America Going Stupid

One of today's headlines read: "Few US students show proficiency in science, federal tests show"

On the most recent nationwide science test in the United States, about a third of fourth-graders (aged 9 to 10) and a fifth of high school seniors (aged 16 to 18) scored at or above the proficiency level, according to results released on Tuesday. Only one or two students out of every 100 displayed the level of mastery that the federal panel governing the tests defines as advanced, the government said.

This is depressing and shameful, America. It's very sad. Once upon a time this country was at the top in invention and innovation in the sciences and physics. Once upon a time it was proud to be the home to some of the greatest minds on this planet. Will that be the case in 10 or 20 years? Not at this rate.

Where are we going wrong? Is it the parents? The teachers? The kids? One could argue that a child starts with a blank slate. What it learns, it learns from its' environment. Any rules and responsibilities it learns, it learns from its' parents and other authority figures. Why are these kids not learning? Schools have become the social network where they get to display their $200.00 sneakers, short skirts, the latest technology in phones, ipods and the like. They're not interested in learning, they're there to socialize. What's worse is that they come home, and parents don't take an interest in what it is their kids are learning. They don't check up on them to make sure they did their homework or prepared for the next exam. They let them go out, stay out late, sit at the computer or watch TV all night. They watch shows like Glee, Skins, Pretty Little Liars, The O.C., 90210,... and what do these shows have in common? They focus on fashion, popularity, wealth, sex, deceit, drug use, eating disorders and breaking the law.

I'm not one of those people who would deny others their guilty pleasures, but it's clear to me that if a young teenager is allowed to watch a lot of TV and they watch these shows religiously, they become influenced by these characters on TV. Usually I wouldn't give TV this much credit, and in truth I don't blame TV for the downfall of our society, but I will say that teenagers are extremely impressionable (despite their protests). If parents allow them to watch these shows, these kids will try to model their lives after fictional characters who make it seem as though getting drunk, having under-aged sex and living life as if they had all the money in the world is completely acceptable in today's day and age. The more of these shows present teenagers doing adult things, the more teenagers start to believe that they should have the freedom to do all these things. These shows make it seem normal, and that is NOT O.K.

America, I have a solution for you. Take the TV out of your kid's room. Let them watch TV in the living room for a couple of hours a day at the most, and do so only after they finished their homework. Ask to see what they learned in school that day and go over their homework with them. It shouldn't take more than an hour. Let them know how important school is, and make it clear to them what you expect of them. Stick to your guns. No homework and bad grades = no TV, no phone, and no internet access. Good grades = reasonable rewards. Unfortunately at this age a good grade is not enough of a reward, because they still don't understand why doing well in school is so important. They have to be motivated for other reasons as well. You'll have to come up with a reasonable motivation. Stop being their friend and start being their parent. They have plenty of friends, but only two parents (if they're lucky).

America, we have plenty of gardeners, factory workers, plumbers, house painters, fruit pickers, janitors, paper pushers, clerks, and - insert profession with minimal need for education - We don't have enough scientists, physicists, engineers, biologists, so on and so forth. We need more of these so that we can not only stay ahead of the world, but keep coming up with new ideas that will create new jobs, make us more efficient, help us live better and keep us producing. We do not want to be dependent on other countries for these new technologies, or we'll be in trouble. We need some ingenuity, and we're not going to get it unless we whip these kids into shape. Do we really want to head in the direction of "Idiocracy"? Come on, America. Put the brains of these kids to work! Make them use it for something other than creating a matching wardrobe!

Stop accusing kids with ADD and forcing some crazy prescription drugs for profit, stop fluoriding the water, rewrite the rules and definition of "child abuse" because many kids abuse these rights to get back at parents, kids need to be spanked at young ages to learn how to respect the elders, let the kids play outside, interact with other kids and away from mainstream crap such as disney channel, MTV etc, kids are kids they are fresh and eager to learn let the nature handle the rest, just dont interfere with them with the unnecessary corruption of young minds stated above! Oh yea and switch from TV nanny to Yourself nanny

Originally posted by ruffagii
Stop accusing kids with ADD and forcing some crazy prescription drugs for profit, stop fluoriding the water, rewrite the rules and definition of "child abuse" because many kids abuse these rights to get back at parents, kids need to be spanked at young ages to learn how to respect the elders, let the kids play outside, interact with other kids and away from mainstream crap such as disney channel, MTV etc, kids are kids they are fresh and eager to learn let the nature handle the rest, just dont interfere with them with the unnecessary corruption of young minds stated above! Oh yea and switch from TV nanny to Yourself nanny

What he said.

Except I'm still not convinced on the flouride thing.

reply to post by 2manyquestions


Everyone can't be a scientist nor do they want to be one. I used to want to be one but now that I know all of the bs involved in being one and all of the hoops that I'd have to go through, I say to hell with it. I'll let others do all of that stuff. I'm going to enjoy life, not try to pick apart it's mechanics. Oh yea, I forgot to mention that most public schools deprive children of true creativity and force them to set of standardized conformity. Learning doesn't have to take place at a school. A degree is just a piece of paper showing how long you've sat in class wishing you could explore the world and live life.

