How America Keeps Its Citizens Uneducated

[@bobi200samatar6]

I'm a Kenyan who grew up watching a lot of America media, cartoons and movies, and as a child I remember finding it strange that Americans found being smart bad or unattractive. Those characters are always the nerds, dorks, unattractive, unpopular. In my school, it was always the children with the best grades that were popular and looked up to. Looking back on it, it really does show that America has something against actual smart people, and it's not working out for them right now.

[@Anonymous-wb3nz]

Stop lumping all Americans into one ridiculous stereotype. There are MANY of us who take pride in being smart. Just stop.

[@bobs182]

@@Anonymous-wb3nz Sorry you have your feelings hurt but too many Americans take pride in being ignorant. Only 25% of Americans can name the 3 branches of government and probably fewer know what continent Kenya can be found. Despite people you associate with being above average the US has a problem of anti-intellectualism including Trumpism. Schools are limited in teaching biology, geology, and cosmology because parents complain about it not agreeing with Genesis. Some wealthy people are trying to defund education because they don't like paying taxes.

[@lv1543]

Smart people are harder to manipulate and control or exploit. This makes people upset

[@Dioslux]

@@Anonymous-wb3nzyou’re not too smart if you actually got worked up over that comment. if you had half the sense you claim, you’d understand they, or really anyone (unless you’re a racist white guy) obviously never means “EVERYONE”. relax.

[@nicholasyong7051]

@@Anonymous-wb3nz well he just pointing out is that the US is marketing it to people elsewhere, there's always been this running joke for years that Americans are dumb especially with shows such as 'Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader', which is funny because adults should know more than them and yet most of the adults featured on the show can't even pass the questions which are mainly simple math and common knowledge

[@genevievesingh3547]

My grandma was watching Fox News one day and they were going on about how you don’t need a college degree and how colleges indoctrinate people with liberal ideals and education sucks and so on. Mind you, ALL of the anchors on the show attended college lmao. The grift is so real.

[@ethanhorak8292]

Grade school and universities both have problems but they are different problems. If grade school actually served its purpose, then not going to college wouldn’t be that uncommon but instead the public school system is a diploma pipeline. Which leads to plenty of people getting a degree that they end up not using. It’s not anti intellectualism to point out that a % of the population just doesn’t have the brainpower for college to be worth the current cost. Not everyone is born with the ability to be the next Neitzsche. We need to find a balance as a country because the people that spent years saying everyone should go to college were just as unproductive then as the people now trying to label all college education as useless.

[@asdfghjklasdfghjkl321]

​@ethanhorak8292 Using Neitzsche is a weird choice but alright 😭

[@ethanhorak8292]

@@asdfghjklasdfghjkl321 It was just the first name that popped in my head lol, but my point still stands. Most people are honestly just kinda dumb and a very short specialized training for a job would make more sense than years on a campus.

[@factcheckingyourmum]

I would say thats pretty true about US colleges, and the fact that they charge you so much for your indoctrination is atrocious. In other countries its free or almost free and the standard is so much higher. And yeah those news anchors may have gone to college, but i do thjnk times have changed now. Id never send my kids down that road in an american system.

[@cateclism316]

College is not needed for many trades....getting a degree that isn't relevant to an in-demand career is a waste of time and money.

[@leaddust5539]

The only time someone would fear an intelligent mass is someone abusing power. I had an argument with someone who claimed that having everyone be super intelligent would only create a lot of high risk conflict because they’d be equipped to make more powerful counterattacks. I think it’s the complete opposite.

[@roundtwo3321]

@dinyhotmail I've seen this comment more than once. Do you expect us to scroll through 307 comments to find your name? Most people just copy and paste their comments where they want them to be seen. Or this is a scam.

[@MrChristianDT]

I think the major issue is that just because people are smarter, it wouldn't automatically guarantee peace or cooperation. Sometimes there aren't perfectly good or bad options for what to do, just several Grey ones which will do some good, but also a lot of bad & you have to decide what you think is the best compromise. Honestly, the problem is that while everyone bickers endlessly about the new problem, real, grossly exaggerated or completely imagined, the people who are making bank are the opportunists. They are most likely to fall into excessive hedonism, addiction, corner cutting or using people/ situations for personal gain at the expense of others & when enough of them amass enough money & power over the course of decades, they begin making the decisions. They control what is & isn't viewed as important & what is or isn't legal. They create the scapegoats for everyone to chase instead of them. All the while when a new societal problem is noticed, they cash in to deliberately exaggerate the hell out of the until it becomes a sincere, real problem that infects a society for generations to come.

[@Darth_Bateman]

Look, let’s be real? Intelligence isn’t the end all be all…. Neither is access to education. I mean , let’s be real here? Most of us went to college and still amounted to fuck all but managed to get a median debt of 54k. Then there is the truth of the matter : those of us who climb high without a trust fund? Typically are not the smartest but the most driven. It all comes down to how far separated you are from the path of least resistance.

[@paulbrower]

Well-educated people are more competent at assessing risks and finding imaginative solutions to inevitable difficulties. They are less likely to fall for the siren song of the demagogue who makes contradictory promises that can never work.

[@angelainamarie9656]

That argument really reveals how THAT PERSON views advantages in society. Like an animal.

[@stephane9579]

I'll never say this enough. The system isn't broken, it's working exactly as intended. Whatever problems you think are showing, it's by design.

[@tomservo75]

But by WHOSE design? Public education is controlled by the government. It's no coincidence that things even as basic as civics are falling by the wayside. They don't want students who will think critically and question the system.

[@aliceearley3842]

Project 2025 wants to end Department of Education meaga Republicans wants to keep America dumb as hell so the top one percent can exploit people financial resources forever.

[@IHZALewis]

That is precisely the fact of the matter! America was designed to deceive and it has done so quite well. So, well, in fact, that its own population is the biggest victim of the American design. If it was not for the millions of people who came from Africa, Asia and Latin America, America would be exactly what you see when you travel through the major cities, rottenness.

[@ralphmumbeck5758]

@@tomservo75 The "system" is indeed not "broken", like the OP stated. The "system" functions *exactly as intended,* and exactly as desired by the uber-1%ters in positions of wealth and power. The "system" *intentionally* sets up states against states, countries against countries, entitities against entities, people against people, neighbors against neighbors, class against class, faction against faction... *The "system" is intentional, perpetual, and is divide-and-rule.* It does exactly what it has intended to do for centuries: set up the default ingroups against the default outgroups, then then the elites/establishment *rule* over the *division.*

[@Baconcatboy]

Where I go to school is different than how you all describe your American schools. Then again I'm living in a small rural community that has a progressive school board.

[@ashram12]

I think that the first hurdle would be to change the anti-intellectualism culture. I’m an immigrant to the US, and when I first came here as a kid, I had a huge culture shock. I’ve always been a “nerdy” kid, but in my country, the other kids didn’t pick on me because I did my homework: everybody did their homework. But here, in the US, I’d get bullied for doing homework, so of course I stopped doing my homework. Thankfully, I transferred to a magnet program with nerdy kids like me. But the problem remains that for kids who stay in regular classes, it’s a race to the bottom partly because of peer pressure.

[@ralphmumbeck5758]

See Carl Sagan's "celebration of ignorance" essay from around 1995 (I think) which explains exactly that.

[@CharlesRaines4946]

It's like americans never evolved beyond the caveman stage!

[@arminiusofgermania]

@@ashram12 sorry, but being a good little boy in this country doesn’t get you anywhere in life. You just get stepped on, and become somebody else’s tool.

[@ankhpom9296]

“My ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.” No doubt you probably ended up with a better paying job than those who bullied you who in reality are less intelligent.

[@arminiusofgermania]

@@CharlesRaines4946 No. It’s just that here in the magical land of international capitalism, it’s all about the money. From the 1980’s, all the way to now, nobody cared about the nerds until they started working for Google and started getting jobs in tech. It’s not that people don’t like smart people, they like people who are smart in the way that actually matter. If it doesn’t make money or isn’t relevant to other people’s immediate lives, then nobody cares. Experiences taught me that there’s a certain “knowing your audience” that comes with talking about certain subjects. Most people do not care about your lecture on nuclear physics. for most people if it doesn’t have anything to do with guns, fast food, fast cars, loose women, and Kelsey‘s party on Friday night, They are most likely to interrupt you mid sentence and ask, “excuse me, but what is any of this bullshit have to do with me?” In America, the smart person is unfortunately treated like the answer to the question that nobody asked about and nobody cares about. If nobody bothered to ask the question and nobody cares about the subject matter, then maybe you should… 1. Keep your mouth shut. 2. Go talk about it to people who care. 3. Frequent places where people will be more inclined. Here you have to say.

[@Cyberkawaii420]

It’s crazy cuz I remember growing up and teachers asking the students to donate tissues or pencils to the classroom and I even had teachers say how they had to buy the school supplies for the students on their own so sad and unfair

[@kenyonbissett3512]

I worked in public education for 15 yrs in a middle school. Maybe 20% brought in requested supplies. Teachers supplied the rest. At the end of the school year, during locker clean out several large trash can are placed the hallways. Another teacher and I walked around taking supplies from the trash cans. We ended up pushing a 3 shelf cart around and filled it up. Other teachers watched and the next year they started a recycling bin program. The amount thrown out was just about enough to save teachers from buying supplies in the years after that. But English teachers still supply the shelves full of fiction and non fiction books for the students to read in the classrooms. Many movies about subjects are bought by teachers. Enrichment sets that cost hundreds to thousands of dollars. Teacher adopted 10 families in the school community for Christmas (never got one thank you in 15 yrs). Teachers buy clothes and coats for students. Many buy student’s lunches.

[@hydrolito]

Parents generally bought their children's school supplies such as pencils, paper and books.

[@kenyonbissett3512]

@@hydrolito I worked in a have and have not district. About 50/50. Many high end neighborhoods $800k-$10 million + and then about 3 large trailer parks. However, the trailer parks produced more children per family. So school supplies were supplemented. Some of the well off children kept the supplies parents sent like tissues in their lockers, contributing to brand new boxes being trashed. The commercial trash bins after the recycling program started were 50% garbage and 50% unused or lightly used school supplies.

[@bigmona2741]

@@hydrolitonot anymore, unfortunately, in poor areas. Although we were poor growing up, our parents PRIORITIZED education and made sure we had the supplies we needed. I’ve been in education for 16 years, and students all have smartphones, $200 shoes, $150 weaves, and no school supplies. Thank God for Title I funds and community partners who donate supplies.

[@grmpEqweer]

​@@kenyonbissett3512 Question: if I donate fiction books to English teachers, are they allowed to take them? Presuming they have nothing "adult" in them?

[@--Paws--]

"Nerds" are bullied was a first clue. In my country you get bullied if you're not a nerd or competent enough to follow the class and the curriculum, and I am talking about elementary school too. However, from what I hear from my friends and their relatives each district and the different parts of the US, the grading level and what they are taught are so different-it's like a sci-fi/Twilight Zone kind of weird. The grade of subjects what they teach in one state is vastly different in the same grade of its neighboring state. While some teachers have a standard they follow, like a machine, however there other teachers who actually put in an effort.

[@Zeus-dw1cx]

Endless money for sports and little or nothing for science.

[@jmodified]

For boys at least, the poorly performing students in the US get bullied for that also, if they are not good athletes. And the smart ones who are good athletes don't get bullied.

[@B_addie]

I’ve went to two different schools in the same state and in the same district and one school was a grade behind in course material from the other. Depending on what area you go to school in can vastly differ in the quality of education for public schools.

[@marcusbaker830]

Sounds like an Asian school if someone is bullied for,not being a nerd

[@jinhunterslay1638]

And also the fact they give “sports scholarship” for meatheads to get a free ticket to uni

[@IntelGirlInTheSpiritWorld]

As A Teacher myself, this is a very needed discussion on education in America.

[@psikeyhackr6914]

So why don't we have a K-12 Unschooling Recommended Reading List? The Tyranny of Words by Stuart Chase When Africa Awakes by Hubert Harrison Black Man's Burden by Mack Reynolds Teach Yourself Electricity and Electronics by Stan Gibilisco How about mandatory accounting? See: Addictive Accounting; a smartphone app I was in a classroom where the teacher did not know a meter from a kilometer.

[@TheAirlock]

My understanding is that this discussion has been ongoing since the turn of the century - the biggest issue being that education is decentralized in America.

[@roundtwo3321]

The school administration can always be counted on to stop good teachers.

[@marciamartins1992]

​@@TheAirlock Interesting point, I'll bet state boards have different qualifications for teachers. A kid educated in NJ is not the same as one in Texas, but we hate comparisons, and do nothing to level the opportunities. It's up to the parents to make up for the gap. Sadly too many kids just don't get it like that. It's heartbreaking.

[@fenixrising1972]

You're a "teacher" who doesn't understand what capital letters are for?

[@michlyntyres]

My children spent 6 months in the the American public school system, after attending for 3 and 4 years in a UK public school. When they arrived at school in America, they found the school work so easy, much of which they had learned in the UK a year or two previously. Their teachers thought they were "gifted", but in the UK school they were in the norm. When they returned to the UK, they had fallen so far behind they needed extra tuition to catch up to their counterparts. That is when it was brought home to me that the US eduction system isn't good. My sisters children followed the norm, became manual workers, factory workers, cleaners and waiting tables. They all voted for Trump, not seeing they were being put in the places and praying on their prejudices, i.e. black people, and immigrants. Ask them what is wrong with America and they will give you those two reasons. Even my family who had emigrated to the States in the 1950s stopped being open minded, and became racist and gullible, because where they lived everyone thought the same. It never occurred to me that this was the plan, and this video spells it out in Capital letters.

[@jillwaggoner5177]

Thank you for sharing your experience. It is damning. I remember being in grade school and VERY early on thinking - we are raising a big bunch of suckers, to be conformist and obey.

[@RettMikhal]

Yeah the UK is not exactly a role model for how to not be racist. Half the banned words on youtube are British slurs against non-whites. My step grandmother came from a long line of Brits and used to tell a story about her grandmother talking to her about slavery... and how great it was. Back in those days you respected your elders way more than anything else so my step grandmother grew up believing that brown people want to be enslaved because it's better for them. True story I once heard this entire speech on Christmas Eve in a heart-to-heart conversation with her.

[@KIDROCK-oq7um]

PLEASE READ IT IS IMPORTANT, MY SON CAME HOME ONE DAY IN THE 7TH GRADE AND SAID I AM NOT GOING BACK TO SCHOOL PERIOD. "SPANK ME BEAT ME, I WILL NOT GO BACK, YOU CANNOT MAKE ME. AND FUCK YOU" I'M LIKE WTF, OK LETS SIT DOWN AND YOU CALMLY TELL ME WHY. BASICALLY HE SAID, WE CHANGE CLASS ROOMS EVERY 55 MIN, WITH 5 MIN BETWEEN TO GET TO THE NEXT CLASS. IT TAKES THE TEACHER 15 MIN TO GET THE CLASS TO CALM DOWN TO STUDY. WE STUDY FOR 10-15 MIN AND IT ERUPTS WITH TOTAL BS. IT TAKES HER ANOTHER 15 MIN TO CALM THINGS DOWN AND THEN WE HAVE TO GO TO OUR NEXT CLASS. SO OUT OF 55 MIN WE LEARN FOR 15 MINUTES BS I AM NOT GOING BACK. WELL I COULD NOT ARGUE THAT BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT IT WAS LIKE 10-12 YEARS AGO WHEN I WAS IN JR HIGH. SO I SAID LET ME THINK ABOUT IT. 24 HOURS LATTER IT WAS HOME SCHOOL PERIOD. I WOULD GIVE HIM HIS ASSIGNMENT FOR THE WEEK AND TELL HIM IT WAS DUE ON FRI. THAT'S IT. WHEN EVER HE WANTED TO WORK ON IT WAS UP TO HIM, WE JOINED A HOME SCHOOL NETWORK THAT WAS CERTIFIED. HE HAD TO PASS THERE REQUIREMENTS TO GET A HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA, HE PASSED WITH HONORS. I AM NOT A BIG FAN OF HOME SCHOOLING AND NEVER WILL BE, AS MUCH OF HOME SCHOOLING IS BASED ON CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM B.S. AND IT IS VERY HARD TO FIND HOME SCHOOLING TEXT BOOKS THAT ARE NOT HEAVILY BASED IN RELIGION.

[@spocktiberius2456]

As a retired educator, I have been saying this for much of my career. The corporate culture in the US doesn’t want an educated work force because such a workforce would deserve a higher compensation than an uneducated one. And business owners see labor as a necessary expense to be reduced by whatever means possible.

[@elijahhernandez906]

Well in Rocketfeller's words: "I need workers, not thinkers."

[@baronmeduse]

Indeed. The point about cost of labour is something lost today from the old labour struggles of the past. It's why corporations are running headlong into AI automation. They position themselves two contradictory positions: as necessary 'job creators' whilst at the same time working to reduce employment as much as possible. Since governments started to pretend they need to run the public purpose as a business (around the late '70s when monetarist economics took hold) it has poisoned the public purpose.

[@arminiusofgermania]

The intellectual/smart guy: The answer to the question nobody asked and nobody cares about

[@danarzechula3769]

Corporations are the devil the government sleeps with

[@bbearsmama]

So true! The right wingers I know completely lost their sh** over student debt loan repayment. It was obvious that the REAL agenda was not educating people. The sentiment was loud and clear: "We can't make it TOO easy to go to college. Where will we get all of our worker bees?

[@sergeychistov8162]

Like Jaen Jacues Rousseau once wrote: education is meant to make kids the educated CITIZENS, not doctors, lawyers, policemen, etc.!

[@roundtwo3321]

That was because they only wanted either rich or poor people.

[@sergeychistov8162]

@@Diana-yn2ho I can agree with you. I see professions as an extension to basic civil responsibility, though.

[@paulbrower]

In view of the complexity of our lives, even people with unglamorous jobs as truck driving could use a solid college education for making the most out of life. I could think of plenty of music to which to listen on the long, dull road. Or books on disc. Much of our political distress and cultural depravity comes from the denigration of learning. Just imagine Donald Judas Iscariot Trump becoming President in a country that puts formal education in high regard.

[@roundtwo3321]

@@paulbrower Precisely.

[@paulbrower]

@@Diana-yn2ho They don't. They are now largely dedicated to churning out people to work in dead-end farm labor (in rural areas) and 'hospitality' jobs now that the factory jobs have heavily disappeared). For some people such is appropriate.

[@typeviic1]

I live in Indiana. The elephant in the room regarding public education is that the public schools are not funded equally. Funding is inequitably funded by zip code. Apply that logic to the military. Imagine if 40% of the military had new uniforms and brand-new equipment, while the other 60% were supplied clothes from Goodwill and 2nd hand stores. All state tax monies collected by property taxes in every state county, should be disbursed equally between all schools.

[@etienne8110]

But then how could nepotism and class struggle keep going on? That s communism to want equality for all. Good ol american late capitalism will have none of that. /s

[@vaderladyl]

that is also happening in other states and you can see the differences in those schools that have more funding.

[@grmpEqweer]

School funding should not be by zip code. Absolutely.

[@hadara69]

I like your analogy. Wish some journalist (actual one) would ask Trump or Harris this and include "used firearms" in the analogy! THAT WOULD MAKE NATIONAL NEWS!

