World according to America

[Gurm]

The sad thing was when my brother came home one day from 2nd grade, and my dad said "what are you doing in math lately?" and my brother says "with colors, or with numbers? we haven't done numbers yet..."

And the 2nd grade teacher wondered why my dad wanted a conference...

And then she could NOT adequately explain what "math with colors" WAS, exactly. She showed us a bunch of charts and stuff, but could not in fact explain what the concept was.

And if she can't explain it to US, how could she POSSIBLY explain it to 2nd graders?

Needless to say, my brother was removed to a new class.

And people wonder why we all attended private school?

- Gurm

[Gurm]

And as for your study, let's be honest - perhaps your kids know more geography. That's not hard, since geography isn't taught here any more.

But their knowledge of the rest of the world, including the US, Russia, South America, Africa, and the Orient is WOEFULLY limited.

Try explaining to a 20-something from France that they do NOT in fact enjoy "freedom of speech". It's a fun time once you realize that they don't know what freedom of speech IS, exactly.

- Gurm

[Joel]

What will be even more encouraging is the passage in Congress and signing into law by the President of legislation implementing school vouchers, which will allow even low income parents to vote with their feet and move their kids into higher performing schools of choice.

The only problem is that once those schools accept those vouchers then they are beholden to the government and then it is only a matter of time before the ones who have dumbed down our public system start to dumb down the private systems.

Joel

[thop]

That's not hard, since geography isn't taught here any more.

you mean like NOT AT ALL?

please elaborate about that freedom of speech thing.

[Dr Mordrid]

Originally posted by Joel


The only problem is that once those schools accept those vouchers then they are beholden to the government and then it is only a matter of time before the ones who have dumbed down our public system start to dumb down the private systems.

Joel

That would only be the case in the versions of such legislation made to appeal to Democrats in the Senate when they were in control. Those bills written by conservatives now that the Senate is in Republicans would likely not have such provisons.

Dr. Mordrid

[Dogbert]

If you check the question about recognising the U.S on the map, you can draw a completely different conclusion as well...

GB: 79% - Me like me Island, quite happy where me is.
Germany, Italy: 88% - kind of like the Brits.
U.S: 89% - Ummm... We're already there so why should we care ?
Japan: 91% - Ha..! AMERICA, business good !
Sweden: 93% - The new world, sounds interesting...!
Canada: 95% - U.S ? We work there. I mean, it's just across the border (most of the Canadian population is concentrated near the U.S border)
France: 95% - We hate those Americans and their McDonnald culture... Their inferior culture is conquering our European one.
Mexico: 96% - WE WANT TO LIVE THERE !

The more you're interested in a country, the more you know about it. Many people don't know the names of quite large countries in Africe, yet they know about those tiny little places like Bora-Bora...

[Dr Mordrid]

Yup. Most American kids also know all about Bermuda, Jamaica and Cancun when they hear them

Dr. Mordrid

[Wulfman]

Originally posted by Dr Mordrid
Yup. The Democratic/Socialist movement in the US has had one major sucess in the last 30 years: the near destruction of our educational system.

you have the wrong socialists over there.

@dogbert: what I said

mfg
wulfman

[DentyCracker]

I was appalled when I found out that geography wasn't taught in school by some some of my American cousins in 1978. The concept was mind boggling since I had been taught Geography since age 6 (ok I was in a higher grade than I should have been).

[Admiral]

The problem here is that America is in a somewhat "destiny dictating" position in this world, being a major power and all.
When you have such a responsability or the arrogant/narcisistic attitude that it's somehow your "divine right" to do so, I would expect you to at least know where my country is on the map and know a little about its people and its history.

[Wombat]

In fact one suburban Detroit city that has a black majority in its population has gone so far as to turn its schools over to a private school management group: Edison School Management.

Edison is also taking over entire school systems in large cities like Philadelphia.

Oops, and what a mistake that was. Edison has currently sold most of its educational materials (yes, they SOLD the textbooks off), tried to get Philly to let them move their corporate offices in to the school, and even proposed exploiting the students as free labor (to run the offices and such). Sounds like a great system.

[RedRed]

What did you learn @ school?

Subjects (lower/primary school)

English
Math
Science
History
Religion - NOT just Judeo/Christian/Catholic

Upper school (secondry) (11+)
English Lang - 5 years
English Lit - 5 Years
Irish - three years
French - 5 years - but was a bit crap at it!
Latin - 3 yaers
History -3 years
Geography - 3 years
Religion - 5 years
Maths - 7 years
Chenistry - 7 years
Physics -7 years
Biology - 7 years
Electronics - 2 years (taken at a local technical college)

Then College....


What did you gys do?
RedRed

[KvHagedorn]

Originally posted by Admiral
The problem here is that America is in a somewhat "destiny dictating" position in this world, being a major power and all.
When you have such a responsability or the arrogant/narcisistic attitude that it's somehow your "divine right" to do so, I would expect you to at least know where my country is on the map and know a little about its people and its history.

Here you go..

http://www.friesian.com/romania.htm

http://www.friesian.com/decdenc2.htm

[KvHagedorn]

Originally posted by RedRed

What did you gys do?
RedRed

I learned that my teachers were mostly lamers and I needed to read books if I wanted to learn anything. I would bet that no one else here owns a copy of Shepherd's Historical Atlas and the Times Atlas of the World (the best of their respective genres, in my opinion.)

[GNEP]

Heehee - just read through this thread for the first time. What can I say? Basically, it seems that in the US and UK there is a real feeling that educational standards are dropping. The causes, whilst postulated upon, are unknown.

Europe seems to have it "better" in many ways. But then I look at my contemporaries entering companies about the same time as me - those from Europe are starting their first jobs aged in their late 20s with reams of degrees. UK and US folks are competing for the same jobs in their early 20s.

Not sure which system I prefer.

I have to say though that when at school aged about 8 I learnt the name of every country, capital city, river and mountain range in the Americas (N and S). Forgotten it all now of course, unless I have used the knowledge. But then now I know all about lots of the smaller countries in Africa (Guinea Bissau any one? Cabo Verde?) because my job has included dealing with our subsidiaries there.

The upshot of all of this? Far too much emphasis in this sort of argument is, in my opinion, placed on knowledge. Knowledge is easy to get (as long as you know where to look), and easy to lose. Understanding and eventually wisdom (from experience) are more important aims. However the measurement of these things is far more difficult.

I work with/have worked with people from every continent (OK, maybe not Antarctica), and my conclusion is this: across the upper middle-classes (the well-educated bourgoisie) there is not a huge difference in different nationalities' levels of understanding - perhaps my sample is not particularly representative of the global population, but still the aim has surely got to be one of enhancing humanity's education, rather than having pissing-contests between nation states???

BTW - seen many variations of this map before - and yes, it is mildly amusing