Well, this explains a lot...

[Ace-Garageguy]

A Quarter of Americans Think the Sun Orbits the Earth ... Sigh

http://www.livescience.com/43593-americans-ignorant-about-science.html

[Rob Hall]

Oh well..the movie 'Idiocracy' is more prescient than ever... 

[Joe Handley]

That's not a shock.

[Monty]

Facts are just "microaggressions" that detract from how we feel the universe should behave.  

[Harry P.]

Actually, given the overall stupidity of Americans, I would have expected that number to be higher...

[Harry P.]

In case you don't think Americans are dense... remember the "Jaywalking" segment of the Tonight Show where Jay Leno asked random people on the street basic questions? I don't know if the people who made it on the air in those segments were really randomly picked out or not, but they were spectacularly stupid. They couldn't ID a photo of Winston Churchill or Margaret Thatcher or George Bush, they had no idea who we were fighting during the Revolution, they didn't know who won the Civil War or when it was fought... or why... and on and on.

[cobraman]

That is sad, just plain sad.

[Ace-Garageguy]

And they're pretty bad at math, too.

Why Do Americans Stink at Math?

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/27/magazine/why-do-americans-stink-at-math.html?_r=0

"As a nation, we suffer from an ailment that John Allen Paulos, a Temple University math professor and an author, calls innumeracy — the mathematical equivalent of not being able to read. On national tests, nearly two-thirds of fourth graders and eighth graders are not proficient in math. More than half of fourth graders taking the 2013 National Assessment of Educational Progress could not accurately read the temperature on a neatly drawn thermometer. (They did not understand that each hash mark represented two degrees rather than one, leading many students to mistake 46 degrees for 43 degrees.) "

My big question...JUST EXACTLY WHAT ARE SCHOOLS DOING?? Are they nothing now but free daycare?

Edited December 30, 2015 by Ace-Garageguy

[Ace-Garageguy]

Do the Math: Difficulty understanding fractions can add up to a whole lot of trouble

---

 

"The implications are serious. According to last year's report of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel appointed by the president, difficulty with fractions is impeding America's overall progress in math, which, in turn, raises national security concerns and questions about the country's economic vitality.

There are personal repercussions, too. Knowledge of fractions is needed to cook, measure for home-improvement projects, calculate sales prices, understand taxes and earn a living in an increasingly technical work world.

Ever looming, too, is the possibility of having to apportion six cookies among four friends. (Each gets 1 1/2 cookies.)

Eric Rogalsky, a math coach who taught summer school with Mr. Warden at Pittsburgh Sunnyside K-8 in Stanton Heights, said he tells students about fractions:

"You're going to use this stuff for the rest of your life." "

http://www.post-gazette.com/news/nation/2009/08/31/Back-to-School-Do-the-Math-Difficulty-understanding-fractions-can-add-up-to-a-whole-lot-of-trouble/stories/200908310173

[10thumbs]

Guys, this is not only an American issue.  European kids have become really dumb too.  Often TV shows just asking kids on the street simple questions.  The answers are just plain dumb.

Like, they don't even know where WW2 took place.  Thatcher, Hitler, Churchill, Kennedy, Martin Luther King.  The kids have no future.  So what does ours like like then?

[Roadrunner]

W can at least content ourselves in the knowledge that 25% of the hundreds of millions of dollars of lottery proceeds go to education.

[Danno]

Try 'Watters' World.'  Today's 'Jaywalking' and, yes, those people are really that stupid.  It is more than scary.  

And, as a result of my career field of endeavor, I can attest.  Yep.  There's lots, and lots, and lots of those peeps toting their own signs.   

 

 

And, many of them vote.  

[Ken Gilkeson]

Try thanking a generation that seems to be in power everywhere, aka babyboomers. They seem to all be suffering from peter pans disease. Not to fear though, they only bred like rabbits. More to come - stay tuned. :-((

[Matt Bacon]

There's no excuse for not being able to do basic maths.

