Dumb As A Rock: You Will Be Absolutely Amazed At The Things That U.S. High School Students

[Davy Crockett]

Dumb As A Rock: You Will Be Absolutely Amazed At The Things That U.S. High School Students Do Not Know
(http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/dumb-as-a-rock-you-will-be-absolutely-amazed-at-the-things-that-u-s-high-school-students-do-not-know)

Are we raising the stupidest generation in American history? The statistics that you are about to read below are incredibly shocking. They indicate that U.S. high school students are basically as dumb as a rock. As you read the rest of this article, you will be absolutely amazed at the things that U.S. high school students do not know. At this point, it is really hard to argue that the U.S. education system is a success. Our children are spoiled and lazy, our schools do not challenge them and students in Europe and in Asia routinely outperform our students very badly on standardized tests. In particular, schools in America do an incredibly poor job of teaching our students subjects such as history, economics and geography that are necessary for understanding the things that are taking place in our world today. For example, according to a survey conducted by the National Geographic Society, only 37 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 can find Iraq on a map of the world. According to that same survey, 50 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 can't even find the state of New York on a map. If our students cannot even find Iraq and New York on a map, what hope is there that they will be able to think critically about the important world events of our day?

Sadly, almost every survey or study about high school students that gets done shows that most of our students are not even receiving a basic education.

For example, the following comes from an article posted on MSNBC....

Just 13 percent of high school seniors who took the 2010 National Assessment of Educational Progress — called the Nation's Report Card — showed solid academic performance in American history.

So only 13 percent of our high school seniors are proficient in history?

That doesn't sound good.

So what does that mean exactly?

Well, there have been some other surveys and studies that have quizzed U.S. high school students about specific historical facts.

The following are some of the absolutely amazing results of a study conducted a few years ago by Common Core....

*Only 43 percent of all U.S. high school students knew that the Civil War was fought some time between 1850 and 1900.

*More than a quarter of all U.S. high school students thought that Christopher Columbus made his famous voyage across the Atlantic Ocean after the year 1750.

*Approximately a third of all U.S. high school students did not know that the Bill of Rights guarantees freedom of speech and freedom of religion. (This is a topic that I touched on yesterday).

*Only 60 percent of all U.S. students knew that World War I was fought some time between 1900 and 1950.

Even more shocking were the results of a survey of Oklahoma high school students conducted back in 2009. The following is a list of the questions that were asked and the percentage of students that answered correctly....

What is the supreme law of the land? 28 percent

What do we call the first ten amendments to the Constitution? 26 percent

What are the two parts of the U.S. Congress? 27 percent

How many justices are there on the Supreme Court? 10 percent

Who wrote the Declaration of Independence? 14 percent

What ocean is on the east coast of the United States? 61 percent

What are the two major political parties in the United States? 43 percent

We elect a U.S. senator for how many years? 11 percent

Who was the first President of the United States? 23 percent

Who is in charge of the executive branch? 29 percent

Some have criticized the survey results above because they came from a telephone survey, but the truth is that they are not some sort of an anomaly. Many other surveys have produced similar results. It doesn't take a genius to realize that a large percentage of our high school students are as dumb as a rock.

The following is from an article written by reporter Mark Morford in which he described his conversations with a longtime Oakland high school teacher that was nearing retirement....



It's gotten so bad that, as my friend nears retirement, he says he is very seriously considering moving out of the country so as to escape what he sees will be the surefire collapse of functioning American society in the next handful of years due to the absolutely irrefutable destruction, the shocking — and nearly hopeless — dumb-ification of the American brain. It is just that bad.


Now, you may think he's merely a curmudgeon, a tired old teacher who stopped caring long ago. Not true. Teaching is his life. He says he loves his students, loves education and learning and watching young minds awaken. Problem is, he is seeing much less of it.

Later on in that same article, Morford tells us that the high school teacher even admitted that very few of his students even know how to put a sentence together....



It gets worse. My friend cites the fact that, of the 6,000 high school students he estimates he's taught over the span of his career, only a small fraction now make it to his grade with a functioning understanding of written English. They do not know how to form a sentence. They cannot write an intelligible paragraph. Recently, after giving an assignment that required drawing lines, he realized that not a single student actually knew how to use a ruler.


It is not that our students do not have the capacity to be great.

It is just that they have learned to be incredibly lazy and our schools do not challenge them at all.

One study found that 55 percent of all U.S. high school students spend 3 hours or less per week preparing for class.

Other nations require their students to work far longer and far harder.

And they get much better results.

Today, American 15-year-olds do not even rank in the top half of all advanced nations when it comes to math or science literacy.

So how do we expect to compete if this continues?

If we would just challenge our students and require more out of them we could do so much better. What most public schools are doing right now simply does not work. The following is from a report that John Stossel did a few years ago entitled "Stupid In America"....

I talked with 18-year-old Dorian Cain in South Carolina, who was still struggling to read a single sentence in a first-grade level book when I met him. Although his public schools had spent nearly $100,000 on him over 12 years, he still couldn't read.

So "20/20" sent Dorian to a private learning center, Sylvan, to see if teachers there could teach Dorian to read when the South Carolina public schools failed to.

Using computers and workbooks, Dorian's reading went up two grade levels -- after just 72 hours of instruction.

