Wow, even Belgian kids are smarter then US kids!
That must mean something.

Yeah that US kids are blinded by their TV culture- partly tho- can you imagine how scary that is considering the most powerful country isn't the brightest one- its like their president

Yes it is scary. Typical of a non-socialist government?

Nah, that's not the reason...as I understand it, the American (public) school system is relatively "socialist": equal entry for all etc. This is ignoring private schools of course, but the entire debate is on public schools.

To give you an idea, in belgium we have 2 large networks: the catholic school network ('owned' by the church) and the community school ('owned by the government) network. Regardless of ownership though, both are government-endorsed. They exist alongside, with the catholic schools tradionally said to be slightly better (tho the difference is really minor). There are little or no private schools...most are for kids with exceptionally high IQ's or for rich minority groups such as the Jewish diamond traders over here in Antwerp.

So, I don't know what would be best. Maybe restrict private schooling cos it creates a "lower" and "upper" class of teachers and students? Education is supposed to be pretty dramatic in Britain as well, where private schools exist too. (and therefore also such a dichotomy) I dunno tho...I think a good many factors matter in something like this. One thing's for sure: Intelligent design isn't gonna help these kids to get ahead of the international class again.

...humm, I think you have been mistaken. Apparently you have you priorities wrong.

http://forums.clankiller.com/viewtopic.php?t=1547

yay....what neutral reporting...yep, all Americans are stupid.

or possibly American students don't do as well as european students in standarized testing, on average.

What I'd like to see is a bit more data before I start declaring that all Americans are stupid.

1. What are the test questions?
2. Besides the average, what were the maximum, minimum, and mean?
3. How many respondents on both sides of the pond?
4. These Belgian geniuses are calling Americans stupid? Any genius would know that stupidity and standardized test scores don't correlate...stupidity == low intelligence which has little bearing on test results. See Einstein for examples.

Anyway, I'm irritated at a sensationalist title that's meant to piss people off. I'm irritated at purposefully chosen quotes meant to encourage feelings of competition and anger. I'm irritated at a press who is more interested in agitating people then doing what they're supposed to be doing. FNORD!

Anyway, the US school system has been substandard for a long, long time. It was being criticized for turning out idiots from before I graduated. However, despite all that, America is still top of the international food chain. Why? I have a small theory.

How many Belgians are there? 10million ()
How many Americans are there? 300million

Let's assume that 95% of the world is stupid. From my person experience, that's about right. I'm personally in the 99 percentile when it comes to testing/intelligence/etc. Most of you guys probably are too. So...if 95% of people in the world are retarded, that leaves:

Belgians: 500,000
Americans: 15 million

My contention is that averaged, standardized test scores are a stupid way to compare countries unless the countries have equal populations and equal statistical sampling. Or some mechanism to adjust for it. I bet if you took the top 5% of students in both countries and compared them, the results would be roughly equivalent.

Blaming the school system is, IMO, short sighted. What we need to do is diversify...make schools to get hte intelligent away from the morons. I shudder to think how many great minds have been lost due to the lowest common denominator schools we have here.

You say that blaming the school system is short sighted, but at the same time you propose to change the system. If it needs to be changed, it isn't right.

The US economy is doing quite well indeed now, but on borrowed money. I wonder how long that will be able to continue. Don't expect to be on the top of the international food chain at the end of this century though.

Obviously we must question the data. That goes for anything. Although i acknowledge the point the video is making, by no means do i believe it 100%.

Also, i dont think we should dwell on this too long. Intelligence is achieved through education. We have already established that US school systems are below a certain standard, thus the average pupils intelligence will also be below a certain standard. To solve the problem, the US would need to improve the teaching.

A famous quote comes to mind. ~"Managing the few is the same as managing the many. It is simply a matter of organisation."

Note: I use the word intelligence rather clumsily by implying that it actually means academic skill.

Come on, the topic is over. I dont see Beligum kids getting suspended for giving oral in the class room.

11b is into the spirit of the thread the most, hehe. I wish I'd gotten classes in getting head.

And Satis, chill out man...twas all in good jest. I'm still loving the fact that the Belgian group trashed the American one, but hey. They told me I was good for woodworking or something when I was 12...so I did Latin just to piss everyone off. Then when I was always getting 55-60%, ppl were saying I'd struggle to hold on as the years went by...and I just stayed at 55-60%. Other ppl's grades went from 80 to 70 to 60%...mine just stabilized. And the "higher" I went education-wise, the better my grades got. (I attribute that to being allowed to do my 'own thing' more in the last two years of uni) I never saw the point of revealing the full scope of my abilities to my "competition" just for the sake of it.

I'm just saying...I dig. Just go burn down ABC's main office or something to soothe the irritation.

I want to burn down the media.
Then I was to set fire to all the kids that do good in school not because they're smart, but because they're retardedly dedicated.
Then I want to burn all the teachers that think nonconformism is bad.
Then I want to burn all the stupid people making stupid babies.
And finally, I want to burn all the stupid babies.

After that, I'll do something.

Then I'll profit!

Hates mondays. Hates stupidity. Hates fear mongering.

btw, speaking of fear mongering, it's too late. A worldwide ecological catastrophe is now inevitable.

Tell me why?
I don't like Mondays
Tell me why?
I don't like Mondays
I'm gonna shoot the whole place down!

Figures