What do you think is the most pressing American issue right now?

[Knight]

Now, I know this sort of thing can get controversial, so please show respect to each other... or you know, don't, and I'll grab popcorn.  My question is, if you could focus on improving ONE issue in America right now, what would it be?  Unlike most polls, I won't limit this to five options -I- think are important, I'll let you choose your own.

Me?  Education.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

I'm not sure it's possible to do something about it, but... there's a general impression, at least in my corner of the world (which isn't necessarily geographical, I might add) that the people in power are .. less than smart.

Note that that's not necessarily those in the government, either.

Now, the problem, as I perceive it, is that people are not thinking for themselves. How to get people to think... that's more difficult.


Of course, this problem isn't limited to the US of A. :-/

[Ryudo Lee]

I agree with Richter here.  A good education is at a premium nowadays.

The main problem, as I see it, is with the No Child Left Behind program.  That program is hurting more people than it's helping.  My brother-in-law is a victim of it.  He was pushed along in school because of that program and now he has poor social skills (which I think is his fault entirely anyway), he can barely read, and can't do even the most basic algebra.  He works at Hydril, moving pipes from train cars to a storage yard.  The sad thing is, because of the state of his education, he won't be able to go any further than that.

[Knight]

Now, the problem, as I perceive it, is that people are not thinking for themselves. How to get people to think... that's more difficult.

Yeah, the best stab at it I could take was improving education.  (shrug)

It's my opinion that we need to throw away the curve, stop letting point slips count as passable when it comes to minorities/women/token underpriveleged group, and instead spend the time to educate them more until they are on the same level.  I think we should throw away the idea that someone should be out of school at "this age", glorify and reward academic achievements instead of sports and shows of style, and make an effort as a community at large to spend money on re-educating those that slipped out of the failed system and would like a chance to get back in.

[Ryudo Lee]

Unfortunately people are on a "no one should fail because they didn't do it right" kick right now.  This crap about No Child Left Behind and "everyone gets a trophy" is just that, crap.  Postive reinforcement doesn't really work in the long run, especially when the child that has had nothing but positive reinforcement goes out into the real world.

[Knight]

Well, positive reinforcement works if the person giving the positive reinforcement doesn't throw it out there for no damn reason... by all means, if a struggling student gets an A.. give them that fucking trophy.  Give them one every time they get an A for all I care.  Just don't go giving them out for B's and C's as well and caribbean vacations for D's.

[Ryudo Lee]

The problem is that people ARE giving out these awards and high grades to kids who don't deserve them.  I agree with you that if you work for it and really earn it, then you deserve it.  But the problem lies in the majority of kids who don't deserve it.  Reinforcing them when they need to be slapped back down isn't helping the situation.  And that is what is going on, they're getting the positive reinforcement that they don't deserve so they continue doing poorly because they think it's okay.  Back when I was in grade school, they wouldn't have thought twice about holding a student back.  Nowadays, that's taboo.

[Knight]

I got held back, in 10th grade.  I deserved it.  I was bored with school, not trying, and skipping.  I took the GED at 17 and on one or two sections got scores higher than 90-95% of graduating high school seniors.  Hardly surprising as I read the books, understood very simply, just didn't like the classroom bullshit.

So, do you think that, as far as the ineffective rewards system goes; teachers, government or both are in need of a rehaul?

[Ryudo Lee]

Teachers not so much.  I've met some pretty dedicated teachers during my school days, and most of them would agree that the whole system needs an overhaul.  The good ones, I find, teach for the sake of teaching and actually really do care for the educational development of the children they're teaching.  Personally, I had an amazing teacher back in grade school.  I did really poorly in social studies, and the teacher took it upon himself to personally tutor me over the summer so that I wouldn't fail and be held back.  I worked my butt off that summer.  That's dedication.  Most teachers, I find, do a damn good job because they love their job.  It's unfortunate that they have to work within a broken system.

The governing bodies of education do need an overhaul.  They need to realize that schools need more than adequate funding and the ability to freely tell parents that their kids weren't working hard enough and were failed without fear of being sued or otherwise being yelled at because they're not taking into account the feelings of the child, or are costing the school district money by keeping the child there for another year.  If a student isn't working hard enough then they need to be held back, not pushed along because of some policy.

[RJ]

Leaving Australia alone.

Nah, just joking there. We love your big-budget movies and tv series too much and apparently we love your president too... but seriously, the free trade agreement is killing us here.

[Kenji]

Leaving Australia alone.

