Cracked Wants To Make Your Kids Smarter?

Sloppy. While stereotype threat and fear of failure might sound like good reasons to be unrelenting optimists, it isn't true. Biasing oneself in favor of positivity can make people anxious about negatives. There is all kinds of research on this; check out "Smile or Die" from the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) and "The Narcissism Epidemic"

Clearly you're not a regular reader of Cracked online then. They do indeed often make use of some edgy wordage via a youthful vibe but many of their articles which make it to the front page of Digg are full of lessons in history and contain relevant social commentary. What really makes them great is that they actually employ quirky writers with strong personal styles to create original content *gasp* rather than being just another humor themed link farm. While still more irreverent than Mad magazine... they've also created an infinitely stronger web presence that appeals to a much broader demographic and I often find myself interested in their article titles enough to click through for a read.

*agrees with DaveL*

I would call that article an op-ed piece, not a lesson. Books and lectures on this subject from the researchers who uncover it are much better at reserving judgement and casting it in a proper light. For example; Jean Twenge in the Narcissism Epidemic argues we should put an end to thinking either optimistically or pessimistically, but we should think realistically and we should be raising kids to think realistically.

"The enormous value of the concept of free will in relieving parental shame and guilt is the only and overriding reason, in our opinion, that the lie of free will is well nigh universally taught to all children. If and when we can convince parents of total determinism, so they are freed from their own shame and guilt, they will no longer need to teach the vicious lie of free will to the world's children. A new world will be born."
- Peter Gill, Developmental Psychologist and Founder of Determinism.com

Cracked is not "vulgar" unless you're a prude. You should spend more time on the site and read the articles there before writing here. Terrible post, I almost unsubscribed from Neatorama. Typical Cracked humorous quips are funnier than everything you might ever write.

I agree with EugenS and others, if you think Cracked is vulgar, you haven't been on the internet very long.