Stupidity Are Americans stupid 12 11 15 4 15 PM Students 2006 Geographic Literacy Survey o 6 in 10 young adult cannot find Iraq on a map of the Middle East We joke about it We re not alone o Shows are you smarter than a 5th grader o Stupidity of people in other populations Hitler wasn t real says 1 in 10 historically challenged Britons Canadians don t know much about their history But maybe we re really worse o Our students do worse on math and science tests internationally o But we think we are good o Other students around the world have more modest responses Politicians warn us o Failing schools political slogan Blue ribbon commissions o Two recent reports o Asked to review state of education o still at risk Measure state of learning in high schools When it comes to familiarity with the base of knowledge that enables us to engage in conversations about policy and values and so much else our 17 year olds are only barely literate o tough choices tough times If we continue on our current course and the number of nations outpacing us in the education race continues to grow at its current rate the American standard of living will steadily fall relative to those nations rich and poor that are doing a better job An even more influential report from 1983 o A nation at risk o if an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today we might well have viewed it as an act of war o Worried about Japan From the 1970s o Schools failing students From 1957 o Uncle Sam discovers American science isn t ahead in everything o Huge deal Story of American fabulousness and American science o But Russians launched first satellite Life magazine contrasts soviet and American high school students o Atomic bomb o 1958 US News World Report 1956 o Headline we are less educated than 50 years ago there was a time when a teacher did not hesitate to demand personal unaided effort and research on the part of her pupils 1900 Worried about sweets passion for candy 1903 education in our country at the present time is neither in character nor extent what our free political institutions demand to insure their continuance 1866 Laws requiring public education in the 1840s For 170 years education in the US has become steadily worse So Americans have always worried about a Stupidity Epidemic What do the data show More people are getting more education They re also taking tougher courses NAEP declining Not really o Nations report card o Attempt to track educational performance over time o Reading and math tests to 4th 8th and 12th graders o Over past 25 years it has gone up o Still a gap but all scores gone up and gap is closing SAT scores fell through 1980 as the number of seniors taking the test boomed o 30 in 1960 o More than 50 today o More and more students going to college aka more and more take the SAT o More people taking test more people with poorer scores Democratization Open up schools to more people allow more people to go to school with lower scores Even with democratization our scores going up International results are hard to interpret but the US does about as well as Europe o Whose taking the test College bound students Aka everyone in the US But not everyone in other countries They take a test in HS to determine if should take test to go to college Score for everyone in the US score for smartest students everywhere else General knowledge o Gallup poll correct answers to questions about political knowledge Able to name VP First 10 amendments From 1950s t0 2003 we actually have gone up a bit Not getting stupider o International comparisons are ambiguous Some of the questions have connotations that may offend certain religions Americans answers seem to reflect belief not knowledge Phrases of questions make a big difference o IQ scores The Flynn Effect the world Intelligence test performance has been rising all around Means we live in a world where we are doing a lot of stuff and being trained from an early age to think in abstract ways So why are we convinced there s a stupidity epidemic Stupidity isn t increasing but ignorance is booming o KIP knowledge information paradox The more knowledge somebody has the greater everybody s ignorance What we need to know keeps changing o Expectations change over time Expanding access changes the student population o Schools have democracies good thing o Want more people to go to school more people are going to We expect a lot from schools Scaring people works school future o Try to motivate educational changes by scaring people about the Scaring people about kids works especially well o Children are our future most precious recourse o What are prospects of future life if we don t give them education Debt 12 11 15 4 15 PM Debt involves a social relationship between a lender and a borrower Religious reservations discouraging debt Middle ages Usury lending interest condemned by the church Max Weber Reformation Debtors prison o Protestants accepted lending at interest Usury becomes defines as excessive interest rates You can borrow money but if don t repay could be in prison Mostly respectable people Poor couldn t get credit Access to credit becomes central determinant of life chances Central forms of identity Credit score o Individuals with higher credit scores are more likely to form relationships like marriage and they last longer Lending borrowing and risk Low risk borrower o Highly likely to repay loan o Charged lower rate of interest High risk borrower o Less likely to repay loan o Charged higher rate of interest Thrift The value of thrift is celebrated less in a credit society Thrift penny saved is a penny earned o Save money Home ownership is celebrated Politicians think home ownership is little piece of American dream Post WWII policies encouraged home ownership o Principal form of wealth for most people The housing bubble o Expansion of home buying credit to higher risk borrowers o The bubble pops Home ownership drops as consequence The marriage advantage o 80 of married couples own their homes o 50 of non married households own their home Consumer credit Early 1980s o Delaware becomes one of the first states to end cap on interest rates banks can charge on credit cards Banking becomes a major business in the state Debt has risen much faster than income Effect of the Great Recession o People claim to be saving more People today are saving less than their parents and grandparents Most people don t