NationStates Jolt Archive

In university I had a lecturere who was explaining the difference between sense and reference, as an example of a true statement he wrote this on the board:

Neil Armstrong was the first man in space.

Silence from class as he whittered on about this 'true' statement for about two minutes, until the mumbling started. Finally someone raised their voice and said 'No, he wasn't'.

The lecturer then turned and looked at what he had written, shrugged and grabbed the board eraser. He then rewrote his statement so that it was actually 'true'.

John Glenn was the first man in space.

Cue groans from the lecture hall and the sound of heads hitting desks in exasperation.

This is one piece of evidence to show how far in denial the american education system is. I hope im not offending anyone, but im seriously worried about the most powerful nation in the world, this lack of knowlege of world history is a clear sign of brainwashing in my opinion, no wonder Americans can seem arrogant, they think they have accomplished EVERYTHING! Jesussaves has also helped me notice that America thinks that they created the lightbulb, computers, cars and penicillin. All wrong, apart from the computers, bt that is debatable.

Someone please reassure me that America isn't this dumb about world history?

P.S. I remember reading an article in a newspaper that said that America think they saved the battle for britain! And WWII!

Bodies Without Organs lives in Northern Ireland, widely regarded as having an excellent education system

This is one piece of evidence to show how far in denial the american education system is. I hope im not offending anyone, but im seriously worried about the most powerful nation in the world, this lack of knowlege of world history is a clear sign of brainwashing in my opinion, no wonder Americans can seem arrogant, they think they have accomplished EVERYTHING! Jesussaves has also helped me notice that America thinks that they created the lightbulb, computers, cars and penicillin. All wrong, apart from the computers, bt that is debatable.

Someone please reassure me that America isn't this dumb about world history?

P.S. I remember reading an article in a newspaper that said that America think they saved the battle for britain! And WWII!

How often do you beat your wife?

Edit: This post was made in order to demonstrate the problem with loaded questions. Was not intended as flamebait.

This is one piece of evidence to show how far in denial the american education system is. I hope im not offending anyone, but im seriously worried about the most powerful nation in the world, this lack of knowlege of world history is a clear sign of brainwashing in my opinion, no wonder Americans can seem arrogant, they think they have accomplished EVERYTHING! Jesussaves has also helped me notice that America thinks that they created the lightbulb, computers, cars and penicillin. All wrong, apart from the computers, bt that is debatable.

Someone please reassure me that America isn't this dumb about world history?

P.S. I remember reading an article in a newspaper that said that America think they saved the battle for britain! And WWII!
I was taught about Yuri Gagarin in grade school. Plus Jesussaves never said we invented the lightbulb, he said we invented the lightbubl. Which may well be true. I'm not sure what a lightbubl is.

If an entire educational system has failed because it produced one dumb-ass we're pretty much all fooked eh?

The US educational system has its problems, but its not monolithic - many paths through the maze. Some good, some bad.

Mark Twain said something to the effect that 'you shouldn't let your learning interupt your education.' Morons will be morons however they are educated, and someone who truly wants to learn doesn't need a school.

Ask not for whom the school bell tolls...

lol, cheers for reasuring me, and im sorry if i sounded a little rascist back then. dam those northern irish are thick, ;) I guess i was blowing off steam, cheers. I don't know why I thought he was american, maybe i am abit rascist :(

This is one piece of evidence to show how far in denial the american education system is. I hope im not offending anyone, but im seriously worried about the most powerful nation in the world, this lack of knowlege of world history is a clear sign of brainwashing in my opinion, no wonder Americans can seem arrogant, they think they have accomplished EVERYTHING! Jesussaves has also helped me notice that America thinks that they created the lightbulb, computers, cars and penicillin. All wrong, apart from the computers, bt that is debatable.

Someone please reassure me that America isn't this dumb about world history?

P.S. I remember reading an article in a newspaper that said that America think they saved the battle for britain! And WWII!


All education systems seem to focus entirely on their country's history, and ignore the rest, as far as I can tell. In England, history begins with 1066, and world war II consists entirely of the bombing of london, with the war in europe as a minor footnote. I had never even heard of Simon Bolivar, or Che Guevera, until a few years ago, well after I left school.

You're looking at a single isolated incident of stupidity/arrogance.

Please don't generalize.

Bah. Everyone knows George Bush was the first man in space and on the moon. Somehow his brain stayed up there.