His mother, Gena Cain, is thrilled with Dorian's progress but disappointed with his public schools. "With Sylvan, it's a huge improvement. And they're doing what they're supposed to do. They're on point. But I can't say the same for the public schools," she said.

It absolutely amazes me how millions upon millions of our students can get all the way through high school without ever learning how to read, write or speak at a functional level.

Instead of producing the leaders of tomorrow, our education system is producing a bunch of sheep that are trained to take orders and that are pretty good at taking multiple choice tests.

If you want to get really depressed about the future of America, just watch some of the Jaywalking segments that Jay Leno does. Yes, it is funny to watch as he demonstrates how little Americans actually know about world events. But it is also a sign of how far our education system has fallen.

If Americans cannot even answer basic factual questions about our own government, then how in the world will anyone ever be able to persuade them to think critically about the Federal Reserve, the economic crisis or about our corrupt political system?

Our children are the future of this nation, and right now that future is looking quite bleak.

So what do all of you think about the U.S. education system? Do any of you have any education horror stories to share? Do you believe that our schools have rapidly gone downhill? Feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts below....

[aGameOfThrones]

*Only 43 percent of all U.S. high school students knew that the Civil War was fought some time between 1850 and 1900.

*More than a quarter of all U.S. high school students thought that Christopher Columbus made his famous voyage across the Atlantic Ocean after the year 1750.

*Approximately a third of all U.S. high school students did not know that the Bill of Rights guarantees freedom of speech and freedom of religion. (This is a topic that I touched on yesterday).

*Only 60 percent of all U.S. students knew that World War I was fought some time between 1900 and 1950.

Even more shocking were the results of a survey of Oklahoma high school students conducted back in 2009. The following is a list of the questions that were asked and the percentage of students that answered correctly....

What is the supreme law of the land? 28 percent

What do we call the first ten amendments to the Constitution? 26 percent

What are the two parts of the U.S. Congress? 27 percent

How many justices are there on the Supreme Court? 10 percent

Who wrote the Declaration of Independence? 14 percent

What ocean is on the east coast of the United States? 61 percent

What are the two major political parties in the United States? 43 percent

We elect a U.S. senator for how many years? 11 percent

Who was the first President of the United States? 23 percent

Who is in charge of the executive branch? 29 percent


"Mission accomplished."~ Government

[sevin]

http://www.infowarsshop.com/thumbnail.asp?file=assets/images/ddda_iserbyt_book.jpg&maxx=300&maxy=0

http://www.amazon.com/Deliberate-Dumbing-America-Revised-Abridged/dp/0966707117/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1326311823&sr=8-2

[Sola_Fide]

Ah..... State education is so wonderful, isn't it?

[mello]

I can't even comprehend how none of the students knew how to draw a straight line with a friggin' ruler. I started using a ruler when I was around 4 years old. I didn't need to be taught how to draw a straight line with it because you only need the most basic of common sense to figure it out. It's as if you told me someone you knew just died because he didn't know that walking in the middle of the highway was dangerous.

[James Madison]

"Are we raising the stupidest generation in American history?"

lol

[Acala]

Big surprise. Government destroys everything it touches, whether it wants to or not.

[flightlesskiwi]

"Are we raising the stupidest generation in American history?"

lol

i get what you are loling...

but

Are we raising the stupidest generation in American history?

concerns me more.

[aGameOfThrones]

What's the solution?...

"Throw more Money at the problem."~Government

[Pericles]

They are not stupid - just left in a state of deliberate ignorance. And they will be consigned to a State of Wretchedness from which no human efforts will probably deliver them

[jdmyprez_deo_vindice]

This is reason #1 we are now a high school. The government can take a hike and they can think again if they think I am feeding my kids to the beast.

[ronpaulhemp]

That's government education for you! Time to privatize all schools!

[Brian4Liberty]

There are theories out there that the prominence of the internet and smart phones as a "memory bank" for people is causing a distinct change in how the brain functions. Remembering "trivia" is becoming absolete. Just like calculators have replaced the ability to do math. We are becoming dependent on machines.

[Xenophage]

There are theories out there that the prominence of the internet and smart phones as a "memory bank" for people is causing a distinct change in how the brain functions. Remembering "trivia" is becoming absolete. Just like calculators have replaced the ability to do math. We are becoming dependent on machines.

This stuff is not just trivia. Besides, I read and research topics on the internet constantly, but i have really good retention.

[amyre]

I home educate my children, and we studied Gandhi and the Amritsar massacre today in history. My kids found it very enlightening that one of the strategies in their non-violent resistance was to pull their children out of the British schools.

[Spikender]

This is not surprising. As a recent high school graduate, I can verify these claims. It's sad to say that people in high school just aren't focused on school work. They don't see the need for any of the things they're being taught, and instead focus on music, celebrity news, or relationships with each other. Of course, there are many of us, such as myself, that took things seriously and actually did the work and retained information. But we were in the strong minority. Most of my friends just didn't care about school or learning and just did the work to pass.

Even worse, they were spoon fed by the some of the teachers political beliefs. I remember being demonized when I said that I thought the most important inalienable right from the Bill of Rights was the right to bear arms in VA and US history. I also remember in the same class being told how great FDR and all his alphabet soup programs were. School is not only a place where lazy students are rewarded for being lazy and coddled, but also information with a heavy political or biased slant.

[dbill27]

They're still smarter than congress.

