They don't know history, don't trust science, can't do math, never took a civics class, and think speaking a language other than English means you should be deported. How did that happen?

@Bobbie63 It has always been that way, social media has simply made them more noticable, because idiots don't know they are idiots and think parading their stupidity on social media, makes them wise.

@Bobbie63 I would only correct your statement to say, they don't understand history and they don't understand science. The rest is likely far more influenced by their family or small corner of the world that they have never stepped out of. I am not sure any school system, private or public, is all that great at conveying the need for comprehension rather than rote memorization of info long enough to pass a test, but again, that speaks to the construct designated in order to acquire funding. I will say I have seen far more comprehensive results from Montessori type schools than most others, and in my town we are super lucky to have one of the only free and public Montessori schools, which is where my boys went for grade school and junior high, and the students there consistently outperformed both our private and public school students on standardized testing. I am not sure if the ignorance resulting from religious private schools, and it seems they are the dominant group of private schools, produces any greater results than public schools when it comes to comprehension and application of learned information, especially in the history and science respect categories. Trust me, I feel your pain, I just don't think it is the public school system that should shoulder the blame.

@Amzungu ...and I don’t use that goofy hearty-eyed grin icon often.. Good job, and fortunate boys ~

@Varn Haha, I thought maybe your finger slipped. Thank you.

@Amzungu @Bobbie63 You guys raise some really valid points. There is a degree of schooling at fault. I hadn’t event thought of the foreign language requirement. Yes! We’re so darn ethnocentric here.

I also think parenting is obviously a huge part. It sounds like you’re doing a great job there.

And, yes, the intentional dumbing down of Americans from the media is nuts. It all started with the need to fill content and get an audience for the 24-hour news cycle. And spiraled out of control from there.