How often do you beat your wife?

Edit: This post was made in order to demonstrate the problem with loaded questions. Was not intended as flamebait.
I beat mine this afternoon.

I nailed her with a shotgun, but she never had a chance with her sniper rifle, besides, I was cloaked. I raked up fifteen kills to her five on Halo.

I had a textbook from New York for my American history class, since my school can't afford the nice new ones from Alberta just yet.

It stated that British troops landed on Juno Beach on D-Day, and "Canadian/British" troops landed on Sword Beach.

Don't give me any typo bullshit - somewhere, somehow, American students are learning this to be "fact". This is the kind of thing that makes you wonder whether or not even the so-called "intellectuals" who wrote these things have any brains.

You're looking at a single isolated incident of stupidity/arrogance.

Please don't generalize.

Everyone generalizes...

:)

Not too long ago the american education system was formed to bring in the youth and teach them to either prepare to work in the textiles and mines or how to be a proper housewife. Taught by white moralists and christians. Only then did it expand from there but alot of textbooks are still out of date compared to the way things really should have been written.

Someone please reassure me that America isn't this dumb about world history?

I'm sorry to say that the average US citizen is under the impression that we were the first nation to put a man in space, as well as a host of other historical fallacies.

Simply put; the emphasis on history education in the US is non-existant. People learn more from movies about history than they do in classes. Its simply not seen as vital to our daily lives, our jobs.

Its a blind spot. All nations have blind spots in their educational system. Does anyone care to speculate when I found out that China and Korea both had time periods known as "Three Kingdoms"? That's right; University level history courses. I did not know ANYTHING about Korea's history before then, other than the US had a War over there in the 50's that no one talked about until the 1990s.

But really, how many European school systems discuss the history of China in the 1950s? In the year 200? Its a blind spot.

This is one piece of evidence to show how far in denial the american education system is. I hope im not offending anyone, but im seriously worried about the most powerful nation in the world, this lack of knowlege of world history is a clear sign of brainwashing in my opinion, no wonder Americans can seem arrogant, they think they have accomplished EVERYTHING! Jesussaves has also helped me notice that America thinks that they created the lightbulb, computers, cars and penicillin. All wrong, apart from the computers, bt that is debatable.

Someone please reassure me that America isn't this dumb about world history?

P.S. I remember reading an article in a newspaper that said that America think they saved the battle for britain! And WWII!

We may have not saved WW2, but we did help. It would have been a difficult, uphill battle for the Brits and Russians, otherwise. Although, Hitler did majorly pwn himself when he went into the Soviet Union like that. I think his judgement must have benn affected by the megalamania or the cocaine.

the groans and heads hitting desks show that most of them were well informed. There's your reassurance

I'm sorry to say that the average US citizen is under the impression that we were the first nation to put a man in space, as well as a host of other historical fallacies.

Simply put; the emphasis on history education in the US is non-existant. People learn more from movies about history than they do in classes. Its simply not seen as vital to our daily lives, our jobs.

Its a blind spot. All nations have blind spots in their educational system. Does anyone care to speculate when I found out that China and Korea both had time periods known as "Three Kingdoms"? That's right; University level history courses. I did not know ANYTHING about Korea's history before then, other than the US had a War over there in the 50's that no one talked about until the 1990s.

But really, how many European school systems discuss the history of China in the 1950s? In the year 200? Its a blind spot.

Why should you study the Three Kingdoms period of China and Korea? I mean really thats not exactly a basic requirement for High School education. Hell I will be honest and say the only thing I know of ancient Chinese history is what I read in The Art of War and some basic over view that I've been reading just recently. But you know what? Knowing the history of China doesn't help anyone get a job or contribute to society unless they're going to be a professor on Chinese History.

So frankly, we don't need to, nor should it be general education to know that China had a Three Kingdom period. We should know about the war we fought in Korea.

We should know about the war we fought in Korea.

That seems equally useless in "get[ting] a job or contribut[ing] to society".

In England, history begins with 1066,

Weird, we started off with the Roman occupation.

Since we're debating education:

What is education? Is someone "educated" because they can list from memory all 50 U.S. states and capitals? Or is someone "educated" because they can write down information that the professor writes on the board, study it, then write that in a blue book on test day? How about having a smug sense of superiority just because your (real-life) nation has a higher literacy rate? Does that make you "educated"?

What is the "American education system"? Is is the public schools? The private schools? Colleges? High schools?

Sure, you can say that the American education system is "backwards". But giving one example of one ignorant teacher doesn't prove anything, much less anything that is close to relevant to the topic.

That seems equally useless in "get[ting] a job or contribut[ing] to society".

It is however far more recent and gives you a good sense of *your* nation and *your* nation's politics.

Likewise I don't expect people in Mexico to be learning much about Vietnam or Korea or for people in Germany to learn much about the Falklands war between Argentina and the UK.

Weird, we started off with the Roman occupation.
I think we did too. With British history anyway. But it was only in Primary School. In secondary school we started with 1066 and moved through the years pretty quickly. We spent most of the time doing the Industrial Revolution onwards.

I wish we could have done more ancient history though.

P.S. I remember reading an article in a newspaper that said that America think they saved the battle for britain! And WWII!

We did win WWII. Sure the UK won the battle of britain, but that couldn't have done that without the millions of tons of supplies coming over from the US. Without the US entering the War it was only a matter of time before the Nazis landed on British shore and took it over. Even the russians would have been eventually beaten or at least held back by the Nazis had we not opened fronts in the west and in Africa. Furthermore, if we had not fought with China, Russia would have been invaded from both the west and east, and certainly would have been defeated along with China, all of Southeast Asia, and two british colonies called Australia and India. The fact that the Axis would have triumphed in WWII had the US not joined is an established and accepted fact be all reputable and sober historians throughout the world. SO YES we did win WWII, and if you don't know that then frankly you are the uneducated idiot stuffed with unamerican propaganda from your own education system and culture.

SO YES we did win WWII, and if you don't know that then frankly you are the uneducated idiot stuffed with unamerican propaganda from your own education system and culture.

Dude. Relax. No one can speculate as to what exactly would have happened. And I don't think any history book states "The U.S. won World War II." The ALLIES won World War II. Unless the U.S. started fighting all alone, we certainly did not "win WWII".

And again, relax.

. In England, history begins with 1066, and world war II consists entirely of the bombing of london, with the war in europe as a minor footnote.

Sorry but having done A-level history i can tell you that british WWII history taught in schools consists entirely of Hitlers rise to power in Wiemar Germany, we did it four times (both years of GCSE's and both of A-Level.)

In Australia you don't do that much Australian history, except in primary/junior high school, where it's from a very eurocentric pov- although i've head that that IS changing. But that was from some very silly 13 year olds, so I don't know whether to trust them. :p

In senior high school you get cool topics like"Russia/the Soviet Union from 1914-1935," "The Arab-Israeli conflict" and "The Cuban Revolution."

Oddly enough we did two personality studies, one on Che Guevara and one one Trotsky.

OMFG!!! Communist agenda!! :p

i didn't do o level or a level history,so in school i learnt from the roman occupation up to about 1700 and something. i've forgotten all of it.

All education systems seem to focus entirely on their country's history, and ignore the rest, as far as I can tell. In England, history begins with 1066, and world war II consists entirely of the bombing of london, with the war in europe as a minor footnote.

Are you from England, because I am and that really doesn't seem very accurate. :rolleyes:

We did win WWII. Sure the UK won the battle of britain, but that couldn't have done that without the millions of tons of supplies coming over from the US. Without the US entering the War it was only a matter of time before the Nazis landed on British shore and took it over. Even the russians would have been eventually beaten or at least held back by the Nazis had we not opened fronts in the west and in Africa. Furthermore, if we had not fought with China, Russia would have been invaded from both the west and east, and certainly would have been defeated along with China, all of Southeast Asia, and two british colonies called Australia and India. The fact that the Axis would have triumphed in WWII had the US not joined is an established and accepted fact be all reputable and sober historians throughout the world. SO YES we did win WWII, and if you don't know that then frankly you are the uneducated idiot stuffed with unamerican propaganda from your own education system and culture.

Well, considering the War started more than two years before you came in, and the Battle of Britain had already happened - so although you may be right, saying that it was only a matter of time before the Nazis invaded British soil is not exactly concrete historical fact, is it? The Nazis were pretty much wiped out when they TRIED to invade Russia at one point from the Russian winter.....if Russia really was invaded by China and Germany, when the Russian winter came, attrition levels would be pretty high. So then what you're saying is that China, Russia and all of Southeast Asia, India and Australia would have been invaded by the Germans if you hadn't been fighting China? Please. Anyway, it was Japan attacking China, not America.

