My point is that all global educational studies place the U.S. near the bottom in scientific knowledge already. Given that your public school system is already of third world quality, will it really matter that much if fundamentalists get their way?
119513
Even if it doesn´t matter, form an ethics standpoint, to teach something that only covers a partial aspect of what consensus believe to be reality would be wrong. If we accepted something because the major part of the world does, knowing that it may be false knowledge, what would happen to progress?
180105
Yes i have lost faith in the American education system by reading some of these questions. When i went to school during the mid 70s Thur the 80s they taught you how to spell and proper grammar.I do not know how some of these young kids make it through college, because they must write reports with proper spelling and grammar. Sigh, they are going to be our future leaders.
344473
Hello,\n\nReading some of the comments below I can see our liberal government is doing the job they set out to do since the 1950's.\n\nFear is a wonderful motivator. \n\nAnd, the communistist who run our nation are and have always been Pro-Earth and Con-God (Creator of the Universe).\n\nIf you ever read even parts of the Communist Manifesto, you will learn how they are trained to program our children into not believing in God and "dumbing down the children in school". This is why liberals will soon, very soon, outlaw homeschooling. They will because the majority of homeschooled children are taught about God and why they are special in this world.\n\nSo, global warming is just another layer to be peeled from their onion of life.\n\nDoes this make sense to you?\n\nYou can read this article from AmericanDaily below:\n\nHope this helps you.............................................  :-(
165051
American society is very much a "black & white" society, very consumerist society.  People, as a rule, are discriminatory (not the same as prejudiced), they have a definite us vs. them streak.  There are myriad of institutions that reinforce this view, religion and patritotism, to name two.  In the us vs. them view, regardless of fact or opinion I am right and you are wrong.  The educational system in the United States further reinforces this by not making people think, just memorize.  I could go on and on, but I feel that I would end up ranting.  I hope this helps you.
320262
You have made some very valid points, most particularly re the system of education. Don't think that unaffordable education isn't becoming a problem in all countries though because it is. It's very sad that the Catholic run schools are not administering to and be made available to the poorer people of society. That was for so long their purpose and objective. To administer to the down trodden.. I guess even religion isn't above financial gain and corruption...and I'm a christian,so i think god would be saddened over that.
633679
The American education system works very well for the US but it lacks something many other countries have. And that is GENERAL KNOWLEDGE. Italian schools for example don't aim much at providing us with a specific school target (as it happens in the US) but the purpose is that of providing each student with the widest possible knowledge, although pointing at specific sectors at university. On top of that, many countries like India, China and Japan have old traditions in family education and lots of philosophy, while in the US superficiality rules. All this gives guys from those countries a higher capacity to look into problems, often with a multilateral approach, that Americans normally don't have. On top of that, Americans educated in the US normally have such a level of specialization that they end up by following only their professional field, rather than gaining a general, wider knowledge, which sooner or later comes useful also at work. This makes US people appear less intelligent than others, even if in actual fact the problem is not the IQ but rather the way they use the same amount of intelligence. Chinese, Japanese, Indians, see much more in depth than Americans, while Americans always go for Easier, Simpler, More Straighforward solutions, which are not always the best solutions. In a word, they are rarely able to work out solutions that are as complex and efficient as those that an Indian, Chinese or others would do. (See war in Iraq for example. It was tackled in such a naive way that the results are before the eyes of the whole world. And those plans were made by the people who are supposed to be the best US have on hand. Even if they did it only for Oil, the plan would still look tremendously naive).
7020
Yes. Nearly the entire world and all of the scientific community use the metric system. In order to foster the idea of globalism in the US we should unify our measurements.
428823
Without a doubt, the quality of education offered in American schools has plummeted in the last 25 years.  Parents from all walks of life, presented with failing grades by their undereducated children, reacted by forcing schools to lower their standards.  The result has been new generations of young people who, as adults, lack even fundamental knowledge of science, mathmatics, and linguistics.  It does not bode well for the future of science and technology, let alone education, in America.\n\nThe causes are manifold.  Parents, both working long hours, who are less and less involved in their children's lives.  High standards of living causing entertainment to be more valued than work.  Lack of role models.  The Internet.  Reality television.  Computer games.  Hollywood.  Consumerism.  Your evaluation is as good as mine.\n\nBush is not the product of such an average American household.  He's from a driven, ambitious, wealthy family, and an older generation, which valued knowledge, and whose collective work ethic still drives our economy. \n\nStill, you have a point.  He is more representative of the younger  generations coming into adulthood now, than he is of his own.  The political machine that put him into power was more responsible for his success than he was.  Once there, in the limelight, his shortcomings became glaringly obvious.  Was his re-election a result of his appeal to the younger crowd?  I doubt it.  They do not turn out in large numbers to vote.  Their poor education also fails to teach them about the importance of good government, and civic responsibility.\n\nI'm afraid Bush was elected, and re-elected, for reasons that have far more to do with American's fears and biases, than for his intellect or capabilites.  We, and too much of the rest of the world, will suffer the result for some time to come.
295670
Brain drain you say, see science and politics play hand and hand. My perspective is more optimistic, I do believe that our country has shown signs of distractions, but none of which I believe affects our education, no. See the world around us is at an intense war minded nature, we as Americans are setting certain things aside to be aware of the natures. If a country such as this, isn't fully aware of it's surroundings states a potential mishap may occur. \n\nBrain drain, no, i think more of a brain strain, it's not easy staying afloat politically as an international giant and continue to remember to find times for new discovery's.\n\nSocial Science seems to be our biggest impacts in these streets. More focus's in our neighborhoods are surely clearing the obscenities we still continue to face daily (Crooked politicians, Narrow visioned law enforcement, and bendable court regulation, etc... ) We have to be more alert, no doubt. keeping us more sharp to that of our future.
