The American high school graduate is two years behind his English, French or German counterpart; in Alabama, God knows how far behind.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the educational shortcomings of American high school graduates compared to their peers in Europe, particularly emphasizing disparities in Alabama.
Gore Vidal's quote addresses the significant gap in educational achievement between American high school graduates and those in countries like England, France, and Germany. It suggests that American students, particularly in states like Alabama, are not receiving the same quality or quantity of education, thereby lacking critical skills and knowledge that are essential in today's global society. This commentary on the education system raises awareness about regional disparities and the need for improvement in the American education curriculum.
In practice
In a speech about educational reform, I mentioned, 'As Gore Vidal said, the American high school graduate is two years behind his peers in Europe.'
We must declare ourselves, become known; allow the world to discover this subterranean life of ours which connects kings and farm boys, artists and clerks. Let them see that the important thing is not the object of love, but the emotion itself.
American writers want to be not good but great; and so are neither.
Writing fiction has become a priestly business in countries that have lost their faith.
The important thing is not the object of love, but the emotion itself.
For the average American, freedom of speech is simply the freedom to repeat what everyone else is saying and no more.
Ayn Rand's 'philosophy' is nearly perfect in its immorality, which makes the size of her audience all the more ominous and symptomatic as we enter a curious new phase in our society.... To justify and extol human greed and egotism is to my mind not only immoral, but evil.
Only a fool would let his enemy teach his children.
I feel that adolescence has served its purpose when a person arrives at adulthood with a strong sense of self-esteem, the ability to relate intimately, to communicate congruently, to take responsibility, and to take risks. The end of adolescence is the beginning of adulthood. What hasn't been finished then will have to be finished later.
We Americans are the best informed people on earth as to the events of the last twenty-four hours; we are the not the best informed as the events of the last sixty centuries.
Schools are not intended to moralize a wicked world, but to impart knowledge and develop intelligence, with only two social aims in mind: prepare to take on one's share in the world's work, and perhaps in addition, lend a hand in improving society, after schooling is done.
To implant fear in the minds of children is a crime. If parents try to rule the child by fear, then fear rules the child.
It is in fact a part of the function of education to help us escape, not from our own time - for we are bound by that - but from the intellectual and emotional limitations of our time.
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