It is possible that, had you not joined the war, the Axis would have succeeded (you certainly made an impact on Japan), but one might also say that had we not stepped in at the beginning, then the Axis would have won the war. I suppose in a way we can only say that "The Allies" won- it was a 'team effort', and who knows - if Britain, or America, or Russia weren't in it, then perhaps the Axis would have won. But none of the above can say that because of that, they won it. And actually, I think you'll find most "reputable and sober historians" here do not think that America won the war, yet I do find they give a balanced view of everyone's parts to draw conclusions, which really isn't the way of propaganda. If you so staunchly believe that I am some uneducated idiot stuffed with European propaganda because I do not believe that America won the war, then you obviously have not looked or heard of everyone's parts - it seems far more likely that YOU are stuffed with propaganda. However, I believe this not because your OPINION differs from mine, but because the way you appear to express it shows that you somehow have only been given information that shows America as the winners. Am I not right?

Just letting you know, Chinkopodia, I already address this poor guy's mix-up.

http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=8229901&postcount=24

No worries. I love Europe. Me. The American.

Are you from England, because I am and that really doesn't seem very accurate. :rolleyes:


yes i am i went to the Clarendon school in Trowbridge, Wiltshire and took both the GCSE And A-level history courses presented there, gaining a final B in A-level and in GCSE. I suppose it may depend on which examing board you work under, and as i look back we didn't do Hitler (or any WWII) during the last year of A-level, mental slip on my part.
I then applied and am presently doing Medieval and Modern History at the University of Birmingham.

America thinks that they created the lightbulb, computers, cars and penicillin. All wrong, apart from the computers, bt that is debatable.

Someone please reassure me that America isn't this dumb about world history?

P.S. I remember reading an article in a newspaper that said that America think they saved the battle for britain! And WWII!

Well, as much as I'd like to help you here, I can only reinforce your problem...

I've even posted it here on this forum somewhere, but it is my observation that world history in this country focuses mainly on the U.S.... Out of a 20 chapter book, for instance, at least 15 of them cover our involvement in history... The first few summarize everything else, and the majority of the book covers what has happened that involves us...

Well, the above is a generalization, and a slightly exaggerated example... I don't remember exactly how my world history classes went, but I'm definitely under the impression that they focused very heavily on the United States... And it might not even really be the textbooks that are at fault, but rather the teachers (who briefly skim the non-US parts, and take more time on the parts that include us)

As for the other things mentioned:

Lightbulb: Invented by Thomas Alva Edison, a man born less than 15 minutes from where I'm sitting right now, in Milan, Ohio, U.S.A.... In fact, this is so "true" to me, that until you mentioned that it might not be the case, and I performed a quick search to see where you got confused, I had no idea that this guy, Swan, even existed...

As far as I've ever known, Edison was the inventor of the lightbulb... In fact, the vast majority of my search results confirmed this "fact"... It was only in one result that I saw that mentioned the other guy...

So, apparently, we really do have it wrong on this one... Although, there is a caveat in that article that mentions that Edison's lightbulb related work went much further than Swan's, and his bulb was the first commercially viable one... So, I guess that's where Swan got left behind... He may have done it first, but he didn't do it well enough...lol

Computers: I only have a vague understanding of the birth of computers, but if I were to guess, I'd assume it was an American invention...lol A search on this one reveals the British fellow, Turing (I think I vaguely know this name), who had what could loosely be called a "computer" before we Americans did it... But I think as far as the term "computer" as it is used today, ours was the first...

Cars: The biggest name we hear in conjunction with the birth of the car is Henry Ford... However, I don't think we really credit him with inventing them, we credit him with creating the first publically accessible car, thanks to his new-fangled "assembly line" production system... Again, perhaps this is a case of commercial viability, as with the lightbulb... The credit goes to the guy who gets it to the public...