[Charlie Harris]

I can tell you why our schools suck. It is because they are preparing children for jobs, when that is missing the mark by a ton. They do not allow individuals to think freely, nor think with any innovation. They also approach all students the same way. I had a hard time with school, but then again I have Aspergers Syndrome. So for people like myself, it is very difficult when they only teach with a one size fits all style. I don't like people telling me what to do or how to think, so I always was behind in school. This is why I am for privatization of schooling.

[123tim]

Who was the first president of the United States?

[youngbuck]

Who was the first president of the United States?

Abraham Lincoln? No, Alexander Hamilton? Yea, Hamilton. Or, was that Madison...?

[crh88]

Who was the first president of the United States?

I think that one scared me the most. How does anyone in this country not know that? His name is plastered EVERYWHERE. State, city, roads, ect...

[123tim]

Who was the first president of the United States?

Actually, I was trolling :) ( I guess that's what you'd call it? ):

John Hanson, American Patriot and First President of the United States.
(1715-1783)
http://www.marshallhall.org/hanson.html


I don't take credit for learning this from school.....someone on this RP forums brought it up a year or two ago.

[Jingles]

Am I like one of the few people that actually got a pretty good public education. Then again I was always in honors classes along with my friends and we were all basically a grade ahead with the way we were taking classes (like we all took high school credit classes in middle school). I had a 20th century history teacher that taught us about the military industrial complex and the economic problems with war. He taught a rather objective history of the presidents. He was a liberal, but he even admitted nothing the new deal did improved anything economically and was actually counter-productive. I had great English teachers who really pushed thought provoking talks and such. I had a chemistry teacher that was pro-Ron Paul in 2007 - 2008. I was taking college level calc in 11th grade. There was a great emphasis on personal responsibility in regards to learning.

I also don't really live in a very partisan area in PA. My school district absolutely hated No Child Left Behind and ever single teacher I had explained how it was detrimental to teaching as well as insanely costly in resources. I even heard the principals and such speaking about how much they hated the federal take-over of schooling. My school district privatized bus services. I wasn't from a very religious area, but it wasn't frowned upon. I can't remember a fight ever occurring in my high school. Everyone was nice to everyone.

I don't know I had a really good experience with my public schooling and actually got a pretty good education. I suppose my school was an exception or maybe I just had good teachers that weren't just repeating whatever was mandated to them.

[James Madison]

Who was the first president of the United States?

Vermin Supreme. Don't let the propagandists tell you otherwise.;)

[aGameOfThrones]

Vermin Supreme. Don't let the propagandists tell you otherwise.;)

Indeed. Indeed!


A sign from back in the day.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2210/2177565841_e32f644595.jpg

[heavenlyboy34]

My k-12 education was pretty pathetic. Virtually no history or civics at all. Fortunately, I did plenty of learning outside of school. I learned to read well before my peers and helped them learn to read. :cool:

[AceNZ]

Ah, but you're neglecting the "valuable" things that kids DO learn in high school:

1. Government exists to protect us and to groom society
2. Always obey authority ("do as you're told!")
3. You do not own your life
4. You must live according to their schedule ("be on time!")
5. Feelings are more important than facts
6. Facts are what they say they are
7. Independent thinking will not be tolerated, much less rewarded
8. Physical skills are more important than mental skills
9. Good looks are more important than sound morals and principles
10. You are not free, and will never be free; freedom isn't even a valid concept
11. Collectivism is The Way Forward ("you are your brother's keeper")
12. Memorization and test-taking are more important than actual understanding
13. How to "learn" a subject just long enough to take a test on it, so you can then forget it

[Restore America Now]

This is one of the reasons why I was home schooled, and why my future children will be home schooled. :)

[bcreps85]

I'm not surprised at all. Like big government overall, public school systems are self-feeding entities that exist to serve themselves. The schools are worried about how much money they can secure from the government and the unions are concerned with how much more taxpayer money they can bleed for the teachers that are failing to teach our students (yes, this is a generalization, there are still some good teachers...they are not the majority, so lets not get into semantics).

In my High School, we had one class that centered around US History. Our books were chock full of historic inaccuracies, and any students who tried to point that out were routinely punished. I actually did a speech on Wyatt Earp at one point, and was chastised for not characterizing him as an infallible hero of the west...I didn't bash him or anything, just went where the research took me. The Constitution was not a focus point at any point during this class. As a matter of fact, the sports teams were pretty much the main focus of the school administration at all times, rather than academics. Some of the classes were taught by coaches who would give extra credit to those on the sports teams if they did extra laps at practice and whatnot, so they didn't fail anything and become ineligible...

As a kid I wasn't alarmed; I just wanted school to be over anyway, as I was never really engaged at school. Now I can't call it anything but a crime...

[osan]

Big surprise. Government destroys everything it touches, whether it wants to or not.

I must disagree with this, particularly in the sense in which it is offered. To accept your assertion is basically to let "government" off the hook, the implication being that they cannot help producing such results. I do not buy it. Beneath all of the destruction lies deliberate action and it cannot be reasonably taken as good intentions gone awry. When the good intentions of intelligent and honest people run aground, those people make adjustments until the desired results are achieved. If we assume that the current results are not the desired outcomes, then either those responsible for the design, evolution, and maintenance of the school system are freakishly wanting for intellect or the assumption is mistaken.

