<p>I found this video very interesting:</p>
<p>What do you think? :D </p>
<p>Discuss.</p>
<p>Those kids in Belgium are mighty cocky. </p>
<p>I doubt they searched as hard for an "average" school in Belgium as hard as they did in America.</p>
<p>Wow. Great video thanks for posting it.</p>
<p>The kids in Belgium ARE cocky. I think that school is the best in Belgium so that's why they seem so smart.</p>
<p>Not all American schools are bad. Many of them are good and they have smart students.</p>
<p>I do have to say that other countries are catching up to America.</p>
<p>America has many entertaining things so that's why some students neglect their studies and focus on having fun.</p>
<p>You know, when Chaos and I earn our Ph.D.'s in math and visit schools in Belgium, I shall demonstrate to them just how stupid they really are. </p>
<p>Escher? What? What?</p>
<p>video is.......interesting</p>
<p>Pfft, math. </p>
<p>I'll just flash a few million dollars in front of them. That'll do the trick.</p>
<p>This documentary makes it seem like it's just the fault of the schools and school systems. KIDS should make more and better efforts!!! But yea some teachers should be better.</p>
<p>Let me rethink this.</p>
<p>I think there are some problems with the public schools, but American students are generally lazy. I have been <em>shocked</em> at how lazy some of my honors class peers are, but if they were all kicked out of the honors classes, there would be too few kids to justify the honors program. I have also been <em>shocked</em> at how terrible <em>some</em> teachers are. My math teacher told us every day how much she hated teaching, and she is head of the department. </p>
<p>We've got serious societal issues. More money won't fix the kids or the teachers. The schools generally waste a tremendous amount of money.</p>
<p>I remember one elite public school that I visited a couple of years ago. The principal said something like: "Show me a successful kid, and I'll show you a successful parent supporting that kid." At first, that bothered me because I want to be a self-made person. Now, I think I understand that better.</p>
<p>I think families can make a big difference.</p>
<p>In my little brother's kindergarten, the kids had to memorize 6 sight words a week. It was up to the parents/families to drill the kids. Some of the kids did not memorize even 60 words by the end of the year. Obviously, the families did not care. Here, everyone in my family helped my brother finish almost 50 lists of 6 words. If we hadn't helped him, though, he probably would have been just like the other kids. Families have got to care about each other and help each other.</p>
<p>I'd like to see a real comparison of students in the U.S. and Belgium. The one they presented was ludicrously unscientific; absurd, in fact. How about they control for IQ on these tests? I'm sure the gap would narrow instantly.</p>
<p>Also, our schools aren't quite as bad as one might think:</p>
<p>
[quote]
Some say that the public schools are so awful that there is huge room for improvement in academic performance just by improving education. There are two problems with that position. The first is that the numbers used to indict the public schools are missing a crucial component. For example, in the 2005 round of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 36% of all fourth-graders were below the NAEP's "basic achievement" score in reading. It sounds like a terrible record. But we know from the mathematics of the normal distribution that 36% of fourth-graders also have IQs lower than 95.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Additionally, many public schools absolutely suck when it comes to teaching. Certain alternative methods have been used to great success. In this respect, the video is actually pretty good; it shows that, among other things, giving parents the choice of where to send their students and letting bad schools close improves performance.</p>
<p>Also, to actually examine whether these charter schools work or not, it's not sufficient to simply claim better performance. Even when schools are in the same district, the most motivated parents will attempt to get their students into schools which are perceived as being the best, and naturally, the school quality will improve. You'd have to do an experiment; randomly select two groups of students from the same population and place them into two different schools, one of which is an "alternative" school, the other a normal, failing public school. Compare the results of both schools on standardized tests.</p>
<p>The biggest reason why kids fail in school, their parents don't care. I remember back in 1st grade, I FAILED a friggin Phonics test. That week my mom kept me up until midnight every night drilling me on Phonics. I went back in and aced every single test the rest of the year. Now I'm going to be my high school's valedictorian. </p>
<p>I think it's also correct to blame the schools. There is NO discipline at ALL at most schools. It's really up to the teachers to put the hammer down and discipline their kids. Saying, "Hey, stop, listen," isn't going to do jack ****. They need to send those kids to the office (maybe have some massive guy lead them there LOL), and discipline those kids. </p>
<p>But in the end, the parents need to get off their *** and help the schools in their OWN KIDS education. All that stupid black woman from South Carolina did was complain about the schools. Did she even attempt to teach the **** kid herself? I don't think so.</p>
<p>wow, that whole thing was anti-communist propaganda!</p>
<p>pshhh...i pwn all belgians</p>
<p>I saw this when it first aired and then they had the nerve to show it again. Yeah I was fairly dissapointed. How can they blaim us when all they need to do is take a look at our public education system. I don't know I was still kind of glad I wasn't nor did I have to be around one of those cocky foreign kids.</p>
<p>great video. i'm from america, but man, americans are stupid. but that's not a bad thing. etremely good for the curve. i'm happy for that!!! yeah!</p>
<p>someone's gotta look stupid for me to look smart</p>
<p><a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=fJuNgBkloFE%5B/url%5D">http://youtube.com/watch?v=fJuNgBkloFE</a></p>
<p>Funny little clip entitled, "Americans are NOT stupid"</p>
<p><a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=8AbXR4fbhOQ%5B/url%5D">http://youtube.com/watch?v=8AbXR4fbhOQ</a></p>
<p>ROFL @ this guy</p>