Penicillin: Hmmm, I don't think I've ever heard of this as being an American invention... I've heard of Dr. Fleming's discovering it, but he was never made out to be an American... Honestly, though, I didn't know where he was from, and could easily just assume he was an American...lol

WWII: Ummm, as far as I've ever known, our involvement was very crucial... In fact, France credits us with liberating them (I know this for fact, having read a monument in France in a cemetary near Omaha beach stating such)... And I've always been under the impression that the UK didn't have much of a chance without our help, either... If reality is otherwise, I doubt anyone in this country knows it...lol

This is one piece of evidence to show how far in denial the american education system is. I hope im not offending anyone, but im seriously worried about the most powerful nation in the world, this lack of knowlege of world history is a clear sign of brainwashing in my opinion, no wonder Americans can seem arrogant, they think they have accomplished EVERYTHING! Jesussaves has also helped me notice that America thinks that they created the lightbulb, computers, cars and penicillin. All wrong, apart from the computers, bt that is debatable.

Someone please reassure me that America isn't this dumb about world history?

P.S. I remember reading an article in a newspaper that said that America think they saved the battle for britain! And WWII!


1. I'm not, nor have I ever been American. The incident happened in Northern Ireland, which as Nadkor stated earlier, is seen as having a very high standard of education, particularly at the secondary level, compared to the rest of the UK, and has a high ratio of people who have gone on to study at the tertiary level.

2. No one was taught here that the Americans put the first man in space. Re-read the anecdote, and you will note that after the lecturer made his second gaff, I describe the 'sounds of exasparation' coming from the lecture hall and describe the 'corrected' form as "'true'" - we knew that Gagarin was the first man in space, but we had already wasted enough time on the matter. It was, after all, just being used as an example of a 'true statement', and so the content was irrelevant, just so long as we considered it as a true statement for the puproses of the lecture.

3. The lecturer was, I guess, in his mid-forties, and this happened about ten years ago, so he would have lived through both the moon-landings and the soviets getting the first man in space. Whether he didn't pay attention to the news then, or much more likely, just made a series of casual errors when he was more concerned with making sure that we understood the philosophical difference between the sense of a sentence and the thing it referenced, is irrelevant, and not an indictment of anybody's educational system.

So, what was that you were saying about the American educational system again?

Looking at casualty counts on each of the fronts, you could conclude that the Soviet Union won the war single handedly. Thw African front was a side show no matter how you read it, the Western Front hastened the end - but didn't cause it. What it certainly did was change the end.

That does not diminish the American role - Germany might well have been able to overwhelm the Russian troops without the lend-lease equipment and the North Atlantic convoys that provided the materiel to turn the tide. It does suggest though that American factories as opposed to troops won the war. That may dampen some martial ardour.

Had America not participated on both the African and Western front those would have dragged out as draws until Russia met the allied troops from the other side. Marseilles and Pisa would have been Soviet warm water ports.

Away, Away with the fife and drum
Here we come looking for rum
Looking for women to paddle our bums
We're the North Atlantic squadron

<Sorry couldn't resist>

Away, Away with the fife and drum
Here we come looking for rum
Looking for women to paddle our bums
We're the North Atlantic squadron

<Sorry couldn't resist>

On that matter:
http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=8182315&postcount=456

This is one piece of evidence to show how far in denial the american education system is. I hope im not offending anyone, but im seriously worried about the most powerful nation in the world, this lack of knowlege of world history is a clear sign of brainwashing in my opinion, no wonder Americans can seem arrogant, they think they have accomplished EVERYTHING! Jesussaves has also helped me notice that America thinks that they created the lightbulb, computers, cars and penicillin. All wrong, apart from the computers, bt that is debatable.

Someone please reassure me that America isn't this dumb about world history?

P.S. I remember reading an article in a newspaper that said that America think they saved the battle for britain! And WWII!


As I recall, both the American and world media proclaimed that Al Gore was "cerebral" and intelligent.

This, the same man who claimed to have invented the Internet. He also learned as a child how to clear land with a mule and an axe (despite never having lived on a farm in his childhood).

If that's cerebral, then yes, you may have a point.

We may have not saved WW2, but we did help. It would have been a difficult, uphill battle for the Brits and Russians, otherwise. Although, Hitler did majorly pwn himself when he went into the Soviet Union like that. I think his judgement must have benn affected by the megalamania or the cocaine.


Well what some people fail to realize is that WWII was simply one mass murderer vs. another. Hitler vs. Stalin. If you look at it Hitler invaded and took over all those nations along Russia's western border but then realized he had forgoten to cover his a** and made a non-agresion pact he had no plan of keeping and went back to invade France. Once he was done he went East again without even declaring war invaded Russia. Millions of soviets were dead before America stepped in.

