Idiot Nation
IDIOT NATION
In America, people are all in agreement that everyone needs to receive a free education. After this free education is completed, high school graduates are urged to go on to college. This leads many people to believe that it will help our country reach the goal of becoming a smarter nation. However, in his essay Idiot Nation, Michael Moore argues that the exact opposite is occurring. We are becoming a nation full of idiots.Sadly, Michael Moore is correct. The majority of the people in this country are, indeed, idiots. This is due to the nation’s poor educational system and the people’s lack of gratitude and motivation.
First of all, America’s standards of education are far lower than several other countries. In other countries, students must pass an exam to just receive a high school education. Here in America, many college students cannot even do the simplest of Algebra problems. In contrast, students entering high school in these other countries have already learned more than American high school seniors. Schools in other countries teach students about U.S. History. Not only is it safe to say that these students know more about our country than we do about theirs (that is if we even knew the country existed), but they often know more about our country than we do. In an article written by Grishima Attavalein October of 2009, she states “American children perform so poorly on international education tests; coming behind China, Japan, and India. These countries work harder on their children than America, does, even though they spend less on education. This embarrassing statistic shows the United States just how ineffective our education system really is, and should make the boards of education realize that our country is in dire need of an educational reform if it want(s) to compete and match the caliber of children from other countries, notably East Asian ones.”
Furthermore, most people in foreign countries have learned to speak English
In America, people are all in agreement that everyone needs to receive a free education. After this free education is completed, high school graduates are urged to go on to college. This leads many people to believe that it will help our country reach the goal of becoming a smarter nation. However, in his essay Idiot Nation, Michael Moore argues that the exact opposite is occurring. We are becoming a nation full of idiots.Sadly, Michael Moore is correct. The majority of the people in this country are, indeed, idiots. This is due to the nation’s poor educational system and the people’s lack of gratitude and motivation.
First of all, America’s standards of education are far lower than several other countries. In other countries, students must pass an exam to just receive a high school education. Here in America, many college students cannot even do the simplest of Algebra problems. In contrast, students entering high school in these other countries have already learned more than American high school seniors. Schools in other countries teach students about U.S. History. Not only is it safe to say that these students know more about our country than we do about theirs (that is if we even knew the country existed), but they often know more about our country than we do. In an article written by Grishima Attavalein October of 2009, she states “American children perform so poorly on international education tests; coming behind China, Japan, and India. These countries work harder on their children than America, does, even though they spend less on education. This embarrassing statistic shows the United States just how ineffective our education system really is, and should make the boards of education realize that our country is in dire need of an educational reform if it want(s) to compete and match the caliber of children from other countries, notably East Asian ones.”
Furthermore, most people in foreign countries have learned to speak English
Cited: Athavale, Grishma. “U.S Education falling behind those of other countries”. The Saratoga Falcon, online edition. October 29, 2009. http://www.saratogafalcon.org/content/us-education-falling-behind those- other-countries Moore, Michael. “Idiot Nation.” Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing. Eds. Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle. Boston: Bedord/St. Martin’s, 2004. 153-172.