[@alexcarter8807]

It's like that all over the US. And with social mobility so low in the US, I've seen papers with titles like "Your Zip Code Is Your Destiny". In France, the public education is uniform no matter whether you're rich or poor. That's the way to do it.

[@arnaldojimenez6985]

I am a 72-year-old man married with four grown-up kids living in the clouds because I came from an uneducated environment. At 60, I woke up in a world without intellectually prepared. Today, I spend hours listening to knowledgeable people to learn what I should know at my age. Doing that, I google “what is happening to the American education system,” and Google brought me to you. I am impressed by you; you are so young and have such an intelligent look at the world. Thank you for the information. I wish you success in anything you put your mind to.

[@rosella1919]

Self education is so undervalued. If you don’t learn at school, you’ve got the rest of your life to educate yourself. There’s never been a time when information was as accessible as it is today. I’m a a 72 yo, retired teacher, who strives to learn at least one new thing/day.

[@Ponyjon]

In my opinion intelligent people watch MSNBC.

[@tomservo75]

While what you're doing is admirable, I'd say that trying to fill in knowledge gaps using Google searches is not exactly helping things.

[@digitalworms]

​@@PonyjonLmao loved the joke!

[@PinkyMcBrain-ps6lm]

Good for you! Keep learning as much as you can. It's never too late and you can keep learning and growing for your entire life 😊

[@Seamus3051]

"KNOWLEDGE IS POWER." This should be followed by a codicil; " IGNORANCE IS SUBSERVIENCE".

[@korigang]

IGNORANCE IS INFERIORITY

[@Ijbolivia]

@@korigang meh, inferiority isnt bliss

[@CharlesRaines4946]

Americans are so dumb that they don't know who's on Mount Rushmore, or even which country it's located in!

[@arminiusofgermania]

@@Seamus3051 except when you’re the rich guy who owns everything. If you’re the dork, who has nothing going for him, and you don’t come from rich background, then nobody cares what you have to say. The very moment you open your mouth people start falling asleep, until somebody gets tired of hearing you talk about other nonsense that doesn’t compute to the majority of people and just dump his drink from the concession stand on your head.

[@contessadunford3017]

Knowledge is Worldly Power and Not Spiritual Power.

[@TakaraStarChan]

The US education system very much is a joke. However, I grew up in a home that encouraged a love of books, reading, and our parents encouraged curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking. And our parents never discouraged us from being friends with people who were different from us. I am a Christian, and largely, people in my circles voted for Trump and I feel like I am in the minority, having voted for Kamala. And I feel like most of the people around me have no earthly idea other than Fox News how to research or gather information. People don't realize how much better other countries have it, and how much better they are actually doing in so many ways. The American bubble is keeping people from seeing truth, reason, and often having compassion for fellow man. And people here aren't able to figure out how to learn those things and learn from other people to improve our own lives here. And it is definitely to our detriment.

[@sailorVenus225]

Very interesting. It can also explain why schools insist on starting super early so kids have to get up at 5- 6 am, and be constantly sleep-deprived and underperforming.

[@Window4503]

Even when the research shows that the teenage body shifts its sleep schedule regardless of whatever discipline the teen has. But instead of listening, we have idiots who would rather ignore those facts in the name of not having “lazy youth” even though the very sleep-deprivation from going against a biological function is what’s making them “lazy.”

[@chrislisenby2681]

It is amazing how the Asian countries youth surive. They spend most of their waking hours studying. @@Window4503

[@MrChristianDT]

That part is just getting people used to the fact that they may have to have a job where they wake up at inopportune hours to do mind numbing crap that barely benefits them at all.

[@kgs2280]

And then they don’t want to even feed them lunch, either, so the kids are also hungry. It’s much more difficult to learn anything on an empty stomach. And the Education Department whines that they don’t have enough money to feed the kids. That is a huge lie - by design.

[@MrChristianDT]

​@@kgs2280The saddest thing is, when they started the concept of school lunch programs, back around the end of the 1800s, the concept of a free lunch program was built in, from day one & the economic situation of the country was pretty similar to how it is currently- lots of people making a crap ton of money, but the average life sucks & not a whole lot of income or jobs going around for a few decades.

[@RubyTheMoray]

Banning books is atrocious, I'm from Germany and it is completely unthinkable to ban books here, especially considering our history. Also, the more I hear about the US Education System, the more it sounds like the US is a privately run corporation that benefits the 1%. It's insane.

[@Ikkeligeglad]

So you find "Mein Kampf" in schools these days in Germany?

[@RubyTheMoray]

@@Ikkeligeglad As to my knowledge, the book is legal and there is a commentated version of it

[@Ikkeligeglad]

@@RubyTheMoray Thanks, good to know. Greetings from the littel neighbour up north🙂

[@marikothecheetah9342]

We will forever be grateful for Johannes Gutenberg. Without his invention of press we probably wouldn't be able to get out of medieval ages.

[@Bobrogers99]

Many states now provide funds for private and religious schools rather than supporting the public schools. They call it "freedom of choice", but if you can't afford the balance of the tuition or meet the school's admission standards, there is no choice.

[@kimallnaturelle]

Can we talk about anti intellectualism being peddled in religious institutions, too? As a Christian, every sector is a complicit

[@maxalberts2003]

Yes.

[@morrismorrison2020]

Oh god…yeah sounds like my mindset before I went through deconstruction LOL.

[@brentwalker8596]

Christianity is a business. All of those mega churches and Christian networks will do anything to keep the dollars rolling in. This includes lying, cheating, and supporting any political candidate who will help them maintain power.

[@paulhyde1834]

Yes, Jehovah's Witnesses are a good example. They've bred generation after generation of window cleaners! They're anti further education because at college your eyes are opened to new ideas and the Watch Tower brainwashing start to unravel!!

[@MsLashun]

Religion thrives off the uneducated, poor and hopeless.

[@Did.You.Forget]

I remember thinking how weird it was for Tina Fey’s character in Mean Girls to have a part time job at a restaurant where the uniform was humiliating. She was the MATH teacher (arguably the smartest of teachers) and she also ran a competitive after school math club. The one student from the outside world came in with great potential, to think uniquely, and sacrificed it to assimilate into American culture; Lindsay Lohan’s character literally dumbs herself down and just becomes more animalistic towards her peers just to be on top. There’s levels to this people.

[@Somecreacher]

Yeah I noticed that, even today, you kind of have to dumb yourself down just to rub elbows with people because the moment you know too much no one wants to hang out with you because you’re some killjoy in their eyes.

[@jillwaggoner5177]

She did end up back with the nerds!!! A calculated happy ending.

[@Sailor-Man-Dave]

Retired history/English/government teacher here (upper middle-aged white guy). The downplay of history and government education (often taught by football coaches here in TX) has played a huge part in the dumbing-down of our population. I was actually accosted by one principal/football coach for reporting the failing grades of some of his athletes, which kept them from playing under the (now watered-down) TX no-pass/no-play rule. He said history was supposed to be an easy A, and threatened me with a bad evaluation if I didn't ease up on my classes. The underfunding of public schools is criminal, and the war on education in TX has been going on for over 40 years.

[@Carol120454]

My list about why I don't like TX and will never set foot there is way too long, so Ill just say, it sucks! From a former teacher, former Republican, and damn Yankee in NE and proud of it. We're not perfect, but at least we don't have crazy politicians who promote death. The Death State where pregnant women and elderly people are just expected to die. You seem intelligent, why are you still there?

[@Sailor-Man-Dave]

@@Carol120454 Part of it is economic, and part of it is that I hate to let the bastards drive me off and win. I don't want to give up my lifelong home, my paid-off house, and virtually all of my extended family to move to some more civilized place.

[@clarkpalace]

We have been learning about how stupid texas can be over the covid times and cancun cruz activities. And that texas leads the nation

[@ruelongcha]

The concept of ivory tower intellectuals is actually quite true in my experience, but it is also by design. I went to a school district with lots of nouveau riche and old money alike. Many people from that community never so much as associate with those outside of Ivy League-Oxbridge circles. I ended up joining the military out of high school because I was an “oddball” who needed a way to pay for my own tuition, healthcare, etc. Catching up with some of my old friends who went straight through the elite school to corporate/family fund pipeline, I’m astonished now as an adult that some of them have no idea how everyday people live. One friend of mine who graduated summa cum laude from Harvard genuinely couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that college can be unaffordable to some. She vehemently denied that many people choose not to attend top schools simply because they don’t have the funds. She didn’t understand the concept of occupational hazards, and would argue that jumping out of planes carried no higher risk than white collar workers commuting to the office, or that combat PTSD was no more grave than MIT students’ exam stress. People like her are so far removed from the realities of those who make up the backbone of this nation, yet they’re the ones at the top making the big decisions (and raking in millions while they’re at it). And for them, this way is for the best. Because once you actually start understanding and empathizing with the so-called unwashed masses, the ivory tower shatters and all the wealth and privilege you built on their backs on starts looking less grand.

[@theberlintoker]

Thank you. This was very well written.

[@moneyobsessed]

decadence is when you live disconnected from reality. in the case of nations is when its elites start living in their small worlds (like nobles in versailles) losing grip to what "leading" means. its all go to rot

[@fmcg5364]

@@theberlintoker Agreed

[@JenniferRusso5]

Well said. 👍

[@maxalberts2003]

Right on.

[@AtheoGay]

As a teacher, I see clearly that knowledge is not valued. Social status is. Social media has made it worse.

[@marikothecheetah9342]

@@kyvsthewrld you a) confirmed what the person above said and b) you underlined what they said about the status :P

[@mikebronicki8264]

To be fair, social media has made EVERYTHING worse.

[@MustbeTheBassest]

Honest question, do you think this was ever not true? I think anti intellectualism is pretty new, but I suspect that the game was always about social status

[@marikothecheetah9342]

@@MustbeTheBassest There were times where knowledge=status.