But let's not forget that in terms of history, for today's early teens, Churchill, Stalin and Hitler are as remote as Woodrow Wilson, Lord Balfour and Friedrich Ebert were when we were learning it. OK, so maybe WW2 was a bigger deal in world history terms than the League of Nations (;-)), but even so it's easy to forget how long ago things that seemed a big deal at the time happened. Kennedy and Martin Luther King are 55-60 years ago now: what do you take note of that happened 40 years before you were born? What counts as a "simple" question really depends on who you're asking it to. Today's European kids have a rather better grasp of the science and facts about global warming than the adults, for example...

To be honest, I'd rather that kids today knew about Reagan, Gorbachev and the end of the cold war than Hitler and Stalin (if I had to make a choice).

But most of all, I'd like them to know that the answer to any question about "why does .... happen in the world today?" is always " well, it's a bit more complicated than that..."

I sit on this side of the pond and despair that Trump has any kind of traction, and that he's not the satirical joke that he appears to the rest of the world. Thing is, I don't thank that's down to the "kids today", that's the adults...

bestest,

M.

[fog cutter]

i imagine, on whatever form of social network they participate, there's speculation about those odd old men who play with little plastic model kits.

[Ace-Garageguy]

I didn't post these disturbing articles and observations to bash any particular group or generation.

To blame the kids for not being able to understand fractions would be only slightly more off-point than making a blanket statement that the "baby boomers" are responsible. 

The "new math" was already making its appearance in schools when I was a kid...and I'm a baby boomer..so it wasn't MY generation that started this idiocy. All it did was to take kids that were already pretty confused by math in general and make them hopelessly lost.

I personally know "professionals" in a multitude of age brackets and occupations who are all but functionally illiterate and think that 1/8 is smaller than 1/25.

These WIDESPREAD learning and comprehension problems should be of concern to kids, parents, and anyone who gives a rat's rear about humanity...and anyone who might like to have a decent-paying job now or in the future.

And speaking of reading comprehension and literacy...

"Schools and teachers may indeed be making a Herculean effort to raise reading scores, but these efforts do little to improve reading achievement and to prepare children for college, a career, and a lifetime of productive, engaged citizenship. This wasted effort is not because our teachers are lazy or of low quality. Rather, too many of our schools labor under fundamental misconceptions about reading comprehension -- how it works, how to improve it, and how to test it."

Article here...       http://prospect.org/article/theres-no-such-thing-reading-test

 

 

Edited December 30, 2015 by Ace-Garageguy

[Ace-Garageguy]

...OK, so maybe WW2 was a bigger deal in world history terms than the League of Nations

To be honest, I'd rather that kids today knew about Reagan, Gorbachev and the end of the cold war than Hitler and Stalin (if I had to make a choice).

Understanding today's world and recent events requires a certain amount of historical perspective to really make any sense of it. WW II was the biggest "deal" humanity has lived through to date, and the lessons that can be learned about an entire country's population following a mustachioed power-mad idiot into national destruction (in the quest for world-domination), political and religious intolerance, and the REASONS the conflict didn't end in a global conflagration and totalitarian rule need to be grasped...by everyone.

Without that context, the cold war, Reagan and Gorbachev are just boring. useless footnotes.

You're absolutely correct, Matt..."But most of all, I'd like them to know that the answer to any question about "why does .... happen in the world today?" is always " well, it's a bit more complicated than that..."

It's rather a shame, in my humble opinion, that FACTS are stressed so much in education, rather than using facts to teach and illustrate IDEAS and the power to use them to actually THINK.

Edited December 30, 2015 by Ace-Garageguy

[Joe Handley]

There's no excuse for not being able to do basic maths.

But let's not forget that in terms of history, for today's early teens, Churchill, Stalin and Hitler are as remote as Woodrow Wilson, Lord Balfour and Friedrich Ebert were when we were learning it. OK, so maybe WW2 was a bigger deal in world history terms than the League of Nations (;-)), but even so it's easy to forget how long ago things that seemed a big deal at the time happened. Kennedy and Martin Luther King are 55-60 years ago now: what do you take note of that happened 40 years before you were born? What counts as a "simple" question really depends on who you're asking it to. Today's European kids have a rather better grasp of the science and facts about global warming than the adults, for example...

