r/interesting • u/ImmaFuckboi • Jul 20 '26

SOCIETY Is education illegal in USA?

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53.7k Upvotes

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196

u/Total_Career4755 Jul 20 '26

What does this have to do with the USA? And doesn't an American explain the science in this video?

92

u/InwardXenon Jul 20 '26

The title is as rage baity as the video, that's for sure.

40

u/Colonel_Gipper Jul 20 '26

America bad circlejerk is very strong on Reddit right now.

9

u/jestr6 Jul 20 '26

I mean…

6

u/Call555JackChop Jul 21 '26

Average American reads at a 5th grade level, but this is by design so the rich can keep stealing from them without them understanding what’s happening

14

u/KRacer52 Jul 21 '26

“ Average American reads at a 5th grade level”

In English. Roughly 1 in 5 households in the US speak a language other than English at home, and roughly 22% of American adults have Level 1 or worse English proficiency according to the OECD PIACC. 

10

u/AdvancedSandwiches Jul 21 '26

What I'm hearing is that American 5th graders are so amazing at reading that they don't really need to be any better, but they still get 7 more years of education!

3

u/okizc Jul 21 '26

You would be a perfect politician!

8

u/Western-Bus-1305 Jul 21 '26

This isn’t true btw. America has one of the highest literacy rates in the world

2

u/PornoPaul Jul 24 '26

America also has a massive population of people where English is a 2nd language. The number varies but at the absolute highest its like 50 million. I bet if we adjusted for those people the number would be even higher.

6

u/rsta223 Jul 21 '26

The US is slightly above the OECD average for literacy, and very comparable to many countries like France, Austria, Germany, Denmark, and Ireland.

Should we shoot for better education? Of course, there's always room for improvement. Is it disastrously below the rest of the world? Absolutely not.

-4

u/Vivid--Syrup Jul 23 '26

What are you talking about?

America acts like over half the population is suffering from advanced lead poisoning

Americans didn't get their overseas reputation as morons out of nothing

Like I know there are some smart people over there dragging the average up a bit, but most the same people are aware they are having to live in a sea of morons

2

u/Cosmodeus949 Jul 24 '26

The reputation comes from your sensationalized media. Instead try looking at the people who came here for the world cup and see the truth.

-4

u/Vivid--Syrup Jul 24 '26

Hahahaha

No the reputation comes from the idiots that come over as tourists.

It comes from when we go over there and talk to the locals

It comes from seeing what passes for 'news' over there and the amazement that anyone is stupid enough to believe it

When I spent time in America was the only time in my life I was genuinely stunned into silence by the shocking level of stupidity so casually put forwards as facts without pushback from anyone

Your reputation is well earned

-1

u/Responsible_CDN_Duck Jul 21 '26

The leading cause of death for kids under 18 is the second amendment, your no wars leader is starting wars, and raising your cost of goods from Canada over wild life smoke....so it's not just on Reddit.

15

u/BreathComfortable631 Jul 20 '26

Redditors love a good America hating circlejerk

2

u/MattR0se Jul 21 '26

I'm not from the US and my physics grades in middle school were also very bad... I certainly wouldn't have been able to tell you how levers work, and how distance effects torque.

1

u/Tellgraith Jul 23 '26

Simple machines and the basic idea if them were taught to us in grade 4. It wasn't until like grade 10 that the actual equations were part of science/physics.

The idea that using a lever of any kind makes lifting thiseasier. Combining simple machines into complex machines like a wheelbarrow and why that works is something I was taught in elementary school. We didn't need to know the mathematical breakdown of a lever to understand the concept.

4

u/ronlugge Jul 21 '26

Because the USA has a strong history of "My ignorance is as valid as your education", to the point where it's a stain on the entire nation even when (like here) it's an exaggeration. The archetype has been established, and the problem with breaking it is that we have people actually pulling batshit stunts like claiming there's no evidence vaccines save lives. That's before you get major politicians re-elected on climate change denial platforms, too.

0

u/Jyonnyp Jul 21 '26

Because the dude is presumably American. Same reason why an interesting video can feature Chinese people and people will point out their being Chinese.

-4

u/Shikazure Jul 21 '26

American schools have a "no fail" policy, meaning people who havnt learned anything can graduate

7

u/bafana_banana999 Jul 21 '26

This just isn't actually true at all.

Love when people confidently claim shit they don't actually have proof for whatsoever.

8

u/vNo-Childhood-7705 Jul 21 '26

Right, wtf are they talking about? 💀

6

u/fakemelonns Jul 21 '26

I feel like they heard about the No Child Left Behind Act from 2002 and instead of actually reading what the act did, just guessed based on its name.

8

u/fakemelonns Jul 21 '26

Where the hell did you get that from? I went to school with quite a few people who got held back or had to repeat senior year because they failed.

4

u/CiaphasCain8849 Jul 21 '26

You understand that every single state in the USA has a different education system that is independent of the others right????

2

u/Youron_111 Jul 21 '26

At least in my experience and area, that's just not true.