Stupid like this?

Originally posted by DragonTattooz

What he said.

Except I'm still not convinced on the flouride thing.

This will convince you on the fluoride thing.

Obama says the USA is 9th in the world. They are not; try 14th:

www.guardian.co.uk...

too many ignorant children having ignorant children. values are out the door in most of america.

It is sad to read things like this, and I am afraid to say that it is not just the US. I have noticed this trend in the UK. Look at what we were able to achieve in the 50s and 60s. Our engineers were so inovative, especially in the aerospace sector. It seems as if the governments are deliberately trying to dumb things down.

Why?

reply to post by TheLoneArcher


Of course they are, it's the fluoride thing. Look at the above video.

Originally posted by JayTee
reply to post by 2manyquestions

 

Everyone can't be a scientist nor do they want to be one. I used to want to be one but now that I know all of the bs involved in being one and all of the hoops that I'd have to go through, I say to hell with it. I'll let others do all of that stuff. I'm going to enjoy life, not try to pick apart it's mechanics. Oh yea, I forgot to mention that most public schools deprive children of true creativity and force them to set of standardized conformity. Learning doesn't have to take place at a school. A degree is just a piece of paper showing how long you've sat in class wishing you could explore the world and live life.

I wouldn't expect everyone to want to become a scientist. I didn't want to be a doctor or scientist when I was young (unless archeology counts as legit science), but the fact is that more kids would be interested in science if they were introduced to it the proper way. Even though I wasn't interested in making science my career, I still studied it and I still had to pass exams in order to pass my classes and graduate. I did find many of the things very interesting, but it just wasn't a career path for me. Some kids would argue they don't need to study math or English, but the fact is that whether or not they like it, they must be exposed to it, otherwise they may miss an opportunity to discover something new not just about the world around them, but also about themselves. There are classes I took in College that I initially had no interest in, but I found myself very interested once I was forced to take them. Kids are too young to understand or know what's good for them, and it is our job to expose them to as many opportunities as possible. That would include creative studies such as art and music, of course. All subjects should be valued equally, because we need people of all disciplines in this country.

Some degrees from some schools may not mean much, but diplomas from schools with integrity and high expectations from their students mean a whole lot. Not just anyone can make it into Harvard or Juilliard. These are not $200.00 diplomas obtained online or in a three month course. These are pieces of paper that reflect the amount of work a student has put into his/her studies. I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss a piece of paper. While a piece of paper may not be a complete reflection of intelligence, it does (at the least) reflect hard work and expertise in a certain field of study. Generally people who want to obtain diplomas do so, because they enjoy studying a certain field of interest.

My co-worker does not let his kids watch TV, only once in a while, and they are really smart and respectful, but when he lets his kids watch TV they start to talk back at him, i think this is the perfect example of how our media is influencing our kids.

Originally posted by EssenSieMich
Stupid like this?

Oh dear. He visited 57 states, and he had two more to go. I didn't know we had 59 states in the U.S. You learn something new every day.

reply to post by 2manyquestions


Not just American kids.

Children in western countries have been dumbed down by obvious means - it makes me question the intelligence of adults, not kids.

They have everything fed to them so naturally they stop being creative, and their brains become lazy.

It is not good for kids to have every new electronic thing.

What creates intelligent, great kids is having to think for themselves, not being brainwashed, not being doped, and not being wrapped in cottonwool, all of which we are doing to our kids.

No wonder countries like China are taking over. And Asian kids have long been the top brains worldwide - because it is expected of them. When you expect nothing of young people that is what you get - nothing.

This is nothing new, and it's not just America.

If you think humans in the past were "smarter", you are a perfect example of the thread, imho.

If you think humans in other geographic locations are somehow smarter, you are a perfect example of the thread, imho.

This is a problem that has always affected the human race since day 1.

The truth is that humans are better educated on average today than ever before in history, world wide.

Take a look through a History book. There are only a few examples of intelligent people per each era.

In today's world, there are countless examples of intelligent people which far outnumber that of the past. America included.

