StupidityQuestion posedFriday, March 11, yStupidity Question posed-Are Americans stupid?• Survey about finding Iraq on a map - 6 in 10 high school seniors could not find it -Comedy• are you smarter than a 5th grader?-School• American students perform poorly in math & science -Politicians • Warn us about failing schools -Blue Ribbon Commissions • 1) about academic knowledge• 2) about locational education -worried that students were not equipped with the knowledge to succeed • A Nation at Risk -not concerned with students from China• worried about the Japanese taking all of our jobs away -Back to the 1957 • 25 years before A Nation at Risk 1Friday, March 11, y• Reaction to Sputnik • Atomic bomb made people believe that America was on top with science and math -Life magazines contrasts Soviet & American high school -People 60 years ago • worried about the Germans & English -50 years earlier • not giving young americans the education they need to be good citizens (still being said today) • everyone had to get a minimum level of schooling • American students have been getting steadily dumber over 170 years (what peoplebelieve) -false statement -Americans always worried about a stupidity epidemic • 1. American students are getting more education than ever before • 2. Test scores have been going down-classes are harder & test scores are actually going up • 3. General knowledge -75% can’t name the vice president -46% don’t know bill of rights 2Friday, March 11, y-50% don’t know 5th amendment • Americans’ answers seem to reflect belief instead of knowledge • 4. IQ Scores-median IQ of 100 -Flynn effect - IQ test go up 3 points every 10 years Issues in Society• 1. The more knowledge someone has, the greater everybody’s ignorance • 2. What we need to know keeps changing • 3. Expanding access changes the student population • 4. We expect a lot from schools -leaving school is taking a risk of permanent poverty • 5. Scaring people works very well • 6. Scaring people about kids works especially well
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