Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag.(show it anyway)

Hmmm, it is pretty alarming, but the "random" sample of kids at the end was just sensationalism. Wasn't Bill Gates a drop out? Steve Jobs? Although, I think they dropped out because they were tired of being stuffed in lockers.

Time Magazine reported last week that the dropout rate is 30%; the statistic is masked by schoolboards that essentially lie about the # of dropouts; auditors come in after the fact to correct the errors. Insane.

The video/interview isn't a coincidence - they were advertising the Oprah thing alongside the Time article. Bizarre synergy.

Oddly enough I wouldn't have known about the Time article unless I had visited the yesterday(!), where I saw the American edition of Time. Up in Canada we have a custom edition where articles are re-sorted. A "ten questions for Prince Phillip" was our cover story. The grades article didn't make it into our Canadian version, though.

And yeah, they can cherry pick kids, but it probably wasn't too tough to come up with the sample. Reminds me to post another video I saw recently... about Women's Suffrage. http://www.break.com/index/suffrage.html

Suddenly wish we could embed break.com videos.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag.(show it anyway)

That was a good link Krupo - windows media died on me half way through though on my Mac. Is it on GV or YouTube?

Is this video working at all?

Hmm, it doesn't appear to have been removed from you tube, but it's not working there either. I'm gonna leave it up for now, and hopefully whatever the issue is will work its self out. If it is still busted in an hour or so i'll kill it.

It works now. I think YouTube had issues.

Also, title forgot to say Indians.

Are they talking about dropping out of college or high school?

These arguments are pointless.
.01% of the population runs everything, everyone else is just a gear in the machine.

The women's suffrage vid I referenced above is up now, and this one deserves to be *promoted back to the front page, really.

Re-promoting this video to the front page as a VideoSift Classic. Originally published on Friday 21st April 2006 (promotion called by gold star member krupo)

Tags changed from "education american dumb" to "education, america, dumb, alarmist oprah" by gold star member Krupo.

is there something wrong with the coding on this sift? in seems to be indenting the comments to the right.. and on the main page, it's indenting all the other posts below it to the right.

this is an outrage. Not a day goes by at my job where I don't have to apply my knowledge of early presidential trivia. How do these people get by?

The lady with Gates asks, "How could that happen?" Here's how: parents stop caring about what's important. They care about a whole lot of other crap and don't pay attention to their kids.

All things being equal, their kids end up working for my kids.

There must be a ton of stuff that we all wouldn't know about our own countries. It can be embarrassing but unless you're being tested what's the point unless you have an interest? I bet I most kids here in England wouldn't know who the first Prime Minister was but I wouldn't judge them on that (and it's not Walpole )

And being able to remember stuff doesn't mean you can analyse or interpret that information in a useful or interesting way.

I don't know if American educational standards are in decline - I wouldn't be surprised if they are - but programmes like this put a simplistic and sensationalist spin on it.

I would focus on basic numeracy and literacy - those can always be improved.

oh goodness NO!!! this can't be happening in AMERICA!?!?!?! maybe if most americans would get their head out of their asses and realize that we aren't the greatest group of people on the face of this planet then an improvement might be seen.

just because a human happens to be born on a piece of land that just happens to be the richest piece out of 7 doesn't guarantee success, knowledge, or affluency.

i totally agree with you, silvercord. i feel most problems lie within parenting, especially at the early stages of life. once children enter the education system, most parents take a backseat and shift gears so they can coast for the next 12 years instead of working hand-in-hand with each and every one of their children's educators.

setting up proper study habits and homework time is really key. my husband and i go through every single piece of paper that comes home, we help review their homework for inaccuracies (which is not to be confused with telling them what they got wrong ... they have to figure that one out ), we attend parent-teacher meetings ... being active in every aspect of your child's life has such positive rewards.

There's an apple/oranges situation here. We funnel absolutely everyone through high school - most countries don't, opting to track lower-level students into vocational training.

I actually think that's probably a better system. But as it is, declaring a state of emergency because many American high school students are slow is like announcing that fine dining is dead because there are alot of McDonald's around.

Yea, this video was targeted towards worried moms at home watching Oprah as they're buying another recommended read from 'oprah's book club'.

It has no merit. Oprah is evil.

This is absurd.

Yes, American schools are terrible right now. With all the money flying around this country, there's really no excuse for them.

HOWEVER, comparing American students to Chinese students is ridiculous. Chinese schools focus on rote memorization of facts with no emphasis on analysis at all - if you asked any of those Chinese kids about the effects of Washington or Jefferson's policies on today's world, they'd give you a blank stare.

Not only that, but the fact that they have a grasp of spoken English at the level they seem to shows that these aren't average Chinese students. Most of them are taught to read and write, but when it comes to pronunciation and conversational ability they're probably about as good as you are at Chinese.

I think they should do a piece on how americans don't know the location of any other country other than the USA..

"There must be a ton of stuff that we all wouldn't know about our own countries. It can be embarrassing but unless you're being tested what's the point unless you have an interest? "

and

"this is an outrage. Not a day goes by at my job where I don't have to apply my knowledge of early presidential trivia. How do these people get by?"

are perhaps the two scariest comments I have seen in quite a while. I can only hope the first comment is a joke, and the second is somehow not being sarcastic.

