“Stupid in America” is a nasty title for a program about public education, but some nasty things are going on in America’s public schools and it’s about time we face up to it.
Kids at New York’s Abraham Lincoln High School told me their teachers are so dull students fall asleep in class. One student said, “You see kids all the time walking in the school smoking weed, you know. It’s a normal thing here.”
We tried to bring “20/20” cameras into New York City schools to see for ourselves and show you what’s going on in the schools, but officials wouldn’t allow it.
Washington, D.C., officials steered us to the best classrooms in their district.
We wanted to tape typical classrooms but were turned down in state after state.
Finally, school officials in Washington, D.C., allowed “20/20” to give cameras to a few students who were handpicked at two schools they’d handpicked. One was Woodrow Wilson High. Newsweek says it’s one of the best schools in America. Yet what the students taped didn’t inspire confidence.
(Description by John Stossel on ABC News, http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Stossel/story?id=1500338)
One thought to “20/20 Stupid in America”
Very interesting report for sure! I especially like the points made on the benefits and importance of competition vs monopoly in the world of business. The schooling of our children is so important, this is an area that especially ought to be free to improve in healthy competition. However I just have to say also that the most important education a child receives will always be what they are learning when they are in the home. Even if a child is attending the best school in the nation, the parents have such an eternal important role in the raising and educating of their child! 🙂