It’s Official: Americans R Stupid
It’s Official: Americans R Stupid
Global Research, March 17, 2015
The Economic Collapse 16 March 2015
As Americans, we tend to be pretty full of ourselves, and this is especially true of our young people. But do we really have reason for such pride? According to a shocking new report from the Educational Testing Service, Americans between the ages of 20 and 34 are way behind young adults in other industrialized nations when it comes to literacy, mathematics and technological proficiency. Even though more Americans than ever are going to college, we continue to fall farther and farther behind intellectually. So what does this say about us? Sadly, the truth is that Americans are stupid. Our education system is an abysmal failure, and our young people spend most of their free time staring at the television, their computers or their mobile devices. And until we are honest with ourselves about this, our intellectual decline is going to get even worse.
According to this new report from the Educational Testing Service, at this point American Millennial that have a four year college degree are essentially on the same intellectual level as young adults in Japan, Finland and the Netherlands that only have a high school degree…
Americans born after 1980 are lagging their peers in countries ranging from Australia to Estonia, according to a new report from researchers at the Educational Testing Service (ETS). The study looked at scores for literacy and numeracy from a test called the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies, which tested the abilities of people in 22 countries.
The results are sobering, with dire implications for America. It hints that students may be falling behind not only in their early educational years but at the college level. Even though more Americans between the ages of 20 to 34 are achieving higher levels of education, they’re still falling behind their cohorts in other countries. In Japan, Finland and the Netherlands, young adults with only a high school degree scored on par with American Millennials holding four-year college degrees, the report said.
How in the world is that possible?
I can tell you how that is possible – our colleges are a joke. But more on that in a moment.
Out of 22 countries, the report from the Educational Testing Service found that Americans were dead last in tech proficiency. We were also dead last in numeracy and only two countries performed worse than us when it came to literacy proficiency…
Half of American Millennials score below the minimum standard of literacy proficiency. Only two countries scored worse by that measure: Italy (60 percent) and Spain (59 percent). The results were even worse for numeracy, with almost two-thirds of American Millennials failing to meet the minimum standard for understanding and working with numbers. That placed U.S. Millennials dead last for numeracy among the study’s 22 developed countries.
It is in this type of environment that Coca-Cola can be marketed to Americans as “a healthy snack“.
As I mentioned above, our system of education is one of the biggest culprits. From the first grade all the way through post-graduate education, the quality of education that our young people are receiving is absolutely pathetic. In a previous article, I highlighted some statistics from USA Today about the declining state of college education in America…
-“After two years in college, 45% of students showed no significant gains in learning; after four years, 36% showed little change.”
-“Students also spent 50% less time studying compared with students a few decades ago”
-“35% of students report spending five or fewer hours per week studying alone.”
-“50% said they never took a class in a typical semester where they wrote more than 20 pages”
-“32% never took a course in a typical semester where they read more than 40 pages per week.”
I have sat in many of these kinds of college courses. It doesn’t take much brain power to pass the multiple choice tests that most college professors give these days. The truth is that if you fail out of college you really, really have to try hard.
In another previous article I shared some examples of real courses that have been taught at U.S. universities in recent years…
-“What If Harry Potter Is Real?”
-“Lady Gaga and the Sociology of Fame”
This is a national crisis. Parents should be screaming bloody murder about the quality of the education that their children are receiving. But because very few of them actually know what is going on, they just continue to write out huge tuition checks all the time believing that their kids are being prepared for the real world.
To show how “dumbed down” we have become, I want to share with you a copy of an eighth grade exam from 1912 that was donated to the Bullitt County History Museum in Kentucky.
Would eighth grade students be able to pass such an exam today?
Would college students?
As you look over this exam from 1912, ask yourself how you would do on it…
In addition, I find it very interesting that the reading level of the State of the Union addresses delivered by our presidents has steadily declined since the inception of this nation.
And it should be no surprise that Barack Obama’s State of the Union addresses have been some of the dumbest of all.
But could it be possible that I am being too harsh?
