Millions of Americans Are Embarrassingly Ill-Informed

All of the problems with education in America are a direct result of liberal policies.

The teacher unions are protected and fought for while they do the same for incompetent teachers.

There is no accountability, the liberal answer will always be to throw more money aimlessly at any problem.

The lack of discipline along with the disrespect many kids have for authority is not helpful either.

The biggest problem of all are the parents, good parents will ensure and take part in their child's education.

In this day and age with all the dysfunctional family's and God only knows what else "again thank you liberals"

some kids don't have a chance from the get go. Even the best teachers in the world can't work miracles.

The only real way to raise the quality of the public schools is competition, we need more Charter Schools

with a voucher system.

 

I agree, I don't think "equality of opportunity" should translate to "equality of results," and people are given plenty of opportunities to rethink early life choices.

The earliest formative variables (nutrition, health, early stimulation) as well as basic learning of self control are essential for anyone to have the mentality for self directed, as opposed to passive, learning, which is why I can't understand why programs like Headstart, food stamps, and WICK don't get more across-the -board support.

Barring actual genetic defects, such early programs have a bigger payoff as far as developing an intelligent workforce able to achieve higher-level skills than anything that can be attained later. The fastest brain growth is in the first two or three years, which is probably why MHMR's Early Childhood Intervention programs have age three as their cutoff point.

I was able to send my kids to a Montessori nursery school, which pushes self directed learning, and that really paid off--they became so self directed that they essentially put themselves through college without large loans saddling them afterward. I could never have done that; the difference was in the early thought patterns established, which became basic to their personalities.

 

Nothing is more fun than jealous and utterly irrelevant Limey have beens. Yes, Americans are way behind in history and geography, they are way ahead in business and defense.... That's why America had to save your sorry cowardly ass$s in the last two world wars, that's why America is a super power and you are the superpower's favorite and most obedient lap dog.

That being said, American education should be improved, so should the British education which is creating millions of out of touch morally-bankrupt idiots and imbeciles with excellent knowledge of geography and ancient history.

 

I think those Head-Start programs are a good investment. I'd vote to support them.

And yea, while our shared assets and programs should be equal in the opportunities they provide equal citizens in this nation, that doesn't mean folks will have equal opportunities in their personal lives or achieve equal results in any opportunity.

Government shouldn't deny the opportunity to serve in the armed services to someone just cause they're gay, but a kid born with an IQ of 190 or born with a celebrity parent will have opportunities another kid won't. And what that serviceman or kid makes from whatever opportunities come into his life is guaranteed by no one.



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It is apparent that Borat doesn’t understand what is this topic all about. I’ll take the liberty to summarise it for him. Incidentally, why would American ignorance and stupidity personally hurt someone from Kazakhstan?

Millions of Americans Are Embarrassingly Ill-Informed

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-pol...-do-not-care-0

 

what is this? the requirements to be a member of the repulican party?

 

The media and progressive public schools. Both are biased - you cant learn or teach (*)(*)(*)(*) if you're biased.

 

This is a subject near and dear to my heart.

Part of the reason people are ignorant is priorities; reading the news is a time-consuming activity as much as any other mundane activity (work, washing dishes, cooking, learning how to paint, etc), and people often choose to prioritize their time in a fashion that may not include news.

Second: news lately in the media, if I may wax a little, hasn't exactly been presented as simple facts. Media is operating in a sort of infotainment mode (something I personally lament), and it's the same three stories repeatedly. I think that turns people off to the news.

Third: As our culture becomes a little more compartmentalized--that is, people are becoming more concerned with the survival and well-being of their own selves and family directly more than community--unless the news appears to directly impact that person/their family, it doesn't seem to matter as much. Apathy sets in. "What do I care? This doesn't affect me, so it doesn't matter. Screw everyone else."

Fourth: concerning education, we've become a society of standards. We use a battery of tests to determine our level of knowledge and competence, whether that's elementary school or professional certifications. Most schools now 'teach to the test', because school funding and often teachers' jobs are linked to performance on those tests. The problem is that the tests don't necessarily represent what we want people to know as a whole. We have very different ideals between states and countries (even cities) on what makes a well-informed citizen.

***

As far as how to fix it: first, you have to determine what qualifies a person to be 'well-informed'. What should a person know? What skills should a person have to be a 'good citizen'? Once that has been determined, then the curriculum must be determined in a way that demonstrates the significance of those facts/skills. Just telling people 'you have to know/learn this because I said so', while an efficient and terse way of handling the issue, turns off the younger generation. Make it matter. I'm not saying coddle--I'm saying 'demonstrate why these things are significant in society.' Then, teach those facts/skills. Test them if you like. Incorporate new technologies and different ways of thinking, as well as critical thinking and bias analysis. Make it cool for people to 'think' again. Right now, we have this image of intellectuals as 'elitist' and 'isolated' and 'stuck-up', perhaps even 'ignorant of reality/stuck in the clouds/books'. That needs to stop.

This is all my opinion, of course, and I acknowledge that not everyone sees things this way. I tried to keep this as apolitical as possible, because this is a problem regardless of your political affiliation. Winners may write history, but facts are facts.

