Marie Antoinette never said it, but cake nonetheless, its stratification, its 99% base and crowning glory of 1% sugar and lard personification of our inequitable "education" system:
Is American Culture to Blame for Failing Schools? NY Times Mobile
By DAVID FIRESTONE
December 18, 2013
“Americans do not support an egalitarian society.”
That was the response of one reader, Jay David of New Mexico, to the final editorial in our series on science and math education, and in many ways it summed up the bitterness that many others expressed when the American school system was compared to those of other countries.
The editorial looked at some of the reasons students in Finland, Canada and Shanghai do much better in science and math than American students, and concluded that those places care more about preparing teachers and elevating the cultural position of education, while ensuring that more resources go to the neediest schools. In this country, teachers are poorly paid, poorly prepared and generally disdained, while the richest schools and students get by far the most money.
Scores of readers blamed that disparity on this country’s more libertarian culture, and on an outlook toward learning that if not overtly anti-intellectual is at least non-intellectual.
“Canadians’ acceptance and indeed pride in their more egalitarian society contrast with Americans’ acceptance of having an underclass,” wrote Blair P., of Palm Desert, Calif. “It’s an Ayn Rand philosophy.”
We are allowing sociopaths to abuse our intellect and common sense; we're dumbing down our curriculum to fit a dogma best left in constitutionally separated voluntary places of worship for Sunday school lessons:
This lunacy is confirmed on Snopes (its made its rounds on the web); what we do to ourselves is child abuse and cultural psychopathy. Our elected officials encourage this for the electorate to vote for them against their own interests. WHAT OTHER COUNTRY ON THE PLANET DOES THIS TO THEMSELVES?
We are non-intellectual. We attack nerds-cum-intellectuals-cum-engineers-cum-teachers-cum-professors and expect to advance as a nation. We celebrate replaceable athletes and "reality shows'" family dysfunction exacerbating a writ large dysfunction of a democratic republic originally designed for its citizens to be educated, involved, curious; questioning. CRITICAL THINKING skills, not magical thinking is what our competitors excel in:
America’s stature as an economic power is being threatened by societies above us and below us on the achievement scale. Wealthy nations with high-performing schools are consolidating their advantages and working hard to improve. At the same time, less-wealthy countries like Chile, Brazil, Indonesia and Peru, have made what the O.E.C.D. describes as “impressive gains catching up from very low levels of performance.” In other words, if things remain as they are, countries that lag behind us will one day overtake us.
The United States can either learn from its competitors abroad — and finally summon the will to make necessary policy changes — or fall further and further behind.
The link for the 2nd excerpt is below. We're headed for the "Hunger Games."
NY Times: Three Reasons Students Do Better Overseas
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