State of Education in America

The following has quickly become a classic video showing the state of education in America. You want to think that Kellie Pickler, of American Idol fame, has to be kidding.

But as you watch the video for the second or third time one comes to believe that, nope, Kellie is absolutely serious as one of millions of dumb Americans who seem to think that it is fine to be ignorant of the world around them.

Thankfully, there are still many exceptions to the dumb and dumber only turned in to their own narrow world millions of TV and entertainment celebrity worshipping addicts out there. The cute smart kids on the game show “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?” are evidence of that.

There has long been evidence of entrenched anti-intellectualism in America. But the degree of ignorance exhibited by celebrity Kellie Pickler is worrisome. If kids follow her example the US economy will only fall further behind other nations whose educational systems still place a premium on producing top rate scientists, doctors, engineers, and business people in a highly competitive world.

Americans are increasingly in serious intellectual trouble — in danger of losing their hard won cultural capital to a virulent mixture of anti-intellectualism, anti-rationalism and low expectations. The state of education in America is not good. Being dumb in a world that places a premium on smartness and expecting to remain near the top of the heap is really dumb indeed.

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