Someone enlighten me...this globalization propaganda is choking me!

At my High School we have just recently been force fed into believing that since China/India are so much more proficient when it comes to math and science that we will lose our jobs in the future..why all the focus on this all of a sudden? I have a few problems with this..

First, why are they subjecting most of the student population to this nonsense when not everyone CARES about math and science, one of the great things about America which is slowly dwindling is our freedom to go with what we are good at. Personally I am exceptional at English, Writing, and History but I am horrible at Mathematics! I understand that those are two monumental subjects but dont whine at me for not performing.

Another thing that makes me angry which is a blatant lie is that my teacher said these supposed ''Top engineering and computer jobs" are being taken by the better educated Chinese and Indians! I don't know about you but I understand that you dont get a real "top Job" from just having a better education or working for cheaper..you get it from your ability. Maybe the computer jobs they are refering to are the sterotypical indian customer service hotline jobs..

My teacher also said that the "top" research is being done in other countries such as China and India and at that I had to laugh. What research? Although China may have a solid scientific market, they are nowhere close to where America is at, the biggest research is being done in America and many other western countries, research isnt about outsourcing for cheaper labor! It's about finding cures, discovering new stuff etc. !

Then she goes on throwing that arbituary ranking system around.. oh yeah America is ranked 14th in the world, I raised my hand and asked why the need for such an irrelevant statistic, its obvious most of my fellow students have no idea what the ranking system even judges! She told me its gauges high school graduations etc..but when i look at the countries we are competing against its easy to see why we are behind.
The german exchange student in my class said it perfectly. She told us the elite students like her go on to the universtiy, the lower go to vocational jobs and the unmotivated and worthless peons go on to pick up trash! For the most part our schools are being compared to that top class! I'm happy to be 14th in the world if it means we have the freedom to change our lives, the freedom to not be stuck in some life dictated by your ability to follow orders and follow desired mindsets! You dont have to go to college to be successful, and i love it(although i do plan to go).

My teacher hit the lowest point when she said that people are scared America will become a "working-Class" country! What are we right now? The all mighty and coveted Engineer at the engineering firm is as much an employee as anyone else! Everyone one is working class for the most part in America except for the elite, she made the No Child Left Behind program sound as if it was a battle against Communism!

One thing I have noticed is all the non-technical jargon is being used to cloud the truth. The Head Principal told us that that are more "honor roll" chinese students than every american high school student! What the hell does "honor roll" mean? Obviously good grades but they dont even grade the same way we do. I understand they are trying to make it easier for us to see the danger but all I see is ignorance and propaganda.

I refuse to give up my dreams because of fear of a chinese "honor roll" student taking my spot.Sorry but when the time comes I will be ready to perform and show my ability and if I am no match for my competitiors then it is obviously my fault.



I apologize if I am ranting I just needed a place to vent where I can hopefully see an intelligent discussion going on about why the huge focus and propaganda to make american students feel as if there is no hope for a job in the future and the blatant lies about other countries!

[edit on 22-5-2008 by Zenskeptical]

it seems we are very alike, were both the ones in the class who like to question but get cut down for our efforts, its a sad world, although i think the Canadian system is more forgiving so you must be dealing with more of the BS

now let me tell you something ive figured out, and it took me until this year, my last year

The problem isnt us its the school system, not just one or two teachers but the whole system,

tell me this if your teacher says they are scared that your country will become a working-class country, then why do they educate the students to become this? Because thats all that school does is teach you to get a job and be a good citizen. Those honor-role students are masters of the system, but the system is BS so they are masters of nothing. I get the same in my school, "these students are better then you because they work harder and are smarter"

well id say im pretty smart for not falling for the trap that they laid out for us

I dont know about you but i think that people like us need our own school system in which they teach about real things that interest us, that have no BS behind it, and most appropriately to learn in a way that is comfortable to us (for me personally i would like a more critical thinking type program in which i need to use my mind to solve problems instead of doing research or looking through pointless books)


also there should be no homework because its taxing and time consuming and always puts me in a dumbed down mood, school is for learning, home is for personal things, they should keep it that way.

The assignments i get now are a joke i feel like im in kindergarden, for English i had to summarize Hamlet act 1 and make a song/poem out of it and perform it, instead of learning how to read or understand Shakespeare. And all my other assignments are basically read do research and fill in the blanks like a good little civilian.

I have lost all faith in the school system, thety really need to get their acts together

reply to post by Zenskeptical


Hey, that was a well written, informative piece.

Now, I don't mean to be sarcastic here but, is your teacher sort of, well, oriental looking? That may explain certain parts of your statement.

Seriously though, there may be a perfectly logical explanation here - the school may be using such stats to motivate students (I.e motivating by demotivating). I remember being subjected to this when I was young. The 'such and such' will get all your jobs if you don't work hard at school etc.

As for the stats - some of them happen to be true, but this comes down to cultural and economic aspirations, not just facts and figures. It is a good thing for such countries to be performing well, for a long time they were in the poor house while the US was raking it in. Times change and cycles revolve. Just follow your aspirations and you'll be fine!

Otherwise, your school teachers need educated in the art of educating others.

My two bob.

Brei.

Learn what you can now, you don't know what you'll need or how your interests will change in the future. Ignore all the crap opinions they throw at you, most of it is a joke as you can already see.

ive seen this kind of thing over and over and now they are selling it to me and my classmates, its just so annoying, basically those chinese and asian kids in my classes who have topmarks, are literally walking calculators who like to say that white kids are idiots etc. but when i look them they have no personal life, not to be racist or anything but they are like ants, work work work work and thats it. go to school for 20 years if you want a good job and then work till you die, and ontop of everything dont these people realize that india and asia account for more than half of the worlds population ?

Thanks for all the constructive replies!

Tankthinker, I totally agree with you! A critical thinking class would be awesome but it is definetely not on the agenda of the system...and I personally understand where you are coming from. Do you like philosophy? I would love to see that in school because it has so much to offer.

And thanks for the encouragement Breif.


I think it would be easy to interpret many of my comments as rascist but I hope everybody keeps in mind that in my opinion there is no such thing as rascism.(all races are the same too me). But I do understand that different cultures promote different behaviors/values and that in turn affects all involved.

Yes i thoroughly enjoy philosophy and am taking it along with political science next year at U of T, but my high school does offer a philosophy course, although from what ive heard all you do is study the philosophy and dont really get into it that much. I actually had planned to take the course but someone in the school board thought it would be funny to give me writers craft instead.