Edited Extract: MeLand: 10 Ways Self-Obsession Makes You Stupid, by Kerry Cue, Connor Court, $24.95, 2013

In Schools

The following sentence comes from my daughter’s Grade 5 school
report noting her progress in a subject called technology: ‘This
semester Georgina has successfully role-played a light globe.’

I burst out laughing. How do you role-play a light globe? I imagine
Georgina crouched on the classroom floor until someone yelled out ‘Turn Georgina on’ and she leapt to her feet throwing her hands in the air. The truth is the report was a sham. Teachers did not have time to personalise reports so they wrote three computer-tagged versions equivalent to A, B or C grades in each subject. Every A-grade student like Georgina had successfully role-played a light globe. Of course, these were the A grade students, they’re all very bright.

100W, probably.