Post by saskabronco on Oct 25, 2014 9:22:14 GMT -5
The best doctors in the world might be in America.. I won't argue that because I don't know, but since it has some of the most prestigious universities, I would guess that it is the case as well. However, the best doctors in the world generally don't work graveyard shift at the ER in Flint, Michigan. The quality of care that people get going to an ER that they may not have to pay for is probably very low. Given the insane amount of money that doctors can make if the get into private health care, the best doctors will be reserved for the people willing and able to pay the most money. Yes, America might have the best of many things, but that doesn't mean all Americans have access to those things. That goes for tags like health care and education for sure, and like much more. That is why we have the statistics to look at. When we see that USA has some of the best schools in the world, yet they are showing in testing that they are far below many others, that tells us that there is likely great diversity between the top level and bottom level. I am sure there are many Americans that score extremely high on the testing (those fortunate enough to attend the expensive private schools with premiere level education) but far more test very low due to extremely poor education in the poorer areas where thee is no money... That is America's biggest problem... The extreme diversity between the rich and the poor, and some of you guys only think America should be judged by its top level scores and ignore all the bad stuff that taints the numbers. That right the is one huge reason why America is not the greatest country in the world... Too many people refuse to accept anything negative that they hear about their own country, thus ignoring the real problems, thus causing them to continue and even get worse.
I'm a big believer in that no one is really stupid, they just have different strengths and learn in different ways. One of the problems with public schools is that class sizes are often way too large, so teachers are forced to spread themselves thin over too many students (plus many teachers are under qualified, or just don't care enough, to do that job) so they end up doing a generalized plan that caters to certain strengths and certain ways of learning. Those who are different tend to fall behind and they start to think they are stupid.
IQ is a misleading test because it measures certain strengths. In high school everyone thought I was super smart because I got grades in the high 90's in most classes, especially English/literature, social studies, math and sciences. But I was a perfect fit for the school system. I was good at the areas they focused on the most. I had friends who thought they were stupid, but they could take apart a car engine and rebuild it, or help someone build a house. Mechanics or construction were never things that I've been good at, and to me those people have tons of smarts in those areas while I feel like an idiot when it comes to fixing a car or construction.
The point is, more people could think they were smart if schools all had the ability to ensure enough good teachers were there to spend time working to each student's strengths (I'm not saying every student should have his/her own teacher, but maybe 10-15 students per class rather than 25-30).