To be honest, I'd rather that kids today knew about Reagan, Gorbachev and the end of the cold war than Hitler and Stalin (if I had to make a choice).

But most of all, I'd like them to know that the answer to any question about "why does .... happen in the world today?" is always " well, it's a bit more complicated than that..."

I sit on this side of the pond and despair that Trump has any kind of traction, and that he's not the satirical joke that he appears to the rest of the world. Thing is, I don't thank that's down to the "kids today", that's the adults...

bestest,

M.

Learning about Reagan and Gorbachev are good ideas for those of us that didn't live it, but also learning about WW2 and for the most part WW1 would still be a good idea in the who "Those who forget about the past are doomed to repeat it." sort of way.  I do agree with Trump, that he hasn't been laughed out of the race is frightening at best and that are that many adults are all for him...............wonder how many also are subject to the first post too,

[Snake45]

 I do agree with Trump, that he hasn't been laughed out of the race is frightening at best and that are that many adults are all for him...............,

The same could be said about 3/4 of the candidates in the race, including all of them on the other side....

[Harry P.]

Let's steer clear of the political commentary... because if we go there, I got about 5 pages worth of political commentary I could lay on you guys... and believe me, Trump wouldn't even be close to the top of my list of "grievances"...

So let's just stay away from that potential can of worms.

[Harry P.]

Try 'Watters' World.'  Today's 'Jaywalking' and, yes, those people are really that stupid.  It is more than scary. 

I agree. "Watters' World" is the new "Jaywalking." Same concept, same execution.. same incredibly stupid people.

[mikemodeler]

You have to remember that learning is different today in school. No more movies or film strips (makes me sound old), the teachers have smart boards and iPads or tablets for kids to learn on. Yes, there are still some textbooks but the kids of today are learning with different tools than most of us ever dreamed of! When I graduated high school in 1981, we had one PC in our business class and I would bet that most kids arrive at school today with smart phones that are thousands times better than that PC!

There has been so much effort to make things politically correct and "teach to the test" that many kids can't do simple math (making change at a register, figure a percentage for a tip) or know current events/leaders or ancient history!

And yes, I believe those people on "Watter's World" are real, all you have to do is look around when you are shopping and you will see them. Add in the fact that a lot of people would rather watch a show about some fictional "housewives" or supposedly famous family (Kartrashians) instead of news or documentaries, and it's no wonder the random person on the street can't identify world leaders.

[Harry P.]

Kartrashians.

I love it!

[Ace-Garageguy]

...There has been so much effort to make things politically correct and "teach to the test" that many kids can't do simple math (making change at a register, figure a percentage for a tip) or know current events/leaders or ancient history!

Which proves nothing so much as that the "experts" defining "education" policy today are idiots themselves...if these are the results of their "better ideas". 

Kids can't spell, can't write, can't make change, know little about science and history, have poor reading comprehension and short attention spans. Music and art are ignored, many kids are in poor physical condition and overweight, and have no manual skills.

Wow. Sure is better now, huh?

But this sorry state of affairs is INTENTIONAL.

Wake up, people.

Is this REALLY the world you WANT?

Edited December 31, 2015 by Ace-Garageguy

[blunc]

I blame it on the "No snowflake will be left behind" system currently in place.

This PC, namby-pamby system of pampering every child so their feelings don't get hurt does nothing to make them ready for everyday life let alone make them ready for a productive adult life that contributes meaningfully to local society. (dang that was a long sentence...and I really hated English class)

We have doomed ourselves, most of the older generation is having to raise their grand and great-grand children due to humans that procreate with no thought given to the path they have chosen and the burden it places on other "responsible" adults related to them and in some cases unrelated to them.

meh, I'm tired of ranting for a bit, on to the shiny stuff.