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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Impeesa" data-source="post: 2043296" data-attributes="member: 498">I think we (and by 'we' I mean "Canada, which is close enough") aren't too behind yet, but we'll see more and more slippage in the future. The school system just isn't set up right, and it's apparently gotten worse since I was in it - and I could tell it was messed up when I was in it, right from day one.An entertaining aside: I got suspended on my very first day of kindergarten. The teacher had us all sitting around the edge of the rug. "Stand up," she said, and we all stood up. "Sit down," she said, and down we all went. This repeated a couple times. "Stand up." She looks at me. "Why aren't you standing up?" Little me shoots back: "Because you're just going to make me sit down again." You know that Simpsons episode where the teacher is pushing the "Independant Thought Alarm" button under the desk? When I look back, I imagine something like that taking place shortly afterwards. She told my parents I could come back when I was ready to behave. Anyways... I'm just going to throw some tangentially related observations out, here. Take them as you will.The bar has been lowered for school performance. Not only has it been lowered such that anyone can meet it, it's been lowered so far that those who were previously capable of meeting it are tripping over it. The system seems almost deliberately designed to destroy the minds of the most capable students, bringing them down to the lowest level present. I was very nearly a lost cause in grade 6. I have a pair of siblings who were headed down the same path. Our mother decided to homeschool them this year (their grade 7 year) because she was so thoroughly dissatisfied with the system.More fun stories from grade 6: Our science textbooks were 20+ years old. I don't recall the specifics, but it was old enough that it shorted either Saturn or Jupiter by about 10 moons. I recognized that just reading through it, and let me tell you, that inspired a world of confidence in the education I was receiving. That, and the fact that I got away with doing a single question on each math assignment and 'marking' it myself for about 6 months. Not too long ago, I had the pleasure of working at a summer science camp. It was aimed at teenagers, with the mandate of steering more students towards post-secondary sciences. It was created and partially run by a chemistry professor who is active in promoting the sciences to younger kids. He's also our provincial NDP candidate (left-wing socialists, for our foreign friends), and he has his eye on the position of Minister of Education specifically because he, like many others, thinks the school system needs drastic reform.Another fun fact: I don't recall the specifics (see a pattern here?), but I learned somewhere during my experience with the science camp that most kids (especially girls) have decided they're 'not smart enough' for science before they even make it to high school. Why?Going back to the lowering of the bar, I think we've created an educational system where kids are taught that it's okay not to think too hard. I've <a href="http://www.enworld.org/showpost.php?p=1875399&postcount=73" target="_blank">touched</a> on this <a href="http://www.enworld.org/showpost.php?p=1878951&postcount=84" target="_blank">before</a>  in <a href="http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=108141&page=1&pp=40" target="_blank">this thread</a>, so I won't elaborate too much here. Suffice it to say that I've thought myself in circles - the dumbing down of the system serves a dual purpose - to promote the incapable past their capabilities without challenging them to improve, and to quash those with the greatest potential. The end result is a vast shortage of motivated, inquisitive, and generally knowledgeable individuals - exactly the people who drive scientific advancement. QED, or something like that.--Impeesa--</blockquote>

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