Among others, I have a degree in education. I have at one point in my life done a lot of reading on the history of schools in the USA. One conclusion that is inescapable is that the various personalities who have contributed to the evolution of American public schools are by no means wanting for smarts. Dewey was among the most profoundly influential people in the history of modern public schools. The man was very intelligent and smart, the same being true for the legions of his professional cohorts. We may therefore reject the lack of intelligence excuse, which in turn eliminates the possibility of good intentions having gone ever more wrong over the past century. That can lead us only to conclude that the results are very much what is wanted. The general public is, therefore, the target of a deliberate program of intellectual disenfranchisement and debilitation. One can guess the rest pretty easily.

[Humanae Libertas]

Todays generation of "being cool" is acting or just being stupid. And these are the people who are going to run for office one day -- "duh Constitution? Wuz dat?"

[kuckfeynes]

Granted, it's been a decade since I was in high school. But I went to an above-average public school, and took all academic classes, and don't recall ever having to actually READ the Constitution, DOI, Articles of Confederation, Common Sense, etc. Just memorize some "facts" about them from the textbook for the test. I DO recall my history teacher saying that FDR was the greatest president and that that was a pretty widely accepted statement...

[Legend1104]

I am a teacher and I can tell you from experience that it is the fault of our welfare society. No one is expected to work for anything anymore. Education is a right to most people so they believe it should be given to them. Most Americans don't realize that an education is an achievement that must be worked for. The way the system is set up now, most people don't see the value in getting an education. As a teacher I have my hands tied in two directions.

First, the majority of students dont want to work or even be there, and I have to spend most of my time on discipline and not educating. If I actually try to push them, most will complain, shutdown, and fail. When they fail, I get in trouble. Trust me it has happened. I was once told that I had too many "F" students and it was obviously my fault. When I tried to explain that they never turned anything in, she told me to stop giving homework.

Secondly, we the teachers are told to work towards a grade. It is set up so that victory is based on students getting a good grade and passing on. Gaining knowledge is not the issue. For example, they tried a policy at two schools I was at. Students could not make lower than a 50 on anything, even if they did not turn it in. Since passing was a 60, they could virtually pass while sleeping. The argument was that if they got a 20 on the first half of the year, then they would not be able to pass because they could not pull that up and would just give up. So basically, what they were saying was that it was not important that they did not learn nearly half of the material, just as long as in the end they would pass.

Government schools are a failure. We should not only take the Federal gov. out of it, we should also take the states out of it two. Schools should be returned to the local community and run by the parents that have the students in the schools. Take away tax money to pay for it, and let it be funded directly from the pocket of the parent (I bet that would make people care more about whether their student was acquiring knowledge).

[JCLibertarian]

I think that one scared me the most. How does anyone in this country not know that? His name is plastered EVERYWHERE. State, city, roads, ect...Martin Luther King?

[AuH20]

It's all rather simple to understand. Make all affairs as complex as possible so as to camouflage the inherent corruption of such dealings, while simultaneously molding the general population into a collection of controllable half-wits. Thus, they will be incapable of recognizing their servitude and in turn, will never create their own institutions which could possibly challenge the power elite.

[bcreps85]

I am a teacher and I can tell you from experience that it is the fault of our welfare society. No one is expected to work for anything anymore. Education is a right to most people so they believe it should be given to them. Most Americans don't realize that an education is an achievement that must be worked for. The way the system is set up now, most people don't see the value in getting an education. As a teacher I have my hands tied in two directions.

First, the majority of students dont want to work or even be there, and I have to spend most of my time on discipline and not educating. If I actually try to push them, most will complain, shutdown, and fail. When they fail, I get in trouble. Trust me it has happened. I was once told that I had too many "F" students and it was obviously my fault. When I tried to explain that they never turned anything in, she told me to stop giving homework.

Secondly, we the teachers are told to work towards a grade. It is set up so that victory is based on students getting a good grade and passing on. Gaining knowledge is not the issue. For example, they tried a policy at two schools I was at. Students could not make lower than a 50 on anything, even if they did not turn it in. Since passing was a 60, they could virtually pass while sleeping. The argument was that if they got a 20 on the first half of the year, then they would not be able to pass because they could not pull that up and would just give up. So basically, what they were saying was that it was not important that they did not learn nearly half of the material, just as long as in the end they would pass.

Government schools are a failure. We should not only take the Federal gov. out of it, we should also take the states out of it two. Schools should be returned to the local community and run by the parents that have the students in the schools. Take away tax money to pay for it, and let it be funded directly from the pocket of the parent (I bet that would make people care more about whether their student was acquiring knowledge).

Yeah, sadly, stuff like NCLB makes it difficult for good teachers to accomplish a fraction of what they could otherwise. I'm sorry, but if a student can't do the work, then they should be in a remedial class or drop out of school. Someone has to dig the ditches, and if they don't care about their education and parents aren't going to push them to, the rest of the kids don't need to suffer for it. They'll realize the error of their ways eventually...or not, but that's life.

