{"id":259062,"date":"2022-09-24T07:35:12","date_gmt":"2022-09-24T07:35:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=259062"},"modified":"2022-09-26T07:34:54","modified_gmt":"2022-09-26T07:34:54","slug":"dumber-than-the-average-human","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=259062","title":{"rendered":"Dumber Than the Average Human"},"content":{"rendered":"

Larry Romanoff \u2013 The Unz Review Sept 23, 2022<\/strong><\/h1>\n

For background, the Boston school system<\/strong> had for many years grappled with the problem of how to assign students to Boston\u2019s public schools that could both let children attend one of the few good schools in the system while also finding one close to their homes. They also wanted to ensure that students from poor neighborhoods had the same chance of attending good schools as those from more affluent neighborhoods. The school system was divided into zones where many students were bused far from home but still attended the lower-quality schools. A newly-appointed 27-member committee tried yet again to find a solution but after months of examination and debate became hopelessly entangled in what were largely irrelevancies, and again could find no solution. But a 24-year-old Chinese student named Peng Shi who was in a Ph.D. program at MIT and who was looking for a thesis topic, attended the meetings, asked a few questions and gave them the obvious solution of eliminating their school zones and applying a different model for selection. After some study, the committee voted overwhelmingly to adopt Shi\u2019s model, calling it \u201ca breakthrough moment\u201d for Boston\u2019s school system.<\/p>\n

According to an NYT<\/strong> article reporting on the event: \u201cThat it took a dispassionate outsider with \u2026 no political agenda to formulate the model is a measure of the complexities facing urban school districts today\u201d, but that is a baldly dishonest statement. Yes, it took a \u2018dispassionate outsider with no political agenda\u2019 to solve the problem, but the problem was not \u201ca measure of the complexities facing American school districts\u201d but one more indication that (a<\/strong>) creativity, independent thinking, problem-solving and all the other good words do not in fact exist in the US educational system, and (b<\/strong>) adult Americans really are dumber than the average human.<\/p>\n

After multiple repeated attempts over many months, the solution was not only not obvious but non-existent, to the 27 adult American \u201ceducators\u201d who \u201clead the world in innovation and critical thinking\u201d. But after only 30 minutes the solution was obvious to Shi, a 24-year-old Chinese kid, a rote-learning robot whose educational system taught him only to memorise and not to think, who knew only how to produce high scores but not to apply any knowledge, someone with no creativity and no imagination.[2]\u00a0 <\/a>[3]<\/a><\/p>\n

We know all the criticisms. China\u2019s children are taught only to memorise and not to think or question. They are rote-learning robots without capacity for original thought. They know only how to produce high scores but not to think. They have no creativity, no imagination, no concept of innovation. The classes are too large; there is no individual attention paid to students. The entire Chinese educational system is corrupt and failing. But this is all nonsense, yet one more foolish myth propagated by the Americans. There has never been any evidence to document such claims which, like so many others, are fabricated solely on an imaginary moral superiority.<\/p>\n

America Leads the World. Or Does it?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The quality of American education, as we will see, is far lower than the world has been led to believe, and the quality in China is in many cases much superior to that in the US. Americans might care to ask why it is that Chinese elementary or high school students moving to the US are often promoted by one or two grades. The reason is that they know so much more than their American counterparts they would suffer terminal boredom if forced to remain at their prior grade level.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

If we refer to the PISA tests, Shanghai\u2019s math scores were 119 above the OECD average, or the equivalent of nearly three years of schooling, with reading and science exceeding the OECD average by about 1.5 years of schooling. And in some cases, the American students were behind the OECD average by approximately the same number of years as the Chinese were ahead.[4] <\/a>[5]<\/a><\/p>\n

The myth persists that the US has always led the world in quality of education, but this is nothing more than branding propaganda and part of the indoctrination process of American moral superiority that is wholly unsupported by facts. Consider this quote from an American education expert:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe US has never been first in the world, nor even near the top, on any international tests<\/strong>. Consistently over the past half century, American students have typically scored near the median at best, but most often being in the bottom quartile. The historical record indicates that American elementary students are only average at best, their performance degrading year by year until high school seniors perform last in almost all international tests. <\/strong>The International Science Studies that began in high schools in the late 1960s and early 1970s found that 14-year-olds were below average and seniors scored last of all countries. In the International Mathematics tests that began in the 1960s, American high school seniors scored last of all nations. In the 1982 International Mathematics Study, high school seniors placed at the bottom on almost every test. In terms of the PISA tests, American students \u2013 placing last \u2013 are simply following the pattern that has been consistent for the past 50 years or more.\u201d<\/strong> [5a]\u00a0 <\/a>[6] <\/a>[7]<\/a><\/p>\n

