As you ought to expect that I disagree. There are a number of major shortcomings in the American system and to a lesser extent the Canadian system. With the exception of private schools and the top universities, the education system in America pitiful. The Canadian system is better and other countries have a better education system then Canada. North American schools don't challenge their students enough and society does not place a high enough value on education.

It is easy to blame the student but the truth is that the priorities of the education system are wrong. In the past information was difficult to obtain and transfer. Now information is easy to come by. People readily have access to more information then they could possibly need. What they need are the tools to be able to use the information correctly. You say that common sense cannot be taught. I disagree with this. Common sense can be taught as is evident that parents often pass common sense on to their children. Common sense is just difficult to teach and it takes time. In a similar fashion critical thinking and creative thinking can be taught. These are the higher-level extensions of common sense and are what is severely limited in today’s schools.

For some reason the education system focuses on repeating a process many times until the process can be done with a high probability. There is little discussion of why the process is the way it is even less discussion on what happens if you change the framework a little. When people are tested they are generally tested on whether a solution is correct or not. It does not matter how they came up with the solution. The education system does not reward those who can apply their knowledge to a problem they have never seen before. It does not matter if a student can see limitations in the process or natural extensions of the ideas.

Whether in the real world or in academia, creativity and critical thinking skills are valuable. People who can look at a problem and see understand what is happening and after some though find a solution to the problem provide significant value to a company. Having a population that understands the implications of what a politician is saying is able to make better voting choices, leading to better decisions. Those who have the ability to think creatively and analytical abilities to match will be the ones who end up making discoveries and innovations.

Those who complain about the education system complain about trivial things. The major complaint is that the education system is too liberal and as such various attacks are made towards the institutions and those who conduct leading research and advanced education. These criticisms are usually baseless and come with costs. As the atmosphere plays a vital role in the decision for professors to come to a particular university, if they feel as though they will be underappreciated they may choose to go to a country where they are appreciated. America faces a significant risk of having top institutions quickly fall in ranking and as such will loose the benefits associated with the advanced research that goes on at these top institutions.

People play politics with the public system too. People devote too much effort towards whining and complaining because they don’t like what is being taught. Children should have their beliefs challenged. They should be open to different perspectives on an issue. People who believe that politics have not place in the classroom are wrong. Political issues are strongly intertwined with history, economics, sociology, and philosophy. They come into play when discussing issues in science and health. Avoiding them leaves a gapping hole in ones education.