[@AtheoGay]

@@MustbeTheBassest I am not sure but I do know that after 32 years of teaching kids, the thought of easy celebrity and easy wealth through social media is stronger than it was when I started teaching before social media.

[@miltonthegreat6520]

As a Canadian, I remember in the 1990s watching comedy news asking Americans some basic questions, then having a huge laugh. British and Australians TV comedy did the same things, so did other international comedy shows. It was the joke everyone outside of the US were growing to think, but never said, especially after 9/11.

[@Royalleague45]

I have found a small amount of inner peace knowing I am able to name all 3 branches of government.

[@UnashamedCaliforniagirl]

Same here ❤

[@timothyhoffman3470]

I figured out how to recreate the wild with Aquaculture~! On how to make fish to grow 5 to 6 inches a month.. Same goes for really fast plant growth also~! I am the only person on the planet, that knows what I know! With many more things you can't learn in the School'$ ~!! So I had to learn it all on my own with connecting the dots of only the facts~ I had just about every fish you can have in the tropical fish tanks, etc... To educate myself~! Because you can't get it all from any school~! So what you know can it print money~? Or can you eat it~? If not, you are getting the wrong education~! Because you can't eat money! But a fish & the best only planets you can! You just have to scrap your OPINIONS BAISED MINDSET'S To have it work! If you are not educated right you end up joining the Military or going to jail! Or be someone else'$ $lave! Because the Business man just wants you smart enough to work a job & to know nothing else! The gov needs you just smart enough to go to war'$ for profits! & all the no future worthless jobs! The question for you~^~ is with what you know~? Does it have what is needed to have something to offer other people minus your employer'$~! What do you have to offer that deals in real results of things that matter~? Knowing three Branches of the Gov will not feed you~! It all will not give you anything to offer! Because if you take money out of it all What else do you have to offer! Only you can set your self FREE~ Or you are living an elusion to what is right & wrong!~ When only the worst kind of people gravitate to being in control over us/you~!

[@DellaWatson-cz3mq]

I can't 😮😂

[@kristenkim]

Shoutout to my 8th grade civics class

[@xenotiic8356]

@@DellaWatson-cz3mq Legislative, Judicial, and Executive Legislative is Congress, Judicial is the system of courts (from local courts up a hierarchy to the Supreme Court), and the Executive is the President and the Cabinet (the advisors and heads of various government organizations)

[@talltom1129]

I'm a 64 yo white man, born and raised in Detroit. Luckily ,my parents were able to put my siblings and myself through a catholic school education. I feel like I have a slightly better educational groundwork than I may have gotten in the Detroit public schools. But there was no money for college, and I've just been barely staying above water ever since. The powerful forces that drive the actions you described are certainly in it for the money, and have no interest in this country or its future. Voting Democrats into office is just a start. We need more voices such as yourself to educate people, because at my age I'm afraid they just won't listen to me.

[@KatietheKreator]

The profits over patients thing in hospitals is so true, my mom is a doctor and she talks about the hospital administrators doing things like making obstetricians go and do checkups for other patients WHILE THEIR PATIENT IS HAVING A BABY so that they can see more patients in a shorter time. Like, imagine being in the middle of having a baby and then your doctor has to just leave you there to go do a checkup so if there's a problem you just have to lie there and wait. It's ridiculous, so many industries that are for the public benefit are run be people who care about quantity over quality and profits over people.

[@ericeverett2353]

Where’s your mom or man?

[@nsbd90now]

Every single developed country on the planet has figured out some form of universal healthcare that won't leave you bankrupt when you use it. Except for the US. That is because of the Republicans.

[@KenS_Music]

This happened to me.

[@reneedennis2011]

🤯

[@grmpEqweer]

@@KatietheKreator IMO, the for-profit model doesn't work well at all in healthcare. It's why Americans pay twice as much, per person, than the citizens of other industrialized countries.

[@lgwappo]

It seems that students today are not being taught critical thinking skills, objectivity, reason & logic but instead ideologies rooted in feelings meant to appeal to egos. They are being trained to not think. That's not an education but an indoctrination.

[@phils4634]

Hence the "Pledge of Allegiance" in ALL US Schools, every morning. If that isn't indoctrination, then I wonder what is.

[@tomservo75]

@@phils4634 The Pledge of Allegiance is simply an expression of Patriotism that everyone has (or should have) naturally. To teach that there are infinite genders, THAT is indoctrination. This is not simply a funding issue, like the 1% are choking off funding to make people dumber. Quite the opposite. The push to privatize education is a REACTION to the fact that public schools and their models have been failing us.

[@dietlindvonhohenwald448]

Of course 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@tomservo75]

@@phils4634 What's wrong with the Pledge of Allegiance? If having pride in your country is indoctrination to you, I feel sorry for you.

[@abiliv-lf9tz]

I'm not even in the US but most comments in this comment section are eerily similar to my complaints for my school 🥲

[@TimEssDub]

The people who promote the "Self-made man" are those who had wealth passed to them from their parents then used that money to monetize someone else's idea. It's always a rich and powerful collective preaching individualism to everyone.

[@josh_final]

This is not really true. It's more of a political lie. In fact around 80% of millionaires in the US are self-made.

[@marciamartins1992]

Lol my rich cousin is always preaching meritocracy because he feels he deserves what he has." Meritocracy" occurs when a deep desire is met with lucky opportunity under very fortunate circumstances. Lol good luck getting through that small hole when you're poor.

[@marikothecheetah9342]

@@marciamartins1992 no matter how I dislike Gladwell for his opinions on work ethics, I must say his book Outliers is a must to read and discusses among others, the thing you just described.

[@tomservo75]

Sure why should people be individuals and be told that they can make something of themselves and raise themselves from poverty? Far better to just whine and complain about how everyone's bad lot in life is someone else's fault. That's FAR more productive.

[@tomservo75]

@@marciamartins1992 Many many people have "gotten through that hole." I don't know how your cousin got rich but somewhere up the line, him or his parent or whatever, did something to merit that wealth. What alternative would you suggest? I'm poor so I'm just going to instead whine and complain about how everything bad in my life is someone else's fault? How does that get you anywhere?

[@jillwaggoner5177]

Those autospell-autocorrect apps do NOT get the spellings right all the time, seems more so lately. Like the designer wants you to look a little stupid if you don't know to correct. The more you read, the more spelling you will just know. Stepping away from reading is catastrophic to making sense of the world, from the smallest things to biggest issues. Thank you for this comprehensively informative video - it's in my MustShare folder.

[@mgmartin51]

I'm surprised that most Americans read at a 7-8th grade level. I thought they didn't read at all.

[@darkworldkrisdreemurr]

I’ve been saying that if the government keeps people uneducated, they’re easier to control for 1-2 years now. I’m 16

[@MissMoontree]

Also, monolinguism keeps you from foreign sources of information

[@LACHRYMA]

i live in a conservative state and local elections are coming up for governor, senator, etc. and MAN the fearmongering is FUCKING CRAZY combine that with the awful education system and youve got yourself a population thats living right under your thumb

[@grmpEqweer]

​@@MissMoontree I would love it if Spanish was taught throughout the school career (to English-only speakers). ... Politically, I don't see that happening. Have to keep the working class divided and all that.

[@marikothecheetah9342]

@@MissMoontree you have no idea. I speak English, German a bit of French and learn Japanese. Each language opens not only the way to thinking but also vast knowledge of all kind in that language - not everything is translated.

[@marikothecheetah9342]

@@grmpEqweer when I was in high school I attended a "language class" - where I learned English and German alongside on a high level and for many schools in my country it's normal. How effectively people learn these languages - well, at least they speak on intermediate level and now I work for company, where I use three languages at work. Also a normal thing for Europe.

[@BrooklynBound4]

There is a book named “The Deliberate Dumbing Down of 🇺🇸” you summarized exactly what this book context is about. Keep in mind that it all starts at home and schooling should be an accessory to education. Today no one should be stupid but here we are.

[@Skoopyghost]

I am a Icelander. I find often people uneducated in my country that's usually because I feel like I am ignorant about something. Our education world wide is bad. As a dyslexic. I know so much, but still. I think it's wrong to call victims of poor education "stupid".

[@marikothecheetah9342]

@@Skoopyghost they didn't meant that people with learning difficulties are stupid, where did you read that? :/ They said people unwilling to learn, with all the access to the knowledge that we have today are stupid, if they don't educate themselves.

[@mickal777]

Hi, the part about education starting at home is tough when you have overworked and overwhelmed parents who work at companies where doing their regular job description is considered the bare minimum. You're so drained after work that even the tiniest task of deciding what to eat for dinner is laborious. And when you're stressed overwhelmed and overworked how do you muster up energy to teach a kid or kids. It's tough.

[@BrooklynBound4]

@@mickal777 I completely understand what you are saying. It has to be by design. It is not right that we live to work and pay bills. Life is so much more than those things.

[@haaendaaz3619]

Not everyone has this opportunity

[@OnceLostForeverFound]

I work for a company that exclusively caterers to schools. One of my bosses literally told me schools are businesses. They almost had a heart attack when a school returned a $700 product w/o ordering a replacement because "we just lost out on $700". Mind you, the company grossed over $80 mil last year. What is $700 to 80 mil?? Some of these schools have $2k to spend for 6 months of supplies.

[@metalvideos1961]

thats why you americans have to buy school supplies for your teachers lol. thats how pathetic it is over there in the US.

[@jamespppyacek342]

How about $300 for a school year? That's my experience.

[@tomservo75]

If you want to know why they only have that money for supplies, go to the district or Superintendent's office and count the number of expensive cars in the parking lot. They have PLENTY of money but it's waste and corruption that eats it all up.

