Lunch Scholars Video Reveals Students Can't Answer Basic Trivia - Polidicks

[media][URL]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHtDF-z77wk[/URL][/media] [quote]If there was ever a movie to make you laugh to keep from crying, it's this one.Austin, an intrepid young student-reporter, embarks on the noble mission of answering the question, "How much basic knowledge do American high school students really have?" The answer, however, may not be exactly what you want to hear."Do you know the vice president of The United States?" Austin asks."I don't know who it it's, it's, it's somebody....Bin Ladin," one student responds.The video continues in similar fashion, asking everything from, "In what war did America gain independence?" (which no one answered correctly without a hint) to "What countries border America?"Comedy aside, the United States' poor international rankings in subject proficiencies such as math is a problem that could cost the country around $75 trillion over 80 years,[URL="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/17/math-test-proficiency-naep-pisa_n_929498.html"] according to a study called "Globally Challenged: Are U.S. Students Ready to Compete?"[/URL]Based on the research, U.S. students place behind 31 other countries in math proficiency, and behind 16 other countries in reading.Paul Peterson, a Harvard government professor, notes the effect this could have on the economy."If we're going to grow at the rate that we hope to grow at to address the many issues that exist in our society, we need to have a powerful educational system that is producing a highly proficient workforce," Peterson told HuffPost in October.Finland [URL="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/24/finland-schools-success-equality-collaboration_n_1219780.html"]shocked the world with their scores[/URL] on the 2000 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) --an international exam for 15-year-olds where it ranked first for reading proficiency. By 2009, the country inhabited the top of the roster in reading, second in science and sixth in math.A 2010 study by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) showed the [URL="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/14/us-history-naep-test-scores-arne-duncan_n_876413.html"]U.S. history testing scores are "stagnant,"[/URL] with only 9 percent of fourth graders correctly identifying a photograph of Abraham Lincoln and stating two reasons for his importance.Lee White, executive director of the National History Coalition, says the problem stems from history's place in American curriculum."They've narrowed the curriculum to teach to the test. History has been deemphasized," he said. "You can't expect kids to have great scores in history when they're not being taught history."Watch the video above.[/quote] source: [URL]http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/02/lunch-scholars-video-reveals-students-cant-answer-basic-trivia_n_1250023.html[/URL] This happened at the high school that I go to.

I feel bad for people who are extremely uninformed on the most basic things and can't even put aside any sort of effort to just READ A BOOK.

Kids are pretty dumb these days.

Am I the only one who automatically thought 'Vermin Supreme' when he asked about the 2012 Democratic Candidates?

Pretty understandable when you realize they're taught not to learn, but to score well on tests. They're never taught to connect, say, science and history with anything beyond the classroom. That being said, it's interesting to note how he only shows with any regularity around 2-4 students, and even then it's expected he's going to filter out the ones that give a correct answer. After all, no one wants to watch a 4 minute video of people answering simple questions correctly.

[QUOTE=A big fat ass;34533193]Kids are pretty dumb these days.[/QUOTE] I bet you 2000 years ago, it would have been, "Uh, Hannibal... that's our emperor, right? "

As always with these videos, these responses are fished. Of course they don't pick smart people.

[QUOTE=PvtCupcakes;34533285]As always with these videos, these responses are fished. Of course they don't pick smart people.[/QUOTE] Or they did, but they edited them out.

To be honest this one is almost definitely staged.

Oh god the black girl is absolutely [i]clueless[/i].

it's kinda sad that I'm not even from the US and I can answer most of these

I really hope he just chose the dumbest kids he knew and caught them off guard. Right...?

Seems to me that people who browse the internet (the "whole" internet, not just Facebook) on a regular basis is generally more knowledgeable than the average teen. I'd imagine I'd be dumb as fuck without Facepunch and other sites I have frequented over the years.

These are questions that generally are completely useless to know... it's not "basic" questions. Like politics

My mom's a lo-

I laughed, harder then I should have.

i cringed multiple times - canada is a state - 51+ states - the great nation of "utopia" - mccain is vice president - civil war is when we gained independence i hate everyone

-snip because people insist on rating me dumb rather than arguing a goddamn point, plus, A big fat ass decided to live up to his name and not explain his point or argue back-

4th most educated country in the world, folks

I do want a video like this done in one long take, because you never know how many they edited out.

[QUOTE=Kopimi;34533433]i cringed multiple times - canada is a state - 51+ states - the great nation of "utopia" - mccain is vice president - civil war is when we gained independence i hate everyone[/QUOTE] I am sure that the US has 52 states, with Hawaii and Alaska. Or is Alaska counted in the 51?

I thought the United states had 46 states, since 4 are Commonwealths, so take that! And I'm American And I was taught we had 50 states But I'm still saying, technically, 46 god damnit

[QUOTE=Maximo13;34533479]I am sure that the US has 52 states, with Hawaii and Alaska. Or is Alaska counted in the 51?[/QUOTE] usa has 50 states, alaska and hawaii are 49 and 50 [editline]3rd February 2012[/editline] [url]http://belgium.usembassy.gov/how_many_states_are_there_in_the_u.s.html[/url]

Pretty sad to see how dumb kids are. I feel like even my high school could do better than that.

i got the feeling this was staged teenagers who go to school can't possibly be this dumb

i don't know the capital of washington state

Urope

[QUOTE=iFail;34533580]i don't know the capital of washington state[/QUOTE] Olympia.

[QUOTE=iFail;34533580]i don't know the capital of washington state[/QUOTE] I'm pretty sure this took place inside Washington state.

[QUOTE=iFail;34533580]i don't know the capital of washington state[/QUOTE] I do, seeing as I [b]live[/b] in Washington state. It's Seattle, right? :v: