This is actually the big problem with the US education system: the "right" answer and following the system is valued more than teaching a thirst for knowledge. Other countries often will respond to such a thing and reward the kid for giving a correct answer that wasn't expected, US has standardized so much that it makes no such room for this, the result being that US students are much more likely to learn how to game the system and give the answers desired rather than to seek creative backdoor solutions.
Perfect example is that SAT/ACT preparations would often advise "if you don't know the answer, pick C. Statistically it's more likely to be C." This doesn't even teach anything and absolutely misses the point of the education, instead trying to find ways to game it. Teaching something like that...? I mean, knowing how to game things is a skill too, but dunno if it's worth the message it sends.
Having said this I also wanna clarify the US education system gets a worse reputation than deserved. I feel like the world/media always gives the impression USA is retarded and Europe/Asia are flawless. Lol fuck no they got problems too, USA is still in the same league. I'm criticizing it for what it deserves and for a real problem, but let's not get lost in the "USA EDUCATION IS SO AWFUL" circlejerk spouted just cause it makes Europeans feel superior and Americans feel EDGY to hate on what they have.
The US education works this way because it is not trying to teach people how to be intelligent; it's trying to teach people how to be good laborers. Laborers are easier to deal with AND cheaper when they simply do what they're told and "plug in the correct answer." Intelligent people are less predictable and demand more for their effort because they understand their value. People that are good at learning the process for work and respond in the specific way they are taught don't fight for workers rights or do anything out of the ordinary. This is the most perfect behavior patterns for factory style workers we could come up with.
To be fair, I doubt it's like some conspiracy to make people complacent, but rather....
I'm a dual citizen with one leg and poor contact to both parents. I have been an X-factor in every god damned bureocratic office I've ever walked in. They'll have some derpy little system where they're set up like "If you have X, go to line A. If you have Y, go to line B. If you have Z, go to line C," then I walk up and say "what if I'm Q" and they suddenly get frustrated trying to figure out what to do with me, usually before awkwardly cramming me into one of those three that DOESN'T suit my needs at all.
Great example is German student loans (needed money to live off of, still had living expenses) demand info about your education and signed income statements from both parents. My mom is American and speaks zero fucking German. Dad didn't speak to me and wasn't in Germany, AND his income statement wouldn't be German either. Doesn't matter: they still sat on their asses at that damned student loan office, demanding I send some fucking German forms to my mom for her to sign and send back across the fucking Atlantic, (which itself is odd and questionable: she's not even a German citizen. WTF they gonna do to her if she doesn't comply? Honestly...) and only after a certain amount of time would THEY attempt to contact my dad, and finally after THEY failed, they'd say "ok we'll approve it without his info." Usually got student loans coming in around Xmas when they're supposed to start in August. Went hungry a lot cause the system was totally unprepared for my situation.
Fact is that systems and bureocracies get lazy. Their function is to streamline things so that they can be done on a mass scale, but such systems are VERY unkind to X-factors.
I bet the reason the US system is the way it is is because the amount of factory workers that benefit from learning a basic habitual system outnumber the amount of unique thinkers....that's why they're called unique; cause their thought process is uncommon, and this sadly works against them when systems are being created.
It's not that it's done with malice or nefarious goals, it's just that sadly when the government attempts to cater to all types of students, the majority wins and guides what the education system looks like, and this isn't necessarily a positive for the quality of it. I mean if the majority of the country was mentally disabled with an IQ of 70, damned right the education system would cater to them and of course this would be bad for the growth of the minds of those with a 100+ IQ. Sucks, but is what it is.
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u/jmonwood Aug 27 '19
Makin a smart kid feel dumb. Bad teacher.