In Michael Moore`s Idiot Nation, written in 2002, he discusses the many and important problems that affect our education system and schools conditions along with the thought that sticks to the reader throughout this work “what are our superiors thinking?” He is an insightful man, like him or dislike him Moore attacks the school systems and educational priority standing in this country with the question “do you feel like you live in a nation of idiots?” Backing up that question are his intellectual knowledge of education and his own personal school life experiences.
A nation of idiots is what goes through our mind while we read this, is it everyone or just a specific group of people? Moore hones in specifically on politicians and just about everyone who complains about the way our schools are and the state of American education. He defends teachers, although knowing there are probably some bad ones, believing they should be praised for making their career the one who will eventually be preparing our kids for the world outside of those walls instead of being criticized and looked down upon. A talk host, Fred Barns, is one of these people that Moore put to shame. Barns said “these kids don`t even know what The Iliad and The Odyssey are!” That following morning Moore called him and asked if he himself knew what those two epic stories were, Barns responded “Well, they`re . . . uh . . . you know . . . uh.” As for the politicians saying how our education is falling behind from many other countries, you are the very ones who refuse to fund education!
Moore`s personal school experience started out, like with many other kids I imagine, exciting, except for Moore who had hit a brick wall already knowing how to read and write which is what you begin to learn in the first grade. Disliking being forced to stay put in the first grade class after his mother rejected the teachers offer to skip him to the second grade he grew bored of school. That continued on to his high school years where one of his biggest triumphs took place, becoming the boss of his own principal after winning a campaign to be become the school board’s president with the slogan “Fire the high school principal and assistant principal!” Going into college he took an unexpected decision to drop out after not being able to find a parking spot. My own school experiences can`t compare to Moore`s very much other than having that feeling of being a subservient student, in which I just went along with being the carefree person I tend to be.
Overall, I feel that Moore is for schools and schooling even after his own experience. This “Idiot Nation” has to be an eye opener for the many others who have not realized what is truly going on with our education and schools. Although Moore doesn`t come out flat and say it straightforward that our education is important and should be one of our highest priorities to maintain working with great results schools should not have high budget cuts, such as that of Bush’s proposal of cutting $39 million off of libraries down to $168 million. What is he thinking? How can anyone complain about school results while they know schools are getting budget cuts that keep and have kept increasing since the date this was released in 2002? Even so, as a college student, for us and the many others we should keep moving forward. After all, school is about struggle, survival, defeat and achieving victory.
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