Reader's Response #1 Moore

In Michael Moore’s “Idiot Nation” he goes over the many reasons why the American education system is failing, who is at fault, and how it has been a major factor in the overall intelligence of not only our population but our countries leaders for the past few decades. He writes about how Government spending has been on the decline for education since Nixon’s administration in 1974. How majority of Americans spend an average of 99 hours reading while they watch over 1500 hours of television per year, and are brilliant at regurgitating useless fact about sports teams but don’t know when the civil war was. He also notes how the wrong people are taking the blame for doing their best to advance the quality of life of our children while ignorant parents, administrators, politicians, corporations and millionaires inhibit general intelligence on every front.

The grim picture that Moore paints regarding American schooling is certainly true in many areas of the U.S., but not all. There are many places (particularly high income communities) that do genuinely place the needs of the children first and are supported by caring parents, dedicated teachers and school boards with proper priorities. Moore doesn’t acknowledge these areas most likely due to the overwhelming number of systems in disarray “Almost 10 percent of U.S. public schools have enrollments that are more than 25 percent greater than the capacity of their permanent buildings. Classes have to be held in hallways, outdoors, in the gym, in the cafeteria” (Moore, 137). The physical buildings are not only too small for a growing population, but need to be repaired and checked for mold in many cases. There is also an issue with the availability of textbooks and other learning materials, books, resources, counseling all of it is on the decline “In 1974 the Nixon administration changed the rules, stipulating that federal education money be doled out in “block grants” to be spent by states however they chose. Few states chose to spend the money on libraries and the downslide began. This is one reason that material in many school libraries today date from the 1960’s and early 1970’s.”(Moore, 138). It seems only logical that in order for a country to grow intellectually and still get ahead in the modern world a modern foundation must be made and that starts with learning material. The teachers in these schools are not at fault here, they go in underpaid and overworked to try and teach children with insufficient materials and they still take blame for low SAT scores and drop-out rates, “ Considering the face-slapping society gives our teachers on a daily basis, is it any wonder so few choose the profession?  The national teacher shortage is so big that some school systems are recruiting teachers outside the United States” (Moore, 136). From 8^th-9^th grade I went to school in the UK, took 12 classes a day and was on location from 7AM till 5PM Monday through Friday. Now, that was one school,  but the overall commitment and general work ethic those students had to put forth in order to be successful was far greater than anything I’ve even heard of in this country. Granted I know very little about all the high schools in this massive country but still I was blown away and I find the answer to be quite simple now, we need to give teachers their tools again and make education more available for children and more stimulating for young adults.