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This post is not an attack at a certain class of people. I am not Trying to be better than anybody in anyway.
Why is this happening? Why is a whole class of people being dumbed down? Why can't people critically think let alone find thier own country on the map?
The Media
The Government
Its that simple.
The blame of "America's Stupidity" doesn't fall on Americans themselves. They're people like any other person in this world. There is nothing physical keeping an American from being as smart as any other person, be them: Canadian, German, English, Fren-- Anyway...
It all has to do with how the country is run. With such a focus on Media, Entertainment, and keeping the general populous busy enough to generally keep their noses out of what the government is doing, you get a large, lazy, dumb populous.
Not to mention probability is a huge factor as well. With so many people, you have a bigger chance of getting dumb people, as well as smart people. Which is why so many of both have come out of America.
Again, the American people can't really be blamed. Nor is this every case. We have many Americans, smart Americans, on this board.
But once gain, you can't expect a smart population when you're leadership is only made so out of morbid curiosity.
Agree with everything ExoByte said.
We also have something called "No Child Left Behind" which cuts funding to schools if their students don't perform well on tests. Obviously that's ass backwards, but we've got no way to fix it right now.
I do agree that America has a failing education system. Though I am really getting sick of all this hate. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_mkw...eature=related Look at this video... The maker is just showing how any video can be made to make a country look stupid. The real ignorance comes out of the people who dont try to understand another point of view and just mindlessly hate something because of what the media tells them to hate.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nazzul
Nazull i did post more than the one video of guys interviewing americans. There's also the education system. And like i said I'm not posting this to feel superior over anyone. I am concerned that the most powerfull nation in the world can't educate itself properly, or critically think. I think if people were smarter and had the right opportunities, we'd have less arrogance, and wars based on BS.
You want a war based on BS? Take India and Pakistan.
I don't think America is anywhere near alone in these sorts of things. There are some really serious issues in the States though that go far beyond dumb people in the streets.. health care, for instance.
I think dumb people are a serious issue. If people weren't so poorly educated and self aware, they wouldn't have let federal governments ruin the health care system. What about the issue of Private banks making the US currency?
The government doesn't print the money, Private Banks do. Yet most people still pay income tax because they don't understand how corrupt the monetary system is. Stipidity, Ignorance, and laziness are the very things that keep humankind in the stone age.
You know, I've thought about it, and I honestly have no clue why the american populace comes off as so lowbrow. It's kind of like why violent crime rates in the US are so high. Sure, there are a few factors here and there that influence the matter, but I can't think of any determining reason.
Maybe this thread can bring up some answers...
Personally I believe money CAN help education. How? By paying teachers more, I think. If teachers were paid a lot more, teaching would be a competitive profession that people actually desire and would work hard for. Or if they aren't going to pay them more, at least give them major tax cuts. I don't exactly understand the point of giving the teachers government money, and then taxing them on that money.
Secondly, people need to take a long, hard look on how children are taught. Just like the monopoly thing, teachers often have long, drawn out analogies or experiments to demonstrate very simple concepts. For example, in my biology class we did some thing where we put an egg in colored water to see how it absorbs the molecules. We don't need to spend 2 days doing an experiment where we can simply be informed of something in about 30 seconds. We often sacrifice actual learning for "fun" activities which are completely useless. Though nice on occassion, sometimes they just need to feed us information. I have a teacher who teaches us as if we were 5th graders, and it is ridiculous. Teachers should teach with the predisposition that the children are at a certain level of maturity both emotionally and intellectually.
Lastly, the whole government philosophy toward education is, as someone so aptly put it, "ass backwards." As Obama once pointed out, currently a school that has 50% of its students failing one year, and 25% of its students failing the next year is deemed a "failure." No Child Left Behind is terrible, and it is essentially saying "Let's be as strong as our weakest link." I have taken classes where if someone is having trouble, they fail or do poorly. To be honest, this is how it should be. No reason to explain it to us like children because some don't understand it. Some children just need to be left behind. That is the natural order of things. If we don't let some children left behind, then everybody will be left behind.
These things lead to dysfunction in the U.S.:
- welfare system that encourages laziness and the mass reproduction of the lazy and dysfunctional
- the dumbass war on drugs, which makes it very profitable to be a thug and puts fathers in prison (where they can't raise their kids) for taking advantage of that profit opportunity
- socialist public education system (That video does not apply to our private education system. Not even close.)
Our public education system does not lack money. It lacks the competition element necessary to counter the other factors I listed.
This is the sort of thing educated Americans do...
http://www.historyplace.com/unitedst...llo11/flag.jpg
*American populace looks on*
"Dat waz FAKED!!!"
:lol:
I don't beleive the moon landing every happend. srry try harder.Quote:
Originally Posted by Universal Mind
Dammit, how did you find out? Was it those meddling kids? :mad:Quote:
Originally Posted by Spartiate
Everyone should watch the entire video before saying anything about it. Seems like what they are saying is pretty much true from what I have seen. People who think you can throw money and problems to make them go away are morons. Thats why we have a huge debt and thats why the money of our value is dropping like a rock.
welll really its not a matter of throwing money at things its a matter of using the money wisely. We all know if money isn't spent on the problem it wont go away but that said money on its own wont make it go away. What it takes is good planning and good leadership and ofcourse the right amount of money :p
So in short its not the money its how you use it.
Was the Mars Rover mission faked too?Quote:
Originally Posted by dragonoverlord
http://marsrover.nasa.gov/gallery/pr...257F_th418.jpg
In a word yes. Ofcourse im not serious ever heard of sarcasm..Quote:
Originally Posted by Universal Mind
JESUS CHRIST (no offense Jesus)
These are the people voting for Hilary!!!!!!!!!
I cant believe the ignorance our country. :s
No one in the whole United States should answered one of those questions wrong.
I blame them and only them. Read a F*CKING DAMN BOOK!
As for the schools, I think 90% (guess lol) of the problem, is the parents fault. Think about it, none of the kids have any respect for grown-ups, or anyone for that matter. So how are they learn from someone they're not listening to? They don't. And that's the parents fault for not teaching their children basic etiquette.
You give the schools way to much credit. While parents are not without blame, the schools are clearly at fault.
Thats an insane part of the video when they were talking about the buildings they made just to hold criminal teachers who are sex offenders and stuff. They can't fire them so they continue to pay them and they just show up to work and do nothing for the entire day then accept a paycheck.
:rolllaugh:Quote:
Originally Posted by dragonoverlord
Please give me another good laugh by claiming that Microsoft is an illusion. Are light bulbs really hoaxes too? :laugh:
Well I find them stupid by criticising the other countries like Britain or European countries when they seem to be much stable countries. Hey it's only my opinion, though.
Um, UM, I think dragon overloard was kidding.
Nope. Afraid not.Quote:
Originally Posted by wasup