The National Assessment of Education Progress, or NAEP \u2014 called the Nation\u2019s Report Card \u2014 is an exam given to fourth-grade and eighth-grade students throughout the country by the National Center for Education Statistics, a branch of the U.S. Department of Education. Only 36 percent of fourth-grade students and 34 percent of eighth-grade students in 2015 scored high enough to be considered proficient or above in reading. In math, 40 percent of fourth-grade students and 33 percent of eighth-grade students scored proficient or above. Many experts have stated that Americans are \u201cuneducated to a degree unmatched by many third-world countries\u201d.<\/strong>[8]<\/a><\/p>\n

Recent tests in the New York area show that less than half of all students are proficient in English and Math, and in some areas the number is as low as 13%. This is true in most of the country, literacy being marginal in most American secondary schools. In an article published in the San Jose Mercury in 2001, it was documented that 75% of California high school seniors could not read well enough to pass their exit exams.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A quote from one news report: \u201cIn October of 2013 a new global report issued by the OECD<\/strong> found that Americans ranked well below the worldwide average in just about every measure of skill. In math, reading, and technology-driven problem-solving , the United States performed worse than nearly every other country\u2026 The US would have looked even worse if China had been included<\/strong> in this study. In basic literacy \u2013 the ability to understand and use basic written text \u2013 80% of Americans reached only a level 2 out of 5. And in math and numerical proficiency, using numbers in daily life, they are worse \u2026 and 10% scored below level 1. Technological literacy and ability were worse too. In problem-solving in a technological environment and the use of \u201ccognitive skills required to solve problems\u201d, the Americans were at the bottom.\u201d And that bottom is in math, vocabulary, language usage and technology, with Chinese students far surpassing the Americans even when using a language that is not their own.[9]\u00a0 <\/a>[10]<\/a><\/p>\n

In early 2014 the Washington Times reported that new studies and the results of the recent SAT tests demonstrate conclusively that the vast majority of America\u2019s 2012 high school graduates aren\u2019t ready for college, and SAT scores have plummeted to their lowest level in more than 40 years.<\/strong> The results of the exams, released by the College Board, revealed that only about 39% of students planning to attend university are in any way prepared for the world of higher education. More than 60% displayed functional illiteracy<\/strong> by failing the reading portion of the test, with only a slightly better result on math and writing, which means most US university students will achieve C or D grades at best, and that a great many will either fail or be falsely graduated without merit or knowledge. And the dropout rates are fierce. In Washington DC, the nation\u2019s capital, almost 70% of college students fail to graduate.<\/strong>[11]\u00a0 <\/a>[12]<\/a><\/p>\n

The solution was to abandon the SAT tests for college entry.<\/p>\n

I deleted this paragraph, then decided to re-insert it because the topic irritated me. We\u2019re dealing with the English language, and listening to a senior American educator, a Ph.D. from Harvard, explaining why only 39% of all students who took the SAT college admissions test scored well enough to be deemed ready for college. In her little media sound-byte, she said this fact showed American educators where they needed to \u201chone in\u201d. The correct expression is \u201cto home in on\u201d, as with a homing device, to focus on or bring us to the correct place, in fact to take us home. To \u201chone\u201d is to sharpen, as to hone a blade, but for Americans who don\u2019t \u2013 or can\u2019t \u2013 read, the sound is similar and sloppy carelessness accounts for the rest. Critics pounced on this, but she and other \u2018educators\u2019 defended such a foolish error by claiming that language is alive and fluid, and it changes<\/strong>. To make matters worse, another shining light, this one an education expert from Duke University, informed us that our criticisms of poor-quality education (and educators) would likely \u201csnuff out democracy\u201d<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In spite of all the branding propaganda and rhetoric, the decreasing quality of American education is well-known in the West. It is not a secret that for many decades the US has been \u201cdumbing-down\u201d its education at all levels, consistently reducing government funding to result in fewer teachers, larger classrooms, poorer facilities, lower salaries and teacher quality, and steadily decreasing learning. One need only do a quick Internet search to find hundreds of studies and alarmed reports of the greatly-deteriorated quality of American education. As John Kozy<\/strong> noted, \u201cIn fact, piles of evidence reveal that Americans are getting dumber. People who have graduated from high school since the pocket calculator was invented can\u2019t calculate in their heads, not even simple addition, subtraction, and multiplication. Many people addicted to the Internet have difficulty reading anything more complicated than a tweet\u201d.<\/p>\n

