That line from Guggenheim's narrator in the documentary is as follows (and does concern American education over the past 4 to 7 decades): "Among thirty developed countries, [the USA schools] we rank twenty-fifth in math and twenty-first in science. In almost every category, we've fallen behind, except one. Kids from the USA rank number one in confidence.
Striving to learn confidence and struggling against opposition in America--i.e. where most of our lives we are confronted by unfair truths these days--is normal in the USA and in almost any corner of the planet. This is why the film SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE resonated so well with the average American viewer--although set in India.
Struggling against-society and the-givens-in-society are certainly par for the course for America's youth these days--i.e. after 40 years of a badly run economy while driving the price of American tertiary education out of reach of many American families. Huge debt is the only way to pay for it. (One of the students' typical fees is for health insurance, by the way.)
Likewise, the job market in America is currently a very dismal place for American youth--especially for those who fail to gain a diploma or who exit school illiterate despite great football skills. (This situation of illiteracy by student athletes in American high schools and colleges may have improved in recent years, but I am not too sure.)
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