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I'm not American but Americans are often singled out for their ignorance - especially geography, history, current events.etc. At least from people I know, mostly online, I haven't found Americans any more or less ignorant than most nationalities. Honestly, there are plenty of ignorant people here in Australia.
Do you think there's any truth to the idea or is it anti-American propaganda?
No, I think it is politically correct classrooms and a failed educational system that only teaches "self esteem." We need to get emotions out of the classroom and start teaching for real without being concerned about hurting the feelings of the dumb and lazy students.
Decentralize the educational system and let the local schools teach what they choose. Everybody in the country does not need to be learning the same thing. With decentralization one may end up with a few well-educated students. Others can catch on later, maybe.
No, I think it is politically correct classrooms and a failed educational system that only teaches "self esteem." We need to get emotions out of the classroom and start teaching for real without being concerned about hurting the feelings of the dumb and lazy students.
Decentralize the educational system and let the local schools teach what they choose. Everybody in the country does not need to be learning the same thing. With decentralization one may end up with a few well-educated students. Others can catch on later, maybe.
Eh. I don't know. Some counties would teach kids that man roamed the earth with dinosaurs and give an entirely region-centric view of things like American history (i.e., "the Northern War of Aggression was waged against our ancestors to take our rights..."), which isn't going to help them much. I don't think some national guidelines or standards are all that bad, though a one-size-fits-all curriculum usually doesn't work well on a classroom basis, let alone a national basis.
Eh. I don't know. Some counties would teach kids that man roamed the earth with dinosaurs and give an entirely region-centric view of things like American history (i.e., "the Northern War of Aggression was waged against our ancestors to take our rights..."), which isn't going to help them much. I don't think some national guidelines or standards are all that bad, though a one-size-fits-all curriculum usually doesn't work well on a classroom basis, let alone a national basis.
Have you ever attended a formal class on special creation? I think you may be surprised by what they teach.
Topics such as:
1. Foundational ontology.
2. First principles of science.
3. Entry-level epistemology.
4. The doctrines of Uniformitarianism and the Copernican Rule.
5. Comparative biology.
6. Epistemic distinction between observables and non-observables.
7. Justification theory.
And so on. It's certainly a step up from some of the dross they seem to teach as part of the standardised curricula.
America is so big , it would take a lifetime to see it all so you tend to be less concerned about whats happening beyond its shores
+10. People outside the US don't realize how large the place is...it's a continent more than just another country. I also found through my journeys there that it's far more regionally diverse and therefore interesting country than I had expected. I could be wrong about this, but I don't believe americans really get much exposure to media from outside the country. Even in Canada, I regularly watch media from Quebec (CBC French), France (TV5), RAI and Mediaset from Italy and the BBC (which I would imagine is widely distributed stateside too). Exports as a share of US GDP are only about 12-13%...people there simply don't really need to know much about the rest of the world if their livelihoods don't depend on it.
In terms of the US we know a lot about US Culture through it's media, tourism, as well as US History. There a lot of US History right on our doorstep here in the UK, from place names to US leaders, you can go to the original Washington in the UK, where the Old Washington Hall still stands, which was home to the Washington Family from which George Washington was descended. You can visit Benjamin Franklin's House in London, Thomas Paines Home in Thetford in Norfolk, John Bunyan's in Bedfordshire, William Penn's grave at Chalfont St Giles in Buckinghamshire close to the Mayflower Barn, made from the timbers of the original Mayflower which landed in the Americas.
I think British are good at pretending they know a lot about US culture when in reality they don't really know much except for what they hear on BBC news.
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