Large Percentages of American Students Perform Above Grade Level

Re:Large Percentages of American Students Perform Above Grad... by galdosdi on Tuesday August 16, 2016 @06:14PM (#12301032)

Yeah, careful what you measure, because that's what will be gamed towards. It reminds me of what I heard[1] (I didn't check my sources carefully, whatever) is one reason station wagons fell out of favor relative to SUVs in the USA -- federal fuel economy standards that were divided into separate categories for trucks and non-trucks, incentivizing the sale of small trucks rather than big cars, even for a big car that is smaller and more effecient than a small truck :-(

[1] http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2012/10/how-cafe-killed-com...

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Re:Large Percentages of American Students Perform Above Grad... by tbihl on Tuesday August 16, 2016 @08:55PM (#12301772)

You may also be interested to know that there has been, for much of the recent past, a significant tax incentive to buy large SUVs (actually more to finance them.) If GWVR> 6000 lb., you could expense $25k, vs only $11k for smaller vehicles. I don't know the current status of this.

When I starting searching "vehicles with gwvr..." google autocompleted ".. over 6000lb." Then I found this helpful webpage on how to reduce my tax burden by driving a stupidly large vehicle. http://www.linkcpa.com/tax-savings-still-available-for-heavy...

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Re:Large Percentages of American Students Perform Above Grad... by galdosdi on Wednesday August 17, 2016 @04:12PM (#12308024)

Thanks for the info! Wow, even more nonsense encouraging excessive weight, I had no idea but am sadly less and less surprised :-(

This whole situation is especially horrible in light of research [1] that shows that extra weight on motor vehicles is more dangerous to other road users and that any extra safety for those inside the heavier vehicle is strictly speaking being achieved by an equal and opposite "zero sum" reduction in safety for all other road users

[1] http://www.accessmagazine.org/articles/fall-2014/pounds-kill...

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