Reader Response #1

Mark Wild

English 1A

Reader Response  #1

Michael Moore:  Idiot Nation

            I found this to be a brilliant insight into the lack of drive to keep this country educated. Michael Moore brings voice to the millions of American’s struggling to learn in a monopolized educational system where the government is spending more money on bombers then schools today. Corporations are run amuck, influencing our textbooks with their logos and our government is doing nothing about it.   It doesn’t just end there; the pay distribution is so unjust that teacher  “receives an average of $41,351 annually. A congressman who cares only about which tobacco lobbyist is taking him to dinner tonight receives $ 145,100.” (pg. 136) With a low salary, a heavy work load, and many over crowded classrooms , It is no wonder so few choose this as a career. At this rate, it will only allow the United States to continue to decline in this international education race as well as being corporatized, simultaneously making us less educated and squeezing ever last penny they can from the people.

The amount of money expected to pay for a higher education at this day and age, along with the student loans, interest rates, and penalties so many of use have; makes anyone wonder, is it worth it?  In short, yes. In a world where half the humans live on about 2 dollars and 50 cents a day the opportunity to learn and study in a formal dedicated way is still a gift, even if it is a very expensive one at that. Education gave me perspective and context. It is not about maximizing income it is about being a better and more informed person of the universe, for me that’s what leads to a more fulfilling life.

Unfortunatly, Though in most cases colleges are criminally overpriced, the real fear is how now the corporations are infiltrating our textbooks, classrooms, and cafeterias, forever changing how we educate our kids. For instance, Moore quoted a company in Kansas that would “donate “ materials to a school and in exchange? The students would file marketing surveys during school hours, where that time and resource could have easily been used helping them learn how to read or catch up on their algebra. This influence has spread so far and wide that even my Cabrillo specific Math 152 textbook is scattered with fast food logos, they are even topics for my statistic questions. It isn’t just the corporations that are making us “dumber.” No, I think the most apparent problem is that society glorifies some dumb millionaire (aka Paris Hilton, Justin Beiber, Jessica Simpson) one who doesn’t think but rather buys. One who is prone to using the muscle that swipes a credit card then to using the muscle between their ears, that is the real problem.  The saddest part about it, is that children are adopting this superficial, selfish, and money driven nature, rather then being influenced to do something productive to the human race by educating one self and understanding this observable world we live in.