<p>This girl is a classic case of a CCer gone to the dark side. She probably had opportunities to make friends and learn what she wanted, but in an effort to spite the “cool” kids, she turned them down. At the end of the line, she believes she’s entitled to more than a podium in front of her classmates.</p>
<p>All I can say is that I hope that spiel was a form of catharsis for her. I hope she went home feeling like she accomplished something with that speech. The unfortunate reality is that while she was typing it out in an angsty, Nietzchean fervor, her “would-be” friends were probably out enjoying their senior year.</p>
<p>Of course American education has it flaws that could definitely be improved. By no means does that mean it sucks.</p>
<p>I agree with Wiscongene. This should not have been a graduation speech, and I would have been annoyed to have heard it. Graduation is something to be celebrated.</p>
<p>It shouldn’t have been a valedictorian speech.</p>
<p>But the truth is there. America is failing as a whole. The education is just collapsing compared to so many other nations. Most people on this site are wonderful, promising students of the future, but those that make no attempt to learn what a Pell Grant is and would rather join the workforce, is what brings this nation to its demise. Teachers who strike and protest, while their AP students are clueless on the test, is whats dismal. It doesn’t matter who or where you’re from. College is getting more competitive- life is, really.</p>
<p>But still. Graduation isn’t a time to bring that up.</p>
<p>^That’s a result of the system spreading itself too thin. We try to provide the best in public education for everyone from the pre-algebra gang banger to the all-AP student. Nevermind that in Europe, if you don’t put in the effort, the gov’t funding for your education goes bye-bye.</p>
<p>But seriously, you guys are giving this girl too much credit. That’s not even what she’s talking about. READ THE SPEECH. She’s just acting ****y because she spent time on grades at her social life’s expense.</p>
<p>Why limit yourself to strictly American education? I see no reason why this problem is solely endemic to America. Unless, of course, we’re talking about nations where the average student already undergoes a heavy self-selecting process, since education is not offered to the general populace. </p>
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<p>This is interesting. I wish to learn more. Can you provide some links or sources?</p>
<p>On Topic: The speech is extremely cliched and, as a result, I couldn’t read past the fourth paragraph.</p>
<p>This is a lit~tle overacting. Though I like her innovative remarks and I have my partial corresponding ideas, I think she was having a lit~tle grudge against her school…
And I agree that it’s a little despondent to point out such things at such time jovial as the graduation day…haha.</p>
<p>I am currently lol’ing at the offended CC’ers who actually believe that the current American educational system isn’t a complete and total pile of horse ****.</p>
Because her speech was about American education and this thread’s title is “American Education Sucks”. Also, it’s my understanding that the average student in America cares less about education than the average student in many of the countries that now surpass us. For example, the average American student is often more concerned with:
xBox
StarCraft
Sex
Countries like Korea, for example, only deal with one of those problems.</p>
No one is arguing that the American education system is amazing, just that the valedictorian who wrote the speech was full of crap. There are tons of problems with American education; the ones she cites are the least of them.</p>