> She especially hated the infantilization of young adults in
> US school settings (having to request permission to go to the
> restroom, for instance -- utterly ridiculous). She also hates
> the idea that "parents should be more involved in their
> children's education," since most parents here are (her
> words) "idiots" -- as evidenced by the "intelligent design"
> bullshit, the parent-teacher conferences where parents
> inevitably complain that their child's assignment is "too
> hard," the overall knuckle-dragging and book-burning, etc. --
> and the purpose of a public school (in good Communist or
> French Republican fashion) should be to educate people who
> would otherwise be reared in ignorance by parents who are
> really just one step away from being superstitious,
> illiterate peasants. The role of the parent in this scheme is
> to have respect for the value of education and for the
> teacher's expertise; to intervene with the child only when it
> is necessary to remind him or her to work hard and listen to
> what the teacher has to say; and above all, to keep one's
> mouth shut about things that one inevitably knows nothing
> about. I suspect that a lot of teachers in this country would
> find this outlook congenial, and I suppose there's something
> attractive about it.
John, I've had those discussions hundreds of time with European visitors, so let me answer in the same way I answer them - "you saw a tiny bit and you labor under the mistaken assumption that you've seen the whole thing." In fact, the US educational system is far, far more diverse than anything that can be found in Europe. You can find truly excellent schools and truly horrible ones and anything in between - whereas there is much greater uniformity in Europe - thanks to centralization!
So if you concentrate only of the horrible end e.g. because this is what you happened to encounter in your travels in this vast wasteland, the European "average" looks much better in comparison. But if you happened to stumble into the high end of the spectrum - no, not the Johns Hopkins, Harvards or Yales, but, say, the California Community College System "integrated" with U of California and Cal State U before it came under the Repug assault in the 1990s - which offered truly excellent and very affordable education to _everyone_ not just those within a narrow age range - European education systems pale in comparison. Believe me, been there done that.
Now you mention idiot parents an all that jazz. My point exactly. Methinks the problem is not bad school but the elevation of idiocy and anti-intellectualism to a social virtue in this country. Your immigrant friend appeared more educated here because being perceived as uneducated and stupid was social anathema in Sarajevo (and much of Europe), but it is a sure ticket to popularity in the US. To put it bluntly, the problem is not with schools but with the stupid ignorant people who attend them, or rather their parents, and treat them as a scapegoat for all that is wrong in their wretched, miserable lives.
Wojtek