The propaganda machine focuses heavily on the mythical superiority of the American education system, but Americans haven\u2019t the critical thinking skills needed to see through the lies presented to them. One author pointed out that American public schooling grinds away at children until they graduate with little creativity or curiosity, stating further that \u201cSuch people will never be informed citizens, and most could care less\u201d. All of this has been heavily researched and documented by John Gatto<\/strong>, who was nominated as Teacher of the Year for New York State and New York City, and who has since left teaching, claiming he was no longer willing to harm children by teaching them in the US public school system.[13]<\/a><\/p>\n

In 2013, Jeff Schweitzer<\/strong> wrote an article in the UK Guardian titled \u2018God created gravity\u2019, in which he deplored the sad state of American education, to quite an extent blaming religion for the lack of intelligent focus, with subjects like science still in the 17th century in US schools. He said that while the rest of the world is becoming educated, Americans spend their time discussing how exceptional and awesome they are, with the result that Americans are number one only in delusion.<\/strong> \u201cSteeped in this wasteland of scientific illiteracy we march ever further toward a theocracy \u2026 twisting history to indoctrinate our children with stories about god and gravity\u201d, with educational debates, like all others based on faith rather than logic. He wrote that the only way for Americans to support any position they hold is to simply assert their supremacy as loudly as possible, reduced to childlike tantrums of \u201cI\u2019m right, you\u2019re wrong, I win.\u201d<\/strong>[14]<\/a><\/p>\n

Because American schools do not demand critical thinking and problem-solving from students starting at a young age, the students are lost in university classrooms when they are years behind and struggling with the basics of reading and understanding. Many US educators complain that fewer than one-quarter of their students have any proficiency at all in basic skills like math and reading comprehension, that they are never taught original ideas or methods of learning that will prepare them for higher education. One educator claimed, \u201cMy former teachers simply did not push me to think past a basic level, to apply concepts, to move beyond memorizing facts and figures.\u201d And of course the students feel the pressure acutely. One first-year university student said, \u201cI basically thought I was stupid. I just felt like, What\u2019s wrong with me? Maybe I\u2019m not meant to be here.\u201d Another said, \u201cYou can\u2019t make it in college by yourself. You just need all the help you can get.\u201d One student who felt blessed by having a good teacher in her final year in high school said, \u201cI feel like it was too late. It just wasn\u2019t enough to have that kind of teacher for one year.\u201d[15]<\/a><\/p>\n

And it isn\u2019t only the students who are in this position. The New York Post<\/strong> ran an interesting article titled, \u201cUS adults are dumber than the average human<\/strong>\u201c, which stated in part, \u201cIt\u2019s long been known that America\u2019s school kids haven\u2019t measured well compared with international peers.[16]<\/a><\/p>\n

Now, there\u2019s a new twist: Adults don\u2019t either. In math, reading and problem-solving using technology \u2013 all skills considered critical for global competitiveness and economic strength \u2013 American adults scored below the international average on a global test.\u201d The studies also found that it was much more difficult on average to overcome the lack of knowledge, literacy and other barriers in the United States, than in other nations.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The article continued, \u201cIt\u2019s not just the kids who require more and more preparation to get access to the economy, it\u2019s more and more the adults don\u2019t have the skills to stay in it. Americans scored toward the bottom in the category of problem solving in a technology rich environment, even in skills such as using a mouse\u201d, creating a kind of \u201cunderclass \u2013 a large group of people who are basically unemployable<\/strong>\u201c. And again, \u201cA quarter of all Americans never become proficient in math. In Shanghai and Korea, the comparable figure is about 6%. Some 7% of US students reached the top two scientific performance levels, compared with an amazing 27% in Shanghai.\u201d[17] <\/a>[18]\u00a0 <\/a>[19]<\/a><\/p>\n

Rick Shenkman<\/strong> wrote an interesting and enlightening article titled \u2018Just How Stupid Are We?\u2019, in which he wrote \u201cAmericans generally do not seem to absorb what it is that they are reading and hearing and watching. Americans cannot even name the leaders of their own government. The error can be traced to our mistaking unprecedented access to information with the actual consumption of it.\u201d He said that in the postwar period, social scientists began to systematically measure what Americans actually knew, and even back then the results of their displayed ignorance were devastating. He further claimed that surveys showed Americans\u2019 level of ignorance remaining constant over time, and that by some measures \u201cAmericans are dumber today than their parents of a generation ago. Young people \u2026 know less today than young people forty years ago.\u201d<\/strong>[20]\u00a0 <\/a>[20a] <\/a>[21]<\/a><\/p>\n

