Re: What is it...
"LOL where do you guys get this stuff?? Sales presentations vs. debates REALLY cracked me up"
As I said, I was channelling two Americans I used to work with, one our R&D director and the other a marketing guy who subsequently moved to the UK to get a better education for his children.
I'm afraid this may have been a mistake on his and his wife's part, but debate is all about context. Having a school "debate" on evolution where all the kids know that supporting it will be a mistake is not the same as teaching critical thinking (a specific complaint at the time.)
I am sure that there are plenty of excellent teachers in schools in the US who are allowed to do their stuff without political or religious interference. There are plenty of Americans who worry about American exceptionalism and the long term problems. But my post was in answer to why exceptionalism exists to such an extent in the US.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
