Does Wealth Make Your Country Stupid?

[DaShi]

We've all made fun of some of the really dumb things that happen in America. However, when it really comes down to it, Americans still perform dismally on many tests regarding general knowledge. America also has a higher highschool dropout rate compared to many other western nations. However, now we are seeing a similar trend in China, whose economy is still growing rapidly.

China: Illiteracy Rate Soars
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: April 3, 2007
The number of people in China who cannot read or write grew by 30 million over the past five years, to 116 million, wiping out years of gains against illiteracy, the state-run newspaper China Daily reported. The paper quoted an Education Ministry official as saying the main reason for the reversal was that many young rural poor were dropping out of school for migrant jobs in the cities created by China’s economic boom. “The situation is worrying,” said the official, Gao Xuegui. Literacy in China is defined as someone who can read and write 1,500 Chinese characters. College graduates are required to know 7,000 to 10,000 characters.

The rise of literacy in China was one of the Communist Party's highest toted accomplishments used to justify its very existence (in light of some more tragic policies). But lately China has been quickly seeing the onset of a lot of problems that plague America: obesity, drug use, and now declining education.

So I guess the question that I need to ask is:

What makes your country so stupid?

[Drake Tungsten]

Stupid? No. Weak? Probably...

[Spiffor]

Delusions of grandeur

[Zulu Elephant]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten
Stupid? No. Weak? Probably...

rome ftw

[Drake Tungsten]

Delusions of grandeur

That too...

[LordShiva]

Using a writing system with >10,000 characters is pretty stupid, too

[Drake Tungsten]

It really is.

[Barnabas]

Lol, Chinese dont know alphabet

[Will9]

Originally posted by LordShiva
Using a writing system with >10,000 characters is pretty stupid, too

Japan has come up with a 46 (I think) letter alphabet to replace its old 4000+ one (they still learn and use the old though, but I don't know which one is used more frequently). Why can't China do this?

[LordShiva]

Originally posted by Will9
Why can't China do this.

Did they replace the question mark too.

[DaShi]

Originally posted by Will9


Japan has come up with a 46 (I think) letter alphabet to replace its old 4000+ one (they still learn and use the old though, but I don't know which one is used more frequently). Why can't China do this?

China did try to make pinyin more common, but it didn't really catch on. It's still taught at schools there though.

[Perfection]

Maybe it's stupid to waste time in school when you can be making the comparable big bucks?

[Will9]

Originally posted by LordShiva


Did they replace the question mark too.

Please tell me that you grew up in an area of India that had good schools. Otherwise I would be very embarrassed that you can correct my grammer.

Fixed

[Drake Tungsten]

Japan has come up with a 46 (I think) letter alphabet to replace its old 4000+ one (they still learn and use the old though, but I don't know which one is used more frequently).

No, Japan came up with two 46-symbol systems to represent their sound system phonetically, but instead of replacing the Chinese characters with these (or having just one phonetic system) they just use them all at the same time for different purposes. As such, the Japanese system is even more assinine than the Chinese one...

[LordShiva]

Originally posted by Will9
Otherwise I would be very embarrassed that you can correct my grammer.

Fixed

"grammar"