What is the purpose of American children knowing some American history? Many reasons.

Let us begin with the purely utilitarian, for most Americans (and Westerners for that matter) are no longer able to conceive of education having any value beyond the economic, i.e go to college so you can get a good job. Any serious study of history and the humanities necessitates reading great, challenging books. Reading challenging texts hones the mind in a way most people do not contemplate. Most individuals assume we are naturally able to think and speak clearly, but then those same individuals try to give an argument for why they think that and reveal how muddled and unintelligible their thinking really is. Language is the medium through which we communicate our thoughts, and it is only through repeated exposure to the rigourously precise language that is in good writing that we are able to improve our faculty with language. As one's ability to read and think improve, so does one's ability to write and speak intelligently. A person who sounds intelligent when they speak is far more likely to be hired and promoted than someone who sounds stupid and confused.

We live, for a better or worse, in a democracy where the only requirement for the franchise is 18 years of age and a pulse. An individual who's mind has been honed through a liberal education, as described in the previous paragraph, is able to actually think about politics (rather than parrot back the talking head who said something they subjectively agree with) and act accordingly; such an individual is also much less vulnerable to propaganda. More than that however, the educated person will understand the culture, values and character of the society he lives in. Such a person will scoff at the fundamentalists who try to argue that "this country was founded on God" because she will know that the Constitution is an entirely secular document, the ideals of the Declaration of Independence are based on enlightenment and classical liberal philosophy (not Biblical ideals), and that many of the more prominent Founding Fathers were Deists. By having such a firm understanding of the political character of the US, this person will be far more likely to take their civic responsibilities seriously; in short she will be a better citizen. This is critical, because in a democracy the only bulwark against a demagogue is good citizenry.

Finally, a liberal education improves peoples lives in ways that cannot be measured purely in utilitarian terms: a liberally educated people have a strong sense of community and have a yearning to be the best, and most noble people. What links modern Americans together is no longer something high or lofty, rather it is cesspool of human expression known as popular culture. We are no longer linked by national values (most Americans would be hard pressed to articulate them) or a common Western intellectual heritage (how many Americans could ever be bothered to read some Homer, Virgil, Augustine, Dante, Shakespeare or Kant?) but instead by the TV shows we watch, the (crappy) music we listen to, and the (pathetic) lives of the celebrities we follow with religious devotion. Our national community is, unfortunately, intellectually bankrupt. A well educated people will have a national community and character that is composed of not the least common denominator but the very best mankind has to offer.

The American public seems to want education to be merely about practical skills that can get one a good job. Money is certainly important but it is only a means to an end, wealth is not in and of itself an indicator of a nations greatness. A rich society therefore is a society that only has the potential to do great thing. Unfortunately, American minds are being closed off to any and all examples of greatness. I suspect in another millenia, historians will look back at the US and say "Americans, they knew how to make a buck but not much else". Greece has never been a rich nation, but it's intellectual life during the classical age has left an immortal legacy. I don't believe America will ever have such a legacy.

Wow, this turned out to be a lot longer than I expected.

^ Thank you for that post

When did videosiftget overrun by the short sighted O_O

I am american, I went to school in texas, I am a HS and college grad. Growing up I would often hang out with my cousins who were studying in Mexico.When I was adding 2+2 they were multiplying it. When I was doing Algebra, they were already at advanced Calculus. I never suffered from lack of understanding of languages, I speak Spanish Engalish both fluently, and have a limited "tourist" vocabulary of German and French. While I know I am the exception, I also know that 90% of the HS grads in Mexico speak both English and Spanish.

Do americans need to learn other languages, I think not. Should they then at least be able to find Canada on a map? (I have actually had co-workers ask me Canadas location) Absolutly. Knowledge is power I say. Any one who is absurd enough to not want to learn something because "when will i need it" is an idiot. One should always strive to learn everything. I know idiotic things like "the bands with the nazi insignia on them during WW2 were call brassards" to "we are not 12 billion light years from the edge " And I am loving it.

@scottishmartialarts

Easy there fella. My point about not having to remember by rote was qualified by the understanding that being able to contextualise and interpret historical data is more important - which you chose not to quote....

The fact is if I choose to find about early American Presidents I can do so - the important bit is the discussion that follows afterwards.

Regarding the original video, it is awfully cheap and asinine of media folk to run these stories about educational standards. It is so easy to ask a bunch of kids or youngsters a question that elicits "shocking" answers. Why? There are gaps in everyone's knowledge because curriculums can't cover everything.

As I said before I am more concerned when children can't do basic sums. In England the average reading age is around nine years old. Nine. Not only are kids over here ignorant of "early presidential trivia" (nice one Sometimes) but I doubt they could spell Washington's name.

*dead

The link to this video has been flagged as dead. Fix it within 7 days or it will be discarded (dead called by gold star member silvercord)

Discarding this video. It was flagged as dead but not flagged undead within 7 days.