Are We Dumb, or Do We Just Act Dumb? The United States has a tendency to flaunt about being the best country in the world, yet as a country, there hasn’t been an attempt to demonstrate it. When it comes to education, the country is far from being ahead of the other countries in the world. However, there have been many people who have transcended and surpassed any misconceptions. They are the people who have demonstrated to the nation that a nation of low-achieving people have the potential of obtaining knowledge outside of things that matter the least.
The pride in this country and the pedestal that it has set on itself on has prevented the it from knowing the reality of how average it actually is when it comes to education. The Huffington …show more content…
In an essay he wrote titled, “Learning to Read,” he explains how he taught himself what he knew about history and science. He began his journey with reading a dictionary and then went on to reading books that both challenged his reading skills and opened up his mind to a new understanding about life. In the beginning of his essay he states, “... If I was not reading in the library, I was reading on my bunk. You couldn’t have gotten me out of books with a wedge... Months passed without my even thinking about being imprisoned. In fact, up to then, I never had been so truly free in my life” (X, 190). His time behind bars not served as a way of ironically feeling free. The experience “...awakened something inside [of him] some long dormant craving to be mentally alive.” He didn’t need a college degree to label his ability to thrive. His “homemade” education came from merely having a curious mind and having the desire to learn more; something many people in our society lack. Rather, the nation lacks curiosity for learning about anything beneficial to their
The pride in this country and the pedestal that it has set on itself on has prevented the it from knowing the reality of how average it actually is when it comes to education. The Huffington …show more content…
In an essay he wrote titled, “Learning to Read,” he explains how he taught himself what he knew about history and science. He began his journey with reading a dictionary and then went on to reading books that both challenged his reading skills and opened up his mind to a new understanding about life. In the beginning of his essay he states, “... If I was not reading in the library, I was reading on my bunk. You couldn’t have gotten me out of books with a wedge... Months passed without my even thinking about being imprisoned. In fact, up to then, I never had been so truly free in my life” (X, 190). His time behind bars not served as a way of ironically feeling free. The experience “...awakened something inside [of him] some long dormant craving to be mentally alive.” He didn’t need a college degree to label his ability to thrive. His “homemade” education came from merely having a curious mind and having the desire to learn more; something many people in our society lack. Rather, the nation lacks curiosity for learning about anything beneficial to their