Stupid in America

20-20 investigation by John Stossel entitled "Stupid in America" highlighting some of the flaws with the education system in the United States. The story started out when identical tests were given to high school students in New Jersey and in Belgium. The Belgian kids cleaned the American kids' clocks. The Belgian kids called the American students "stupid", which gave the piece its name.

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here are some comments that i thought were really interesting-->

klavlav

Of course. If you educate the public, they won't be your "willing" pawns, they won't enlist in the military, they won't "elect" the pre-selected politicians they have to "choose" from, they won't be happy with snack foods when they should be demanding health care.

American education doesn't exist to educate; despite the best intentions of well-meaning educators, it exists to indoctrinate and socialise Americans into the Machine. Like George carlin says, it's supposed to make you just smart enough to push the buttons and run the machines but not smart enough to make any real difference.

Don't school your kids, *unschool* them.

hellchild915

America is stupid, I have met many international student and they have told me what they do and how much they went to school and it was incredible how much harder the stuff they do is, many of the advanced classes I took in high school were standard for them and they were harder. I really dont think the U.S public school system will ever be fixed and even the private school system is not that great. This is one of the cases when I really think we should copy what oversees schools are doing

grae

I sincerely doubt it will be able to genuinely affect intrasigent unionism. Unions exist for a damned good reason - to protect workers from corporate explotation. But, they also offer an extremely dangerous safety net of laziness and irresponsibility when taken to the other extreme. Absolutely, workers need to be protected from unreasonable, and unfair treatment by their employers - but - workers should not be offered so much protection that they are too lazy, or safe to bother trying.

Competition is good - and workers rights are good. There should definitely be a balance. However, if teachers are more concerened about their contracts, than they are about the best methodology to educate their students, then that's fucked up shit. Hell, that explains half of the retarded fucking comments we see every god damned day from some knuckle-dragging dimwits here on spikedhumour.

velocity73R

When Ron Paul was asked, who he might have for a running mate? John Stossil, was the first person he mentioned. This guy is straight up, and tells it like it is. Unfortunately, just like Ron Paul, the majority of Americans don't like to hear anything they do is bad. Reason being, they will always consider themselves #1, and this will be their undoing, and that time is fast approaching. You must also realize nothing is by accident, if the Gov't wanted more informed, intelligent kids, it would have them. This school infrastructure is by design, and its product[American public] is exactly what it wants. The dumbing down of a nation, has the reward of endless war, and easily manipulated minds, through propaganda[FOX being one, but trust me MSNBC,ABC,and CBS, can be just as bad.] Just like Alex Jones said, 20% of Americans may not be able to locate their country on a map. But the people that live in Iran, and Iraq, know exactly where, "The captive controlled mercinary slaves of the New World march from."