[donnay]

http://www.infowarsshop.com/thumbnail.asp?file=assets/images/ddda_iserbyt_book.jpg&maxx=300&maxy=0

http://www.amazon.com/Deliberate-Dumbing-America-Revised-Abridged/dp/0966707117/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1326311823&sr=8-2

Great book a wealth of information! +rep

The other books to read are by John Taylor Gatto: http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/

[Mckarnin]

Homeschooling...lol

[donnay]

I am a teacher and I can tell you from experience that it is the fault of our welfare society. No one is expected to work for anything anymore. Education is a right to most people so they believe it should be given to them. Most Americans don't realize that an education is an achievement that must be worked for. The way the system is set up now, most people don't see the value in getting an education. As a teacher I have my hands tied in two directions.

First, the majority of students dont want to work or even be there, and I have to spend most of my time on discipline and not educating. If I actually try to push them, most will complain, shutdown, and fail. When they fail, I get in trouble. Trust me it has happened. I was once told that I had too many "F" students and it was obviously my fault. When I tried to explain that they never turned anything in, she told me to stop giving homework.

Secondly, we the teachers are told to work towards a grade. It is set up so that victory is based on students getting a good grade and passing on. Gaining knowledge is not the issue. For example, they tried a policy at two schools I was at. Students could not make lower than a 50 on anything, even if they did not turn it in. Since passing was a 60, they could virtually pass while sleeping. The argument was that if they got a 20 on the first half of the year, then they would not be able to pass because they could not pull that up and would just give up. So basically, what they were saying was that it was not important that they did not learn nearly half of the material, just as long as in the end they would pass.

Government schools are a failure. We should not only take the Federal gov. out of it, we should also take the states out of it two. Schools should be returned to the local community and run by the parents that have the students in the schools. Take away tax money to pay for it, and let it be funded directly from the pocket of the parent (I bet that would make people care more about whether their student was acquiring knowledge).

I have lots of respect for you. I couldn't be a teacher today. +rep

The 10th plank to the communist manifesto:

Tenth Plank: Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production. (Gradual shift from private education to publicly funded began in the Northern States, early 1800's. 1887: federal money (unconstitutionally) began funding specialized education. Smith-Lever Act of 1914, vocational education; Smith-Hughes Act of 1917 and other relief acts of the 1930's. Federal school lunch program of 1935; National School Lunch Act of 1946. National Defense Education Act of 1958, a reaction to Russia's Sputnik satellite demonstration, provided grants to education's specialties. Federal school aid law passed, 1965, greatly enlarged federal role in education, "head-start" programs, textbooks, library books.

http://www.criminalgovernment.com/docs/planks.html

[crh88]

Martin Luther King?

Lol, we haven't named a state after him yet. :P Definitely a lot of roads though, dunno how many MLK Blvds I've seen.

[Nate SY]

I passed high school with a 3.4 GPA. The last piece of homework I actually completed was in 7th grade. I had decent grades purely off making bets with my teachers that I could go the whole semester without doing any work, and still get an A on the final. Which I did. I retain information well, and learned at home from my parents (Dads a history buff, grandma used to teach English back in the day so my moms great with it) so I always got an A on the finals. I can honestly say I've had 3 teachers in my life that were worth the time I spent near them. My AP Gov teacher, who encouraged debate, and refused to give any information on his political leanings. He actually pulled me aside after a debate in class, and told me I should research Ron Paul, because I reflect his opinions and thoughts. That led me to where I am today. (Found a couple years later he's actually a staunch democrat and disagrees with me on nearly everything) My humanities teacher was the second, always open discussion, never including his opinions. I actually used to stay after class to learn more from him because it was so refreshing to actually find new things in school. Third, was my Chemistry teacher, I didn't do a damned thing in his class, I passed his final but barely, and he failed me. Only class I ever failed, I retook it, just because it seemed like a challenge, and learned a lot.

Other than that, every teacher I had was a socialist, who would tell me how wrong I was to want to be free. I even had one sending me emails daily to explain why I'm wrong and how my positions are stupid. Pretty much every other teacher, just said "READ THIS AND BE QUIET", because that's how to better yourself right? Learn to be quiet and accept what your told early.

I actually was almost suspended because a teacher said that the civil war was fought over the emancipation proclamation, and I called her out on it. Apparently, pointing out that the proclamation happened AFTER the civil war started warrants suspension.

[Virtual Isolation]

I would hope that it is more of a state of ignorance rather than stupidity. Ignorance is correctable through education.

I finished high school in 2002 and I can only imagine how much worse it's gotten in the last 10 years. I was lucky to go through a decent school system and I worked my ass off to ensure I had the scores needed to get into a good college.

[DamianTV]

Its not possible to beat the stupid out of people, or wisdom into people.

I think that the biggest failure in the educational system comes from the Parents, not the Government. Im sure that there would be a lot of parents that would be willing to spend more time trying to teach their children and provide a better education to them, but they simply dont have the time. Hell, both parents working two full time jobs (if they actually have jobs) just to pay a mortgage on a house they cant afford doesnt leave a whole lot of time for them to be parents while they are slaves to the system.

[Noob]

I am a teacher and I can tell you from experience that it is the fault of our welfare society. No one is expected to work for anything anymore. Education is a right to most people so they believe it should be given to them. Most Americans don't realize that an education is an achievement that must be worked for. The way the system is set up now, most people don't see the value in getting an education. As a teacher I have my hands tied in two directions.

First, the majority of students dont want to work or even be there, and I have to spend most of my time on discipline and not educating. If I actually try to push them, most will complain, shutdown, and fail. When they fail, I get in trouble. Trust me it has happened. I was once told that I had too many "F" students and it was obviously my fault. When I tried to explain that they never turned anything in, she told me to stop giving homework.

