America When thinking of America many people would assume a variety of things such as happy people, greener grass, fresher air, a bluer sky, diversity at every corner, freedoms, and of course an endless amount of opportunities. However, an uncommon thing that people would think of when thinking about America is a land of the dumb people. In “Idiot Nation,” Michael Moore offers a convincing argument on America’s stupidity by combining logical and emotional appeals as well as harsh diction to drive his point across that we are an “Idiot Nation”. America the greatest country earth is sadly just an “Idiot Nation”. Americas standards of education compared to other countries in the world is very low. It is not our governments fault for our poor standards of education, it is our fault for our pitiful motivation and poor standards of what we think a good education is. Here in America, many of the students can not do the simplest of problems because it is just too “hard”, then they give up and won’t ever try it again. …show more content…
The actuality that Moore states is that, “The 1990s saw a phenomenal 1,384 percent in-crease in exclusive agreements between schools and soft-drink bottlers,” he also says, “In Colorado Springs, the district will receive $8.4 million over ten years from its deal with Coca-Cola,” (134). In order for this school district to get it money Moore stated that, “…school district officials urged principals to allow students unlimited access to coke machines and allowed students to drink coke in class,” (134). This is just one of the many school districts Michael Moore talks about and how these school districts care more about doing everything possible to ensure they get their money and a nice cold soda. Instead of devoting all their resources towards educational purposes and making sure students and educators aren’t suffering from a lack resources they should have at their
President Ronald Reagan once described America as, “A Nation at Risk,” He was addressing this statement to the education department thirty years ago and meant it as a wake-up call. He was aware that the United States was falling behind in education and needed to take action in order to prevent the demise of the country. Reagan correctly predicted the grim fate of America if education did not see improvement. Today, research finds that American education is failing to provide the necessary skills to succeed in college and various careers. The quality of education in America is a growing issue and every year graduate students are finding it more difficult to obtain high paying jobs and start his or her career. According to studies conducted globally, the curriculum in America is not as advanced and years behind international schools in countries such as China and Japan. There is much controversy in government over what can be done to reverse the situation in public schools but possible solutions that have been suggested are hiring more qualified teachers, more classroom time, and investing more money into education.
...is other nations about not just taking what we have as an education system for granted, but actually wanting to better ourselves.
Coca- Cola has always been popular with America and in the 1950s; it became the main soda to drink during the 1950s and also the golden age for the product. One glass of Coca- Cola was only five cents. The soda was a symbol of social status. If you wanted to be refreshed and satisfied, then you have to drink Coca- Cola. Celebrities, actors, athletes, workers, kids and even Santa Claus had to have Coca- Cola in their hand. With the boom of television in households, Coca-Cola became more popular because of the advertisements contain relaxing and being comfortable with the soda in their hand. It became so appealing that Time’s Magazine stated that, “It is simpler, sharper evidence than the Marshall Plan, or a voice ...
Politicians are now placing the blame on the downfall of the economy on poor education techniques. Educational institutions in American have become so morph into the concept of standardized methods of learning
In “Idiot Nation,” Michael Moore discourses on the collapse of American education system and the three main reasons behind it: politicians’ ignorance, shortage of teachers, and the rise of Corporate America. Moore first points out how ignorant the President and politicians are by stating that the President cannot simply identify whether Africa is a nation or a continent. Next, Moore attributes the lack of funding in education to the fact that politicians prefer to build bomber than to improve our education system; this leads to shortage of resources, overpopulated classrooms, and decrease of books available for students. He then notes that the low salaries of teachers, which are caused by the insufficient funding of education, result in shortage of qualified teachers, leading to the failure of the education system. In addition, Moore discusses about the rise of Corporate America, which is another factor corrupting the education system. To get funding from Corporate America, schools diminish the time students have in class, by making students watch advertisements from businesses and help businesses conduct research during class time. Throughout his excerpt, Moore uses exemplification, surprising statistics, rhetorical questions, and simple but clear reasoning to effectively express his ideas and convince readers of his arguments.
It is safe to say that the current education system in the United States does not help create a good workforce, it does not help students meet their goals and it does not do a good job in creating good citizens. The current education system is not able to do this because not everyone is about to get a higher education, it is not practical, and a college education and grades are not good factors/indicators in determining a person’s success. Yes, the education system is better here than in other areas, but there are a few things that need to be worked on.
