[masraum]

I had someone ask me a few years ago how many states there are. He preceded the question with, "you're up on current events, aren't you?" I was a bit perplexed and wondered if I had somehow missed something major. I answered, 50. His response was "whew". Apparently he had asked about 15-20 other people and not a single one had said 50, so he had begun to wonder if he had missed something.

Very sad.

I'm a pretty sharp guy, decently educated, and work in a technical job, but I don't pay that much attention to politics. These days it's not far off from watching WWE. I've seen the JayWalking bit before. Some of the stuff that they ask is really basic, but occasionally they ask questions about specific lower positions in the govt that I can't answer. I don't feel too bad about that.

I agree and disagree that the problem is education. Actually, I think the problem is more related to individual and societal values. Many people don't stress education to their kids, and don't take an active part in their kids education. On top of that, society doesn't really seem to stress it that much except in certain areas.

I don't think we can expect schools to do all of the work. Parents need to be the main drive, and school should be the tool to get kids to the end result.