Monday, May 18, 2009

Dumb Americans

Is anyone else tired of hearing how dumb American students apparently are? I am, and I have been, and I will continue to be. It seems that every few months or so some journalist somewhere feels that it is incumbent upon them to pull out this ridiculous litany.

It is unfair to make comparisons between educational systems because they are not all organized and conceived in the same way. If you compare an apple and a kiwi you aren’t going to find many similarities. Yes, perhaps they are both fruit, and you may stretch the comparison to say that they both have seeds. This however, is where the similarities may end.

They are incomparable beyond these points, because in taste they nothing near one another, shape does not signify as a similarity, neither are the same in color or overall appearance.

While the educational system in the U S of A may be similar to those in other countries in that they are educational systems put into place in order to present knowledge to students, this is where the similarities end. The systems while they are similar in purpose are not identical in execution and therefore any comparison is incomplete.

I’m not sure where exactly I was going to go with this…

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