Nah, just joking there. We love your big-budget movies and tv series too much and apparently we love your president too... but seriously, the free trade agreement is killing us here.

That's ok. We have the joyous patriot act and that president that you  guys seem to "love" so much. So we're all suffering in our own special ways.

[Toric]

I feel I must say that the USA's biggest problem is the Spanish. No, not Mexicans or other central or south-americans, the Spanish. From Spain. They were a melting pot of culture and DNA long before we were, and it's time for us to claim our position as the dominant mutt nation. I propose a seven-foot-tall fence along the entire eastern coastline.

Actually I think the fast that people are legitimately afraid of getting sued for anything possibly construed as harming someone else is one of this country's bigger problems. Too much worrying about covering your own bum and too much overly politically-correct behavior.

[James StarRunner]

Actually, education was my first thought (I also didn't want to touch hot topics like Iraq). Unfortunately Americans have gotten the reputation of being ignorant. Apparently people aren't even taught about the neighboring counties like Canada and Mexico. Being Canadian myself, I've had to answer many ridiculous questions... 

Even knowledge of their own country seems to be weak as I've had to tell quite a few Americans that states like Montana, New Hampshire, ect... are actually a part of the states and not provinces of Canada or countries oversea.

I'm not trying to poke fun at anyone, but it's an issue that even people outside the states who have to interact with Americans have to deal with. 

[Kenji]

Actually, education was my first thought (I also didn't want to touch hot topics like Iraq). Unfortunately Americans have gotten the reputation of being ignorant. Apparently people aren't even taught about the neighboring counties like Canada and Mexico. Being Canadian myself, I've had to answer many ridiculous questions... 

Even knowledge of their own country seems to be weak as I've had to tell quite a few Americans that states like Montana, New Hampshire, ect... are actually a part of the states and not provinces of Canada or countries oversea.

I'm not trying to poke fun at anyone, but it's an issue that even people outside the states who have to interact with Americans have to deal with. 

Oh, most definately. I've had people in my COLLEGE classes that had trouble reading a few paragraphs from "The Scarlet Letter". Now let me tell ya... there aren't exactly any hard or big words in that book...
Not enough funding goes to the school, people don't get smart, they're easier to control, and they may become the leader. I mean, look at Bush. What education does he have? Getting kicked out of a college his daddy paid his way into. I think an Associates Degree should be required to be a Pres, and that more funding should go to pre-college schools since those are the years where a person learns the most from their world and it's much easier to teach them at that age.

FYI, I've also seen tons of peeps who have no idea where a state is in the US, that are legal US citizens. 

[Ryudo Lee]

I think Carlos Mencia said it best... Dee dee dee!

[TheDXM]

Regarding the education system:

I graduated HS about a year ago, and I live in one of the fastest growing counties in the entire country. I haven't found a solid job (anything outside the abysmal fast-food industry) in this entire year. Oddly enough, if I leave this county, I seem to be able to find work the very first time I go looking.

Now, this isn't a rant about my personal problems in any form, I know no one cares, and I don't really WANT anyone involved in my problems. But to me it almost seems like my diploma, dispite the fact that I graduated with heavy honors (I was the valedictorian), just isn't worth anything to these people. On top of all this, I realize that I was one of those kids who was in and out of all sorts of special education schools his entire life, and even then I RARELY showed my face in the class room, averaging about two or three days of attendance a school week.

Am I less intelligent for all of this? No. I could turn this into a full argument as to why I think a lot of things in the education system are useless and costing tax-dollars. What I'm really getting at here is that the education system doesn't build enough DISCIPLINE. What our schools teach our kids these days is that you don't get anything unless you break the rules.

Draw from this what you will.

[Ryudo Lee]

They used to have the perfect way to build discipline in schools: yard-stick wielding nuns.

[superluser]

I think an Associates Degree should be required to be a Pres

Oh, bad idea.  The last time we had a president with a Ph.D, he went insane while in office.  (Actually, Bush does have a Master's (an MBA, specifically)--but I think you can get one of those free in your Froot Loops)

As to education, one of the main issues that I have is the way that K-12 education is increasingly specialized.  These days, you not only have to get into the right college to get a good job, but you need to get into the right preschool.  If Johnny (or Janie) doesn't get into the preschool for fine arts, she'll never become a great artist.  And we know that that's what she wants to be at age 4.

