American Failure in Education, Reason- Moyers, Susan Jacoby

[galenrivera512]

I want this video on my W888 unit.

[IGWTS]

Another godless witch, mixing truth and fiction. Goverment took over education thats why it went down hill.

[vernlloyd11]

Unusual comments with this video once again.

[writersblock26]

Thank you for posting this, litxlit.

[FRSFreeStateNow]

America will never reform its schools until we start holding our educators and schools accountable. And give parents a choice of which Public School they can send their kids to.

[lovestaronfire]

the country is going down the drain because we are control buy big companies and banks. When you are selling a house you have to tell what are the problems of the house but if a bank is selling the house they dont need to you shit!!!

[azkeyz]

This woman made a huge mistake in thinking faith is not subject to scientific examination , NEVER is faith based on non-fact.

Yahuvah ( G-d ) is not the author of confusion.

This lady is just as uneducated as the rest , which is why we don't listen to such people.

[jack10133]

@azkeyz Fatal mistake.

[1mrbla]

@azkeyz

Sir, you are an example of Jacoby's point: where did you come under the impression that God in any language is spelled "Yahuvah?" Scholars tend to translate the hebrew into Yahweh, or YHWH. Additionally, the notion that "faith" is subject to "fact" or reason undermines the very definition of faith itself (i.e. FAITH IS NOT SUBJECT TO SCIENTIFIC EXAMINATION)! Finally, Susan Jacoby has a college degree, which necessarily makes her a part of those 25% of people in the country.

[MOKandRIFF]

WOW!

[oodnac]

The USA needs more people like Susan Jacoby.

[jobedied]

We bought the corporate message hook line and sinker.

That must be modified to bring the constitutional protection truths and potentials back in the forefront of our

common life. People will continue to be endentured consumer corporate by products if we do not serve this document. You can not serve two masters affectively when one tips balance to far the other is lost. Simple serve money strongly or serve each others basic human constitutional rights. Tide will flow where the channel goes.

[TheLastCoolName]

This was so good I creamed my pants.

[knsummers]

I wonder why all of her examples of reason, success, intelligence are in the past?

I don't have a problem with her core argument. But, she says people don't have a long enough attention to read a book and then she writes a book to tell us about that and goes on PBS. That seems pretty unreasonable. Where's her YouTube channel, her blog, her podcasts? Her webpage is all 10-point text. Her next book should be called "Preaching to the Choir pt.3"

[snozzcumbers]

1 out of 5 think the sur revolves around the Earth! Holy shit!!!

[cfhasib]

Well, it figures...Amerikans cant run their country the right way, have sh1tty foreign policies, invade a peaceful country for its oil, kill innocent civilians (aka as collateral damage),and build gas guzling vehicles that pollute the planet. I dont expect them to be able to a simple thing like this.

[Sertrinous]

I think this is a gross overstatement.... Peaceful country? Not really. Kill innocent civilians? Sure. Stupid foreign policy? absolutely. Build gas guzzling vehicles? Yes, but the majority of us don't use them. But to be educated and to learn is something that America can be quite good at, especially at the age of Computer Science and Biomedical Engineering. America just needs a better example in the political realm to show them it isn't okay to be ignorant.

[cecilbdml]

Cute. Until recently, Americans had Constitutional protections and freedom, something NO OTHER COUNTRY HAS. No country has been invaded for its oil (witness the fact that we haven't received one barrel from Iraq to put the lie to that one), and I'd love to see your facts on who caused the collateral damage--us or the forces we're fighting.

It always strikes me funny that the pointy-headed think their opinions are reason, and no one who disagrees with them is 'reasonable.'

[ixat00]

"Americans had Constitutional protections and freedom, something NO OTHER COUNTRY HAS"

Seriously? No other country offers constitutional protections to its citizens?

[cecilbdml]

Seriously. Ours is the only country that--on paper AND IN PRACTICE--follows the rule of law and not the law of the ruler. Every other country's laws favor the government over the citizenry, at the government's discretion. Look it up.

[x11115]

@cecilbdml, and why does the government spend our money and tax the death out of us without providing any service for it? Duh... The US is a deteriorating nation. They can't even keep up on the roads. I've driven in every state as a truck driver and the roads are crap. Even the buildings that were built in boom times are decaying. Yet we are taxed to death and the government does not provide - they just expand worthless programs that bring nothing to the people or our society.

[JessOnTheRun]

@cecilbdml what nonsence... where are your facts/data/resources... most european countries have tighter regulatons and laws that serve the people, not the government, hence they have higher quality of life and better living standards than the us.

[ColdShadow3993]

@cecilbdml it goes without saying that the enemy your fighting is more often your own side considering that every freindly fire incident is down to misplaced air-strikes called in by your squadies!

[enlightenedtwo]

Loserville is where everyone is a winner, but they're actually losers, individually and collectively. This is where an individual wins, but their win does not provide anyone with any benefit, individually and collective.

Unreason? It's the bi-product of delusional thinking. The wealthy winner is actually a poor loser. Capitalism? The winner receives their benefits with the thieves.

If Susan benefits with the thieves for writing and selling this book, she'll also benefit with the hypocrite.

[parakeethands]

DUUUUHHH!!!......lET'S GIT DUMB YALL!!...GIT ER DONE...YEEHAW...JIS ME N MY COPENHAGEN..DRINK MY BEER..WATCH AMERICAN IDOL TILL MY EYEBALLS BLEED...OH YEAH...LET'S ALL JIS GET DUMB!!!...OOPS, TOO LATE! {:(

[erkekler]

You forgot to "PRAISE JEEZUZ !!!"

[Mahoivlich]

people only listen to people whom they agree with is ego. few people want to learn...and even more people want to learn they are wrong.

[jeph63]

Great interview. Jacoby mentions Iraq war, religion, opposition to healthcare etc... "The Age of Unreason", after 7 years of neo-con control, I wonder who she's pointing a finger at?

Yet she feels compelled to make the ubiquitous and obligatory, "Dems too!" and "both sides are guilty of (insert shortcoming)" statements.

Practice what you preach:

"The truth is not always equal distance from two points." Susan Jacoby

[GaarasFlameFlower]

Her book and her opinions expressed in this interview are, in my experence, completely true. I wish that more Americans would listen to this and take something away. I am not one of the Americans that she is refering, but I feel that it is just as important for me to hear this as it is for others whose eyes have been closed.

[advancedatheist]

Ironically American intellectualism tends to put limits on the spread of fundamentalism: Studying the bible looks WAY too much like school work to have mass appeal.

[sleepcity]

Jacoby is exactly right. She's not the first to note this tendency in American culture (see Hofstadter and Postman), but it does bear repeating. Read her book.

[elliotcheely]

im actually in the process of reading her book. its an interesting read so far.

[advancedatheist]

As George Carlin has pointed out, the ruling elites like us ignorant and supine because it makes it easier for them to regiment us and extract money from us. And I don't mean "liberal elites," necessarily. The superwealthy, usually conservative people who've lately gotten the Federal Reserve and sovereign wealth funds to reimburse them for their financial mistakes want to keep us in the dark and passive so that they can pass the costs onto the rest of us. Willful ignorance has real consequences.

[phrek75]

Finally someone making sense, amen to that!

[jetsetter883]

^ very true. in my experience most Americans are just willfully ignorant.

[Igor340]

Unfortunately many contemporary Americans do appear to be hostile to knowledge - "dumb by choice".