Secondly, we the teachers are told to work towards a grade. It is set up so that victory is based on students getting a good grade and passing on. Gaining knowledge is not the issue. For example, they tried a policy at two schools I was at. Students could not make lower than a 50 on anything, even if they did not turn it in. Since passing was a 60, they could virtually pass while sleeping. The argument was that if they got a 20 on the first half of the year, then they would not be able to pass because they could not pull that up and would just give up. So basically, what they were saying was that it was not important that they did not learn nearly half of the material, just as long as in the end they would pass.

Government schools are a failure. We should not only take the Federal gov. out of it, we should also take the states out of it two. Schools should be returned to the local community and run by the parents that have the students in the schools. Take away tax money to pay for it, and let it be funded directly from the pocket of the parent (I bet that would make people care more about whether their student was acquiring knowledge).

What would happen if you gave your students an 1,000 question extra credit exam were each right answer was counted as 1 extra credit on the first day of school?

[John F Kennedy III]

Who was the first president of the United States?

This guy.....http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KxT3bZCpsqw/SPWBPWfyU4I/AAAAAAAACwA/ymO_37ZCAfo/s400/homey_the_clown.jpg

[TheViper]

Who was the first President of the United States? 23 percent

For certain we have a problem with education in the United States but I'm going to call absolute BS on this one. Absolute BS. And when one stat is this far off, it throws the others into dubious territory as well.

I agree that we do have a problem, a very major problem with education but I refuse to belief the statistic above.

[Warrior_of_Freedom]

I've had a 3.4 all high school and college, simply because I didn't care enough to suck ass to get a better grade.

[John F Kennedy III]

For certain we have a problem with education in the United States but I'm going to call absolute BS on this one. Absolute BS. And when one stat is this far off, it throws the others into dubious territory as well.

I agree that we do have a problem, a very major problem with education but I refuse to belief the statistic above.

On what grounds?

[TheViper]

On what grounds?On the grounds of anecdotes and obvious common sense.

There is absolutely no way that education in high school changed so much from the early 90's to today. When I attended high school, not a single student could be found that couldn't tell you who the first president of the US was. To suggest it suddenly dropped to just 23% is preposterous.

Here you go. All credibility killed.

This is from the results of the quiz. Notice that out of 1,000 students quizzed, none of them got all 10 questions right. Further, none of them even got 9 of 10 correct. In fact, none of them even answered 8 of the 10 questions correctly. I find that dubious in the highest order.


http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y122/viperempire/surveyresults.jpg

[Warrior_of_Freedom]

Who was the first President of the United States? 23 percent
I call BS on this. How could anyone NOT know?

[Spikender]

I call BS on this. How could anyone NOT know?

I'm starting to see everyone's point on this one... yes, the students I went to school with weren't very smart (a more accurate term would most likely be ignorant) but every single one of them knew who the first President of the United States was.

[newbitech]

This guy.....http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KxT3bZCpsqw/SPWBPWfyU4I/AAAAAAAACwA/ymO_37ZCAfo/s400/homey_the_clown.jpg

I don't think so..

[donnay]

I call BS on this. How could anyone NOT know?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww



That is all!

[aGameOfThrones]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww



That is all!

Aimee Teegarden “Recent polls have shown that a fifth of Americans can’t locate the US on a world map. Why do you think this is?”

Miss South Carolina Lauren Caitlin Upton:

“I personally believe, that U.S. Americans,
are unable to do so,
because uh,
some, people out there, in our nation don’t have maps.
and uh…
I believe that our education like such as in South Africa,
and the Iraq,
everywhere like such as…
and, I believe they should uh,
our education over here,
in the U.S. should help the U.S.
or should help South Africa,
and should help the Iraq and Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future,
for us.”

[oyarde]

Aimee Teegarden “Recent polls have shown that a fifth of Americans can’t locate the US on a world map. Why do you think this is?”

Miss South Carolina Lauren Caitlin Upton:

“I personally believe, that U.S. Americans,
are unable to do so,
because uh,
some, people out there, in our nation don’t have maps.
and uh…
I believe that our education like such as in South Africa,
and the Iraq,
everywhere like such as…
and, I believe they should uh,
our education over here,
in the U.S. should help the U.S.
or should help South Africa,
and should help the Iraq and Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future,
for us.” That makes my head hurt , I would rather read Fire 11.

[Zap!]

I call bullshit. I refuse to believe that only 23% knew who the first President was. Even among the dumbest people I know, everyone knows who it is.

[oyarde]

I call bullshit. I refuse to believe that only 23% knew who the first President was. Even among the dumbest people I know, everyone knows who it is. Well , I thought so , for a second , but if they really do not know the Pacific & Atlantic , then I guess , I do believe it.

[oyarde]

If it is true , public school should be suspended the rest of the year and a 40 percent refund sent to the taxpayers. I support that :)

[heavenlyboy34]

I call bullshit. I refuse to believe that only 23% knew who the first President was. Even among the dumbest people I know, everyone knows who it is.
I like to be snarky and reply "under the AoC or the Constitution?" when people ask me such things. ;)

[oyarde]

I like to be snarky and reply "under the AoC or the Constitution?" when people ask me such things. ;) Under the aoc zero percent would have got that.