The situation is so bad that in 2003, when the Strategic Task Force on Education investigated Americans\u2019 knowledge of world affairs, they concluded that \u201cAmericans\u2019 ignorance \u2026 is so great as to constitute a threat to national security.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

But according to the NYT<\/strong>\u2018s resident jack-of-all-trades Paul Krugman<\/strong>, if you had to \u201cexpress the greatness of the United States in one word, that word would be \u2018education\u2019.\u201d Other more knowledgeable and competent people disagree with Krugman. Donald Kagan<\/strong>, a former president of Yale University gave a final speech in 2013 in which he said that American universities were failing their students, that the curricula were inappropriate and were \u201cunfocused and scattered\u201d, the campuses \u201ca kind of cultural void, with an ignorance of the past\u201d, and that \u201cfaculty with atypical views\u201d were rare. Perhaps most importantly, Kagan said, \u201cAt the university, there must be intellectual variety. If you don\u2019t have [that], it\u2019s not only that you are deprived of knowing some of the things you might know. It\u2019s that you are deprived of testing the things that you do know or do think you know or believe in, so that your knowledge is superficial.\u201d[22] <\/a>[23]<\/a><\/p>\n

The man was precisely correct in this last statement, reflecting one of the hazards today of being an American, the programmed and propagandised uniformity of thought that deprives Americans of any way to test the validity of their (mostly) foolish beliefs.<\/strong> Such regimented and incessant propaganda provides a uniform reinforcement of ideology, creating impenetrable boundaries of the mind. The simple-minded adherence to a single ideology narrows one\u2019s views and cripples the ability to think clearly or critically. As one author wrote, \u201ca closely adhered-to ideology becomes a mental locality with limits and borders just as real as those of geography. In fact, if we consider (American) nationalism a pervasive modern ideology, there is a direct connection between the boundaries induced in the mind and those on the ground.\u201d[24]<\/a><\/p>\n

Karl Weiss<\/strong> wrote an excellent and perceptive article that was published in Germany\u2019s Berliner Umschau in October of 2009; I will quote some of his observations here. He began with the decrepit American educational system, stating \u201c.. the education system in America is unlike that of almost any other industrialized country. Free education is available only at primary and secondary levels; beyond that, community and technical colleges and universities are so expensive that children in lower socioeconomic classes have little chance of attending unless they are \u201cgifted\u201d and get scholarships. The education provided by the public school system is often so inferior that graduates who can\u2019t afford better schooling have little chance of ever getting the knowledge and skills necessary to lead fulfilling lives. Instead, the focus is on producing nationalistic dimwits who know nothing but their own country.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

He went on to say that one result is a deeply divided society with the capitalists and bankers on one side and the uneducated and lower class on the other<\/strong>, resulting in what he called \u201ca society of force so shot through with violence that any other value has little or no meaning\u201d, and with everything rooted in the Christianity-based black and white dog-eat-dog competition that creates only winners and losers. Weiss\u2019 allegation of \u201cnationalistic dimwits\u201d is not only accurate for the US educational system, but the process is universal throughout the nation. Educational materials in the US are largely propaganda tools, intended not to educate but to indoctrinate.<\/p>\n

In the wonderfully disingenuous but disturbing manner of propagandising in which Americans excel, one educational website made the following claim: \u201cWhile lawyers, doctors, and teachers typically complete additional schoolwork, computer programmers, nurses, and automotive technicians may be qualified with only one or two years of study\u201d.<\/p>\n

Doctors \u201ctypically\u201d complete \u201cadditional schoolwork\u201d?<\/strong> That sounds like some, but not all, medical students doing a bit of extra homework at the Grade Three level, but doctors in most countries need an undergrad degree plus an additional four years of grueling medical training to become an M.D., and yet this is being equated with an auto mechanic who may be qualified with only one year of study. This re-categorisation may appear trivial to the casual reader, but this anti-intellectual linguistic magic is reprogramming Americans with a much-denigrated appreciation of a university education. Now, an American hairdresser and manicurist is trained to the same level of competence as a gynecologist \u2013 except for the bit of \u201cadditional schoolwork\u201d. And only in the US can a nurse be \u201cqualified\u201d with only one year of study. Many countries require a 4-year nursing degree.<\/p>\n

