Education in the U.S.

[Steve]

---  "anne_t_squires" <tfaucette6387 at ...> wrote:
>
>  "Tonks_op" wrote:
> >
> > Just watched Jay Leno do a street interview with a number 
> > of teenagers  who were in high school. He asked them the 
> > simplest questions such as how many Great Lakes are there,
> > ... What is > happening to the education in our country!!! 
> > 
> > Tonks_op
> 
> 
> 
> Anne Squires:
> 
> You do realize that those "Jay Walking" segments do not 
> represent the American public as a whole, right?  Jay is 
> trying to get laughs; therefore, he purposely goes out 
> looking for stupid people who are going to give stupid 
> answers.  ...


bboyminn:

Yes that is true, Jay is trying to be funny, but...frequently
the people he is interviewing are in college and studying
to be teachers, or are teachers. It really is appalling how
ignorant these people are. Even if they don't represent a 
fair statistically neutral cross sampling of the population,
it is still unconcionable that people in college can't answer
the simplest questions. 

I will note with pride that the only time I've seen people
(tourists) from Minnesota interviewed, they knew all the
answers. 

At to standardized tests, I suspect too many of them are 
multiple guess in the form of -

Name one of the Great Lakes?
A.) The Mississippi River
B.) The Erie Canal
C.) The Pacific Ocean
D.) Lake Superior

Gee...guess which one it is?

When you actually have to know the answer, as in -

Name one of the Great Lakes? _____________________

Or better yet,- 

Name one of the Great Lakes, give it's geographic location, and
explain it geological significance? 

then you might be on to something. 

So, I'm not considering Jay-Walking answers in a vacuum. I'm
looking at the education and apparent intelligence of the 
individuals relative to how painfully ignorant they are...
and they are!

Steve/bboyminn