492778
In Europe we get to learn science in school. :) Even European Christians don't have a problem with that, they are open to knowledge from more sources than the Bible, but then again they are not fundamentalists like so many American Christians.
333271
Do you mean who would reap the benefits more. Of course the USA. Competition: If you don't have a college education you don't go far in this country. I don't see that as being a bad thing, more like a motivator. Geez! Don't yell. You should have said that in the first place. Politically USA more on Mexico.
21593
Well, in the grand scheme of history, we've barely batted an eyelid since Dr. King's time.  However, pointing out one statistic to prove your point is statistically flawed and border-line misleading.  Many more blacks are addending university and obtaining graduate degrees, starting businesses, earning comparable wages (to whites), voting and otherwise become active citizens than they were in the 1960's.  Further still, this particular problem is the result of many black families not having a strong lineage of educated, successful family members to build supportive communities.  Had the black college attendence rate been in 1966 what it is in 2006, then we would be talking about a very different story.  Give it time.  Why are Americans so impatient ;)
462593
That is tough and also very specific to each region and society.  Some societies are very different from others regarding education.  Also, the level of education makes a difference.  My family could not afford a modern computer.  As a consequence I could not do some homework at home.  I was allowed to come to school a few hours early and use the school computers.  I did "OK".  Poverty only starts to influence education at higher levels.  The higher the level of education sought, the greater the cost.  Someone pays whether you or someone else.\nRace by itself does not influence education.  Culture does so more than race.  Racism is related to culture.  In some cases you are considering the child's response to racism much more than the child's race is considered.\nGender is up for grabs debate-wise.  We simply don't know enough to say with certainty how gender influences learning.  There are hints, but only hints.  The other problem is that averaging students in such a way puts increased burdens or difficulties on the boys or girls who do not fit the mold or who are not average.  Their learning would be hindered.\nParents involvement is important.  They influence the child's attitudes toward school as well as the child's behavior.\nTeachers methods are important.  They are always learning how children learn.  They change from year to year with understanding and also with using technology in teaching.  It is know that it is critical.  It is not know exactly how.\nThere are simply too many variables to nail down an answer.  I have talked with teachers.  They tell me that the same problem has to be addressed completely differently with different regions.  The inner city children of New York have a vocabulary and sense of English that is almost completely different from rural OK.  You cannot teach them the same because their understanding and environment are so different.  In OK cows are seen everyday.  In New York City they are in a zoo.  In some places the food was seen alive only hours before it is eaten.  It makes a difference.  Again, that is just the tip of the ice burg.
195863
I don't mean to depress you even more, but it isn't just Science and math.  Go check your school district's scores and whether they met their AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) according to Pres. Bush's No Child Left Behind Act.  (You can generally do this on your state/district website).  American children are lagging behind in virtually all subjects. \n\nI am a teacher in a low-income urban school.  The majority of my students recieve free lunch, free transportation to school, with many of their parents are on welfare.  My students may not come to school with pens or paper, but their outfits look great and they all have cell phones or two-ways.  \n\nStatistics have shown that children who come from these areas come to school much less prepared then their middle and upper class counterparts.  Imagine a 6 year old coming to school with little prior communication with others, a 600 word vocabulary - compared to a child who went to nursery school, preschool, whose parents teach and talk to them, with a 6000 word vocabulary.  The class disconnect and general deterioration of our society has caused these issues. \n\nNo one can agree on how to fix them, which only delays improvement.  Then we can't find good moral people who teach well.  \n\nWe don't value education in American society.  We want material items and we want them immediately.  A book doesn't blink, play the latest Mp3 or text message you back.  Kids cannot start off with that type of stimulation and be taught to love a good quiet book, then discuss it intellectually. \n\nblah, blah blah... No Child Left Behind takes a stab at these issues - but in the wrong way (much like most of what Bush does).  If you haven't read it.. please do.  If you don't know what AYP or the new standards are - then become familiar with them.  Anyone in America who will be affected by the product of our schools should be outraged at what our kids cannot do!
661645
Japan has a very high suicide rate and a low birth rate (yahoo news had a article today on it mainly job stresses). When comparing education by country you have to take into account who they test. In most of Europe and Japan, students at an early age 11 or so are weeded into tracks that flush them into trade or academics tracks. In America, we have tracking but not to this extent, so when we measure high school students around the world, america always looks bad because we test a lot more numbers of students. We measuring their best to our best, average, and below. \n    As for global warming, I think more research is needed before anything concrete can be done. Most of the time, they say that scientis back global warming theory, but in reality many of these scientist are not expert or even climotologist. It's like having cancer and instead of asking an oncologist you get a pychiartirst.  I'm more for reducing emissions that hurt the ozone, which to me is more important than global warming (i.e. reducing freon use and benzine). Another thing is scarcity (people have unlimited wants, but the world has limited quanity). There will never be a time where people can have all their wants met.
307458
Sadly, we are already losing it, if we haven't lost it completely.  The present American political leadership is not willing to spend any serious money on education, preferring to squander it on prisons, wars, and the futile pursuit of the War On (some) Drugs.  Local governments without rich tax bases cannot make up the shortfalls, even if they don't have spending caps imposed by ignorant legislators.
545257
It's our school system's fault...we are required one year of American History and one year of World History...but all we learn about in World is maps and Wars. Most of us have not traveled because it's too expensive...everything here is too expensive! I haven't moved more than 50 miles from my birthplace, nor have most of the people I know. Family traditions I suppose.