Dumbing Down

 

(As a side note, when I used the Google Image search for “dumb” tons of pictures came up of George W. Bush.  While I’m not a supporter of him, I find this joke of calling him dumb getting as old and lame as a comedian saying “Git r dun” after every punchline.)

  I was sent a link the other day which was video that was critical of the American education system (this video is available at the end of this blog post).  High School students are asked who important figures in history are and some of the responses are shocking.  I’ll be honest and admit I did not know who Calvin Coolidge was but the other people I did.   

   It is scary that students recognize pop culture icons before people who played (or play) an important role in our world.   Often I find Canadians criticizing the United States for this but I think that Canadian High School students would probably perform pretty similiar on this test.  While we do have Canadian laws in effect to try and promote our culture, with the Internet being or on its way to becoming the primary media source for many Canadians, these laws will eventually become obsolete.  American culture plays a large role in Canadian culture whether we like to admit it or not.