American's aren't stupid

[ZFR]

Wow! Looks like my time machine worked. I'm seeing videos from times long past...

Originally Posted by Bumbus It seems to me that the basic ideology the schools have is to teach a child not just things they will maybe use one day, but to teach them how to learn and retain knowledge.

Precisely. Well said.

Moreover, children would not know what they are interested in if they weren't taught a little of everything in primary school. Once they've tasted a bit of this and that they'll know what they really want to study later.

[Cadfael]

I just wonder... what would happen if they showed all of the interviews... and not just the funny ones.

Lets face it they could have stopped thousands of people, and 50 of them gave stupid answers.. and they are the ones that made prime time... the clever and concise answers went on the cutting room floor.

That could have been knee deep in them!

[Firestormalpha]

True, the vid wouldn't have had that impact if there were even 2 encounters where they knew the answers.

[Black Baron]

Originally Posted by SpiritWarrior But remember, most of these people don't have jobs that require these facts on a day to day basis. This is the issue I have with education in schools, too many general facts that will serve about 1-5% of your class in their lifetime if at all. A 5th grader knows it because he is constantly being tested on it, asked to revise it. His life is only about homework and teachers at that time. The only reason it's learned is because a teacher is directing him to learn it, and it will probably never come up again in any signifigant matter, trivia games aside.

Sherlock Holmes thought that he does not need to know whether sun revolves around the earth or vice versa (or it is a combination of these two).

He was wrong. That is called general education, which is as far as i see, severely lacking in USA (and in Israel too).

Where is Iran??

LOL!

[Firestormalpha]

Not that it's lacking in the US, more that most decide to forget after graduating. Many choosing to forget after graduating Elementary School.

[SpiritWarrior]

It's not just the US. Unless you have a job that utilizes all these subjects you are going to forget most of it as it falls into the background of your memory, and we think about our jobs or family or day-to-day things. Sherlock Holmes didn't have access to the internet btw. There is no excuse for being uneducated in this day and age, and if most americans don't know where Iran is (some don't know where America is) despite being told these locations in school, then we'd have to agree the system is broken and needs a major rework from every angle.