The Nature of American Education on TV

A few days ago, I chanced upon a TV programme that made me wonder about the nature of American education.

Now, I should point out that I have never studied in America. I have not been to school, there, nor University (although I worked in one, once). I have not personally, therefore, gone through the process of an American education. I am left, therefore, with the evidence that comes my way through other sources. One of them was a TV programme shown in Singapore this week, entitled: "Are you smarter than a fifth grader?".

This TV programme was a quiz show. It challenged participants, who were adults, to pit their wits against the knowledge base of an American elementary school fifth grader. I should rephrase that: it is not their wits that were being pitted, but their memories, for no wits were actually required. I should explain. I noted, with some puzzlement, that all of the questions consisted of a simple exercise in recall. They were all factually based questions that required a quantum of knowledge as an answer. There were no questions in which actual thinking, or any kind of rational process, was required to produce an answer. This puzzled me. Does this accurately reflect the true nature of American elementary school education, or does it simply reflect the choices of the quiz show producers?

I would like comment, therefore, from Americans, if possible. Is American education based too much on simple rote learning of facts, or is there actually thinking involved? Is elementary education largely an exercise in factual recall?

I would be interested to find out.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and no months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and five months, and Tiarnan, twenty-two months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)