The glorious British education

[Lord Beautiful]

Hitler was a Nazi. Mussolini was a fascist.

I'd say it's a bit like saying that a cow's a mammal, not an animal. Nazism drew heavily from fascism, and the two shared obscene amounts of common ground, and if we only went by the criteria for calling a country 'fascist', then the Third Reich meets them all. The distinction lies almost exclusively in the inherent racism of the Nazi ideology.

Not quite, being that the modern definition of "fascism" varies depending on who you ask. If we referring to Classical Fascism, which was what I was referring to, there are some differences. For example, in Classical Fascism, the state in general was worshipped in the stead of a god, yet in Naziism, it was just Hitler who was worshipped. Another difference is that Fascism was actually very popular among many political thinkers in its time, both European and American, whereas support of Naziism was quite a bit more scarce. This last distinction is a bit fuzzy, so I wouldn't be surprised if I was wrong on this particular point, but the military didn't play quite as large a role in Fascism as it did in Naziism.

Also, had Naziism not existed, Fascism, and Mussolini, would probably be looked at with far more approval by modern political thinkers. Before the Nazis and the Fascists started working together on some level, people adored the ideology and Mussolini, especially American muckrakers. However, it is because of the association with Naziism that Fascism is looked down upon.

Granted, I don't support socialism, which is basically what Classical Fascism (and Progressivism) was, but I'm just calling it as I see it.

 

[Kogarian]

Don't people in the UK constantly dis the US because people here don't know much about other countries?

Yeah...which makes it ironic how poor their education system is. Don't worry though, the US and UK act as buffer zones for other countries...as long as we're around, other countries will be too busy focusing their hatred and contempt on us instead of fighting each other.

 

[Zersy]

SNIP/quote]

Your teacher lied to you
and expecting someting great out of any school system today is like wishing a golden egg from a cat.

 

[Yeager942]

Then I spent almost an hour trying to prove to a geography student that there exists a country called ARMENIA.

w00t!!! SOMEONE KNOWS WE EXIST!!!!



I'm Armenian....we tend to be overlooked

 

[Naeo]

Your teacher might have just been a bit Britain-loving like that. My current high school is a rather prestigious one- though it's public, it's harder than a lot of private schools in the area somehow- and I thought it would be hard, hard, hard. But I'm easily at/in the top of my class and lots of people didn't get things like balancing chemical equations, that a negative number times a negative number is a positive, a positive times positive is positive, and positive times negative is negative, how to identify a phrase and a clause (not specific types- just a phrase versus a clause), etc etc.

So at one of the most prestigious high schools in my city, of both public and private, we have a damned high concentration of people who can't think for shit. I guess the rest of the world is like that too- maybe the worst somehow sneak in with the betters/best and don't get kicked out for a while.

 

[The Maddest March Hare]

Private schools are usually very good, but comprehensives are either as good as them or absolutely awful. There is very little middle ground to that. My school was pretty bad, but in a way that is useful. After seeing how miserably stupid your teachers are you work to teach yourself more on the subject to pass and not end up like them. But all the time I was in that school I, and the 30 or so other people who stayed on for higher education, were surrounded by people who couldn't place France on a map, let alone name its capital.

 

[Aesthetical Quietus]

Don't people in the UK constantly dis the US because people here don't know much about other countries?

I've noticed they dis the US because people here don't know much about the UK.

God forbid we dont know what a chav is.

Bet most people in the UK dont know what a wigger is.

You'd be surprised how far your crap like that spreads. I only WISH I didn't know what a wigger was, but unfortunately, I have been rather educated via the morons who like that kind of thing.

 

[mendokusai]

I thought that the main impression of the public school system in Britain was pretty awful. A Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2, anyone?

 

[Sparrow]

Seriously? A few people got some questions wrong, and now we're all idiots?

Not the smartest point ever made, really.

