US school system report

[morgan98]

My company hires a lot of foreign college students to staff stores during the summer, mostly from Eastern or Southeastern Europe. Many of them are well aware of some of the most minute details of the US political system, or have knowledge of American issues that are unfamiliar to many US citizens. Yet many of their American co-workers probably never even heard of Latvia or Macedonia or Moldova.[/QUOTE]


This is EXACTLY the type of thing I am referring to in my post above. Just way more conversant in what goes on in the world on a day to day basis.

 

[CdnCarrie]

Weird double post when I hit the wrong key.

 

[CdnCarrie]

Heck... how many kids know why they have Monday off from school, what/when Flag Day is, etc. We are woefully under-educating our kids about their own country's geography and history; is it any wonder they don't know anything about Canada?

Our long weekend - Victoria Day - was last weekend. It's often referred to as May long. Out of curiosity I asked the kids (9 and 12) what we were celebrating today on Monday to see if they actually knew. They stated Victoria Day. So I asked them who Victoria was and they were able to tell me that it was the Queen's grandmother (close at least...). I was actually surprised that they knew this. Not sure if they learnt it at school or what.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

My company hires a lot of foreign college students to staff stores during the summer, mostly from Eastern or Southeastern Europe. Many of them are well aware of some of the most minute details of the US political system, or have knowledge of American issues that are unfamiliar to many US citizens. Yet many of their American co-workers probably never even heard of Latvia or Macedonia or Moldova.

To be fair, I don't view that much different than someone from Minot, ND who has significant knowledge of NYC vs the typical NYer who probably knows nothing of Minot, ND.

 

[LBIJim]

To be fair, I don't view that much different than someone from Minot, ND who has significant knowledge of NYC vs the typical NYer who probably knows nothing of Minot, ND.

True. Most "little people" are aware of what the Big Boys are doing, but rarely the reverse. But it would be nice if people in NYC had at least a bit of knowledge about Minot, like that it exists.

 

[Lilliputian]

I think a lot of the problem isn't necessarily with the content of education and whether or not children have learned a certain fact but rather a reflection of the fact that a significant portion of people don't want to be learners. Many middle school children will temporarily remember a fact to pass a test, but once the test is over, they're likely to forget it. They don't have the opinion that learning and remembering things will be beneficial to their lives. This is particularly true for eighth graders. Some of them will decide to become learners as they age, but when they're young, they haven't seen the benefit.

Wasn't there something in the news several years ago about an astonishing number of UK schoolchildren thinking Winston Churchill was a mythological figure? It's a problem that isn't unique to Americans.

I do think that there are certain changes that schools could make to encourage more students to be willing learners who wanted to seek out knowledge and understand the world around them, but the changes would be way more significant than switching text books or introducing material at a different age.