The amount of mythological propaganda and marketing surrounding American education is stunning. Shailendra Raj Mehta<\/strong>, a visiting professor at Duke University<\/strong>, wrote one of the most nonsensical articles I have seen in years, titled \u2018The secret of Harvard\u2019s Success\u2019, in which he wrote \u201cNo country dominates any industry as much as the United States dominates higher education\u201d.<\/strong> According to him, in a ranking of world universities, 17 of the world\u2019s 20 best universities are American, with Harvard topping the list by a substantial margin, a feat he attributes to \u201cAmerica\u2019s innovative governance model for higher education<\/strong>\u201c. I have no idea what that would be, but it can\u2019t be good. As I\u2019ve detailed elsewhere, Harvard was established by the Puritans as a religious training camp to produce missionaries for their heresies, not to \u201ceducate\u201d anybody. And, as with all rankings everywhere, the Americans choose the game, set all the parameters, lay down the rules, decide the scoring system, then win the game. And the US media promote this nonsensical propaganda literally to the ends of the earth. American universities are not ranked so highly because they are the best; it\u2019s because the Americans determined the ranking rules so they would come out on top.<\/p>\n

In fact, in a recent, more intelligent and less-biased, examination of higher education systems, China ranked ninth, six places above the US. Universitas 21<\/strong>, a group of 27 research-intensive universities from around the world, created an international ranking system of educational quality based on national purchasing power. A leading Universitas researcher said that despite a relatively low per capita income, China had made a \u201cphenomenal\u201d investment in its top universities, resulting in Chinese universities now being \u201cserious players\u201d in research and other fields.<\/p>\n

Here is an excerpt written by Sarah Brown<\/strong>, taken from Canada\u2019s Globe and Mail, in response to an NYT article about Harvard students always receiving A grades:<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving attended both Harvard<\/strong> and the University of Toronto<\/strong>, I can state that there are two differences between the schools: Harvard is much more difficult to get into, whereas the University of Toronto is much more difficult to get out of \u2013 with a degree and decent grades, that is. At Harvard, undergraduates have to take only four full-time courses per year to earn a degree, and they have a longer school year in which to prepare for their exams. At U of T, five full-time courses must be taken, and the school year is much more condensed. The atmosphere at Harvard is quite \u201ccountry-clubish\u201d and leisurely, while at U of T it is a downright pressure-cooker. At U of T there is an unwritten policy that 20 per cent of the students in every class will receive a failing grade. At Harvard, most students receive a minimum of A- grades. In fact, to receive anything less than a B, one would have to miss exams and not hand in assignments. As far as getting into Harvard goes, the most significant factor is whether or not you are a so-called \u201clegacy,\u201d meaning that if your father, mother, or sibling went to Harvard before you, you can still get in, as hundreds do, with mediocre high school grades. I\u2019m not surprised that current Harvard students feel that they deserve A\u2019s for their $100,000 investment; if they were forced to compete with students at the U of T, many would receive only C\u2019s at best.\u201d And many would fail.<\/p>\n

Dumber Than the Average Human<\/strong><\/h2>\n

When I was a university student, there were Americans at my school who had obtained B.A. degrees from UCLA<\/strong> with majors in \u2013 and I am not kidding \u2013 basket-weaving and ceramics. In America, that\u2019s called an education. Basket-weaving. That\u2019s about the same being granted a Master\u2019s degree if you can learn to knit a sweater. At around the same time, a US polling firm did a nation-wide study and discovered, among other things, that a full 75% of Americans could not find their own country on a map of the world. Similar studies have been repeated many times since then, with essentially the same results among adults and students at all levels including university: about 75% of Americans couldn\u2019t find either their country or Canada. One of the most famous references to this astonishing level of American ignorance occurred on US national television during a Miss Teen USA pageant when one of the finalists, Miss South Carolina, Caitlin Upton<\/strong>, was asked why most Americans couldn\u2019t find their country on a world map. Here is her answer, which was posted on YouTube and received more than 40 million views.<\/p>\n

\u201cI personally believe that US Americans are unable to do so because, uh, some people out there in our nation don\u2019t have maps and, uh, I believe that our, uh, education like such as, uh, South Africa and, uh, the Iraq, everywhere like such as, and, I believe that they should, our education over here in the US should help the US, uh, or, uh, should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future for our children.\u201d[25]<\/a><\/p>\n

If that doesn\u2019t tell you what you need to know about the quality of American education, I don\u2019t know what would. It isn\u2019t only the ignorance, but the obvious functional illiteracy of such a person, that is so stunning.[26]<\/a><\/p>\n

