This is more common than you might think. More than it should be, but still common.
The sheriff of a major city could not name the three branches of American government. And when told what they are, he incorrectly guessed which one his position was in.
The city would be Charlotte, the same city where the revolving door justice system resulted in the death of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska. So, we’re getting a look at the minds that are considered leadership in a city where the criminally insane are given ample opportunity to commit random homicide.
It can be quite horrifying just confidently a person can answer when they don’t know what they’re talking about, especially when it’s their job to know it.
See for yourself:
“This was not where I was anticipating getting stuck.” That delivery. It’s the moment that you realize that the person you’re talking to should not have gotten a passing grade in any Civics class.
Again, the guy wasn’t even able to name the three branches of government (legislative, executive, and judicial), and when told what they are, he incorrectly guessed the one he was in (executive). It may be understandable if a person might guess that a sheriff is in the judicial branch, but he himself is a sheriff. What’s his excuse?
As I see it, it’s an expected consequence of the education system. The fact is, teachers in the K-12 system are state employees who don’t much care, and the system is designed to get you to pass if you put in even minimal effort.
You might have noticed that in high school, there are multiple levels of the same class, categorized something like C, B, A, and AP (or Honors). For example, World History A, or Biology AP. Passing any class is basically like passing any similar class of a different level.
So, in the long run, there’s no difference between Biology C and Biology A. If you were put in Biology C, it’s possible that they ran out of room in the other Biology classes, because the current year’s students are just so smart. But it’s more likely that they either think you’re stupid or that you just don’t care. In any case, they probably just don’t want to look at you for a year longer than they have to.
The way K-12 is configured, if someone is held back a year, it’s usually because they just weren’t cooperating.
In my own experience with high school, it got to the point that I got along well with the teachers. There was a certain acknowledgement of the way things were, and we sometimes found ways to have fun while going through the motions.
It may be tangential, but I’ll tell this story, anyway. At one point, I was assigned to read “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe. I didn’t know what to expect. I started on it deciding to make it a case of me reading an assigned book in my own time.
Any enthusiasm I may have had had completely vanished by the time I was a few chapters in. The book was a literary disaster.
At one point, even though it was assigned reading, I decided that I just wasn’t going to read anymore, though I didn’t say a word about that to the teacher. At about the same time, the teacher just stopped bringing it up, and I didn’t receive any more assignments about that book. It was as though we had both discovered that the book was awful, right at the same time, and quietly decided not to speak of it.
Chinua Achebe may be dead, but at least he stopped writing. The world might’ve been a better place if he didn’t pursue what he didn’t have a knack for.
And no, I didn’t finish his book. And I’m not planning on it.
With the tangent over, back to Sherrif Garry McFadden. While it’s sad just how poorly he understood the government that he played a role in, he’s an expected product of the US’s K-12 education system.
Magnetricity 