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Education in America

PRB

PRB

Administrator
Staff member
So I'm minding my own business at work today when my co-worker, we'll call him “Albert”, who had been surfing the InterWeb out there, asks me a question. The conversation went like this:

Albert: “Paul...”
Paul: “Yes.”
Albert: “Does France have cities?”
Paul: “... What?”
Albert: “Does France have cities?”
Paul: “What do you mean, 'does France have cities?'”
Albert: “Well, France is a country, right?”
Paul: “[long pause, caused by confusion] … yes ... France is a country (??) … [waiting for the punch line now]”
Albert: “Well, do they have cities?”
Paul: “Well what about Paris? [starting to realize this is not a drill, err, I mean not a joke]”
Albert: “Oh, yeah...”
Paul: “No, they don't have cities in France. They all live in the woods out there.”

[… two minutes pass, more web surfing ...]

Albert: “They have another city called Brest, heh heh heh”

Now “Albert” is my age, and is employed as a web developer. I have no idea what he was looking at when on the web that started this conversation. After about 30 minutes I asked him if he was serious or was that some kind of odd sense of humor. He assured me again that it was serious question, and seemed confused that I would ask such a question.

Wow.
 
So, what a second! You're telling me that denial is NOT da river in Egypt? :isadizzy:

I is proud of my Kalifornia education! :costum:
 
Meshman said:
So, what a second! You're telling me that denial is NOT da river in Egypt? :isadizzy:

I is proud of my Kalifornia education! :costum:
Click to expand...

So what does that mean on the money jar "Tipping is not a city in China" ???

yep, some people out there can be edumacated, but have no other smarts, LOL.:isadizzy:
 
At one point in the middle of this conversation, when I was still confused, he attempted to explain, saying, and I quote: "Well, I just never hear anyone say, like, 'Belgium, France', for example..." By this I took he meant that he had heard people say, like, "St. Louis, Missouri", and that he understood that the one was a city "in" the other. My reaction was, again, one of shocked disbelief. I stammered "Well first of all, Belgium is a..., Belgium is not a city in..." and I gave up, saying simply, "yes, France has many cities, Paris, for example..." True story, I swear! :icon_lol: :icon_lol:
 
There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life.
Frank Zappa
 
Ummmm, was this guy educated at Harvard or Columbia by chance??? Strikes me kind of like hearing a President say that Jacksonville, Savannah, and Charleston were located on the Gulf Coast..... Sigh.......:pop4:
 
alexf said:
There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life.
Frank Zappa
Click to expand...

There was a CNN clip on youtube awhile back. They interviewed a handful of people, asking them simple questions like; "Name a country that starts with the letter 'U'". You would be surprised how difficult that was for most people. This was not targeted at any one demographic as these questions were asked to folks from all genders/ethnic/age groups, and they were all equally ignorant.

The saddest part is that this day and age with information instantly at our fingertips that people have no excuse. We certainly have better access to information than we did when we had to buy an encyclopedia set or 'gasp' travel to the library and check out a book:icon_eek: I used to remember where the aviation section was in the Dewey Decimal system lol...think it was in the 620s or something.

I certainly don't claim to be a MENSA member LOL but I do enjoy having Google, Wiki, watching youtube documentaries, and conversing with you great folks. All these great resources at my fingertips...for FREE. I mean what better way to learn about a culture or country these days. With these forums, facebook, twitter..etc populated by many members from all over the world. You can simply ask someone from one of those places of interest and get a first hand account :)

I really want to visit New Zealand sometime, before I ever go, I will be sure to get some tips and suggestions from our fine Kiwi friends here. :salute::icon29:

Cheers
TJ
 
When I was in my early twenties one of my coworkers (same age as me) was convinced there was a world below us.

He reasoned this was the case because why else would the sun go down every night...

Another coworker and I were in shock that he would think that but he was serious.
 
Geographic Buffoonery

Uh ooh... Where's Dora the Explorer when you need her?

Seriously though, I recall seeing a survey canvasing US high school students about geography. Most couldn't point to Canada on the map. I'm not sure where this took place (inner city perhaps?) as I don't think that's the case with any of our friend's children and certainly not with our own kids here in the Puget Sound area.

Like Rami, my wife is a career teacher and one of my hunting buddies is a retired elementary school principal. I know that the vast majority of teachers pour their life's blood into the job and their young charges, yet somehow we end up with guys wondering if there are cities in France. Amazing.
 
Reply...

Hey guys,

Do you know where I learned a lot about geography? Aside from looking at maps, I played a lot of the Oregon Trail game on the old Apple IIc system, as well as playing Where in the USA / Europe / World is Carmen Sandiego.

It's a shame educational games like this aren't popular anymore. It was a fun way to know where places are.
 
Sad...but, not uncommon.

We have systematically allowed our educational system to be dumbed down,
Instead of working to raise the average quality of the education, we have lowered the basic requirements, and made our testing/qualification standards lower, simply to raise scores.

Anybody remember "California Basics" tests in grade school?
A teacher friend recently told me that the '60s California Basics passing criteria, for a 6th grade student, is more rigid than what it takes to graduate today.

That's probably why the US is ranked 18th of the 36 Industrialized Nations in secondary education. It's also reflected in our general education:
The three-yearly OECD{Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development} Programme for International Student Assessment(PISA) report, which compares the knowledge and skills of 15-year-olds in 70 countries around the world, ranked the United States 14th out of 34 OECD countries for reading skills, 17th for science and a below-average 25th for mathematics.
Click to expand...
My Emphasis.

I remember us being the cream of the crop. Sad...Don
 
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