  
of public education. The curriculum got diluted with non-academic  
subjects and frivolous activities; proven methods for teaching  
reading, writing, math, science and reasoning got replaced with  
unproven, inferior methods; and objectivity got sacrificed to  
"political correctness" propaganda, such as socialism,  
environmentalism, multiculturalism and moral relativism.  These  
things are important, but not at the expense of reading, writing,  
math, science and reasoning.  I think computer skills beyond being  
able to build a PC out of parts are important as well.   Programming  
teaches reasoning via the use of logical assertions.

Consequently, students are not acquiring the academic knowledge,  
discipline and skills -- particularly logical thinking skills -- that  
they desperately need in order to guide their lives toward success  
and happiness.

<segue into the HOSEF mission>