When I am feeling frustrated by the apparent stupidity of others (including my own) I eventually end of chosing to feel compassion and humor - because it feels better to feel these emotions than feeling continually repulsed, pissed off and arrogant.
I think I could have written my message more clearly. I was really referring frustration that I get from results rather than anyone in particular. Please forgive me if I came across as being arrogant.
Debates about how to fix our schools are a good example of what I mean. There's a societal assumption that the problems are simplistic, and all we need to do is throw more money at the problem or shrink class sizes or send everyone to college.
The problems with our public schools are complex. It's rare outside of this board and a few other places to even hear this statement --- much less have a meaningful discussion about the importance of appropriate pacing and content for all students, meaningful reform of union practices that reward seniority and nothing else, the unbalanced focus on low average and below average achievers at the expense of everyone else, unrealistic expectations about college, etc. Even bringing up ideas that aren't part of the conventional wisdom can start arguments or otherwise derail a discussion.
So as a person who tries to analyze a problem in depth, I get very frustrated when the discussion continues to revolve around the same simplistic ideas year after year and even after decades.
Just my two cents.