[bnvalerie]

http://www.infowarsshop.com/thumbnail.asp?file=assets/images/ddda_iserbyt_book.jpg&maxx=300&maxy=0

http://www.amazon.com/Deliberate-Dumbing-America-Revised-Abridged/dp/0966707117/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1326311823&sr=8-2

If there is a child anywhere that you care about, read that book. It is the paper trail.

[Legend1104]

What would happen if you gave your students an 1,000 question extra credit exam were each right answer was counted as 1 extra credit on the first day of school?

It would end about the same as it does now. They wouldn't get enough right to make a difference.

[COpatriot]

What can you expect when the kids are more interested in Justin Bieber and other awful teenie autotuned overproduced "music" and celebrity relationships?

[Marenco]

What can you expect when the kids are more interested in Justin Bieber and other awful teenie autotuned overproduced "music" and celebrity relationships?

True. People here should see Mike Judges' film 'Idiocracy' if they haven't already, it is spot on.

[Bosco Warden]

http://www.infowarsshop.com/thumbnail.asp?file=assets/images/ddda_iserbyt_book.jpg&maxx=300&maxy=0

http://www.amazon.com/Deliberate-Dumbing-America-Revised-Abridged/dp/0966707117/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1326311823&sr=8-2

Was this book any good?

I am now reading "The Leipzig Connection" its good but wow is it dry reading. Same principle though.

Another book by Antony Sutton talks about this book as well, I like Antony Suttons books. He has a whole series on the money behind the world conquest tours.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41JA5BDBVGL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

http://www.amazon.com/Leipzig-Connection-Basics-Education/dp/0897390016/ref=pd_sim_b_8

[TheNewYorker]

Kids these days are very dumb, not just them but most people under the age of 25. So bad, that I hate leaving my house. But only the parents are to blame. They do not displine their children anymore, and children never learn from their mistakes without discipline. Every time I visit friends with children I'm just amazed at how the children run and control the household and the parents do their bidding. It's ridiculous. If I ever have kids, that won't be me.

I do have stepchildren of my own. Teenagers. products of the public education system. One is 16. The most recent line I had from him is that made me do a double take, was when he asked me "how does the car know when you are turning?" (in reference to the turn signal.) I answered, and it was followed by, "Oh, so does that mean you can control when the car stops?" LOL.

This coming from a kid who plays video games 24/7 and does nothing else beside go to school. You would think playing grand theft auto would teach him how a car works. Guess not. No real world experience at all. Parents. PARENTS and technology are to blame.

[amyre]

Believe it people. They don't teach history in school anymore. It's "social studies" and the history that IS taught is disjointed, makes no sense in the order in which it's presented, and is downright boring. You memorize, take the test, and purge the information. One of the many reasons I pulled my kids out.

[Philhelm]

Kids these days are very dumb, not just them but most people under the age of 25. So bad, that I hate leaving my house. But only the parents are to blame. They do not displine their children anymore, and children never learn from their mistakes without discipline. Every time I visit friends with children I'm just amazed at how the children run and control the household and the parents do their bidding. It's ridiculous. If I ever have kids, that won't be me.

I do have stepchildren of my own. Teenagers. products of the public education system. One is 16. The most recent line I had from him is that made me do a double take, was when he asked me "how does the car know when you are turning?" (in reference to the turn signal.) I answered, and it was followed by, "Oh, so does that mean you can control when the car stops?" LOL.

This coming from a kid who plays video games 24/7 and does nothing else beside go to school. You would think playing grand theft auto would teach him how a car works. Guess not. No real world experience at all. Parents. PARENTS and technology are to blame.

I feel the same way about not wanting to leave the house. Our culture is appalling.

[PierzStyx]

http://www.previewnyc.com/imgs/fahrenheit451Image.600.300.jpg



The purposeful dumbing down of the population.

[PaulConventionWV]

I can't even comprehend how none of the students knew how to draw a straight line with a friggin' ruler. I started using a ruler when I was around 4 years old. I didn't need to be taught how to draw a straight line with it because you only need the most basic of common sense to figure it out. It's as if you told me someone you knew just died because he didn't know that walking in the middle of the highway was dangerous.

I think he meant how to measure with a ruler. At least, that's what I hope he meant. It's still really bad, but not being able to draw a straight line is just downright retarded.

[heavenlyboy34]

Was this book any good?

I am now reading "The Leipzig Connection" its good but wow is it dry reading. Same principle though.

Another book by Antony Sutton talks about this book as well, I like Antony Suttons books. He has a whole series on the money behind the world conquest tours.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41JA5BDBVGL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

http://www.amazon.com/Leipzig-Connection-Basics-Education/dp/0897390016/ref=pd_sim_b_8
DDDoA is a great read. Iserbyt is not a dry writer, and it's interesting stuff. It's available free on the webbernets if you google it. Don't recall where I got my copy, sorry.

[heavenlyboy34]

Believe it people. They don't teach history in school anymore. It's "social studies" and the history that IS taught is disjointed, makes no sense in the order in which it's presented, and is downright boring. You memorize, take the test, and purge the information. One of the many reasons I pulled my kids out.College history isn't much better. :P :(

[LibertyEagle]

http://www.infowarsshop.com/thumbnail.asp?file=assets/images/ddda_iserbyt_book.jpg&maxx=300&maxy=0

http://www.amazon.com/Deliberate-Dumbing-America-Revised-Abridged/dp/0966707117/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1326311823&sr=8-2

You can download it for free.
http://deliberatedumbingdown.com/

[Hospitaller]

Abraham Lincoln? No, Alexander Hamilton? Yea, Hamilton. Or, was that Madison...?