After all, scientists are now discovering that our diminishing intellectual capabilities are actually the consequence of natural processes.
For example, a Stanford University biology professor named Gerald R. Crabtree has published two papers in which he detailed his conclusion that humans have been getting dumber for thousands of years…
Are humans becoming smarter or more stupid? Comparing our modern lives and technology with that of any preceding generation, one might think we are becoming increasingly smarter. But, in two papers published in Trends in Genetics, Gerald R. Crabtree of Stanford University claims that we are losing mental capacity and have been doing so for 2,000–6,000 years! The reason, Crabtree concludes, is due to genetic mutations—which are the backbone of neo-Darwinian evolution.
Why is this happening?
Professor Crabtree believes that this loss of intellectual capability is due to the accumulation of errors in our genes…
Based on data produced by the 1000 Genomes Project Consortium and two recent papers in Nature, Crabtree estimates in the first article that, in the past 3,000 years (approximately 120 generations), about 5,000 new mutations have occurred in the genes governing our intellectual ability. He claims most of these mutations will have no effect, while about 2–5 percent are deleterious and “a vanishingly small fraction will increase fitness.” Crabtree bases his conclusion that humankind is losing mental capacity on the ratio between the deleterious and the beneficial mutations.
Our DNA is mutating, and it has been for thousands of years. And no, those mutations are not helping us. Each one of us has tens of thousands of errors in our DNA that we have inherited, and we will add even more errors which we will pass on to future generations.
Given enough time, many scientists believe that humanity would eventually degenerate into a bunch of gibbering idiots incapable of rational thought.
Or could it be possible that a large segment of the population has already arrived at that state?
The state of our union is … dumber:
How the linguistic standard of the presidential address has declined
Using the Flesch-Kincaid readability test the Guardian has tracked the reading level of every State of the Union
2 December 1823
James Monroe delivers an address that would later become
known as the Monroe Doctrine, a key tenet of US foreign
policy for almost two centuries
2 December 1913
Woodrow Wilson’s speech follows more than
100 years of the address being delivered to
Congress as a written submission. His precedent
is (mostly) followed to this day
3 January 1934
Franklin D Roosevelt changes
the name of the address from
the President’s Annual Message
to Congress to State of the Union
16 January 1981
Jimmy Carter's final address, delivered as a written message, is the longest ever state of the union
Presidents in order of reading level
1. George H.W. Bush
Avg. reading level
8.6
1989 1990 1991 1992
Average sentence
Education is the one investment that means more for our future, because it means the most for our children.
2. Barack Obama
Avg. reading level
9.4
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Average sentence
But each time a CEO rewards himself for failure, or a banker puts the rest of us at risk for his own selfish gain, people's doubts grow.
3. William J. Clinton
Avg. reading level
9.8
1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
Average sentence
I noticed the announcement of the leadership today that Congress is taking similar steps to cut its costs.
4. Lyndon B. Johnson
Avg. reading level
10
1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
Average sentence
We have built a strong economy that has put almost 3 million more Americans on the payrolls in the last year alone.
5. George W. Bush
Avg. reading level
10
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Average sentence
And we will address the concerns of those who have health coverage yet worry their insurance company does not care and will not pay.
6. Ronald Reagan
Avg. reading level
10.4
1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988
Average sentence
But from this podium, Winston Churchill asked the free world to stand together against the onslaught of aggression.
7. Harry S. Truman
Avg. reading level
10.9
1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953
Average sentence
In this connection, the Congress will wish to consider legislation to take the place of the 1937 Sugar Act which expires at the end of this year.
8. Gerald R. Ford
Avg. reading level
11.2
1975 1976 1977
Average sentence
We must strike a reasonable compromise on environmental concerns with coal.
9. Jimmy Carter
Avg. reading level
11.6
1978 1979 1980 1981
Average sentence
While the budget deficits during my term are higher than I would have liked, their size is determined for the most part by economic conditions.
10. Richard Nixon
Avg. reading level
11.8
1970 1971 1972 1973 1974
Average sentence
Ours has become--as it continues to be, and should remain--a society of large expectations.