This is just an example of focusing on the negative, blowing it out of proportion while ignoring historical evidence, and exaggerating it. It's sensationalized and not exactly accurate at all.

reply to post by muzzleflash


agree full on, however if we slowed the rate at which our population grew we could probably spread and evolve our education system into something more suitable.

reply to post by catwhoknowsplusone


Agreed. We expect so little from them. We treat them like adults and we give them adult freedoms. Most of them couldn't make the correct decision if their life depended on it, yet some parents expect them to be responsible for themselves before they have the capacity to do so. It's time parents became parents. Unfortunately I've had the displeasure of meeting "parents" who were too immature to act responsibly, let alone raise a child. I've heard of mothers giving up their children because they were not yet ready to stop partying. Their kid was getting in the way of their social life!!! Our society is becoming too "Free". We've come to accept too many things as the norm, and media figures have normalized a life style that 40 years ago society would have shamed them for. I don't support repression, but I also don't support lack of responsibility for one's actions. If you make the decision to have sex and to give birth to a child, you must take responsibility, and for the sake of the child and our society you must do everything in your power to raise that child as responsibly as possible. That's just not happening these days.

advice to kids, dont enroll to vote, dont take part in the system. escape it, go back to trial and error FOR YOURSELF
not trial and error told to u by teachers and all those people.
listen to yourself
the system we are in now, is finished, none of it is good for you. pick up something that cant influence u, that u can influence it. play music. dont get a job, dont get money, get food, get warm, get happy.
nothing in our system can make u happy, it all disappears after a while and then ur back working for it all over again and in the end u will despise yourself. happiness is a drug, the more u gota work for it the less happy you will ultimately be.if you are working for it in this system

Where are we going wrong? Is it the parents? The teachers? The kids? One could argue that a child starts with a blank slate. What it learns, it learns from its' environment. Any rules and responsibilities it learns, it learns from its' parents and other authority figures. Why are these kids not learning? Schools have become the social network where they get to display their $200.00 sneakers, short skirts, the latest technology in phones, ipods and the like. They're not interested in learning, they're there to socialize. What's worse is that they come home, and parents don't take an interest in what it is their kids are learning. They don't check up on them to make sure they did their homework or prepared for the next exam. They let them go out, stay out late, sit at the computer or watch TV all night. They watch shows like Glee, Skins, Pretty Little Liars, The O.C., 90210,... and what do these shows have in common? They focus on fashion, popularity, wealth, sex, deceit, drug use, eating disorders and breaking the law.

They lack critical thinking.
Its all the parents fault, they expect the government and schools to raise their children. What they don't realize as that they aren't raising their children so what you get is a bunch of motherless idiots drowning in their own delusions. They don't even notice the massive throbbing cock of Uncle Sam raping them because they are asleep and refuse to wake up.

Originally posted by muzzleflash
This is nothing new, and it's not just America.

If you think humans in the past were "smarter", you are a perfect example of the thread, imho.

That depends on how you define "smart".

If you think humans in other geographic locations are somehow smarter, you are a perfect example of the thread, imho.

Again, this depends on how you define "smart". If we're talking about proficiency in science and mathematics, then unfortunately the U.S. is behind many countries in the world in that department.

This is a problem that has always affected the human race since day 1.

The truth is that humans are better educated on average today than ever before in history, world wide.

We know more about our world today than people knew about it even 20 years ago, but all of our education is based on the inventions and discoveries of people going as far as a thousand years. All we're doing is building our knowledge on the base of other peoples' knowledge throughout history. If it wasn't for those people, we wouldn't be living in the type of society we have today. Thanks to the educated people of the past who had to discover new things on their own, we now live in luxury, able to afford the time to send our kids to school. If it wasn't for them, we would still have to hunt our own food, live in caves or wooden shacks with no electricity, no running water, no flushing toilets, no cars, no cell phones, no computers, so on and so forth. Yes, more of us are educated these days compared to the past, but that education came at the expense of those who dedicated their lives to science, discovery and experimentation.

Take a look through a History book. There are only a few examples of intelligent people per each era.

In today's world, there are countless examples of intelligent people which far outnumber that of the past. America included.

The only reason there seem to be fewer examples of intelligent people in history, is because most of the population did not have the luxury to step away from their fields and livestock, and dedicate half their lives to education. Only the wealthy were able to afford proper schooling, because they had a few more luxuries that the poor did not. It's not that more intelligent people did not exist, it's that they never had a chance to delve into a subject they might have excelled in.
Aside from that, today we have TV, radio, the internet and phones which allow us to communicate with each other at unprecedented speeds. That means we're going to hear about more exceptional people from all parts of the world, whereas in the past countries had only one way to communicate with each other, and that was either via the horse and carriage, or a messenger pigeon.

This is just an example of focusing on the negative, blowing it out of proportion while ignoring historical evidence, and exaggerating it. It's sensationalized and not exactly accurate at all.

edit on 27-1-2011 by muzzleflash because: (no reason given)

No, it's not an example of focusing on the negative. It's called a REALITY CHECK, and news like this should not be swept under the carpet. As someone who has attended school in three different countries, I can tell you that American schools (particularly at the High-School level) are some of the worst schools in the world. Discipline of students is almost non-existent. Kids are ignorant, and if you ask them basic questions in any subject, chances are they're not going to be able to give you the correct answer. Try it yourself. I'd like to see this country excel. If you're O.K. with the state it's in, then by all means continue to ignore the problem.