The Intelligence: F is for falling standards
Economist Podcasts
The Economist
4.3 • 5K Ratings
🗓️ 18 March 2024
⏱️ 22 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
America is producing more high-school graduates—but on average, they know less. We ask how a push for equity can in reality seed a systemic failing. London’s Canary Wharf was built as a high-rise jungle for white-collar workers; how is it surviving in a work-from-home world (7:57)? And amid a general decline in cinemagoing, the high end of the market is thriving (14:02).
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Transcript
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| 1:06.6 | The Economist |
| 1:13.6 | Hello and welcome to the intelligence from The Economist. |
| 1:16.7 | I'm Jason Palmer. |
| 1:17.9 | And I'm Oire Ogunbe. |
| 1:19.7 | Every weekday, we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world. |
| 1:28.0 | There's a London neighborhood called Canary Wharf, filled with glass and steel buildings, |
| 1:32.9 | which in turn used to be filled with white-collar workers. |
| 1:36.5 | How it's changing in a work-from-home post-pandemic world could be a model for many other cities. |
| 1:43.7 | And when we were locked up at home during the pandemic, cinemas took a big hit, and not all of them survived. For those who have begun heading back to the movies, they're opting for really big, big screens, reclining seats, and a much fancier experience. |
| 2:06.6 | But first... |
| 2:11.6 | So you've never been to a real school before? |
| 2:13.6 | Shut up. Shut up! |
| 2:15.6 | I didn't say anything. |
| 2:16.6 | America has fretted about academic standards at its public schools since way before Mean Girls came out in 2004. |
... |
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