Idiot Nation

In the Essay Idiot Nation by Michael Moore I was surprised by his honesty of his personal experiences. Not only did he come right out and say he didn't care for school and didn't have great personal experience in school. His basic attitude about school was interesting, he seemed to be passionate about education system and yet unwilling to participate. From a young age, first grade, he wanted to buck the system. His advice about what kids can do to improve educational opportunities didn't have any real reform value. I am not sure how he expected his advice to make a difference. On the one hand he implores his reader to be more grateful to the teachers who are attempting to make a difference in this world at a very low paying job, and on the other hand he arrogantly describes his winning a school board president election and how he thanklessly fired a devoted educator. I wonder if Michael Moore's teachers had been paid more, would he have been able to get an education. An education that would have helped him become a decent president of the school board.
I also found his report of his school visits to be real interesting. He reports that he had seen janitorial closets being used as classrooms. He did fail to mention where he saw this happening or how wide spread it is. Many of the examples he gave of the shambles our educational system is in is not the average experience of the average American school. It does lead the reader to wonder if that stuff happens in a place that has an 18 year old school board president.
In contrast to Michael Moore assessment of schools in America, it isn't uncommon to hear people comment on how smart kids are now. Our next generation has many different kind of things to learn. The internet is better than a library and is in most schools and most homes. It is a preferred tool to books on many topics and I am sure there are educational funds directed toward computers now that used to be directed toward libraries before Nixon's time. Corporate America is a huge influence on our society and gets into the schools as much as it gets into our legislation.
The essay Idiot Nation is as interesting in style which actually speaks better than does the content.