Lazy American Students: Boston Globe Editorial

[BobG]

Not just in school.
I'm listening to a celebrity "things I've never done" type program.
A presenter of trendy history programs is claiming that they have never been able to assemble IKEA furniture - somehow in a world where nobody would admit not being familiar with every political and artistic event for centuries it's perfectly acceptable and even 'cool' to claim not to understand the Allen key.

How could a history buff not know that Tim Allen invented the Allen key?!

 

[gravenewworld]

Here's the longer version:





HAHAHAHH "Who is Tony Blair?"


"I don't know man. A skateboarder?"

 

[gravenewworld]

Scientist at Work | Jon Miller
Scientific Savvy? In U.S., Not Much

While scientific literacy has doubled over the past two decades, only 20 to 25 percent of Americans are "scientifically savvy and alert," he said in an interview. Most of the rest "don't have a clue." At a time when science permeates debates on everything from global warming to stem cell research, he said, people's inability to understand basic scientific concepts undermines their ability to take part in the democratic process.


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/30/s...r=1&ex=1125547200&en=631977063d726261&ei=5070

 

[mgb_phys]

How could a history buff not know that Tim Allen invented the Allen key?!

That got me wiki'ed, I didn't realize that the one true Robertson screw came first.

 

[Blenton]

or the shape of a single freakin' constellation.

Well its kinda hard when i look up at the night sky and see nothing. I wouldn't be surprised if kids growing up today had no knowledge of stars either.

 

[Mk]

think everyone should be able to find every country in the world on a map. That should be basic geography.

Really? Pop-quiz how may countries are there ?

The "number of countries" in the world changes every year. Areas are always in dispute, the question of whether a state is sovereign will be answered differently depending on who you ask, and some bodies refuse to recognize other bodies. I've seen the numbers recently placed anywhere between 192 and 217. So really, you producing that question probably only shows your own lack of knowledge.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

I would say part of the problem is cultural, where excelling in academia is generally perceived negatively among your peers in school.

I actually do not think that this is very true. Your peers in school do not like people who look down on them or make them feel stupid. When I was in school the only nerds that got beat up and messed with were the ones that treated jocks and preps poorly. My friends and I were total geeks and got along with just about everyone no matter how well or poorly we did in our classes.

One day one of the jocks in my high school flipped out and put one of the nerds into the hospital for a week. Everyone said that it was because the kid was a nerd or because (as many people suspected) he was gay. One of my best friends is a geek and bisexual and got along with that same jock just fine. The only difference between my friend and the other kid was that the other kid was an uptight snob.

 

[Eigenslam]

I'm not going to lie, I'd lay right in there with the group of lazy American students. I've only made it this far because everything prior to college (even the first year of college, really) was an absolute joke in terms of difficulty. I'm not going to say "my intellect wasn't challenged and the school system failed me! Waaah!" because I could have easily picked up a book and learned more advanced stuff on my own, but really? I'm a teenager and prefer to spend my time doing other things. Important, scholarly things like Grand Theft Auto.

However, the people in those videos...words can not describe (that or my lexicon fails me (damn I hope I used that word correctly)) the massive amount of /facepalm I feel as I watch them struggle.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

Here's the longer version:





HAHAHAHH "Who is Tony Blair?"


"I don't know man. A skateboarder?"

And then there are those lazy uneducated english as well eh?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_mkwB9ayK4&feature=related