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The New Coffee Room

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  3. How Dumb Is America?

How Dumb Is America?

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  • Catseye3C Offline
    Catseye3C Offline
    Catseye3
    wrote on last edited by
    #1

    https://patch.com/us/across-america/how-dumb-america-10-things-people-actually-believe

    "Some [Americans] blithely cling to beliefs that have been disproven in what is called "denialism" or the "illusory truth effect," the latter a short circuit in the human psyche that puts repetition on par with the truth.

    "Denialism is simply a person's choice to defy scientifically proven facts and live in their happy places where they don't have to confront their own ignorance."

    Here is a list of things many people yet believe, with elaboration in the article:

    • Dumb Americans: What-Nazi-Holocaust? "The biggest, blackest lie in history."

    • Dumb Americans: Understanding The 'Guvment'. 37 percent could not name a single right protected by the Bill of Rights, only 26 percent could name all three branches of government and 33 percent could not name a single branch of government.

    • Lost-In-Space Edition. One in four Americans thinks the sun orbits the Earth.

    • Dumb Americans: Slipping Off The Edge Of The World Edition. There are still people who think that if they venture too far off the horizon, they'll slip off the edge of the world. The members of the Flat Earth Society claim irrefutable evidence the planet is a disc, despite centuries of science to the contrary.

    More at the site.

    Success is measured by your discipline and inner peace. – Mike Ditka

    1 Reply Last reply
    • CopperC Offline
      CopperC Offline
      Copper
      wrote on last edited by
      #2

      Have those numbers gone up or down during the last 10 years?

      1 Reply Last reply
      • Catseye3C Offline
        Catseye3C Offline
        Catseye3
        wrote on last edited by
        #3

        I don't know, Copper. Good question.

        Success is measured by your discipline and inner peace. – Mike Ditka

        1 Reply Last reply
        • taiwan_girlT Offline
          taiwan_girlT Offline
          taiwan_girl
          wrote on last edited by
          #4

          It always surprise to me when I see things like that.

          1 Reply Last reply
          • JollyJ Offline
            JollyJ Offline
            Jolly
            wrote on last edited by
            #5

            No Civics education.

            “Cry havoc and let slip the DOGE of war!”

            Those who cheered as J-6 American prisoners were locked in solitary for 18 months without trial, now suddenly fight tooth and nail for foreign terrorists’ "due process". — Buck Sexton

            AxtremusA 1 Reply Last reply
            • L Offline
              L Offline
              Loki
              wrote on last edited by
              #6

              In their defense Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny are two of our most celebrated and the Kardashians have billions of dollars.

              And our President has made front page news as a Russian Agent.

              1 Reply Last reply
              • JollyJ Jolly

                No Civics education.

                AxtremusA Offline
                AxtremusA Offline
                Axtremus
                wrote on last edited by
                #7

                @Jolly said in How Dumb Is America?:

                No Civics education.

                And you want to fix that by eliminating the Department of Education, right? 😉

                JollyJ Catseye3C 2 Replies Last reply
                • AxtremusA Axtremus

                  @Jolly said in How Dumb Is America?:

                  No Civics education.

                  And you want to fix that by eliminating the Department of Education, right? 😉

                  JollyJ Offline
                  JollyJ Offline
                  Jolly
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #8

                  @Axtremus said in How Dumb Is America?:

                  @Jolly said in How Dumb Is America?:

                  No Civics education.

                  And you want to fix that by eliminating the Department of Education, right? 😉

                  Yes, I do!

                  “Cry havoc and let slip the DOGE of war!”

                  Those who cheered as J-6 American prisoners were locked in solitary for 18 months without trial, now suddenly fight tooth and nail for foreign terrorists’ "due process". — Buck Sexton

                  1 Reply Last reply
                  • AxtremusA Axtremus

                    @Jolly said in How Dumb Is America?:

                    No Civics education.

                    And you want to fix that by eliminating the Department of Education, right? 😉

                    Catseye3C Offline
                    Catseye3C Offline
                    Catseye3
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #9

                    @Axtremus said in How Dumb Is America?:

                    And you want to fix that by eliminating the Department of Education, right?

                    It would be a good first step.

                    Success is measured by your discipline and inner peace. – Mike Ditka

                    1 Reply Last reply
                    • taiwan_girlT Offline
                      taiwan_girlT Offline
                      taiwan_girl
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #10

                      @Catseye3 @Jolly

                      Dont know much about why to eliminate the Dept of Education. Why to do that?

                      JollyJ CopperC 2 Replies Last reply
                      • taiwan_girlT taiwan_girl

                        @Catseye3 @Jolly

                        Dont know much about why to eliminate the Dept of Education. Why to do that?