Up through high school should be the time for general education--when everyone should be learning the same things.  We should all be learning how to be informed voters and good stewards of our democracy.  That's why we're forced to go to school.  (I'm a big fan of a classical education, and a critic of outcome based education)

What's more, the focus seems to be more on what words you have on a piece of vellum rather than what you actually know, which is a bit of a shame.  Samuel Johnson and Edward Johnston (two big names in books) both dropped out of university and later went on to achieve great things.  You couldn't do that today (at least, not in the US).

I also think that we should be teaching vector mathematics in high school.  I got burned when I was learning Maxwell's equations, since they taught them in integral form, which is less intuitive than the differential form, and which you can't understand without higher-level vector mathematics.

I also think that quite often, politicians will look at education, and say, ``Here's more money.  This will fix it.'' without actually looking at what to actually do with the money.  NCLB is actually better in this regard, because someone devised a plan for what to do with the money.  Granted, it was a bad plan, but still.

[bill]

Most pressing issue: Is Julian Tavarez seriously deserving of a spot on the Red Sox rotation?


Seriously speaking, our education system is terrible, though the perception of Americans as DUM LOL generally comes from a small, but very notable minority. History, especially, needs to be fixed up. My history courses have gone from "YAY AMERICA" to "AMERICANS ARE EVIL" within 2 years with absolutely nothing in the middle. We read Howard Fucking Zinn this year.


PS: Fuck Julian Tavarez.

[Kenji]

I think an Associates Degree should be required to be a Pres

Oh, bad idea.  The last time we had a president with a Ph.D, he went insane while in office.  (Actually, Bush does have a Master's (an MBA, specifically)--but I think you can get one of those free in your Froot Loops)

As to education, one of the main issues that I have is the way that K-12 education is increasingly specialized.  These days, you not only have to get into the right college to get a good job, but you need to get into the right preschool.  If Johnny (or Janie) doesn't get into the preschool for fine arts, she'll never become a great artist.  And we know that that's what she wants to be at age 4.

Up through high school should be the time for general education--when everyone should be learning the same things.  We should all be learning how to be informed voters and good stewards of our democracy.  That's why we're forced to go to school.  (I'm a big fan of a classical education, and a critic of outcome based education)

What's more, the focus seems to be more on what words you have on a piece of vellum rather than what you actually know, which is a bit of a shame.  Samuel Johnson and Edward Johnston (two big names in books) both dropped out of university and later went on to achieve great things.  You couldn't do that today (at least, not in the US).

I also think that we should be teaching vector mathematics in high school.  I got burned when I was learning Maxwell's equations, since they taught them in integral form, which is less intuitive than the differential form, and which you can't understand without higher-level vector mathematics.

I also think that quite often, politicians will look at education, and say, ``Here's more money.  This will fix it.'' without actually looking at what to actually do with the money.  NCLB is actually better in this regard, because someone devised a plan for what to do with the money.  Granted, it was a bad plan, but still.

Meh, I didn't want to go into specifics. I just want someone who knows their ABCs, at least. Hell, even Clinton did lots of good things, even though we all know him as a perv. I could care less what the pres does in his/her sparetime, but do your job right when it comes to pres'ing.

Anyways, I have wished since High School that they would have a mandatory (basic if necessary) politics class for people to go through so they can at least know what to look out for in the people they vote for.

Anyways, short response: yay more money for schools.

[Vidar]

Get Bush out of the office, and get someone at least halfway competend in the oval office. Over the past 8 years America has gone from being joked about to being a joke itself.
America was supposed to be "the land of the free, home of the brave". What I've seen and heard is more like lots of fear-mongering (everyone with black hair and a tan has to watch how they put out their bloody garbage, or they'll be branded possible terrorists and banned from ever flying a plane, ever again), and lots of restrictions on freedom ("free speech zones", anyone?). Kick out the democrats AND the republics: they're both the same anyway. Vote for a third party that has wisdom and courage, and isn't voted on popularity alone.
Although, that might be a problem with democracy itself: the popular get to sit on the throne instead of the wise and competend.

[bill]

Bush's out in ought-eight no matter what. As for the election, I'm not voting. Seriously, none of the candidates seem appealing at all to me.

[superluser]

Seriously speaking, our education system is terrible, though the perception of Americans as DUM LOL generally comes from a small, but very notable minority.

