Students in the United States are not stupid. They are uneducated. They are ignorant of who they are and of where they are.
Exactly. It's not a question of basic ability to learn - although a few, no doubt, are stupid - but of the system's failure to provide decent instruction for the overwhelming majority who are perfectly capable of benefitting from it.
You are so right, abc!
I just have to share this true story with you all:
One evening recently my husband and I ordered take out dinner for our family at a popular sports restaurant known for their chicken wings. The cashier (she had graduated high school) looked at us and told us the total was $17.76. My husband said "Ah, 1776, now that was a very good year!" The cashier looked at us blankly, and remarked something like, "Oh, and why is that?" We were stunned, and asked her if that year really meant nothing to her. She asked "Did somebody win something?" as if a sporting event had been the issue at hand. We were thinking that she was just yanking our chain a little bit, and tried to tell her an important historical event took place that year. Still clueless, she said, "I don't know, I wasn't born by then." My husband and I just exchanged glances, and told her that it was the year the the Declaration of Independence was signed! We reminded her that we celebrate that event every July 4th, because she didn't quite look sure that she still knew what we were talking about.
After giving us our change, she asked us how we both knew that, were we teachers or something? We told her no, that it was something we both thought was common knowledge, as it had been taught to us when we were children. She remarked that maybe it had been taught to her, she didn't remember, and that she only tried to remember things like that so that she could pass the graduation test. It sure makes you have little faith in the system. We then promptly returned home with the food, and asked each of our children if they had any idea of the significance of 1776. Thank God, they all did, the youngest being in 9th grade. I would have shot them had they not known!! (Just kidding about that part!)
Sometimes we forget about that little thing called personal responsibility. It's too easy to pass the buck.