wlieberm@teknowledge-vaxc.ARPA (William Lieberman) (07/29/88)
Last night on Ted Koppel (ABC Nightline TV) they discussed a dismaying
result of a survey of Americans (I don't know how scientific the
survey was- I hope it was not scientific, because if it was, and the results
really represent the frequency of the ignorance discussed, it is much
more than dismaying - it is positively depressing).
According to the survey (I think it was carried out under the auspices of
the National Geographical Society - which, yes, has a vested interest - but
so should we all), 75% of Americans (I'm sure they excluded children)
cannot point roughly to the Persian Gulf on an unmarked map. One woman
(on videotape) pointed to Northwest AFRICA! (Or was she trying to point
out Vietnam?!!!) 5% of Americans do NOT know that Washington, D.C. is the
capital of the the U.S. Something like 45% think that when it is summertime
in the US, it is NOT wintertime in Australia!!
One of my favorites. A huge percentage of Americans CANNOT name even ONE
member country of NATO. About half (or something like that) think
the USSR is a member! I know, for example, that Canadians are usually
less than enamored when their American friends seem to know so little about
Canada. (For example, how many Americans can name ONE Canadian politician,
living or dead? Or how many know the difference between the words
'province' and 'providence'? Is Quebec a city, a province, or a providence,
or some combination? (That really gets 'em.) Americans know (and care) as much
about Canadian provinces as Canadians know (and care) about Mexican states.
But what Canadians have always failed to appreciate, from my experience, is
that, never mind any facts of Canada - a huge proportion of Americans couldn't
tell you what county (not country) they live in - or who their congressional
representative is. That is, a lot of foreigners think Americans are
simply ignorant about their particular foreign country, when the truth is
that Americans are generally ignorant (or a larger percentage than
we would have believed) about their OWN country, the USA. From a previous
statistic, one-third of CHICAGO school children get the following
question wrong: Chicago is a:
1. City
2. State
3. Country
THAT is DISMAYING. Another one: a huge percentage (1/3 or 1/2???) of
just-graduated TEACHERS from a FLORIDA teacher's college could not
find FLORIDA on a map of the USA! I find myself as I keyboard in
these facts that seem to be pouring out of my rough-shocked memory feeling
like I should crawl into a hole. What keeps me not totally in a quitting
mood is that this is so obviously easy to overcome. The main thing
is that our society should INSIST on setting and maintaining STANDARDS
of KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS.
Is it not true that in most parts of our country, a person can, (with
a lot of skill (proving they're not skill-less) manage to EVADE just about
all courses or subjects that appear to provide the least challenge to
thought. ("Well, I'll take typing in my senior year of high school, and
maybe basketball coaching human resources- that'll get me the high school
diploma my parents keep yelling at me about."
Is is not a near-fact, that if into a kindergarten in the USA today, you
place a 50-pound sack of potatoes in the back of the room, in 13 years
some school district will pin a high-school diploma to that sack of
potatoes? No one seems to have the guts to require children to learn
where there is resistance to learning. Children are naturally curious,
and excellent challenge is what they probably thirst for more than
anything else. Is it not a fact, that in the Graduate Record Exminations
(the GRE's), as a group, prospective teachers, place, ANNUALLY, second
to the BOTTOM in scores, (and always way below the third worst group?)
Teachers are ahead, of all the academic disciplines, ONLY of students going
into religious training!
Start there with the standards for the teaching profession- new math, it is
felt, failed because the TEACHERS were not capable of scoping its value,
and could not convey what the mathematicians were justly trying to give
to the children, right?
Second (not necessarily in order of importance)- provide the courage of the
lion to school principals and district administrators who currently are
a bunch (not universally true) of obsequious politically-scared lackeys,
bowing and backing away from any parent who has even the stupidest complaint.
They should say to some of these parents, "Look, you better have your kid
here at the front door of the school at 8:30 am sharp, with a clean face, and
rested and fed. We'll take it from there." And, during the day, or at the end
of the day, "Look, child, you don't know this stuff at all - you and I are
not leaving here tonight until I think you know this stuff cold. Now sit
down, open that book, and start answering my questions. No one will bother
us - and when you leave here tonight, you're going to feel great, and you can
explain all this stuff to your friends."
Also, all school children should be disarmed at the school house
door - no guns, knives, grenades, AK-47 assault rifles, or atom bombs,
the 4th ammendment notwithstanding. If a kid bashes another kid, the teacher
should bash the perpetrator, have the parents (such as there are) come
over and have the law enforce responsibility over the kid's behavior. (Perhaps
my comment on bashing the kid is a little overdone - but the point is that
authority of the adult in a school situation should prevail.) So for example,
when some foolish irresponsible parent unjustifiably sues a school district
for some non-upheld alleged illegal activity of a teacher, like "He grabbed
my kid by the shirt collar while my kid was trying to kill someone- and
teachers cannot TOUCH a kid", sue the bastards back for child abuse and
harassment!
I would welcome your thoughts.
Thanks,
Bill Lieberman