education crisis, saw it on oprah Options

[marzipan]

i saw this thing on oprah about how badly some schools in the US are doing. they say the US isn't even in the top 20 when it comes to education or something. for example: they asked a bunch of people what the first 5 presidents in the US were. a chinese girl got them all right. george washington, john adams, thomas jefferson, james madison, james monroe....and then they asked some americans. some guessed abraham lincoln and most of them had no clue. i couldn't believe it! they live in america and don't even know the 1st president. bill gates and his wife are working to fix this educational crisis. what are your opinions on it?

(i think this should be in debate)

[jue]

does the order of president really matter?
but then again its kinda sad to see that a girl from another country can answer that question, but kids that are from america can't. I think i also heard somewhere that like people who take the US citizen test thing, they know more about america's history then people who originate from here.

Thinking about this, maybe education does need some changes. 'Cause im noticing me, myself slacking off in school. From the previous years to now, my grades have gone down like heck. =T

[*CrackedRearView*]

does the order of president really matter?
but then again its kinda sad to see that a girl from another country can answer that question, but kids that are from america can't. I think i also heard somewhere that like people who take the US citizen test thing, they know more about america's history then people who originate from here.

Thinking about this, maybe education does need some changes. 'Cause im noticing me, myself slacking off in school. From the previous years to now, my grades have gone down like heck. =T

The ability to rattle off the names of the first five presidents of the United States does not equate to intelligence, however, and it is certainly not indicative of any problem with American students. It's really all about the person you're quizzing. You have to realize that shows like Oprah display an immense amount of selection bias and that the experiments they conduct on that show are hardly viable indicators of anything.

1) Oprah is on TV because she gets enough ratings.

2) Oprah gets ratings because of edgy, grippy shows (much like the one aired about the state of the United States' education system).

3) Those specials are edgy and grippy because they display extreme amounts of inadequacy (often misleading amounts at that).

4) Without displaying the absolute extremes, Oprah doesn't get ratings and henceforth, doesn't have a show.

Again, I could name all 43 U.S. presidents and I'm not Asian, but it has a lot to do with the fact that I'm a political nut. Surveys like the one conducted on Oprah take ratings and money into account and not circumstance and truth.