[@lilykatmoon4508]

I love the artwork on the wall behind you! It’s beautiful! I taught high school social studies for 18 years in Texas. The focus was always on test results rather than actual critical thought. I drank the kool-aid in my early years as a teacher, but a couple years in I was teaching an economics lesson explaining the difference of capitalism and socialism. The curriculum obviously taught capitalism = good, socialism = bad. I was explaining the free healthcare, education etc in socialist economies and one kid asked “but why is that bad?” and I didn’t have an answer. So started my journey to identifying as a socialist myself almost 30 years later, lol. I absolutely agree that our government deliberately keeps us uneducated and divided 22:57 to keep us complacent. I really learned a lot in this video, especially about the role social media plays in dumbing down the population.

[@Herman47]

*In America, 82 Nobel Prize Winners (in physics, chemistry, economics, and medicine} can endorse in a letter a particular candidate, who would go on to lose to a candidate who declared, "I love the poorly educated."*

[@SN-wi6nn]

So true! My nieces back in Europe have such a broader knowledge than my kids same age here in the US. It’s not comparable and if I’m not sitting down with my kids and teach them basic stuff I’m afraid they would be embarrassingly far behind!

[@tonyjones1560]

I had an army buddy whose girlfriend was German and hadn’t graduated from high school over there yet (I hasten to add that she was 17 and he had just turned 20). When they got engaged, she was able to come to the USA and live with his parents on the condition that she be enrolled in the local high school (we were stationed far from his parents’ home). It became apparent very early on that she was two years ahead of her American classmates in every subject except English. She was half-crazy with boredom but dropping out was simply out of the question. She lasted about four months before returning to Germany to finish her education. My friend’s dad was a skilled tradesman with his own business, so the local high school was considered “top notch,” and was still lacking. This was back in the early 1990s, and I suspect that the situation has deteriorated. But their romance, fortunately, survived. They had set the date and were planning the wedding when I was discharged.

[@xStarFoxfangirlxx]

Some of the libraries are getting dumber too. Its unrecognizable from when I was young. Every time I go there the selection of books is smaller and smaller. My city is fairly large and hasn't defunded, but the funds are horribly mismanaged. Instead of buying educational books, supporting community outreach, and offering programming they spend their money on video games, hollywood movies, surfboards, and tents that can be "checked out". Then they turn around and ask people to donate new books for the kids to read. By the time they bought 4 $300 surfboards and 10 new $70 Xbox games, the children could've had plenty to read.

[@aamateur-artist]

How is a library allowed to buy surfboards & video games?? That’s actually insane 😭

[@mubinamo]

@@aamateur-artistI’ve seen a few libraries with video games (not in my city, but in my city’s suburbs), but I’ve never heard of libraries selling tents 😂

[@mynameisreallycool1]

Surfboards? That's so random. Lmao Still, this is really sad. I'm glad this hasn't happened in the library where I am yet.

[@mynameisreallycool1]

@aamateur-artist The video games part seems a little more believable. Libraries have had movies since at least the 90s, so it makes sense that they'd have video games too. The tents and surfboards are shocking though.

[@Riley-vy5qm]

​@@aamateur-artistVideo games aren't crazy for where I live, but SURFBOARDS!?

[@pisceanbeauty2503]

This is highly disturbing. What’s most problematic is the general population is falling for the “public schools are bad” rhetoric and supporting privatizing efforts more and more versus standing up for public education and demanding improvements.

[@lonesavior]

You see it a lot in homeschooling circles too. Yeah, you got your kid out of public school because you were in a position to be able to while leaving the rest of the generation on a sinking ship.

[@Paradigm-change]

I agree with you. People should make greater demands on public education. This should not be accepted and just let go like its just something we have to live with.

[@grmpEqweer]

I have no children. I want a better education system because I am going to have to live with these kids as grownups.

[@mercedesb2299]

Thank you for stating this! I went to the "poor" public school in my town. I am still friends with many high school friends. We were not trained for the service industry, or any ther vocation. We had vocational high schools that students could opt to go to as a sort of last ditch choice if they were not attending school, or causing problems, but everyone I know went on to either own their own business, I am a professional writer, I have an ex who is a successful screenwriter. Several own construction companies. My daughter went to my high school's rival, the wealthy kid high school, so I know that the education was essentially the same. The only marked difference between her wealthy high school and my poor one were the scope of extra curricular opportunities, she got to go to San Diego for an end of junior high trip, and the Macy's parade and England's NY parade (We are in AZ). My school have any of those opportunities but that is not a matter of education that is parents having the funds to bank roll those trips. Each of her trips cost us around $2500, which I paid with earnings from my writing career that I was able to achieve with my "poor" high school education. You hit the nail on the head with social media and technology. That is one common thread running through everyone I know. We read books. I raised my daughter to love to read just as much as I do, and 6 years out of high school she works as a successful writer as well.

[@AdalbertPtak]

This idiotic behavior has been going on for a long time. Just look maybe 30 or 40 years back, and who were the best students at North American Universities? Asians! Mostly Japanese, Chinese, Koreans. Why? Not because of their great private and religious schools, but because of their good public schools, and the insistence that they actually learn in school. Insistence by their parents and teachers. How about learning other languages in school? In North America, Students have no pressure on them to learn Latin even if they want to pursue professions like Medicine or Biology. Nevermind any other language. While for instance, in China, kids begin to learn English in grade one! I don't know when they now start to learn other languages in European schools, but it was always early and probably is now.

[@zoponex3224]

I was a teacher for 20+ years, working with poor, special education students. I had had the good fortune to receive a pretty good public school education and what the school I taught at offered as an "education" was horrifying. The only saving grace in that school was that it was a vocational school - another kind of education that is undervalued in the US - so students were able to gain useful, marketable skills. But I had students - at the HS level, mind you - who did not know what sounds corresponded to which letters!! How?! It is outrageous and depressing. We, the working people, need to unite, organize, and fight the enemy, the ruling class who send THEIR kids to bougie schools. This is a fantastic video! I hope people herd the important warning you are sharing. We all need to do as Lucy Parsons demanded so long ago when she fought on behalf of the worker.

[@AdalbertPtak]

What you are saying about Americans is true. I first noticed the overall ignorance when I met a bunch of American soldiers in Europe. I found, that I knew far more about their home country than they. Nevermind Europe or the rest of the world. When it came to overall knowledge, they were far behind practically any European. Then, later, I discovered that American public schools also limp behind their European counterparts. A lot of their students not able to properly read and write, after 12 years of schooling. But then, that ought not be surprising, that financing of public schools is lacking, in order to support private and religious schools. That, pure and simple, is complete idiocy. If people don't want their kids to attend public schools, let them pay in full for the private and religious schools. So: Take financial support away from private and religious schools, and support the public schools properly!!!

[@gabrielleangelica1977]

Retired public school teacher here. Now I know why teachers are leaving the profession in massive numbers! Parents and student behavior is out of control. It's impossible to teach anything. Talk about THAT. P. S. America doesn't have a monopoly on ignorance.

[@tsgrill]

So true. I'm retired and travel the world, I spend a good a mount of time with young adults....dumb as hell! It is not just happening in US schools. But What she is not telling is that there are elites around the world pushing the dumbing down of the population. Here in the US it's call red for Ed a communist org started by a Bernie Sanders supporter. We have teachers unions in league with the EU and the WEF teaching every but how to how to think. The whole idea is to dumb down generations and then control the dummies. Look at the US version of TikTok massively different than TikTok in China. Oh and by the way it's the democratic party that has issues with letting kids and their tax dollars go to private schools of their choice.

[@ronlugbill1400]

I have been a teacher and a lawyer. I agree strongly with your main thesis that Americans are not well-educated and there are powerful interests that want it that way. I would add that schools also want it that way. Rather than emphasizing reading, writing, and analysis, schools emphasize silly games and worksheets and group work. Administrators hate to go in a classroom and see students quietly reading or writing. There is little real reading in schools. Half the time is taken up by classroom management because the students are rude and out of control. Schools often have extra-curricular activities during academic time. There is an anti-intellectual atmosphere in schools. And, I once taught ESL in a charter school, so at least in my states, charter schools do have ESL students. But the ESL students were almost all fluent in spoken English but kept failing the statewide tests so they were kept in ESL classes for 6, 7, or 8 years. They were way behind in reading and writing but were being taught basic English, which they already knew. Because I couldn't teach them what they needed, I left. Those kids were reading way below grade level and are not prepared for high school. Anyway, thanks for the video.

[@zlvirag]

agree, the education system is broken, but as pointed out, it is in the best interest of the rich and powerful to keep it that way. ,

[@mystery79]

It sucks when you realized this years ago but are powerless to change it. I have a child who needs special education services and our local public school is best equipped to handle them. There is a private option but last time I checked it cost 27k for 1 year of tuition with a side of religious propaganda. Even that private school only accepts certain students so taking resources away from the public schools means a stressed system.

[@ericeverett2353]

Get a library card. Educate yourself. You can do it too! Show them all!👍👍

[@etienne8110]

Vote. Most people are just letting things happen by either not voting or voting for those keeping the system in tracks...

[@MK_ULTRA420]

​@@ericeverett2353Library card = Hobo University degree

[@SirLangsalot]

It's interesting this concept of being a 'geek' or 'nerd' in the culture of America. It's like being thoughtful and intelligent is akin to being socially inept, ugly, unpopular etc....

[@esmeraldapooner751]

I work with children under five. The teachers often say in correct grammar. They would often say things like: A teacher left they cellphone in the teacher's lounge. But they should say: Someone left their cellphone in the teacher's lounge. At nap time they would say Susan, you need to lay down instead they should say: Susan you need to lie down .

[@Soulfullymae]

I absolutely love this 🙌🏾. My friend and I frequently have these conversations. It’s literally mind boggling how this society is ran. I’m not going to lie. Sometimes I feel a bit anxious thinking about “how” or what can be done to change things. But I have to remember that it’s these types of conversations and illuminations that are actually meaningful and making a difference. I think the more aware we start to become, the more we start to self educate, and elevate our own consciousness. It will inadvertently change the system. Slowly but surely it’ll collapse and the blissfulness of a new society may not happen in our lifetime but hopefully we can be the generation that starts it✨❤.