 

[Disaster Button]

Is the system just incredibly Britain-centered, so that anyone can quote the total beef production of Yorkshire for any year between 1900 and 1990, yet fail to name the capital of France? Or is it, plainly, not as good as advertised? If the latter, then where does the reputation come from? Is it that it USED to be very good, and just turned worse recently?

I don't think it's Britain centered, I just dont think world geography, is taught that much in upper school anymore. And the only really British oriented lesson, I'd say, was History. And even that covers some parts of American history and history from other cultures.

 

[Low Key]

Seriously? A few people got some questions wrong, and now we're all idiots?

Not the smartest point ever made, really.

Welcome to the life of an average American. Just wait until people start hating you for no good reason.

You'd be surprised how far your crap like that spreads. I only WISH I didn't know what a wigger was, but unfortunately, I have been rather educated via the morons who like that kind of thing.

I don't know of anyone who likes wiggers. That is why they are called what they are.

 

[Aesthetical Quietus]

Seriously? A few people got some questions wrong, and now we're all idiots?

Not the smartest point ever made, really.

Welcome to the life of an average American. Just wait until people start hating you for no good reason.

You'd be surprised how far your crap like that spreads. I only WISH I didn't know what a wigger was, but unfortunately, I have been rather educated via the morons who like that kind of thing.

I don't know of anyone who likes wiggers. That is why they are called what they are.

I wish I didn't.

 

[Low Key]

Seriously? A few people got some questions wrong, and now we're all idiots?

Not the smartest point ever made, really.

Welcome to the life of an average American. Just wait until people start hating you for no good reason.

You'd be surprised how far your crap like that spreads. I only WISH I didn't know what a wigger was, but unfortunately, I have been rather educated via the morons who like that kind of thing.

I don't know of anyone who likes wiggers. That is why they are called what they are.

I wish I didn't.

Didn't what? I was referring to the people you know who supposedly like that type of stuff. Wiggers are wiggers because no one likes them.

 

[Aesthetical Quietus]

Seriously? A few people got some questions wrong, and now we're all idiots?

Not the smartest point ever made, really.

Welcome to the life of an average American. Just wait until people start hating you for no good reason.

You'd be surprised how far your crap like that spreads. I only WISH I didn't know what a wigger was, but unfortunately, I have been rather educated via the morons who like that kind of thing.

I don't know of anyone who likes wiggers. That is why they are called what they are.

I wish I didn't.

Didn't what? I was referring to the people you know who supposedly like that type of stuff. Wiggers are wiggers because no one likes them.

I wish I didn't know people who were wiggers is pretty much what is to be taken out of all of this. I've had an exam today, and my mind is not in it's normal form.

 

[darkora]

except for that last 200 years, and when that one band of rebels beat their whole army.

you mean one band of rebels supported by the french, the spanish, the dutch, the native indians and knowledge of the local terrain? big surprise result there. not to mention the fact that the british soldiers were thousands of miles from home fighting a war they wanted no part in - there were more deserters than casualties.

back on topic... the british education system isn't the problem, I managed to turn out alright - the problem is you can't teach anything to someone who doesn't want to learn, most 'students' these days have a ton of things they'd rather be off doing.

 

[El Poncho]

It's a good school system I think, but no school system works if the pupils are not willing t learn or even attempt to.

 

[Locastus]

The English education which has become prevalent in the UK (ie they teach that in Scotland now) was struggling even at its best and suffers from a horrendous policy of lowering the passing mark until x% of people pass

This.

Plus the fact that basic mathematics, Science and a working knowledge of the English language have all been abandoned in favour of teaching more "relevent" subjects like race relations, learning about the good side of Islam and avoiding teen pregnancy.

All very laudable issues, but it shouldnt be up to the schools to teach them and ultimately they won't get you a job.

British employers have been complaining for around a decade that school leavers can't spell or count.

 

[El Poncho]

It's simply over-hyped by people such as your teacher, because the Brits are usually awesome and they expect their schools to be as such.

wait...the brits level of awesomeness is just about the same as any other country..if not less for losing half the world over the past several centuries

Shouldn't it increase our awesomeness for having half the world at some point?