(Quotes edited for space. To fit this screen format?)
As for the other things mentioned:
Lightbulb: Invented by Thomas Alva Edison, vs Swan

I think this has to be given to Edison. Many, many people were trying to develop a light bulb at the time. (Invent is not really the word here, more engineer or manufacture would be better. The concept had been around for a while.) Edison succeeded where a host of others failed.

Computers: If I were to guess, I'd assume it was an American invention... Turing a "computer" before we Americans did it... But I think as far as the term "computer" as it is used today, ours was the first...

The first electronic computing device was actually built in Manchester University, England, about three months before Bell Western built theirs. If the development of the concept of a computer is to be regarded as inventing it, then it goes to the French with Blaise Pascal, followed by Charles Babbage in England, who actualy built a purely mechanical computer in the 19th century. The whole field is very confused by a lack of clarity as to what counts as a computer anyway.

Cars: Henry Ford... "assembly line" commercial viability, as with the lightbulb... The credit goes to the guy who gets it to the public...

Ford is not associated outside of the USA with inventing cars. He is said to have invented the production line. Unlike the light bulb, which before Edison were not functional, cars were alive and well and being sold in their thousands before Ford. Cars, or horseless carriages were invented in Europe. The earliest ones, using steam power, were British. The first internal combustion powered cars were German. (Daimler I think)

Penicillin: Dr. Fleming... Honestly, though, I didn't know where he was from, and could easily just assume he was an American...lol

Scottish, OK

WWII: our involvement was very crucial... In fact, France credits us with liberating them And I've always been under the impression that the UK didn't have much of a chance without our help, either... If reality is otherwise, I doubt anyone in this country knows it...lol

No one country won WWII. The allies won together. Nuff said.

Now I want to point out that this nationalistic pride in we invented this or that does not belong only to the Americans

The Brazilian people are taught and genuinely believe that the airplane was invented by Santos Dumont. They discard the Wright Brothers flight as
1. a hoax
2. American propaganda
3. Not valid because it used a catapult system.

The last may be a reasonable objection, but it does not negate the heavier than air flight that took place at Kittyhawk in 1903.

Anyone else know of any other perpetuated misconceptions?

I beat mine this afternoon.

I nailed her with a shotgun, but she never had a chance with her sniper rifle, besides, I was cloaked. I raked up fifteen kills to her five on Halo.

HAHAHA. That's hillarious. I have to use that.

At least I have a nice, conservative anti- PC/realitivist/liberal history teacher who refuses to indoctrinate me. (I mean this seriously)

I am american, and for the most part, american;s don;t know their history. Where i am, some poeple hold that the cnfederates won the civil war and that noone has ever been to space. Stupid eh?

It's the public school system. It all depends on where you are. In Louisiana (where i am right now...sigh, i hate it here) the education is the 2nd worst in the nation (only topped my mississippi). It is so bad, that they lower standards on the LEAP test so that if you fail 3 times, you still pass, and youcan have a 51 and go on to the next grade. It encourages failure and brings stupid people into the classroom and keeps them there. No educator cares about the students anymore. And professors tend to care more about their personal gain or agenda rather than their students. This is the sad state of our education system. My mother is trying to start a preschool (it would be the first in the state that isn't merely a daycare. School in this stae is basically daycare until the 4th grade) and she found out that they aren't even regualted by the School Board, or even the social welfare department. She actually wants to teach.

My grandmother has been a preschool teacher in michigan for about 40 years. She has her own private preschool. Children come out of there reading at !4th grade level and adding and subtracting. Hell, i went into kindergarten reading books like War of the Worlds. The whole school system in Michigan rocks. But here, you are lucky if people aren;t still sounding out words as a sophomore in high school. I had friends that couldn't read pride and prejudice. It is sad, i will be the first to admit, that most americans arent; the sharpest in the box, but there are ome of us that are pretty intelligent. It isn;t the fault of any one person or group of people.

People are lazy, educators are apathetic. I stump my political science teacher daily. He has to ask me what words mean. It is sad.

I was taught about Yuri Gagarin in grade school. Plus Jesussaves never said we invented the lightbulb, he said we invented the lightbubl. Which may well be true. I'm not sure what a lightbubl is.
Juri Gagarin. As in: "lennä, lennä Juri Gagarin, tule elävänä takaisin."
(Fly, fly Juri Gagarin, come back alive.)

