Ael L. Bolt ([info]martyfan) wrote in [info]mock_the_stupid,
@ 2005-02-23 14:27:00
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Current mood: confused

I truly fear for Michigan's education system
My history professor lectured for maybe two hours about the American Revolution on Monday. So today, he led a review session, and asked one student "What was the American Revolution about? Whose freedom were they fighting for?"

The student looks up and said, very hesitantly, "...slaves?"

*headdesk*


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[info]jslayeruk
2005-02-23 11:58 pm UTC (link)
It's not that stupid really... he could have been confused with the American Civil War that was kinda about the freedom of slaves. However, considering that he'd already been taught about the American Revolution for 2 hours, that isn't as forgiveable.

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[info]lex2000
2005-02-24 12:13 am UTC (link)
I'm sorry, but if you don't know the difference between the Revolution and the Civil War you've got serious problems.

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[info]have_you_seen
2005-02-25 02:39 pm UTC (link)
Yeah... I mean even I know the difference when in school where I live we only get a short period dedicated to Us history.

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[info]kleenexwoman
2005-02-24 12:23 am UTC (link)
We're all slaves, man. We just don't know it.

Gotta say though, nobody in my school ever said anything quite as stupid as that. Which district is this?

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[info]martyfan
2005-02-24 12:30 am UTC (link)
Jackson. And this is college education here, not grade school. I wish I'd known about this community back when I was in high school, my classmates were such morons.

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[info]theblackdog2071
2005-02-24 03:29 am UTC (link)
Unless there's a Jackson School District in Detroit or elsewhere, I assume you're referring to Jackson, MI.

I know someone who graduated in '99 from there.

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[info]martyfan
2005-02-24 03:33 am UTC (link)
Yeah, and that's assuming there's only one Jackson.

Was this from Jackson Community College, or Jackson Public Schools? Because I didn't go to the latter, I'm just in the county.

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[info]theblackdog2071
2005-02-24 04:16 am UTC (link)
Jackson Public Schools, so you likely would not know him since he lives in Lansing now.

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[info]theblackdog2071
2005-02-24 04:19 am UTC (link)
I missed the part where you said "college education" *mocks self*

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[info]til_yesterday
2005-02-24 03:38 am UTC (link)
let's just hope that this person doesn't go on to be a teacher, than the mitten has even more to fear.

what college in jackson?
[i'm in plymouth, if you know where that is, halfway btwn detroit & ann arbor]

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[info]nonamouse
2005-02-24 09:54 am UTC (link)
Hahaha, what the hell is that on the smiley's head?

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[info]silvernyte
2005-02-24 12:30 am UTC (link)
I am SO not surprised... I am surprised, however, I survived the Michigan public education system with any ammount of active brain cells left.

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[info]naniwa_elle
2005-02-25 01:58 am UTC (link)
Woah, someone else knows DeviDevi!

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[info]silvernyte
2005-02-25 02:16 am UTC (link)
yeah, it's one of my fave manga. ^_^

the poor series doesn't get enough love so I made my current lj theme based on it. ^_^

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[info]sherbie85
2005-02-24 01:04 am UTC (link)
mmmm...haha

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[info]zenicurean
2005-02-24 01:20 am UTC (link)
"An Empire divided against itself cannot stand!"

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[info]yeah_hi_its_me
2005-02-24 05:52 am UTC (link)
That reminds me of my college days:
Some idiot is giving an oral report on fashion trends at the turn of the 20th century. She says, "Women began to wear pants because they had to do most of the heavy labor, because all the men were off fighting in the war."
Prof: "Just to clarify, what war was that?"
Idiot: *pause* "Uh...the Industrial Revolution."

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[info]deepbluemermaid
2005-02-24 10:22 am UTC (link)
bwahahaha. That's great!

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[info]have_you_seen
2005-02-25 02:40 pm UTC (link)
*boggles*

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[info]active_apathy
2005-02-24 12:42 pm UTC (link)
They were fighting for freedom from taxes!

And it worked really well, too.

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[info]anarmyofcamp
2005-02-24 01:46 pm UTC (link)
Taxation without representation. And yes, it did.

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[info]rubyfire
2005-02-25 12:37 am UTC (link)
I always believed that they were fighting for freedom, liberty, and the pursuit of property. But my history teacher was alsways a cynical bastard.

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[info]active_apathy
2005-02-25 06:55 am UTC (link)
The irreperable rift between the colonies and the British Empire was, indeed, taxes. Taxes levied to offset the costs of defending the colonies against, of all people, the French (incidentally in Canada). The colones got rather upset about the taxes, declared their secession, and won with the aid of France (who hated England more than they wanted the colonies) (hence the big iron and copper statue).

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[info]la_lanterne
2005-02-25 11:05 pm UTC (link)
... and thus France spent all its money and between that and soldiers returning home all, "Hey, democracy actually works!" and the Estate system, people were fed up and this led to the French Revolution, which happened six years after the American colonies formally received independence by the Treaty of Paris...

*has written an enormous essay on this*

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[info]queencallipygos
2005-02-24 07:00 pm UTC (link)
It's not my story -- a friend is an English professor at a college nearby. He has a story about one day in class when he made a reference to Thomas Paine's THE RIGHTS OF MAN. One girl in the class expressed ignorance of that particular book. He briefly explained that THE RIGHTS OF MAN was a pamphlet that was published leading up to the Revolution.

She still was confused. He gave her a more detailed explanation of the book itself.

Then he realized the reason she was confused was because SHE DID NOT KNOW WHAT HE MEANT WHEN HE SAID "THE REVOLUTION."

This was a student born and raised in the United States. She had been through 12 years of school and graduated from high school, and had been accepted in to a university. Nevertheless, after asking her a few more questions, he learned that she had complete ignorance of the following facts:

* There were originally only 13 states.
* These 13 states were originally colonies of England.
* In 1776, a group of men from said colonies started a war to gain independence from England.
* This war is commonly referred to as "The Revolutionary War."
* There is a picture of a man on the front of every 25-cent coin.
* This man's name is George Washington, and he was a general in this war.
* George Washington was our country's first president.

Once he had taught her this information, he took a deep breath and returned to his English class.

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*sobs*
[info]mikeweasel
2005-02-28 06:43 pm UTC (link)
Wasn't GWB supposed to be the "education" president when he ran in 00?

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