It's actually a much larger group than you'd think.  The people that show up on Jay Leno or newsmagazine interviews are a very small proportion of the people, but the people who don't know some things that are only slightly more difficult are shockingly low.  Only 42% can name all three branches of government.  Only 24% can name two Supreme Court Justices.  (Let's see if I can name all 9 without looking them up... Breyer, Stevens, Kennedy, Alito, Scalia, Thomas, Souter, Ginsburg, Roberts)

History, especially, needs to be fixed up. My history courses have gone from "YAY AMERICA" to "AMERICANS ARE EVIL" within 2 years with absolutely nothing in the middle. We read Howard Fucking Zinn this year.

I think we need to look at the things that we held dear in the creation of our country, and venerate them as true and good goals that we must actively seek, but we must realize that the US has done some pretty nasty stuff, and we're still doing it.  I'm not talking about things like Iraq, but things that we've done for over a century, and are still doing.  Things like the Individual Indian Monies accounts.

Bush's out in ought-eight no matter what.

Not if Steny Hoyer gets his way and repeals the 22nd Amendment.   

I can understand you not wanting to vote for any of the above, but have you looked into third-party candidates?  That's usually the way I vote.

[bill]

I think I'm going to try to write-in Dr. Gregory House. 

[Netami]

Gay marriage can wait, so can education (I'm plenty educated!!), but how about immigration?! Screw global warming and emissions, I want a stable, easy rule for dealing with people that want to live in the same country as me. Especially if they want to do the bitch work that I don't want to do.

[Damaris]

I think the biggest problem with education today is that they're teaching to the standardized testing.  Couple that with No Child Left Behind, and you have children who are learning to test well, but can't think outside the box or have any kind of critical thinking skills.  The importance of the arts in education is huge- it teaches children how to think for themselves, find their creativity in situations, and learn that sometimes there is no right answer, yet it's being cut.

Honestly, I think the people going about creating these education programs are going about it ass-backward.

[bill]

We got screwed over by NCLB. Because of some awful scheduling, we had to take the exact same test three times. The third time, everyone in my class just drew pretty pictures in the essay response sections.


Incidentally, I never liked the arts programs in my school. I've always thought that private outside lessons are the best way to go, as far as music is concerned.

[superluser]

I think the biggest problem with education today is that they're teaching to the standardized testing.

I agree.  That's what I was trying to say when I mentioned Outcome Based Education.

Couple that with No Child Left Behind, and you have children who are learning to test well, but can't think outside the box or have any kind of critical thinking skills.

First off, we *don't* have children who are learning to test well, as test scores across the country are showing.

Secondly, I think the problem is deeper than children who do not have critical thinking skills.  Anyone who's taken AP tests knows that standardized tests sometimes require thinking outside the box and critical thinking skills.

The problem, in my opinion, is that our teaching/learning model consists of learning virtually nothing for most of the course, cramming everything the night before, taking the test, and then forgetting it all.

That, combined with the fact that there is no longer any interdepartmental collaboration (the English department is afraid of the cold warriors in the Science department, and the Science department won't have anything to do with the pinkos in English), means that the student has no clue what learning is supposed to be about.

The importance of the arts in education is huge- it teaches children how to think for themselves, find their creativity in situations, and learn that sometimes there is no right answer, yet it's being cut.

If science is taught properly, it should teach that there are no right answers, either.  There are only observations, and since Karl Popper, it should be encouraging students to make unbiased observations.

[Damaris]

totally off topic, but do you write for a newspaper, by chance?

[Darkmoon]

I think the biggest problem with education today is that they're teaching to the standardized testing.

I agree.  That's what I was trying to say when I mentioned Outcome Based Education.

Couple that with No Child Left Behind, and you have children who are learning to test well, but can't think outside the box or have any kind of critical thinking skills.

First off, we *don't* have children who are learning to test well, as test scores across the country are showing.

Secondly, I think the problem is deeper than children who do not have critical thinking skills.  Anyone who's taken AP tests knows that standardized tests sometimes require thinking outside the box and critical thinking skills.

The problem, in my opinion, is that our teaching/learning model consists of learning virtually nothing for most of the course, cramming everything the night before, taking the test, and then forgetting it all.

That, combined with the fact that there is no longer any interdepartmental collaboration (the English department is afraid of the cold warriors in the Science department, and the Science department won't have anything to do with the pinkos in English), means that the student has no clue what learning is supposed to be about.

The importance of the arts in education is huge- it teaches children how to think for themselves, find their creativity in situations, and learn that sometimes there is no right answer, yet it's being cut.

If science is taught properly, it should teach that there are no right answers, either.  There are only observations, and since Karl Popper, it should be encouraging students to make unbiased observations.

Seriously, do you feel the need to be a pompous ass every time you post?