[@torence2525]

This comment is it. I have the exact thoughts as you, we can do our best for the next free thinkers of the future generations.

[@bobs182]

Nothing will change until the source of the problem has changed. Over the past 40 years wealthy people have gotten control of all 3 branches of government. All of the 6 major news media are controlled by a wealthy person or persons which have us believing that giving money to wealthy people will help everyone. While we fight over abortion, guns, racism, immigrants, religion, et cetera, the wealthy are robbing us blind. Like the gilded age of 100 years ago the present day excesses will eventually return to normal.

[@roundtwo3321]

​@dinyhotmail I've seen this comment more than once. Do you expect us to scroll through 307 comments to find your name? Most people just copy and paste their comments where they want them to be seen. Or this is a scam.

[@mikefobear589]

History classes in American public and Catholic schools are extremely cesored. The public library is one of the few sources of accurate info.

[@tonyjones1560]

I used to tell people that their US history classes were (still are) usually factually incomplete, inaccurate and often deliberately deceptive. I stopped getting into those discussions when I realized that most Americans are far more comfortable with lies, errors and gaps in the story than with the truth.

[@Carol120454]

It's going to get even worse if Republicans and the Project 2025 people get in. Everyone needs to read this 900 page POS. If we don't we can't say they didn't warn us. VOTE BLUE everyone. SOS.

[@warpdrivefueledbyinsomnia8165]

Privatized prisons are one of the grimmest signs of current conditions to me. We've primed kids to fail. Then, when they fail, when some inevitably turn to crime to continue to survive, we turn them into product. There's zero effort to reform them. You serve your time stewing at the society that put you there, get out and, in all likelihood, commit crime again and become a recidivist. Meanwhile, the rest of society sits around and acts like these people had a choice in the matter. You see this discourse come out when "non-criminals" discuss what continuing punishments should happen to people AFTER THEY'VE SERVED THEIR TIME; things like loss of voting rights, lack of functional halfway housing, public acceptance of most industries refusing to hire former inmates without consequence. Most people do not want to be around people who have served even a single day of their life in prison, and they do not want to build any sort of support structure to get them out of it. As far as most of them are concerned, if you're an idiot at any point in your entire life - even for a day - and by their exclusive definition of idiocy, you need to be doomed to a hellish life of out-of-sight, out-of-mind, and that you deserve to be bought and sold.

[@motleycritique8128]

Prison: the place where slavery is still legal in the US. We really need to fix the 13th amendment to make slavery illegal ALWAYS.

[@alexcarter8807]

We have what's called the "school to prison pipeline" and at one point I was probably headed, with my two younger siblings, right down that chute. I decided to get us out of there and while life was still not easy, at least we didn't end up slaves in prison.

[@SAL-l8b]

I agree, It costs far less to educate people than to keep them in prison!

[@jamespppyacek342]

It's true... have sex with just ONE goat...! (LOL, old Scottish joke) But I get your point. For-profit prisons have the incentive to incarcerate more, not fewer, people. Kind of bass-ackwards y'ask me.

[@warpdrivefueledbyinsomnia8165]

@@jamespppyacek342 The goat joke is an awesome reference. First time I head it, I laughed so hard, and it speaks such a clear truth about how people get labeled by society. People tend to want to remember someone for the worst day of their life, not the best.

[@solar2607]

I think responsibility also falls on the parents. I have two children whom I started guiding very early in their lives. I would like to clarify that I live in another country; but what you have described in your informative video is not dissimilar to what has been going on here. I used to check their school books and correct the misinformation they were being fed. One thing that made me really uncomfortable was that schoolchildren were not being taught anything substantial about world history and how the world works today. I have spent an enormous amount of my time using every resource I could find to help my children learn how (and perhaps more importantly) what to learn. This process is ongoing today, and they are both adults now with jobs. I am subscribed to your channel and have forwarded your video to my daughter by email. Thank you so much for your efforts.

[@walterspaceman5592]

Ever been to the state of Arkansas ? AS REMARKABLY, EXACTLY QUOTED HERE: " Their poor, their demoralized, and their frightened. ". AND you suddenly realize, OBVIOUSLY THIS IS NO ACCIDENT, IT IS PLANNED, DELIBERATE ! ! ! It is a freak out to visit today, with television and internet, a world 50 years in the past, where time is frozen. You literally can not believe it. You time traveled. We were as whites visiting walking down the street, some higher income folks gave us a snear, and wanted us to put our plantation help eyes down. When we figured out what just happened, it was very hard to contain our insulted beyond comprehension anger.

[@RobertWGreaves]

I am a retired college professor. I taught at college for 15 years. Each year the students coming into class were less able to do college level work. To my surprise, the students who were home schooled were better at studying, but not as informed about scientific methods.

[@jamespppyacek342]

Interesting. I've been in and out of the teaching profession in various venues and what I see is an increase in bad behavior, apathy, and emotional outbursts. MUCH more Special Ed kids than there used to be.

[@julians9763]

It is sad that Universities and Colleges are admitting and enrolling students who are less able to do college level work. I remember in my younger years I was told that teriary educated people were much more intellectual than the people who are not tertiary educated. I noticed that too many don't know beyond their degree, and. only know extra when they feel like it, or are in their favoured social group or subculture.Some act like a dysfunctional family in affluent surroundings. Never expect teriary educated idiots to educate, or set shining examples to people who are working class. Thank you for letting me know that some home schooled students are not well informed about scientific methods.

[@julians9763]

​@@jamespppyacek342 I can understand what you mean by Special Ed. In primary or elementary school, I was almost sifted to. a special school . Now it is call the special school, special development school. Forget the students with Down Syndrome or retardation. Put a child that has learning difficulties, absenteeism due to doctor appointments, or does not fit with a certain group at school, and in special development school the first lesson will be practice bad behaviour and retardation enhancement.

[@andrewmakar2035]

Another overlooked factor I observed while working at a charter school. Charter schools are new entities and don't have the large endowments or city money that public schools have. However the government money (at least in California) was disbursed equally over 12 months (and new updates happened in February) . This force a lot of charter school to borrow money in September and August ( New supplies, insurance downpayments, ordering tests) because they don't get enough money at the correct times.. This system leads some charter schools to spend significant amounts of their money on Financing costs (I've heard estimates of 10% being normal from a consultant). And of course in Los Angeles, the companies that invested in charter school debt were part of hedge funds owned by pro-charter politicians. So every dollar diverted form public schools ends up sending only a portion of that to be used for charter school students, a chunk is for the investors.

[@just1desi]

Do they not get any funding in slow months say july august when closed that could carry over?

[@andrewmakar2035]

They do, but most of them start living annual budget to annual budget, so the money in July and August is going to pay off the tail end of the costs from the previous year, as well as the interest on the financing. They school isn't funded to 'save' money for the next of these cycles

[@linmonPIE]

This is such an important conversation to have. It reminds me of that scene from A Bug’s Life when Hopper was making that speech about why it’s a bad idea to let an ant get away with standing up to them. “If one stands up to us then they all might stand up.” It’s a lesson we should all learn.

[@naediggs4816]

Me too!! That scene lives rent-free in my mind!!!++

[@cashnelson2306]

The fact your best example for this is a children’s movie says a lot right there, this comment is incredibly American

[@linmonPIE]

@@cashnelson2306 I take wisdom wherever it comes from. Why should it matter if it comes from a kids movie or some philosopher? It’s the same lesson.

[@AndrewOliverHome]

Tony Benn, I can’t get enough of his work. Awesome thinker and politician.

[@ielee1765]

The American ruling elite had keep the poor poorer, its poor citizen uneducated for decades. The elite don't like peer competition.

[@racheldobbs2028]

I'm glad that you started with our endemic anti-intellectualism, a problem we've had in our country from our roots and something we fight against often. It's an ongoing problem and as you've pointed out, it's got worse but I also think it goes hand in hand with another issue--the break down in the sense of collective responsibility as a society because the idea that public education is a public good or that libraries are a public good or that having an educated population--even a basic educated population is a public good seems to also be going away to a degree and that's alarming. Instead, due to the extreme polarization, we're seeing a total breakdown in that idea so it's "well, we don't need public education. I can send my kid to charter school/private school/homeschool so that they won't need to hear all that liberal" speak and without a care that not everyone can afford such things at least that's how it seems to me, there's a lack of desire to put money into them if it helps wider society anymore and that's alarming and it does stem from the rot they're being told on social media, FOX news, and other stuff.

[@calebcase80]

If everyone went to home school, they couldn't keep us in line.

[@murk4552]

​@@calebcase80That's where it starts, smooth brain. Most parents are idiots and have no idea of basic common sense, or scientific literacy. Home schooling is supported by bureaucratic clowns who stay uneducated about how the world works.

[@pamsalley4158]

Thanks for this. It's spot on.

[@thescholarsjourney661]

Crap like this is why I'm super glad my parents could afford to homeschool me; I frankly think I got a better education from that and the internet than I could have gotten from public school. (It also helped because I'm neurodivergent and homeschooling allowed that to be accommodated.)

[@thescholarsjourney661]

@@LittleDuck426 That's absolutely true, and I don't mean to take away from people who have had that experience. But for my family, I definitely think it was the correct decision.

[@louwren429]

You can homeschool your child for free in GA

[@SpitGoblin]

when its laid out in front of us like this... how the hell does this even make sense!!? and how have more people NOT caught onto this yet???

[@dinnerwithfranklin2451]

That is kinda the whole point. With an educated and thinking population this would not be possible.

[@MrLuigiFercotti]

The hardest thing to ingrain into youth is curiosity. The bigger issue is not the quality of our schools, it’s that far too many kids just don’t give a fuck.

