Investor · Sarasota, FL · Member since 2008 · 17k+ posts · 17k+ votes
16y
Originally posted by Rich Weese:
JScott- Every country has uneducated idiots- but why are we the country that elects them??? Rich
Because, unfortunately, the majority of the voting public is a bunch of idiots as well...
Our educational system sucks...which is why U.S. GDP will continue to shrink, and why our economy will continue to stagnate (no, deficit spending is not the main problem). From an innovation standpoint, we will no longer be the greatest nation on the planet in a few years, and the economic success of this country will reflect that...
In fact, if you quantify innovation as a percentage of GDP, I'd guess we no longer are the most innovative country on the planet... (and I'm guessing most economists would agree)
The level of intelligence of the "average American" is disgraceful, and it's time that we raise the average (or at least the median)...
My guess is that intelligent people tend to vote for intelligent people, so if we were able to raise the intelligence of the average American, my guess is that we would see the intelligence of the average elected official increase as well...
Real Estate Investor · Elkhorn, WI · Member since 2008 · 453 posts · 104 votes
16y
anywho...here are some of Mr Johnson's credentials...
Rep. Johnson practiced civil and criminal law in DeKalb County for twenty-seven (27) years. A staunch supporter of public education, he is a graduate of the District of Columbia Public Schools, Clark College in Atlanta and the Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University
You would think that someone who is SO educated would be intelligent and able to realize the stupidity in what he was saying. Perhaps big time lawyers and their fancy schools just can't take the stupid out of people. I wonder how much money he spent on education to become intelligent?
Investor · Sarasota, FL · Member since 2008 · 17k+ posts · 17k+ votes
16y
Originally posted by rich23s:
You would think that someone who is SO educated would be intelligent and able to realize the stupidity in what he was saying. Perhaps big time lawyers and their fancy schools just can't take the stupid out of people. I wonder how much money he spent on education to become intelligent?
Unfortunately, most of the K-12 schools in this country aren't focused on teaching people to think logically and become "more intelligent". They are focused on rote learning (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rote_learning) and preparing students to function as unskilled employees so that they can survive -- albeit meagerly -- in the world.
Many of our colleges and universities aren't much better, and by the time kids get into institutions of higher learning, they've already been trained not to think logically, but instead to just memorize content.
It's difficult to break that thought process once you're an adult, which is why even most of those people who go to college never really learn critical thinking skills.
This guy is just another example of that...
IMO, that's the biggest reason this country is at risk of losing its economic advantage over the rest of the world...we just don't have enough people who can truly "think outside the box" and innovate...