                        JollyJ Offline
                        JollyJ Offline
                        Jolly
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #11

                        @taiwan_girl said in How Dumb Is America?:

                        @Catseye3 @Jolly

                        Dont know much about why to eliminate the Dept of Education. Why to do that?

                        1. It's expensive. Do we get $70B worth of value from the Department of Education? I think not.
                        2. Correlating with number 1, what do we get for our money? It's been around since the late 70's with no real gains in student proficiency. Shuks, throw Headstart into the mix and we spend $100B per year, with no lasting benefits.
                        3. Common Core. That abomination alone, is enough to burn the department down to the ground.
                        4. It piles up unfunded mandates. Loal districts know how muh money they have and what they need to spend it on. Get the Feds out of their back pockets.
                        5. Lastly, it's actually unconstitutional. Nowhere in the Constitution is education mentioned. Public education is a state and local issue, not a Federal one.

                        “Cry havoc and let slip the DOGE of war!”

                        Those who cheered as J-6 American prisoners were locked in solitary for 18 months without trial, now suddenly fight tooth and nail for foreign terrorists’ "due process". — Buck Sexton

                        MikM 1 Reply Last reply
                        • taiwan_girlT taiwan_girl

                          @Catseye3 @Jolly

                          Dont know much about why to eliminate the Dept of Education. Why to do that?

                          CopperC Offline
                          CopperC Offline
                          Copper
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #12

                          @taiwan_girl said in How Dumb Is America?:

                          @Catseye3 @Jolly

                          Dont know much about why to eliminate the Dept of Education. Why to do that?

                          Schools are run locally, by States and Counties, not by the federal government.

                          1 Reply Last reply
                          • Catseye3C Offline
                            Catseye3C Offline
                            Catseye3
                            wrote on last edited by Catseye3
                            #13

                            Ditto to all of the above. A function that is run locally by necessity can't be overlorded from afar with any success. It's way past time we rid ourselves of a system that has turned out generations of dulled-out, incurious and obedient robots, with no notion of their potential for joy and exuberance.

                            No guarantee that states would do any better, but Connecticut would have a better chance of success with students from Connecticut than the fedgov does.

                            The best illustration of the failure of this setup is that it doesn't occur to more people to do away with it.

                            Success is measured by your discipline and inner peace. – Mike Ditka

                            1 Reply Last reply
                            • Catseye3C Offline
                              Catseye3C Offline
                              Catseye3
                              wrote on last edited by Catseye3
                              #14

                              I remember reading, back in the Clinton era, that of the total DOE annual budget, the percent that went directly for schools was 11%. So if that number is correct, 89% goes to the perpetuation of the DOE.

                              Success is measured by your discipline and inner peace. – Mike Ditka

                              1 Reply Last reply
                              • JollyJ Jolly

                                @taiwan_girl said in How Dumb Is America?:

                                @Catseye3 @Jolly

                                Dont know much about why to eliminate the Dept of Education. Why to do that?

                                1. It's expensive. Do we get $70B worth of value from the Department of Education? I think not.
                                2. Correlating with number 1, what do we get for our money? It's been around since the late 70's with no real gains in student proficiency. Shuks, throw Headstart into the mix and we spend $100B per year, with no lasting benefits.
                                3. Common Core. That abomination alone, is enough to burn the department down to the ground.
                                4. It piles up unfunded mandates. Loal districts know how muh money they have and what they need to spend it on. Get the Feds out of their back pockets.
                                5. Lastly, it's actually unconstitutional. Nowhere in the Constitution is education mentioned. Public education is a state and local issue, not a Federal one.
                                MikM Away
                                MikM Away
                                Mik
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #15

                                @Jolly said in How Dumb Is America?:

                                @taiwan_girl said in How Dumb Is America?:

                                @Catseye3 @Jolly

                                Dont know much about why to eliminate the Dept of Education. Why to do that?

                                1. It's expensive. Do we get $70B worth of value from the Department of Education? I think not.
                                2. Correlating with number 1, what do we get for our money? It's been around since the late 70's with no real gains in student proficiency. Shuks, throw Headstart into the mix and we spend $100B per year, with no lasting benefits.
                                3. Common Core. That abomination alone, is enough to burn the department down to the ground.
                                4. It piles up unfunded mandates. Loal districts know how muh money they have and what they need to spend it on. Get the Feds out of their back pockets.
                                5. Lastly, it's actually unconstitutional. Nowhere in the Constitution is education mentioned. Public education is a state and local issue, not a Federal one.

                                All of these. Particularly the unfunded mandates. Schools when we grew up had a principal and an assistant principal and a counselor. Maybe. Now they have several counselors, few of any real value when students can look up whatever they need online, often three vice principals whose jobs it is to meet these federal mandates.

                                “I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” ~Winston S. Churchill

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