[@ariaharfang4437]

I'm glad to have found this video. I'm French, English is a second langage to me. On numerous occasions I saw American's people struggling with reading comprehension. They misunderstanding the idea of a post for example. A bad level at reading, made them so much easier to manipulate. Harder for them to seek compromise. They don't see the nuances of the world, only the world in a manichean way

[@opnuul]

it's hard to get people to mobilize for the purpose of improvement of one's self and environment en masse. But! active participation in local, healthy social circles can make a huge difference! It's WAY too easy to stay inside all day and do nothing with anyone, but going out on a limb to meet people is power. there's true strength in community.

[@CutYourBangs9]

Needed to hear someone put this into words. As a college kid who commutes, I find it difficult to make connections at school at times, but I've been pushing myself to talk to more people, go to events, join clubs/ organizations close to home or on campus. It's made an impact for the better on understanding other people and myself, just pushing myself to get out of my comfort zone.

[@QuantaBee]

I went to public school, but I felt like it was never enough. My parents got me reading early, and fostered curiosity. The elites want to crush curiosity, because curious people question things. The system is so flawed and needs reform so badly, but capitalism says "NO!". It's so sad. Children deserve the best for their future, and they're actively trying to sabotage that.

[@bbbartolo]

As an 80 y/o ex-academic, i applaud your videos and think you can never have too big an audience. I’d only add that critical thinking, so essential to reversing the further dumbing down of the generations, has to be acquired the old-fashioned way, through the back-and-forth of classroom exchange. Don’t see how it get very far advanced online. You’ve identified huge problems and i can only say best of luck solving them all. You’re certainly doing your part

[@jamespppyacek342]

Except you can rarely have conversations about anything even slightly controversial in K-12 classrooms. Parent disagrees with evolution/ climate change/ birth control/. slavery and so and and you're done.

[@dino0228]

This is brilliant! Lots of good research and strong points. We need to stop the funding of private companies and restructure how public education is paid for to make it fair and high quality for all. (I will say, though, that a lot of people don’t know that many smartphones have a built-in dictionary: just highlight the word and select “look up” from the menu. I didn’t know about it for years until I accidentally discovered it, and now I use it quite literally every day - any time I don’t know what a word means - because it’s so much easier than I could imagine.)

[@Chelzebelles]

Thank You, Queen. I have been ranting a lot of what you have said for over a decade! My grandmother was an educator since the 1960's... She had been retired for years, but overspent in her grief after grandfather passed... So she had to head back to teach around 2010... She was SO SHOCKED & SAD about how much the curriculum had been gutted. She told me the top directive USED to be teaching children HOW to think for themselves/problem-solve... She said now the directive is to train students to follow orders & memorize what they are told to think It is horrible Thank you for sharing your Light & all your hard work! 👏🏻🙌🏻🫶🏻 God Bless

[@craigthomas2497]

In my retirement I have taken up substitute teaching in middle and high school. The single biggest factor I have seen in student success is having the goal to go on to higher education. Without that goal they just won't make any effort to learn. Whether or not they go on to college, they need the goal to inspire them to effort, otherwise they just throw their assignments away. It isn't the lack of supplies, or low salaries, it is the lack of consequences. If you don't do your work you get fired but if you don't do your schoolwork you don't get failed.

[@stinky-smelly]

Why don't these kids want to go to college? Your take is missing a lot of stuff

[@mrs.ana93]

It’s a bit hard to get excited about possibly going 100K+ into debt for a higher education degree (this is taking into consideration inflation and compound interest rates). Most people pay 2-3x the actual loan amount that they borrow for their degree. And then once you get a job you’re still struggling to survive. You said you are retired, so I’m assuming you were one of the people who got a good education at a good price, a house when it was affordable, etc. Times are different. Education or no education the system is broken and everyone is struggling inside of it.

[@MK_ULTRA420]

In hindsight I should have just gotten the GED and become a KZbinr instead of getting a Physics degree. I could have graduated high school at age 16 if I knew college was a scam.

[@tonyjones1560]

@@MK_ULTRA420It could be worse. I graduated from college with a *political science* degree in 1986. Vocationally, absolutely worthless (but hey, I picked it). The only value of it now is that I know how far off the rails the system is; the authors of the Constitution wouldn’t recognize this place today (and not because of technology). Frankly, IMO “the American experiment,” such as it was, is just about over.

[@Oblique_Lefreak]

Too many people are missing the foundations of logic, and have no methodology to separate what is verifiable truth or baseless assertion in a reliable manner. It was an absolute revelation when I took a philosophy course as an adult. Excellent video!

[@newsesofworlds543]

There is also the fact that there is a large difference in quality between public schools. It’s often not just a public/private split, but also the fact that public schools in wealthy areas are often orders of magnitude better than those in poorer areas.

[@UnashamedCaliforniagirl]

This ❤

[@spocktiberius2456]

@@newsesofworlds543 You’re absolutely right. I believe this is due in large part to differences in priorities, expectations and motivation.

[@AndreaHausberg-yt5qx]

As European the state of Americans' education is mind boggling indeed. It's such a big difference and so sad as we're western allies and depend on each others support.

[@trinstonmichaels7062]

I hate that the USA school situation was designed to make us stupid.

[@nerdymaple2637]

I can't believe your channel is only as big as it is. Your content is very well researched and presented. Keep up the great work!

[@katyterry4881]

The content in this video is not even well researched. She says 80% of the GDP comes from the service industry as evidence of poor education. It seems she doesn't understand that healthcare, finance, IT, education etc are all service industries that employ highly skilled personnel. The service industry doesn't only mean low paying retail jobs. She doesn't offer any good evidence to there being an actual conspiracy to lower the quality of education. Just offers some quotes from rich people from the past whose impact on the current education can be quantified.

[@Chitownreader]

Living abroad, I have so many people around me saying that Americans are just so dumb and literally saying they hate us sometimes (which yes, we are an imperial power who has done many bad things). But they're always shook when I speak out and say they have no idea how our country works against us and the lack of access to education. It pisses me off 🙄

[@Reckoning2943]

That’s what I’m actually saying to others when they bash Americans. They’re victims of their own system, so instead of hating the people, you should hate the system.

[@darkrooster5751]

@@Reckoning2943 Victims? They chose this, they voted for this, they supported it with their wallet, they supported this every step of the way and now want to act like victims. Americans are as much victims as Russians are and Nazis were.

[@favouro6344]

Funny excuses 😂😂😂

[@hamishhazlewood7198]

Im still in high school in scotland and we just received a few talks about credit scores, interest rates, loans, websites lile klarna, budgeting etc. So helpful, cant believe america doesnt get that.

[@Abner.me.obviously]

Charter schools get that I was in one

[@raumarsene9910]

I just graduated from an American highschool but ours does have an entire class dedicated to this topic that is madatory to graduate

[@snoopstheboss994]

Late response..... I just wanted to say: they DO get it. That is why they don't want to people to learn about it....

[@K.C-2049]

"education is the key to social mobility." I mean... it used to be, but post 2008 when many millennials were graduating with the bachelor's degrees we were explicitly told would get us good jobs, the goalposts shifted and we needed to get a masters to get anywhere. then the goalposts shifted again to where our liberal arts degrees were actually completely useless, and to get out of the service industry we would need to re educate ourselves out of our own pockets while labouring under crippling student debt already. the privatization of education turned it into yet another capital venture, one spewing out millions of dollars of student debt interest, to which the state happily said "fantastic." meanwhile, we were gaslit into believing that all the critical thinking we had been educated to do was wrong, and told we'd be fine if we just work hard enough. public education conditioned us to be wage slaves, private education gave us little other option.

[@robertturner5848]

As a Canadian who had the opportunity to teach in the US, i was appalled at the lack of instruction in critical thinking skills.

[@adriansiira7012]

Thank you so much for addressing important topics. A lot of people are aware of these issues, but actually having them articulated in a comprehensive way, in common terms, probably helps a lot of us better understand.

[@leanykakicsi6152]

A good system needs well trained, well paid and well mannered teachers (Well mannered meaning eg. motivating, supportive, non-abusive, etc)

[@melzerr]

Public charter school teacher here to say the part about lottery or selection process is not always the case for charter schools. They are very vast in the ways the organizations run. The charter schools I've worked with essentially arent working IMO. They are open to all but in order to get bigger bucks they take students with all sorts of IEPs and disorders that we literally do not have the resources for. The current school I work in has no guidence counselor for example. There's so much missing and so many safety violations so they are in fact no performing better than a public school. It is a very generalized idea that all charters are doing amazing and getting the money, some are awful and should be shut down. Signed, a conflicted educator

[@tomservo75]

Isn't it also a generalization that charters do not work because you've had a bad experience at a few? There is unfortunately a war on charters by the powerful in government. The parents (people who pay the taxes) want more of them but governments resist because they're in the pockets of greedy teachers' unions.

[@piobmhor8529]

I’m a Canadian and a product of the public education system here during the 1960s and 70s. We’ve had a similar decay in education here, but nowhere near as drastic as to what you Americans have witnessed. The first casualty was critical thinking. When I was in high school, we studied similar eras of history, but through the lenses of British, American and Canadian sources. A byproduct of this was to question what it is that you’re reading. Is it factual? Is there a bias in the author’s viewpoint? When we would then discuss with the teacher why there were differences, he would say that “now you’re beginning to think. Most people don’t think, they THINK they think but what they’re doing is just rationalizing based on their own knowledge and biases.” To our young minds, we really didn’t understand what he was saying, but he was sowing the seeds of critical thinking in our young minds. Don’t blindly believe the first thing you hear, see or read…investigate for yourself…always question everything, and never forget one of the most important words in any language “Why?”. That has all but disappeared in today’s education. Children are being taught WHAT to think, rather than HOW to think. I suppose it truly is by design.