The American media flood the nation and the world with the most astonishing propaganda and fabricated fairy-tales about the quality of the nation\u2019s education. The US used to boast that it had the highest percentage of population with university degrees. I don\u2019t know if that claim was ever true, but it eventually became false so the Americans moved the goalposts. Now, in all the statistics, including those by the US government itself, anyone with almost any kind of accreditation above High School, perhaps including even a hairdressing or lawn maintenance diploma \u2013 which they call an \u201cassociate degree\u201d is listed as a college graduate.<\/p>\n

Similarly, the US claims the highest level of literacy in the world \u2013 99%.<\/strong> Truly enviable. But then, reading the small print at the end of a recent highly-regarded \u201cdefinitive study\u201d purporting to document American educational supremacy, what do we find? Just as with its economic statistics and every other comparison the US produces, we discover manipulated and falsified data. In these so-called studies produced by the US government and its educational institutions, the Americans simply misrepresented the facts so they could place themselves at the top of the list. In the case of functional literacy, the US position is this:<\/p>\n

\u201cFor highly developed or high-income countries where literacy statistics were not collected, a rate of 99% was assumed.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

We might legitimately ask why the Americans didn\u2019t bother to collect statistics. The reason is that in all studies, researchers have found the rate of functional illiteracy in the US is almost 25% of the total population<\/strong>, with the illiteracy rate for adults in many American cities like Detroit having been documented at almost 50%, a very long way from the fictional 99% literacy \u2018assumed\u2019, and in many other major cities like New York large swathes of the population read below a grade three level and have no math or other skills. The highly-regarded National Adult Literacy Survey found a total of almost 25%, or about 50 million of the 200 million American adults functioning at the lowest literacy level. In basic literacy \u2013 the ability to understand and use basic written text \u2013 80% of Americans reached only a level 2 out of 5. It is so bad that 75% of the Fortune 500 companies have to provide some level of remedial training for their workers \u2013 a large number of whom are college graduates.[27]<\/a><\/p>\n

Countless books and academic studies have been produced on the severe literacy problem in America, but the media ignore these facts and continue, like Paul Krugman, to feed the world the foolish utopian claim that the US is a world leader in education when nothing could be farther from the truth.<\/p>\n

More than 25% of Americans believe the sun revolves around the earth, but one US columnist wrote that this wasn\u2019t really a bad thing. He claimed, \u201cFirstly, the great majority of humans throughout history have believed this. Secondly, it\u2019s not a problem that impinges on the daily life of anyone. We should pick co-ordinates for convenience, not dogma.\u201d<\/p>\n

Talking to Americans<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Canada had a popular TV personality named Rick Mercer<\/strong>, who took a camera crew into the US on a crusade to satirise the true educational level of Americans. One of his trademark programs (on Canada\u2019s CBC network<\/strong>) was called \u2018Talking to Americans\u2019, in which he would conduct random interviews with average Americans and tell them outrageous stories about Canada which they would inevitably accept as true. In one show, Mercer told Americans that very old or terminally-ill Canadian citizens are put onto ice floes and just pushed out into the Arctic Ocean to die. He pretended to be collecting signatures for a petition to the Canadian government to stop this practice; the signatures he obtained included those of full professors from Harvard and Yale.<\/p>\n

In another, he interviewed George W. Bush<\/strong> (who had previously stated \u201cyou can\u2019t stump me on world leaders\u201d), conveying to him compliments from Canada\u2019s Prime Minister Jean Poutine, on Bush\u2019s Presidential candidacy, to which Bush responded with the warmest expressions of heartfelt gratitude.[28]\u00a0 <\/a>[29]<\/a><\/p>\n

The Prime Minister of Canada was Jean Chretien; \u201cpoutine\u201d is a French-Canadian dish of French fries with gravy and melted cheese. Bush was so miffed when the program aired, that Canada\u2019s CBC was banned in the US for years.<\/p>\n