11. Calvin Coolidge
Avg. reading level
12.1
1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928
Average sentence
It is exceedingly gratifying to observe this progress, both in its method and in its result promises so much that is beneficial to the world.
12. John F. Kennedy
Avg. reading level
12.3
1961 1962 1963
Average sentence
Concessions, in this bargaining, must of course be reciprocal, not unilateral.
13. Franklin D. Roosevelt
Avg. reading level
12.4
1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945
Average sentence
We know what might happen to us of the United States if the new philosophies of force were to encompass the other continents and invade our own.
14. Dwight D. Eisenhower
Avg. reading level
12.6
1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961
Average sentence
So dedicated, and with faith in the Almighty, humanity shall one day achieve the unity in freedom to which all men have aspired from the dawn of time.
15. Herbert Hoover
Avg. reading level
13.2
1929 1930 1931 1932
Average sentence
In a large sense these undertakings have been adhered to and we have not witnessed the usual reductions of wages which have always heretofore marked depressions.
16. Chester A. Arthur
Avg. reading level
13.8
1881 1882 1883 1884
Average sentence
The organization and conduct of this relief expedition reflects great credit upon all who contributed to its success.
17. Warren Harding
Avg. reading level
14.5
1921 1922
Average sentence
In the three decades ending in 1920 the country's freight by rail increased from 631,000,000 tons to 2,234,000,000 tons; that is to say, while our population was increasing, less than 70 per cent, the freight movement increased over 250 per cent.
18. Abraham Lincoln
Avg. reading level
14.6
1861 1862 1863 1864
Average sentence
In the exercise of my best discretion I have adhered to the blockade of the ports held by the insurgents, instead of putting in force by proclamation the law of Congress enacted .
19. Theodore Roosevelt
Avg. reading level
15.5
1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908
Average sentence
Not merely would this be wholly ineffective, but the diversion of our efforts in such a direction would mean the abandonment of all intelligent attempt to do away with these evils.
20. Woodrow Wilson
Avg. reading level
15.6
1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920
Average sentence
It makes little difference what minority it is; whether capital or labor, or any other class; no sort of privilege will ever be permitted to dominate this country.
21. James Buchanan
Avg. reading level
15.9
1857 1858 1859 1860
Average sentence
They accordingly inserted an article in the constitution for this purpose similar in form to those which had been adopted by other Territorial conventions.
22. Benjamin Harrison
Avg. reading level
15.9
1889 1890 1891 1892
Average sentence
This has not, however, been done, and the Federal officers and courts have no power in such cases to intervene, either for the protection of a foreign citizen or for the punishment of his slayers.
23. Ulysses S. Grant
Avg. reading level
16.6
1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876
Average sentence
From my own experience upon the frontiers and in Indian countries, I do not hold either legislation or the conduct of the whites who come most in contact with the Indian blameless for these hostilities.
24. Andrew Johnson
Avg. reading level
16.9
1865 1866 1867 1868
Average sentence
These questions are of such moment that they must have commanded the attention of the great powers, and are so interwoven with the peace and interests of every one of them as to have insured an impartial decision.
25. William McKinley
Avg. reading level
16.9
1897 1898 1899 1900
Average sentence
Frear, of Hawaii, as commissioners to confer and recommend to Congress such legislation concerning the Hawaiian Islands as they should deem necessary or proper.
26. William H. Taft
Avg. reading level
17.3
1909 1910 1911 1912
Average sentence
The treaty annexing Korea to the Empire of Japan, promulgated August 29, 1910, marks the final step in a process of control of the ancient empire by her powerful neighbor that has been in progress for several years past.
27. James Polk
Avg. reading level
17.7
1845 1846 1847 1848
Average sentence
Until that result is known I forbear to recommend to Congress such ulterior measures of redress for the wrongs and injuries we have so long borne as it would have been proper to make had no such negotiation been instituted.
