# This is why the American education system is dying **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 5, 2005, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-why-the-american-education-system-is-dying/288521 "2005-02-05T14:17:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Ooner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c67d28/32.png) [@Ooner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ooner)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-why-the-american-education-system-is-dying/288521/61 "2005-02-09T07:25:51Z")
My COLLEGE Business 101 teacher did the same stuff reguarly. I went to class about half the time, and heard about 3-4 urban legends from her, and I can only assume I missed as many. Companies pay for subliminal messages to be flashed on movie screens for just miliseconds! FALSE Disney intentionally puts sexual innuendo in their films for marketing purposes! FALSE The Chevy Nova sold poorly in Mexico because it means “doesn’t go!” FALSE etc. The joke that is the American education system extends much farther than I would have liked to think. But I’m still in it well past the time when it should have improved greatly, but it still sucks (not all the time, but enough to complain about) ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-why-the-american-education-system-is-dying/288521/62 "2005-02-09T07:54:28Z")
Teachers are mortals, just like you and I. The day you stop expecting them to be faultless is the day you remove a lot of stress from your life. ---
**Author:** ![Othersider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/cab0a1/32.png) [@Othersider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Othersider)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-why-the-american-education-system-is-dying/288521/63 "2005-02-09T08:55:47Z")
> [@Left Hand of Dorkness](#): > > He came home from work one day furious about a teacher he’d dealt with, who firmly believed that 1/2 + 1/2 = 2/4. In other words, to add fractions, you add the numerators and then you add the denominators. This is how she’d always taught it, she defiantly proclaimed, and it’s how she’d continue to teach it. She admitted that half a pizza plus half a pizza gets you a whole pizza, but said that was different. WOW. :eek: Words fail me. > [@This Year's Model](#): > > No. **Parental Advisory** was on a train leaving Boston at 4:45. His homework was on a train leaving Chicago at 6:15. I just laughed so hard I snorted. You’re lucky I didn’t have any food in my mouth at the time or I’d, uh…have to clean off my monitor. 😃 I don’t think the educational system is dying, but I think kids are definitely not getting enough in some areas. Way too many people can’t spell, or write an essay without violating all sorts of grammar rules, even some people that can do calculus and physics and other generally-much-harder-than-grammar stuff. ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-why-the-american-education-system-is-dying/288521/64 "2005-02-09T09:43:37Z")
What amazes me is that all you people have such big sticks up your asses, you are jumping all over **Parental Advisory** ’s obvious, meaningless joke and yet NO ONE has taken the teacher to task for teaching the word “SHIT” in the first place??? ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-why-the-american-education-system-is-dying/288521/65 "2005-02-09T18:46:30Z")
On the one hand, you’re right, **KGS**. I’m also amazed that so few people got **Parental Advisory** ’s obvious joke. On the other hand, that has no relevance at all to the second part of your post. ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-why-the-american-education-system-is-dying/288521/66 "2005-02-09T19:30:07Z")
> [@SiXSwordS](#): > > He asks again, how is the number on the chart determined? She replies… wait for it… find the wind speed along the left then find the air temperature on the bottom then find the intersection on the chart… He tries once more, Is there an equation used to find the wind chill? She replies, it’s not an equation, you simply find the wind speed on the left and the air temperature along the bottom and then find the interesction on the chart and that is the wind chill. He proceeds to beat his head on his desk. Reminds me of my wife’s coworker who _insisted_ that odd-numbered house numbers are “always on the left.” My wife said that when she asked, “What if you’re going the other direction?”, you could almost here the coworker’s mind imploding. My first argument with a teacher was in the first grade (in the supposedly more rigorous early sixties) when I argued that the sun was indeed a star. Granted, I was a smart ass, but she would not back down. In my experience, a lot of it has to do with the confidence the teacher has in her or his subject matter. It seems very human to try to stamp out any hint of insurrection if you’re afraid that you’re going to be found out what a fraud you truly are. God knows, I’ve been put in the position of teaching “one chapter ahead” as a graduate student, and it’s humbling to admit that you really don’t know a whole lot more than the students. ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-why-the-american-education-system-is-dying/288521/67 "2005-02-09T20:19:38Z")
> [@PoorYorick](#): > > My first argument with a teacher was in the first grade (in the supposedly more rigorous early sixties) when I argued that the sun was indeed a star. Granted, I was a smart ass, but she would not back down. I think a lot of this sort of thing is due to people who, due to their lack of education, lack of imagination or simple lack of intelligence, cannot get their heads around anything other than a “ME-centered” universe. Thus, the Sun is not a star because, from my point of view, they are obviously completely different in appearance, size, etc. ---
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-why-the-american-education-system-is-dying/288521/68 "2005-02-09T22:02:35Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > Dare I ask if the preponderance of poor teachers is because of school budget cuts that prevent the districts from attracting better talent? I don’t think it’s really budget cuts. It was women’s lib. Seriously. Teaching has always been a fairly crappily paid job but for decades it was one of the few careers women could have. So the American education system lucked out by having all these bright, talented, motivated women who didn’t have many other options. Now, women have many options and the education system is totally hosed because all the older teahers are retiring. Yeah, you occasionally get a bright young thing with a burning desire to teach but you also get a lot of people who think teaching kids will be easy. I know teaching’s a hard job but the caliber of teachers is not what it once was… ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-why-the-american-education-system-is-dying/288521/69 "2005-02-09T22:43:38Z")
Interesting point, **tremorviolet**. You’re suggesting that teachers were better overall when smart women had few choices besides teaching? ---
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-why-the-american-education-system-is-dying/288521/70 "2005-02-09T23:12:03Z")
> [@andros](#): > > Interesting point, **tremorviolet**. You’re suggesting that teachers were better overall when smart women had few choices besides teaching? That’s my pet theory. And I’m not saying we should go back to those days but that we’ll have to offer a lot more money to make teachng more competetive with other fields to attract more really good teachers. (both men and women) ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2005, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-why-the-american-education-system-is-dying/288521/71 "2005-02-10T02:06:07Z")
I wonder if that would apply to nursing, too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-why-the-american-education-system-is-dying/288521.md?page=3)