In one of his shows, Mercer asked Americans how many sides a triangle had: One victim of American education said, \u201cNone. There are no sides in a triangle.\u201d Another said \u201cFour.\u201d He asked them if the movie \u201cStar Wars\u201d were based on a true story; many Americans answered in the affirmative. It was so bad that Mercer claimed \u201cAbout 80 per cent of the people give me the right answer, by which of course, I mean the wrong answer.\u201d Mercer convinced tourists at Mount Rushmore that the mineral rights to the mountain had been sold to a Canadian firm that was going to drill for oil in Lincoln\u2019s forehead. \u201cProfessors at Columbia, Harvard, Princeton, Berkeley, NYU and Stanford University were consistently fooled by [Mercer\u2019s] absurdities<\/strong>.\u201d[30]<\/a><\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t only Canadians who mock American ignorance and lack of education. The US late-night talk shows often do this kind of thing, ridiculing the fabled ignorance of their own citizens, claiming that they need to speak to only ten or at most twenty Americans to find 5 stupid ones who know nothing \u2013 25%. This is so well-known that in Europe, \u2018American\u2019 equals \u2018ignorant\u2019, the two adjectives considered equivalent and synonymous.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ron Unz wrote an excellent and informative article in The American Conservative titled The Myth of American Meritocracy, in which he detailed issues with admission to top US universities, quoting other studies as well, all of which suggest that various preferences and biases, including the role of cash in this process, with most universities, including Harvard, having a \u2018cash price\u2019 of admission, meaning that a substantial donation will obtain admittance even for a dim-witted student with no particular ability.[31]<\/a><\/p>\n

He wrote that the notion of a wealthy family buying their son his entrance into the Grandes Ecoles of France or the top Japanese universities would be an absurdity.\u201d He mentioned China as well, confirming that China\u2019s gaokao is strictly based on merit and has never been corrupted by favoritism, and has been kept \u201cremarkably clean for 1300 years\u201d. He confirmed what many of us already know, that this uncorrupted system may be one reason so many wealthy Chinese send their \u201cdim and lazy\u201d offspring to study in the West. In his words, \u201cenrolling them at a third-rate Chinese university would be a tremendous humiliation, while our own corrupt admissions practices get them an easy spot at Harvard or Stanford, sitting side by side with the children of Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and George W. Bush.\u201d One of his final comments was that the admissions process at top American universities operates under the principle of \u201cIdeology and Diversity tempered by Corruption\u201d, not what many Chinese have been led to expect from the propaganda machine.<\/p>\n

It should be abundantly obvious that there is no way to reconcile these testimonials and experiences, and countless thousands similar, with claims that the US \u2018dominates higher education\u2019, at least not in any positive way. And so, with appropriate apologies to Paul Krugman,<\/strong> for those of you who are desperate to \u201cexpress the greatness of America in one word\u201d, that word would be \u201cbull****\u201d, not education.<\/strong><\/p>\n

[Mr. Romanoff\u2019s writing ]has been translated into 32 languages and his articles posted on more than 150 foreign-language news and politics websites in more than 30 countries, as well as more than 100 English language platforms. Larry Romanoff is a retired management consultant and businessman. He has held senior executive positions in international consulting firms, and owned an international import-export business. He has been a visiting professor at Shanghai\u2019s Fudan University, presenting case studies in international affairs to senior EMBA classes. Mr. Romanoff lives in Shanghai and is currently writing a series of ten books generally related to China and the West. He is one of the contributing authors to Cynthia McKinney\u2019s new anthology \u2018When China Sneezes\u2019. ([Chapt. 2 \u2014 Dealing with Demons]).<\/em><\/p>\n

His full archive can be seen at<\/em><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.bluemoonofshanghai.com\/<\/a> + https:\/\/www.moonofshanghai.com\/<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

He can be contacted at:<\/em><\/p>\n

2186604556@qq.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Notes <\/strong><\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Dr. Andreas Schleicher who was in charge of the PISA test on behalf of OECD, said \u201cWhile that\u2019s important, for me the real significance of these results is that they refute the commonly held hypothesis that China just produces rote learning. Large fractions of these students extrapolate from what they know and apply their knowledge very CREATIVELY in novel situations. In my opinion, it\u2019s the American k-12 education which has failed miserably in teaching the American students the solid basics, has to be reformed.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also added this: \u201cI have no respect for a large number of the Chinese students who come to U.S. for UNDERGRADUATE study. Most of these students are from well-off families and academically too weak to get into decent Chinese colleges. The real smart Chinese students are the ones who finish their undergraduate education in China and come to the U.S. for graduate study and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Dr. Peng Shi | USC CAIS;<\/strong><\/p>\n

www.cais.usc.edu\/news\/prediction-and-optimization-in-school-choice\/<\/a><\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> No Division Required in This School Problem;<\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2013\/03\/13\/education\/no-division-required-in-this-school-problem.html<\/a><\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> What You Need to Know About the International Test Scores;<\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.huffpost.com\/entry\/international-test-scores_b_4379533<\/a><\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Global Test Shows U.S. Stagnating \u2013 Education Week;<\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.edweek.org\/ew\/articles\/2013\/12\/11\/14pisa-2.h33.html<\/a><\/p>\n