28. Millard Fillmore
Avg. reading level
17.7
1850 1851 1852
Average sentence
Our commerce spreads over every sea and visits every clime, and our ministers and consuls are appointed to protect the interests of that commerce as well as to guard the peace of the country and maintain the honor of its flag.
29. Rutherford B. Hayes
Avg. reading level
17.8
1877 1878 1879 1880
Average sentence
My purpose in this respect has been to return to the system established by the fundamental law, and to do this with the heartiest cooperation and most cordial understanding with the Senate and House of Representatives.
30. George Washington
Avg. reading level
17.9
1790 1791 1792 1793 1794 1795 1796
Average sentence
In pursuing this course, however, I can not forget what is due to the character of our Government and nation, or to a full and entire confidence in the good sense, patriotism, self-respect, and fortitude of my country-men.
31. James Monroe
Avg. reading level
17.9
1817 1818 1819 1820 1821 1822 1823 1824
Average sentence
Several new States have been admitted into our Union to the west and south, and Territorial governments, happily organized, established over every other portion in which there is vacant land for sale.
32. John Adams
Avg. reading level
18.2
1797 1798 1799 1800
Average sentence
It is with you, gentlemen, to consider whether the local powers over the District of Columbia vested by the Constitution in the Congress of the United States shall be immediately exercised.
33. Zachary Taylor
Avg. reading level
18.3
1849
Average sentence
The United States did not at any time interfere in the contest, but the feelings of the nation were strongly enlisted in the cause, and by the sufferings of a brave people, who had made a gallant, though unsuccessful, effort to be free.
34. Grover Cleveland
Avg. reading level
18.3
1885 1886 1887 1888 1893 1894 1895 1896
Average sentence
This important field of control and regulation having been thus left entirely unoccupied, the expediency of Federal action upon the subject is worthy of consideration.
35. Thomas Jefferson
Avg. reading level
18.5
1801 1802 1803 1804 1805 1806 1807 1808
Average sentence
The love of peace so much cherished in the bosoms of our citizens, which has so long guided the proceedings of their public councils and induced forbearance under so many wrongs, may not insure our continuance in the quiet pursuits of industry.
36. John Tyler
Avg. reading level
19.1
1841 1842 1843 1844
Average sentence
While just confidence is felt in the judiciary of the States, yet this Government ought to be competent in itself for the fulfillment of the high duties which have been devolved upon it under the organic law by the States themselves.
37. Andrew Jackson
Avg. reading level
19.7
1829 1830 1831 1832 1833 1834 1835 1836
Average sentence
With the nation that was our earliest friend and ally in the infancy of our political existence the most friendly relations have subsisted through the late revolutions of its Government, and, from the events of the last, promise a permanent duration.
38. John Quincy Adams
Avg. reading level
19.9
1825 1826 1827 1828
Average sentence
The public faith no less than the just rights of individuals and the interest of the community itself appears to require further provision for the speedy settlement of those claims, which I therefore recommend to the care and attention of the Legislature.
39. Franklin Pierce
Avg. reading level
20
1853 1854 1855 1856
Average sentence
The aggregate amount of public land sold during the last fiscal year, located with military scrip or land warrants, taken up under grants for roads, and selected as swamp lands by States is 24,557,409 acres, of which the portion sold was 15,729,524 acres, yielding in receipts the sum of $11,485,380.
40. Martin van Buren
Avg. reading level
20.7
1837 1838 1839 1840
Average sentence
The erection of a national foundry and gunpowder manufactory, and one for making small arms, the latter to be situated at some point west of the Allegany Mountains, all appear to be of sufficient importance to be again urged upon your attention.
41. James Madison
Avg. reading level
21.6
1809 1810 1811 1812 1813 1814 1815 1816
Average sentence
In reviewing the scenes through which it has been attained we can rejoice in the proofs given that our political institutions, founded in human rights and framed for their preservation, are equal to the severest trials of war, as well adapted to the ordinary periods of repose.
Presidents James A. Garfield (1881) and William Henry Harrison (1841) did not deliver a State of the Union address.
Sources: Gerhard Peters and Brad Borevitz
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