I've lived most of my life in the US, and most of what happened to me was we were fed a steady stream of propaganda. Then again, it's mostly because I got a bunch of terrible teachers.

How often do you beat your wife?

Edit: This post was made in order to demonstrate the problem with loaded questions. Was not intended as flamebait.
Once a month

This is one piece of evidence to show how far in denial the american education system is. I hope im not offending anyone, but im seriously worried about the most powerful nation in the world, this lack of knowlege of world history is a clear sign of brainwashing in my opinion, no wonder Americans can seem arrogant, they think they have accomplished EVERYTHING! Jesussaves has also helped me notice that America thinks that they created the lightbulb, computers, cars and penicillin. All wrong, apart from the computers, bt that is debatable.

Someone please reassure me that America isn't this dumb about world history?

P.S. I remember reading an article in a newspaper that said that America think they saved the battle for britain! And WWII!

Who did invent the lightbulb than?

There is nothing wrong with our education. Here it is, teach them slowly from grade school through high school than when collage rolls around cram all the information into their little minds within four years! Its the opposite over seas, where 1-12 (or whatever it goes up to) grade is information cramming and the collages are not high quality. Also my friend from Spain tells me that nothing counts except tests, at least in Spain. He says, "There is homework but you dont have to do it its just something extra. And they dont give out much classwork its mainly just review for the tests, and those are really the only things that count towards your grade."

Maybe hes wrong, Im just saying what I heard.

Why should you study the Three Kingdoms period of China and Korea? I mean really thats not exactly a basic requirement for High School education. Hell I will be honest and say the only thing I know of ancient Chinese history is what I read in The Art of War and some basic over view that I've been reading just recently. But you know what? Knowing the history of China doesn't help anyone get a job or contribute to society unless they're going to be a professor on Chinese History.

So frankly, we don't need to, nor should it be general education to know that China had a Three Kingdom period. We should know about the war we fought in Korea.

Thank you for proving my point :).

I'm trying to say that knowing history just for the sake of knowing history is rather pointless. Epic milestones in your nation might not matter to another nation. Space, as much as we'd like to know more about it, is a very minor factor in most American lives. Who cares if we don't know who was first in space? Does it matter to anyone not in the space program?

All that it indicates is that the average American is short on Trivial factoids to shove in other people's faces as proof of their superior knowledge. When it comes down to it, unless you are in a job that specifically warrants vast amounts of historical knowledge, that knowledge is probably more of a hiderance than a help.

The American populace is educated in such a manner as to train WORKERS, INTELLECTUALS, and all manner of other eventual jobs and outcomes. To say that factory workers don't know who Cao Cao was is the same as saying they don't know who the first man in space was; proof that they don't know more than they need to. Woop-de-wow.

Who did invent the lightbulb than?

Heinrich Göbel, a german.

Sorry but having done A-level history i can tell you that british WWII history taught in schools consists entirely of Hitlers rise to power in Wiemar Germany, we did it four times (both years of GCSE's and both of A-Level.)

I stopped taking history in year 9, so clearly I'm not qualified to talk on this subject. But that doesn't stop anyone else. :p

Heinrich Göbel, a german.

Trivia: It was only his unreasonable insistance that it be called 'Der Glänzenkontrolliertencarbonheizfadenglaskugelvorrichtungelektrischbildendapaprat' which led to him losing his rightful place in the history books.

Just a queston for fellow americans

I'm from Canada and I red a fews years ago about USA stopping to teach the creationist and natural selection evolution therory from darwin (about man coming from apes) in high school. Because it opposed the christainism theory (man coming from god). Is that true?

And about the average worker not needing to be educated... Education and culture is what will forge you experience and opinion. Since USA is actually a world super power (in terms of economic, politic and military influence), we (the rest of the world) would like to see is population (read elector) the most educated as possible.

This migth be an irrevelant perception, but it looks like channel like foxnews try to take advantage of low education to make people bougth/trust anything. I just saw lately scientific trying to claim global warming was normal and good for us, they even claim CO2 was finally good for enviroment (vegetal), that more cars would help reforestation and that we should ban Kyoto's protocol. We need to be more educated to prevent that.

Once a month
Mine was funnier - go eat cheese you Lactose Intolerant loser.