[5a]<\/a> Vietnam Wallops U.S. on Test Scores;<\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.huffpost.com\/entry\/vietnam-wallops-us-on-tes_b_7290682<\/a><\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Asian countries top OECD\u2019s latest PISA survey;<\/strong><\/p>\n

www.oecd.org\/\u2026countries-top-oecd-s-latest-pisa-survey-on-state-of-global-education.htm<\/a><\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> In PISA Test, Top Scores From Shanghai Stun Experts;<\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2010\/12\/07\/education\/07education.html<\/a><\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> National Assessment of Education Progress Scores<\/strong><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/entry\/naep-scores_562fd4fde4b06317990fcf74<\/a><\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> The Washington, DC radio station, WTOP, reported in 2016 that only 25% of American 12th graders are able to write an essay.<\/p>\n

Many educators called in to say they thought the number was too high..<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> Scores for Class of 2014 show no improvement<\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/local\/education\/sat-scores-for-class-of-2014-show-no-improvement-from-previous-marks\/2014\/10\/06\/80beb554-4d5b-11e4-aa5e-7153e466a02d_story.html<\/a><\/p>\n

[11]<\/a> Average SAT Scores Over Time:<\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/blog.prepscholar.com\/average-sat-scores-over-time<\/a><\/p>\n

[12]<\/a> SAT scores at lowest level in 10 years;<\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/local\/education\/sat-scores-at-lowest-level-in-10-years-fueling-worries-about-high-schools\/2015\/09\/02\/6b73ec66-5190-11e5-9812-92d5948a40f8_story.html<\/a><\/p>\n

[13]<\/a> John Taylor Gatto \u201cDumbing Us Down\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/author\/show\/41319.John_Taylor_Gatto<\/a><\/p>\n

[14]<\/a> God Created Gravity: Why the U.S. Can\u2019t Keep Pace With \u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.huffpost.com\/entry\/god-created-gravity-why-t_b_4387942<\/a><\/p>\n

[15]<\/a> Only 25 Per Cent of All Americans Go to College and Only 16 Per Cent of These Actually Try to Learn Anything. The Unz Review; Alexander Cockburn \u2022 March 23, 2012;<\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.unz.com\/acockburn\/the-myth-of-the-knowledge-economy\/<\/a><\/p>\n

[16]<\/a> US adults are dumber than the average human;<\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/nypost.com\/2013\/10\/08\/us-adults-are-dumber-than-the-average-human\/<\/a><\/p>\n

[17]<\/a> US adults rank below average in global survey of basic education skills<\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.insidehighered.com\/news\/2013\/10\/08\/us-adults-rank-below-average-global-survey-basic-education-skills<\/a><\/p>\n

[18]<\/a> National Assessment of Adult Literacy;<\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/nces.ed.gov\/naal<\/a><\/p>\n

[19]<\/a> Adult Literacy in the United States.<\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/nces.ed.gov\/pubs2019\/2019179\/index.asp<\/a><\/p>\n

[20]<\/a> Author: Irwin S. Kirsch; National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS);<\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/nces.ed.gov\/statprog\/handbook\/pdf\/nals.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

[20a]<\/a> Just How Stupid Are We?<\/strong><\/p>\n

[21]<\/a> Terence P. Jeffrey, October 28, 2015; Detroit Public Schools: 93% Not Proficient in Reading; 96% Not Proficient in Math<\/strong><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.cnsnews.com\/news\/article\/terence-p-jeffrey\/detroit-public-schools-93-not-proficient-reading-96-not-proficient<\/a><\/p>\n

[22]<\/a> Learning to Be Stupid in the Culture of Cash; March 8, 2003; by Luciana Bohne<\/strong><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.democraticunderground.com\/articles\/03\/03\/08_learning.html<\/a><\/p>\n

[23]<\/a> On November 18, 2015, Christopher Ingraham wrote in <\/strong>the Washington Post<\/strong><\/em> that Ben Carson\u2019s presidential campaign inadvertently underscored this point Tuesday night, when it took to social media to share a map of the United States in which five New England states were placed in the wrong location.<\/p>\n

[24]<\/a> https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/wonk\/wp\/2015\/11\/18\/ben-carsons-campaign-made-a-u-s-map-and-put-a-bunch-of-states-in-the-wrong-place\/?tid=pm_pop_b<\/a><\/p>\n

[25]<\/a> Caitlin Upton<\/strong><\/p>\n