The Incompetent Education System: Idiot Nation by Michael Moore - Literature review Example

Insert Insert Insert Rhetoric in ‘Stupid White Men’In his book ‘Idiot Nation’, Michael Moore analyses the various factors underlying the incompetent education system prevailing in schools throughout the United States and explores the various responses to suggested educational reform. He achieves this through a presentation of shocking truths and powerful rhetoric. One rhetorical tactic that is utilized throughout the selected text is humour . Moore opens on a humorous note and builds upon it as he describes the seemingly laborious task of memorizing ostensible facts being rendered effortless by sports talk shows. He emphasizes this by remarking “for some reason, I do remember Jake Wood’s uniform number: 2. Why on Earth am I retianing that useless fact?” (87). Here, Moore explains to us that, contrary to the implication, intelligence is not absent, it is just not being exercised. Two pages later, he tells us “In this Glorious land of plenty, less is always more when it comes to taxing any lobe of the brain with the intake of facts and numbers, critical thinking or the comprehension of anything that isn’t…..well, sports.” (89). It should be noticed that the humour employed is directed – it is accusatory. It does not pick at the by-products of the educational system (though at some points Moore does seem to be poking fun at them), but the regulators of the system. During the course of this chapter, Moore targets several high-ranking officials – starting off with president Bush – the “Idiot-in-Chief” (89) – and going on to list several American ambassadors who were not even aware of who the prime ministers of their designated countries were. The humour gains a somewhat sarcastic tinge as it moves cuttingly towards the role of corporate America in Public Schools. He claims, somewhat disarmingly, “There is one group in the country that isn’t just sitting around carping about all them lamebrain teachers – a group that cares deeply about what kinds of students will enter the adult world.” (110). However, the undlerlying cynicism becomes obvious when Moore tells us “You could day that they have a vested interest in the captive audience of millions of young people…..or in the billions they spend each year.” (110) This sarcasm is fortified when Moore end this same paragraph in the following words: Yes, it’s Corprorate America, whose gnerosity to our nation’s schools is just one more example of their continuing patriotic service. (110). This tactic saves the prose from becoming too deadpan as this aims to engage the attention, no doubt, of the “Idiot Nation” that Moore discusses in his book. In order to retain the attention of the reader, Moore engages him in a way that elicits a response from him, vexes him but also amuses him, belittles him but excuses him from the blame and prompts him into seriously the considering the flaws inherent in the educational system. Another effective rhetorical tactic that is used is the presentation of facts and anecdotes. Right from the very start, Moore employs facts and figure to give credibility to his claims about the education system. One interesting example of the ignorance of students in America he gives is of a “high school level” (90) test consisting of multiple-choice questions given by a group of 556 seniors at 55 of the most prestigious American Universities – the Ivies and Stanford amongst them. The rather bleak results of this study showed that a student, on average, score 53% on this test and did not even know basic facts such as when the Civil War took place. Through this, Moore attempts to show the extremity of the career-oriented curriculum of the education system, as he states : Yale and Harvard. Princeton and Dartmouth. Stanford and Berkeley. Get a degree from one of those universities and you’re set for life. So what if, on that test of the college seniors I previously mentioned, 70 percent of the students at those fine schools had never heard of the Voting Rights Act or President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society Initiatives? Who needs to know stuff like that as you sit in your Tuscan villa watching the sunset and checking how well your portfolio did today? (94) He goes on to relate some incidents from his own experiences with the schooling system, from his elementary school days and his eventual public high school days to his dropping out of college during freshmen year. As these tales unwind, we notice how subtly Moore shifts from the telling phase to the showing phase, and how we are absorbed enough to not notice the transition. He shows us the repressive nature of the policies at the elementary school by telling us about his various attempts to start an underground newspaper which were discovered and foiled. When he tries to point out how even the teachers are not to blame, seeing as how they are not given enough incentive or motivation, he relates the story of his election as the School Board President and the consequent resignation of the principal. He goes on to tell us that the principal was in general a good man – someone who had allowed Moore and his friends to “skate and play hockey on this little pond beside his house” (102) and had “always left the door to his open in case any of us needed to change into our skates or if we got cold and just wanted to get warm” (102). He tells us that he offers this “to remind myself