So you’re a decade or so older than me, but I remember that freedom for discovery as well. Things are definitely too regimented for kids today, to their detriment.

And yes, there is a lot on the menu in American schools. I agree that No Child Left Behind is a disaster. It, amongst other things, gave my kid severe anxiety issues. So I pulled her out of public school and am educating her at home. It’s better. She stays with things till she has them under her belt then she moves on. No waiting for everyone else to catch up, no constant mind numbing repetition, no pressure, etc. Just the basics of all subjects and the ability and time to deep dive on things that interest her.

You make a lot of sound points. Still, as you said, it was on the menu. I agree there’s a problem with the educational system in America and I think you put your finger on it. I wasn’t disagreeing with that.

But I would call that indolence, not ignorance. As you said, it was all was on the scholastic menu. My parents pushed the notion that it’s not the school’s job to educate me. It’s their job to provide the means for me to educate myself. It’s a privilege to have that available to me and I better damn well make use of it or they would know the reason why. And that it doesn’t matter if the information is on the test or not. The responsibility to learn it still rests with me. Therefore, when socialism was brought up in history or civics class, regardless of how passing, I learned about it. I made notes. I asked questions. Textbooks have bibliographies. You can look those things up in the library.

So the education and exposure is there. As you said, much more than most children around the world ever get. I’m reminded of an old adage—you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink.

I had some really great teachers along the way. Some of the best were young and energetic. None of them are still teaching, though they would still be below retirement age. They got out a long time ago. That says a lot.

Reading through your comment, I’m reminded of numerous times in years following school where past classmates would express surprise that I knew something mentioned on TV or in a book. I would tell them, thinking they just forgot. Then they would swear up and down they never heard it before and I would say in disbelief and shock, “10th grade. We spent 3 weeks on the Krebb cycle and cellular metabolism. Remember? You were one of 5 kids who got perfect marks on the pop quiz.”, or whatever. Then they would think back and say, “Oh yeah, glucose to ATP.” This has happened multiple times. They don’t remember. It boggles the mind and it’s just weird. Anyway, that’s what I meant by they probably knew the basics of socialism. I would guess that if you pushed your wife to think back she would remember socialism mentioned in history, civics, or government class. Socialism is one of those things that comes up multiple times across several classes, it’s not an obscure topic, there and gone in 5 minutes at all.

It suggests again, that the problem is not so much ignorance and lack of education as much as it is over regimentation, repetition, and indolence. Why bother commiting something to long term memory when you’ll be doing the same thing next year. And the year after that. And the year after that. Expectations of automation and being spoon fed information have definitely obliterated critical thinking. Why think through anything when anything you want to know is available at your fingertips?

I think we can definitely add a skewed sort of thinking as to whose job and responsibility it is to educate kids, and when education stops (hint::never) as well as constant information barrage, stress that paralyzes thought processes, and utter lack of time to oneself to mentally process much of anything. To be honest, I struggle with mental sluggishness and indolence at times myself. Sadly, turning everything off doesn’t give me mental rest when everyone else is constantly shoving things under my nose to look at. It’s really hard to get away from the barrage anymore when you need to. There is way too much to keep up with to stay sound.

So yeah, I completely agree there’s a problem with American education. I get the view from the rest of the world that we’re all ignorant and uneducated. It’s easier to wrap your head around that than trying to figure out how a country with so much can ever even have or allow problems like this. It also probably feels really good to those who may have grievance with America, a chance to poke the ‘possum. I just think it’s reductive, simplistic, and misidentifying.

I appreciate your comments. They were well versed and thought provoking.