From early on, the human race has strived to acquire information, develop its own thinking, share ideas, and question its surroundings. This motivation to expand our knowledge is the back bone of education. It is the back bone of an educational system that provides education for those who want it. Whether young or just young at heart, " every American has the opportunity to obtain the skills necessary to compete on the twenty first century economy" (Maurrasse 156). Now, Moore may argue that the current system fails to cheer individuality, support freedom of speech, and encourage people to be themselves. Moore alleges that our education makes robots out of students. This claim is wrong. For one thing, Moore's argument is based on his own inability to adapt to the school system throughout his life. For another thing, Moore argues against the discipline that students are taught during high school, discipline that is critical in order to become responsible citizens. Most of Moore's examples only demonstrate the idiotic behavior of some Americans, but the truth is that most educated Americans have their priorities straight; they understand that there is a whole lot of matters more critical than sports. .
Moore believes that poor classroom conditions, incompetency among politicians and the selfless influence of corporate America all help the decline on public education; however, some of his arguments are not valid. Politicians, besides making the rules, are the ones responsible to allocate resources. When funds are channeled to address other concerns, such as national security, programs like public education stay behind. When President Nixon changed the rules about how federal funding would be distributed to the states back in 1974, many states decided not to invest in the funding of school libraries. In doing this, many of the schools' materials went out of date. Later in the Bush administration, federal spending on libraries was cut by 19%, according to Moore.