[@Herman47]

*In America, its new president in 2025, will ACTUALLY WANT TO GET RID OF THE FEDERAL DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION.*

[@joshuagalactica4468]

Test scores don't matter. Grades mean nothing. If you can spark your interest to learn how to learn. You've already surpassed any student from any American school or college. Just don't EVER stop learning.

[@Dont14-r4k]

Yeah the design of education in the US has been to follow instructions and replicate them.

[@KAye633]

@@kyvsthewrldthis is incorrect

[@CsHyper]

Things won't change because politicians will be like "MURICAAA" and "That's Communist!"

[@grobbelaarthibaud]

European Economics scare Americans.

[@dinnerwithfranklin2451]

You are exactly correct.

[@akiram6609]

Things will not change not because politicians say things but because the people accept what those politicians say and do, too uneducated to know that they are being exploited.

[@marciamartins1992]

Our politicians are purchased by corporations that's why.

[@awsumcreations7604]

And it works 😢

[@airbrushken5339]

I was born in 1949. My Mom was a nurse and one day she told me; "What ever you want to know and/or how something was done, there is a person, somewhere on this planet who probably did it and may have wrote how he did it... I was around 11 years old and she was spot on... till this day I belong to several libraries.

[@williamrutherford9997]

Thank you for doing this video! So many times I have wondered why American education should be such a drag when we live in such a fascinating world.

[@Savvyann007]

Omg I'm so glad I found your video! I have been saying this for years! But my words are often received with hostility or fall upon deaf ears. I realize this all sounds negative, as I've been labeled. But if we don't acknowledge and address this dire educational situation, how can we fix it?! Thank you, thank you, thank you for posting this. I doubt I can get anyone in my small southern town to watch your video, but I'm so glad it's out here for people, including me, to see. ❤❤❤

[@tonyjones1560]

“Why do you hate America?” I’ve been asked that more than once from just about any social demographic you can think of. Or I was, until I decided to stop beating my head against the wall…

[@julianrouse2434]

As a retired teacher of science in the uk this is shocking and scary. thank you for raising my awareness

[@erincorcoran5936]

Another thing I think is worth mentioning is the intense sense of competition built into our education system. Students are constantly being pitted against each other for grades and placements as the best in the school/district/county/etc. Even the way curves work can create friction between students who dont want other's good scores to backfire on them. This intense hyper-individualism and idea that its good to prioritize only your own personal success is fundamental to stopping the building of community. Community that would help teach people that we can ALL win together rather than the idea we're taught that its me vs you. It primes your population to always accept whatever "other" you tell them is a threat, and make sure that organizing for change is a lot harder.

[@NotMe-st8qc]

Those are very communist ideas. Of course it is student against student. That is because we all do NOT have the same intellectual capacity to learn. School should not be a group learning experience. This would bring the level of education down to the level of the dumbest student. Competition in school IS extremely important. You must have been one of those kids that got participation trophies. You are part of the problem.

[@AsterFoz]

The land of the free! Free from healthcare, education and safety.

[@kiwicol7383]

Free from thinking about anything 😂😂

[@Jerry10939]

Great video. George Carlin observed this ages ago and spread it through comedy, unfortunately it didn’t go anywhere. We need to get political, and push this issue, provided Kamala Harris wins. I think we should bring back a classical education. With serious critical thinking skills. Along with Civics and a good dose of honest history. We can’t sugarcoat history, children need to know the good and the bad of our past. We need to make people financially literate. I think we should push for reform in the legal system. And laws written in plain English. I read a history article on the civil war law by the former Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren and couldn’t make heads or tales of his article, it was in a historical journal not a legal one. I have no problem reading college level material but his article was legal doublespeak to me. And left the reader wondering what they just read.

[@CJSmalls-lm7yz]

It's really depressing that students with IEPs are having their services cut first. Earlier today I overheard 2 of my teachers talking about how this work to rule due to declining pay and not having a contract was going to impact the IEP, so as their TA and as someone with an IEP, I felt obligated to stand up as the only student in the room. It gave everybody a chance to think about the reality that everyone was getting screwed over, not just the teachers and not just the students. Maybe one day most people will realize that, and we could work our way up the system and break the chains that hold us back.

[@garybarr1045]

Amen, Ashley. Keep the discussion going. America needs it. Now in our overpopulated and diminishing resources planet, we have a much more "keep them stupid" syndrome. The battle to tear apart the public school system as "inadequate" is arising from the elite who want the "peasants" to have only enough knowledge and information to maintain their "slave hood" status.

[@Heyguhh]

Parents need to teach their kids too. You expect teachers to teach your kids everything. Stop having your kids on ipads all day and teach them how to read. I knew how to read and understand nonfiction books by the time i was 5-6. Its no excuse for your kids to be 3-4 grade levels behind. You cant blame the government for everything. Yes you may be tired after work, but if you’re gonna have kids, you have to make sacrifices 🤷🏾‍♀️ sorry if i sound rude, but its so frustrating

[@gingercake0907]

Yeah, like no one can go on line or go to a library and read books. Who’s stopping individuals from educating themselves? It’s always easy to blame others than to look in the mirror at ourselves. No one is stopping anyone from educating themselves.

[@Chef-Eberhart]

Thank You from the bottom of my heart. I will replay this video every single chance I get. I am a huge believer in showing how the system is rigged and stacked against us to keep us poor. This video is foundational in highlighting the absolute truth about our plight in this country. Please continue to produce more content in this area. I shared this with 3 of my young adult children. I have been preaching this to them for years now! but you say it flawlessly. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!

[@fairywingsonroses]

I'm not super savvy on the inner-workings of how charter schools get funded, but I will say as an educator and parent who comes from an area with large families and class sizes that it can be nice to have options. I can't imagine how much bigger class sizes would be if we didn't have charter schools where I live. They just can't build public schools fast enough. My own child is neuodivergent, and the traditional school model hasn't worked well for us (like REALLY hasn't worked well). A few of the charter schools in the area offer Montessori, Waldorf, performing arts, and even agricultural programs that traditional public schools don't or can't offer. These schools cater to students who struggle with the traditional school model, and the waitlists to get in to some of these schools are hundreds of students long, which indicates a strong desire from parents and families to have an option other than the "traditional" model. Not only that, but I've taught in a few charter schools, and while some are poorly run and can be worse than the local public schools, others are phenomenal schools with tight-knit communities and unique learning opportunities. This isn't to say that I think we shouldn't or can't offer similar programs in public schools (I would be elated if more public schools offered alternate learning programs and options), but I do think there is a place for charter schools (or at least alternative programs) in our society, particularly for students who need something different in order to maximize their learning. Overall, I think this goal could be achieved with better funding and a general overhaul of the public school system, but in the meantime, I think charter schools can offer something that public schools cannot.

[@factcheckingyourmum]

Look up zach lahn and wonder school. Theres podcasts out there its m8nd blowing! I want this for my kid.

[@dinnerwithfranklin2451]

Where I live charter schools are paid by the government the same amount per student that the public schools gets. The fees are just on top of that. So charter schools literally help defund the public school system. All that building schools, hiring better teachers, and supplying materials requires is money. In a country where 60% of every single discretionary dollar the government spends goes to the military it is obvious that there is lots of money out there. The problem isn't lack of dollars, it is where the dollars go.

[@linmonPIE]

I don’t think anyone would have a problem with charter schools if the public schools were well funded. Personally, I don’t think the government should be funding charter schools at all UNTIL public schools are funded properly. Maybe an exception could be to provide funding only for those charter schools that offer special needs programs and then only to that program. That said I do think these schools are providing a valuable service of experimentation for education for what works best. Ultimately public schools will need a model to copy if it’s going to be reformed.

[@dinnerwithfranklin2451]

@@linmonPIE You make a good point. They could be good examples. However if, like me, you see charter schools as a step to privitization that isn't ever going to be the goal. The goal is and always has been to hand over huge amounts of public funds to corporations.

[@linmonPIE]

@@dinnerwithfranklin2451 We’re in agreement, but we don’t know what the future’s going to look like. Everything’s in a state of flux. I’m still hoping for the best and that we’ll somehow see a way out of the mess. Call me delusionally optimistic 😅

[@Lunar_willoww]

I'm so glad this video came to my recommended! I consider myself a patriot-- not for America, but for the America I was PROMISED. We need to take back the America we were promised by force. Also, I haven't factchecked this, so take it with a pinch of salt, but I've heard federal prisons are required to keep maximum capacity or the state can be fined. Which sounds... strange if true...

[@highseas11605]

Agreed!!!

[@saturationstation1446]

with respect, the america you were taught about never existed. we've always been completely under the control of europe. there's literally no other reason why we would take huge economic losses to help them rebuild after wars we had nothing to do with starting.

[@Lunar_willoww]

@@saturationstation1446 At this rate, America just feels like a corpse and the other countries are each taking pieces. I want to believe there's some hope, but it's hard to say how much anyone can reasonably have.

[@marciamartins1992]

Well it was a colony until the natives were genocided. It's ugly, and people hate being reminded. Now we support that same idea in the middle east. Yikes! I guess the solution is, we have to be a little bit more like them, and they have to be a little bit more like us. Assimilatetion, I'm an immigrant American.

[@andrewmiller159]

I don't remember ever being promised any type of America!! All I remember is being told you are responsible for your own life and that life is not fair!!

[@lupindraco422]

This is sadly true, our government cares more about looking good on paper than actually functioning.

[@ADude-f3z]

A prime example of this is the way that “woke”, i.e. “awake and aware”, became a derogatory term…

[@MsPrice-pn2py]

*Why cant I find friends like her. Great job on this video sis* This Teacher Subscribed ❤

[@vaderladyl]

maybe changing the circle of people you move around?

[@SMtWalkerS]

This is fascinating and something that I never thought about deeply before. Thank you for this presentation. It's disturbing.