In Michael Moore’s introduction to the novel, Stupid White Men, Moore talks about the state of the American nation during the twenty first century. Moore believes that the nation is falling apart because it is being overrun by the “stupid white men” who are controlling it. He equates all the corruption and downfall that is occurring throughout the United States with the election of former president George W. Bush. In this introduction he covers numerous controversial issues, which range from the economy and society to politics and the environment. Although much of what Moore says is exaggerated and one sided, many of his statements are true. Moore is correct in stating that the nation is falling downhill; however, he is wrong in saying that Bush is the only cause in America’s decline.
Education is the most powerful weapon a person can possess. An abundance of examples could be given to further prove this statement as well. Albert Einstein used his to show the world that everything is made of atoms and that light is made up of energy called photons. Marie Curie used hers to discover radium. Martin Luther King Jr. used his to fight for equal rights for African Americans. The list could perpetually go on to describe many people who used their education to influence change in this world. However, one country’s list of influential people seems to gradually dwindle as the years go by. The reasons for this could be never ending, but the root of the problem is the education system. This country
Annu using test results from each country on how they score, turns out the United States isn’t even close on the ranking in the list. She uses sources from test scores, to college financial problems, examples on how the system teaches their students. It’s quite convincing because as a student who use to attend high school here in the U.S., I can stand by what she says as in she’s right. We are terribly taught and need to be looked as equally regardless who we are, or where we come from
Stupid in America is documentary based on the United States education system, its teachers and most importantly its students. This film shows all the flaw there is in our schools throughout the country. Even though this documentary seem to have some unexplainable alternative motive behind it, the film itself shows everything going on in the inside of our public school system.
This country is progressively getting worse and needs serious change. Our national debt is constantly on the rise just like our national obesity rate. We are out classed in academics and health care. And there are plenty of countries that are getting better and doing better than the United States in many regards. The only thing we beat other countries at is defense since we have the largest military budget which is greater than the next seven countries behind us combined. Another thing the united states leads the world in is the incarceration rate which is the highest in the world. you can't just sit there blindly and not realize America is on the decline. I graduated in 2014 and I can assure you plenty of students read the constitution and
If it was not apparent enough that America’s education system is failing, Michael Moore’s “Idiot Nation” openly explains to us about the truth. America, for being the richest country, is behind in the educational standpoint. America needs to rethink their standards when it comes to education. America is more focused on corporate earning than educating our youth. The author of “Idiot Nation” makes the reader think about how America is viewed in the world. The purpose of Michael Moore’s essay is to point out what is wrong with this nation and also give the reader the motivation to actually do something about the situation at hand. Moore is trying to make readers aware of where we send our children. The author is trying to shock readers with the facts to do something to improve the American education system.
In his piece titled Idiot Nation, Michael Moore depicts many faults of the American education system. One quote that caught my attention was “teachers are politician’s favorite punching bags” (pg. 160). Teachers in the public school system are grouped together as the number one predicament when it comes to America’s lack of worldly knowledge. He goes on to discuss the much more egregious and omnipresent issues. I enjoyed Moore’s counter arguments, because I have always disagreed with this myth without knowing the actual problems in our schools.
Why would one hypothesize a change is needed? First, international comparisons show the decline in education. Tests show American high school students rank much lower than other nations on standardized math and science tests (United States 66). On a test given in twenty-one nations, American pupils only outperformed Cyprus and South African students. These results seem more devastating when one sees Asian nations, usually ranking high in competitions, did not participate (McNamara 73). Examinations also reveal pupils' performances decline as students climb up the educational ladder toward college. "We seem to be the only country in the world whose children fall farther behind the longer they stay in school" ("Nation" 1). Yet, just comparing our students to international standards does not divulge the whole story.
Coca-Cola is a well-known and cherished brand name. When people think of this name, memories tend to overflow in their heads. Why? Because, not only does Coke taste great and refresh your own personal memories, it also fills you with memories of the Coca-Cola like "Always Coca-Cola", the antics of the Coke polar bears, and all of the different ads that have represented Coke over the years. Just about every ad you see, as a consumer, will have tons of hidden meanings. Coca-Cola may not always intend to present the same hidden meanings, but will always intend for their audience to see a commercial and hopefully crave a Coke product. I found a Diet Coke ad that really caught my eye in the August issue of Southern Living, a magazine for women. The ad, titled High School Reunion, pictured four Coke bottles in a diagonal line. The first bottle, a new unopened Diet Coke bottle, is pictured at the top left-hand corner of the page. The next two Diet Coke bottles are supposedly being consumed. At the bottom right hand corner of the ad page you see the bottle is empty. This reveals the conversation of a young woman contemplating the plans for her high school reunion. Over all Coca-Cola is believed to put these claims, supports, and warrants in their ads to make their product more appealing to the consumer.