American People Are Stupid

I don't believe this - but most of the American's that participated in a poll conducted by The Associated Press do.

The poll asked several burning questions related to American education, and more than half of people polled believed that our education system - especially high school - needs a serious overhaul.

Most American people believe that the focus on standardized testing is diluting the experience of all students, with teachers teaching "to the test." They also believe that too much emphasis is being placed on subjects such as English, music, and art, and that not nearly enough time is spent on math, biology, or social studies.

I'm going to be the devil's advocate here. I was an English major in college. I participated in a vocal jazz group when I was in high school. Those opportunities made me a well-rounded person. They also gave me a direction in life: I knew that I wanted to pursue a career related to one of those areas. And I did.

I never did well in math. In fact, I was tested for a math learning disability when I got to college. I hated science. I don't remember ANYTHING that I learned in social studies, or government, or economics. I can add, but I generally consult the help of a calculator - thank goodness for a calculator feature on my cell phone, right?

Before I was an English Lit major, I was an Adolescent Ed major with an English concentration. I did several teaching placements in high school English classes. I taught units on Shakespeare and graded over 200 critical essays. I encouraged the kids to write poetry and we had a poetry slam. I stressed the importance of being able to write effectively, with proper punctuation and grammatical agreement. How American's can claim that English is a less-important subject than biology blows my mind.

To put this into perspective, consider this: we ALL need to understand how to write and speak effectively. Do we all need to know how to dissect a pig fetus? That's what I thought.

As far as math is concerned, I wish that I had better math teachers. I had TERRIBLE math teachers in high school. Unbelievable. I only remember having one effective math teacher, in 8th grade. His name was Mr. Jesmain, and he knew how terribly frustrating math was for me. I was often reduced to tears. I had math tutors every year that I was in school, but the year that I had math class with Mr. Jesmain, I didn't need a tutor. For once, I understood math. I didn't enjoy it, but there were less tears and fewer arguments at home over math homework or test scores. It's a shame that, in 9th grade, I regressed completely without the skill and experience of Mr. Jesmain. I think that math SHOULD be a huge focus in American schools, but do I find it to be more important than English? No way.

And as for the belief that music and art are unnecessary, I have to say that I find this appalling. Very few kids excel at sports. However, there are a great number of students who are musically or artistically inclined, and, for them, music and art are a passion. I loved singing in a select vocal jazz group in high school. It was my favorite part of the day. Music is something that I am good at, something that drives me - to take away art and music is like taking away the very thing that keeps certain students motivated at school. Trust me on that.

MSNBC.com published a great article based on the AP poll. I agree with much of what was revealed, and am amazed at the rest. American's believe that education is less important than the status of our economy and the gas price crisis. Oh yeah? Our economy will probably THRIVE if we continue to churn out individuals who have an unbalanced education. Maybe we should just shut down all U.S. schools because it is too expensive to bus the kids there. We'd probably save billions!

Many American people think that we're unintelligent as compared to people from other countries. We actually fall somewhere in the middle. I am willing to bet that the Chinese are at the top of the list.

This is the kicker for me: a lot of American parents are frustrated with the lack of proper mathematical instruction in school, because they don't want to dedicate hours at home to helping their kid's with their math homework. I've been there, trust me. My parents spent thousands of dollars on math tutors. But you know what? Helping your kid with his homework is a part of being a parent. You can't hand over all of the responsibility to your child's teacher. YOU'RE the parent. Kid's start learning at home! If they aren't getting the support that they need IN school, I sure hope they're getting it at home.

I agree with one thing: the No Child Left Behind Act is bulls***. It's a big reason why I decided not to be a teacher. It took away the flexibility that teachers once had, and now they are slaves to Federal standardized testing. It's a terrible shame. NCLB has done very little good, and caused a lot of frustration. My Mom has been teaching for fifteen years, and she can attest to that.

In other news...

Angelina Jolie = still pregnant.

Jamie Lynn Spears = no longer pregnant. Neither is Tori Spelling.

Verne Troyer, of Austin Powers fame, has a sex tape floating around somewhere. What do you even say about that?!

Heather Locklear is in rehab for anxiety and depression. She checked into a beautiful center somewhere in CA. NOT in rehab: Amy Winehouse. Winehouse was spotted carrying three small bottles of liquor after a mini-mart pit stop this week. That's good. I heard that doing shots was good for emphysema. She then proceeded to sing at Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday celebration. I don't know who was in charge of booking the entertainment, but I hope they were fired. Mandela should have said "No, no no," to that one. He and Winehouse do have something in common, though - they've both been in jail.