Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!ima!necntc!ames!lamaster
From: lamaster@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Hugh LaMaster)
Newsgroups: comp.edu
Subject: Re: CAN WE KNOW SO LITTLE?    Old: Re: Lawsuits (and countersuits)
Keywords: ignorance, geography, education, learning, teachers,US,USA,foreign
Message-ID: <12664@ames.arc.nasa.gov>
Date: 1 Aug 88 16:43:16 GMT
References: <12230@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> <12260@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> <24100@teknowledge-vaxc.ARPA> <160@usenix.UUCP>
Reply-To: lamaster@ames.arc.nasa.gov.UUCP (Hugh LaMaster)
Organization: NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
Lines: 44

In article <160@usenix.UUCP> peter@usenix.UUCP (Peter H. Salus) writes:
>Bill is, of course right, we are a nation of ignoramuses.  And so 

As a followup to many previous articles:

I wonder how US children and adults compare with those of other countries.
My personal observation is that the average person is pretty much the same
with respect to ignorance wherever one goes in industrialized countries,
and even, to some extent, in the (few) non-industrialized countries I have
visited.

Now, in most countries, including
European countries, a much smaller percentage of students go to "universities",
but, that is largely a result of US name inflation anyway.  
Some years ago, the California
State Colleges were renamed Universities, but that didn't change the focus
of the programs from "training" to "learning to learn".

What I find potentially more troublesome is that in the US the top 5% of
students are not challenged as much as in most other countries and are about
a year behind the foreign students at about age 18.  However, I brought this
up with friends and coworkers from foreign countries some time ago, and the
opinion seemed unanimous: The students in high pressure academic tracks in
those countries pay too high a price for that year advantage.  So, at this
point I am undecided.  The real problem of education is that of
educating INDIVIDUALS, when no one system is going to ideal for everyone.
If someone out there has solved this problem, there is an eager world out
here waiting to hear the answer :-)

I do agree that teachers in the US appear to be not adequately paid, though,
remember that the salary usually quoted is for about 10 months work, and
some teachers take the job so that they can travel during the extra two
months of vacation.  The theory of salaries is an interesting sidelight for
those interested in sociology:  Why do people get paid what they get paid?
(Hint:) Only in a few cases does true supply and demand appear to be answer.

To conclude: "Ain't it awful?"    :-)


-- 
  Hugh LaMaster, m/s 233-9,  UUCP ames!lamaster
  NASA Ames Research Center  ARPA lamaster@ames.arc.nasa.gov
  Moffett Field, CA 94035     
  Phone:  (415)694-6117