 

Given the choice, they only take on what they need and use the rest of the effort for entertainment - which is not stupid, its just unprepared. Their system has all the advantages to leverage a highly intellectual population in a short span (within a few years), which is not possible in countries with restricted freedom's (for whatever reason, political or religious).

 

All right, you've identified the problem. How would you solve the problem? Any solutions to stop them from being biased?

 

Unfortunately, that misplaced trust is what led to this discussion in the first place. But I understand the point you're making. None of us can deal with all the issues, it's just not possible. And yet trusting governments and especially their experts is not really an option anymore - they all have an agenda.

 

What worries me is world wide ignorance. Most of the Taliban infested world is beyond ignorant and illiterate for example. But lets cut to the chase, stupid is usually fixable, and true stupidity seems to be more of a symptom of mental illness than laziness. So lets apply the same logic and methodology to the OT. Is it really so difficult to determine that the OT is not about stupidity or ignorance? No, Mr. Obvious says the OT is a vessel constructed to insult the 'West' and the 'Wests' allies. However, if the reader has an average IQ they wont be a reader for long because they will quickly realize the intent of the article and toss it along with their lunch to the curb.

reva

 

Deleted

 

Thanks for that very thoughtful contribution, Borat.

1/10

Must try harder.

It's back to the cooper moonshine still for you, I'm afraid.

 

Nonsense.

Does any form of political bias make the teaching of 2 +2 =4, or that two hydrogen and one oxygen atoms equal water, unlearnable?
Does political bias inhibit the teaching of creative problem solving? Or how to do subject research? Or how to speak, read, and write a language?

Yet another sweeping political generalization suitable for a bumpersticker and not much else. Now there is a process that sure as hell doesn't either teach or educate anyone.

 

Yea right, these progressive teachers spend more time social engineering children than they do actually teaching children required academics.

Why do you think public schools are so terrible - especially inner city public schools?

Because these progressive teachers could care less about 2+2=4 just as long as children know minorities are victims of whites, and white people are privileged and it's ok if 7-year-old Timmy wants to be called Tammy.

These progressive teachers are more concerned about manufacturing the next generation of progressives than they are educating them... Besides it's not like the progressive elite want these kids educated anyway - educated people are a danger to their agenda. Not only that but uneducated children also give progressives an excuse to blame people and demand taxes be raised - as if money somehow educates children.

 

why is it that its always the "other side" that deliberately does these dastardly deeds?

Do you honestly think inner city schools show poor results because of progressive teachers and a progressive agenda? Your inferred solution seems to be to fire all the progressives and hire nothing but conservative teachers and administrators.

It is sad that political partisanship distorts perspectives. No wonder its almost impossible to fix such fundamental performance problems in the broad sense. Too many people think is all a political conspiracy perpetrated by the "other side".

 

No, I could care less about a teachers politics, however progressive teachers think teaching progressive politics and ideas is their number one priority and academics is second.

Of course progressives get away with it in the city because parents generally don't care what their kids learn in school, and honestly most cities are progressive anyway.

Funny how kids in urban public schools know more about Assata Shakur than they do about Thomas Jefferson.

Urban public schools have basically become day care and indoctrination centers, and of course they send all the smart kids that cant be brainwashed and want to learn academics to charter schools, because in reality - they're the ones that are the problem - not the empty minded minions.

 

Inner city schools here in Chicago have been pathetically under-performing for decades. Dem mayors since 1956, dem policies. So who should we blame?

 

Since when to cities dictate education policy and curriculum?

I guess other social issues play no part in education. I guess allocation of resources based on tax revenue plays no part in the quality of education in the slums.

Blaming doesn't fix problems, policy does and I have yet to hear any constructive conservative policy suggestions to fix education problems of the impoverished both urban and rural.

But I guess all those republican governors and legislators are improving their state education policies and performance.

EDUCATION POLICY SHOULD NOT BE LEFT TO PARTISAN HACKERY.

 

You need to look up who runs CPS.

You can blame social and taxing issues on the dems up here also. Spending per pupil is third in the country in Chicago. So it isn't money.

Put the blame where it belongs. That's how life works.

LOL! So you don't want to affix blame unless you can blame the GOP! LOL!

I agree. Yet lefty partisan hacks have destroyed inner city education in Chicago.

 

do you have any studies that prove this claim or is this simply another partisan bumpersticker.

Is this lack of care of what kids learn in school, more or less than parents in the burbs or in rural communities?

Do you have any evidence to back up this claim of a disparity of caring based on location ? Or is this more bumpersticker common knowledge?

do you have any evidence to substantiate this claim?

I think your version of reality isn't.

 

I have found that affixing blame is sometimes entertaining, sometimes informative, but mostly useless blustering and posturing, when it comes to solving problems.
When the blame game becomes automatic kneejerking amongst partisans it simply demonstrates that knuckleheads on both sides have far less interest in solving those problems or meeting those challenges than they do in attacking the other side.

I am not surprised you think its progressives that are to blame for all of the nation's problems from the top to the very bottom. Nor am I surprised at those that think its conservatives who are. Partisan hackery and bumperstickers are not the sole domain of either side.

 

So you're not a fan of accountability. Great. You'd make a good Chicago mayor.

Who mentioned the 'nation'?