You are giving them too much credit it seems

[noxnoctum]

This is one of the main reason that our government is such a joke right now.

[demolama]

History is considered a "soft" subject. Geography has already made the chopping block. Most incoming college student can't even tell you where any states are on the map. Schools are actually looking to get rid History in favor of more important subjects such as psychology or sociology. Blame the notion that science and math are more important. How many of you can say you used Calculus outside of high school? Meanwhile colleges need to make low level classes, the same subjects covered for 12 years, as a means to reeducate students because government churn out ignorance.

[Revolution9]

How many of you can say you used Calculus outside of high school?

Wish I had paid more attention to it. I wouldn't have had such a time devising game engine algorithms. So, I have used it for projectiles and various physics sims and the like. I also wish I had understood why triangles were so frikkin' important in trigonometry. I was like.. I ain't gonna circumnavigate the world..why do I need this brain busting crap. Now I wish I could do matrix multiplication of vectors without having to use code libraries and get all my sin, cosin, tan, cotan etc relationships straight in my head.. Same with quaternions and vector calculations.

Rev9

[PaulConventionWV]

Its not possible to beat the stupid out of people, or wisdom into people.

I think that the biggest failure in the educational system comes from the Parents, not the Government. Im sure that there would be a lot of parents that would be willing to spend more time trying to teach their children and provide a better education to them, but they simply dont have the time. Hell, both parents working two full time jobs (if they actually have jobs) just to pay a mortgage on a house they cant afford doesnt leave a whole lot of time for them to be parents while they are slaves to the system.

Is that really the fault of the parents, though? Because it sounds like it's more the fault of the system. You know, the government.

[PaulConventionWV]

They're still smarter than congress.

This meme is false. Congress isn't filled with stupid people that can't get anything done right. It's filled with evil people that do the wrong thing on purpose.

[PaulConventionWV]

True. People here should see Mike Judges' film 'Idiocracy' if they haven't already, it is spot on.

Doesn't Idiocracy advocate eugenics? The stupid people are not the problem. The state is.

http://xkcd.com/603/

[Icymudpuppy]

Am I like one of the few people that actually got a pretty good public education. Then again I was always in honors classes along with my friends and we were all basically a grade ahead with the way we were taking classes (like we all took high school credit classes in middle school). I had a 20th century history teacher that taught us about the military industrial complex and the economic problems with war. He taught a rather objective history of the presidents. He was a liberal, but he even admitted nothing the new deal did improved anything economically and was actually counter-productive. I had great English teachers who really pushed thought provoking talks and such. I had a chemistry teacher that was pro-Ron Paul in 2007 - 2008. I was taking college level calc in 11th grade. There was a great emphasis on personal responsibility in regards to learning.

I also don't really live in a very partisan area in PA. My school district absolutely hated No Child Left Behind and ever single teacher I had explained how it was detrimental to teaching as well as insanely costly in resources. I even heard the principals and such speaking about how much they hated the federal take-over of schooling. My school district privatized bus services. I wasn't from a very religious area, but it wasn't frowned upon. I can't remember a fight ever occurring in my high school. Everyone was nice to everyone.

I don't know I had a really good experience with my public schooling and actually got a pretty good education. I suppose my school was an exception or maybe I just had good teachers that weren't just repeating whatever was mandated to them.
I had a similar experience. The resources were there for those of us who wanted to excel. I was doing genetic engineering in high school in my advanced biology class, calculus, physics, college level English literature, and learner most of the OPs questions in grammar school. I remember learning about the separation of powers, and checks and balances in 5th grade.

[Icymudpuppy]

True. People here should see Mike Judges' film 'Idiocracy' if they haven't already, it is spot on.

Too bad it is such a stupid movie. The premise was good, but the delivery was weak.

[Rothbardian Girl]

I'm a public school brat. I'm grateful for my education. Seems like the situation is worse in some areas than it is in others. (I grew up in eastern PA, in a public high school that had a 97% graduation rate, with nearly three-quarters of all graduates going on to four-year universities after graduation).

Not saying that it can't be better done in a private market/more homeschooling options for education, but the reflexive "blame-the-government" mantra doesn't quite work in some respects. I was bombarded with all kinds of propaganda during my high school years particularly (at least that was when I started recognizing it as such), but the difference was that I liked to read a lot and I was always verifying what I had learned through all the encyclopedias that I had.

If you want to make a difference as a parent, teach your child how to read. I started reading at two years old and never looked back since that point. Your child will start discovering things on his or her own once you give them that sort of access to the world. Maybe I'm being foolish in pinning my success solely on the fact that I learned how to read at an early age, but my parents never ran into problems with me, and I learned to develop quite different perspectives on the world than they had, just from all the reading I had done.

Sure, some of the problem is government schooling for those kids who were never exposed to reading when they were little, but the major problem is parents not doing a good job.

[nbhadja]

Pretty much everyone in America is stupid. Let's not act like the older generation is not stupid. At least the young people are more receptive to Ron Paul and are usually anti-war.