that all people are actually good at their core” and he justifies the lack of motivation shown by teahers in the next paragraph as he tells us “Teachers are now the politicians’ favorite punching bags” (103). Moore then proceeds to give us some facts – statistics showing exactly why not many decide to go into the teaching professions. He starts off by telling us that the teacher, “the person who cares for our child every day receives an average of $ 41, 351 annually” (104), and presents to us in contrast the annual earnings of a congressman who “cares only about which tobacco lobbyist is taking him to dinner” (104). The average annual salary of this congressman is three times that of the teacher. Finally, stories of how Corporate America influences students in public schools await us. Moore mentions several programs with the ostensible aim improving the system – Pizza Huts’s “Book It” and General Mills and Campbell’s soup’s “Box Tops for Education” amongst them. He disparages Pepsi’s and Coke’s extensive involvement in several public schools and relates an incident that took place at GreenBriai High School in Evans, Georgia when a student Mike Cameron showed up wearing a Pepsi Shirt on the School’s ‘Coke Day’. Moore writes: “Coke Day” was part of the school’s entry in a national “Team Up With Coca-Cola” contest, which awards $10,000 to the high school that comes up with the best plan for distributing Coke Discount cards. GreenBriar School officials said Cameron was suspended for “being disruptive and trying to destroy the school picture” when he removed the outer shirt and revealed the Pepsi shirt as a photography was being taken of the students posed to spell out the word Coke. Cameron said the shirt was visible all day, but he didn’t get in trouble until posing for the picture. (113) Finally, the insertion of leaflets is a rhetorical tactic that provides reader some relief from the text while also provoking the reader into questioning the kind of education that he himself has received. It should be observed that these leaflets are inserted where Moore tries to make an important point. For instance, when Moore mentions the ignorance of President Bush and several other officials (such as designated ambassadors) about the leaders of other countries, there is a leaflet labelled “Presidential Clip ‘n’ Carry” (91) that contains the names of the leaders of the 50 largest copuntries in the world. While going through this list, the reader realizes the point Moore tries to make - that as a nation, the US has indeed limited its world view and centred their lives solely on what goes on with in the broad circle of thier own needs. Further on, Moore introduces another leaflet, “Important Dates in History” (95), where he lists and descibes a number of significant events from American History. This is inserted right after Moore mentions the “high school level” test for the second time. By doing this, Moore reiterate his concerns about the streamlining of American Education for the purposes of convenience and the importance of diversifying the curriculum. It also, at some level, works to gently chide the reader about his own ignorance of these events. Further on, another leaflet is introduced – one that lists some of the basic rights of students, “Guide to Student Rights” (100 – 101). This is primarily, of course, to make the student reader aware of his rights and is mentioned soon after Moore tells us of his various attempts to start an under ground newspaper and the school’s attempts to suppress these efforts. Further on, a leaflet providing details of public librarie all over America is given – “Literacy Programs ” (107). We become aware at this point of Moore’s own subtle efforts to educate the reader in whatever way he can. The answer to whether Moore is successful in convincing the reader of his argument is, yes. It is to be pointed out that while Moore is very persuasive, colouring up his argument with funny anecdotes and lending the credibility with solid facts, he never does fully explain the importance of a diverse curriculum, and he also fails to specify at what point in a child’s education is he allowed to narrow down or streamline his /her education somewhat. He also fails to mention how, while many of the seniors from prestigious American Universities were not able to answer general trivia questions, most of them go on to be more successful then students in universities elsewhere in the world. He implies that a knowledge of such facts and information is a measure of intelligence which is strictly not true. The students that he tries to prove are being rendered studpid by such a narrow education system come off more as self-centred yuppies – who may be willingly ignorant about histroy and literature – rather than intellectually hindered individuals at a big disadvantage in the world. So where exactlly does the usefulness of such trivia come in? He does, however, effectively drive home the ignorance of US representatives in other countries. But this makes the reader raise doubts and questions about the electoral process and the government set-up more than the education system. Despite these loopholes and discrepencies in his argument, Moore does make a convincing argument and the reader is left wondering about the comptence of the elected officials and shaking his/her head at the inevitable consequences of such neglect. References Moore, Michael. Stupid White Men. Harper, 2002. Print. Read More

Another effective rhetorical tactic that is used is the presentation of facts and anecdotes. Right from the very start, Moore employs facts and figure to give credibility to his claims about the education system. One interesting example of the ignorance of students in America he gives is of a “high school level” (90) test consisting of multiple-choice questions given by a group of 556 seniors at 55 of the most prestigious American Universities – the Ivies and Stanford amongst them. The rather bleak results of this study showed that a student, on average, score 53% on this test and did not even know basic facts such as when the Civil War took place.

Through this, Moore attempts to show the extremity of the career-oriented curriculum of the education system, as he states : Yale and Harvard. Princeton and Dartmouth. Stanford and Berkeley. Get a degree from one of those universities and you’re set for life. So what if, on that test of the college seniors I previously mentioned, 70 percent of the students at those fine schools had never heard of the Voting Rights Act or President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society Initiatives? Who needs to know stuff like that as you sit in your Tuscan villa watching the sunset and checking how well your portfolio did today? (94) He goes on to relate some incidents from his own experiences with the schooling system, from his elementary school days and his eventual public high school days to his dropping out of college during freshmen year.

As these tales unwind, we notice how subtly Moore shifts from the telling phase to the showing phase, and how we are absorbed enough to not notice the transition. He shows us the repressive nature of the policies at the elementary school by telling us about his various attempts to start an underground newspaper which were discovered and foiled. When he tries to point out how even the teachers are not to blame, seeing as how they are not given enough incentive or motivation, he relates the story of his election as the School Board President and the consequent resignation of the principal.

He goes on to tell us that the principal was in general a good man – someone who had allowed Moore and his friends to “skate and play hockey on this little pond beside his house” (102) and had “always left the door to his open in case any of us needed to change into our skates or if we got cold and just wanted to get warm” (102). He tells us that he offers this “to remind myself that all people are actually good at their core” and he justifies the lack of motivation shown by teahers in the next paragraph as he tells us “Teachers are now the politicians’ favorite punching bags” (103).

Moore then proceeds to give us some facts – statistics showing exactly why not many decide to go into the teaching professions. He starts off by telling us that the teacher, “the person who cares for our child every day receives an average of $ 41, 351 annually” (104), and presents to us in contrast the annual earnings of a congressman who “cares only about which tobacco lobbyist is taking him to dinner” (104). The average annual salary of this congressman is three times that of the teacher.

Finally, stories of how Corporate America influences students in public schools await us. Moore mentions several programs with the ostensible aim improving the system – Pizza Huts’s “Book It” and General Mills and Campbell’s soup’s “Box Tops for Education” amongst them. He disparages Pepsi’s and Coke’s extensive involvement in several public schools and relates an incident that took place at GreenBriai High School in Evans, Georgia when a student Mike Cameron showed up wearing a Pepsi Shirt on the School’s ‘Coke Day’.

Moore writes: “Coke Day” was part of the school’s entry in a national “Team Up With Coca-Cola” contest, which awards $10,000 to the high school that comes up with the best plan for distributing Coke Discount cards. GreenBriar School officials said Cameron was suspended for “being disruptive and trying to destroy the school picture” when he removed the outer shirt and revealed the Pepsi shirt as a photography was being taken of the students posed to spell out the word Coke.

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