[entire-name]

> Where did all the intellect go?

I think that's the key point. Decades of undermining the education system, plus many other problems such as "big money lobbying" is likely what led to such extremisms.

You know... the key metric of "education" used to be "what percentage of your population can read and write". By that measure, the US is fairly "educated". However, just like the value of each dollar goes down as the economy grows (i.e. inflation), I think it's important to apply a similar idea to education; just as the access to information increases, the value of _only_ being able to read and write is no longer enough to be considered as "educated".

[jimbob45]

You can’t seriously be arguing that everyone has been made so stupid by the education system as evidenced by the fact that they don’t agree with you. This is akin to categorically sweeping away the wisdom of the last generation because of leaded gasoline.

New rule: if you’re going to disparage the other side and call them stupid, you have to find two nice things to say about their side.

[scrollaway]

The US education system is failing, pretty badly. This is not a new grievance. Whether that causes or contributes to is probably unproven, but it's hard to think it doesn't.

It doesn't mean that all trump supporters are uneducated. But they do have a tendency to be uneducated. All the trump supporters I know are in that camp either for their extremist/nazi views, or due to misinformation, or for financial reasons. Those first two groups highly favor the uneducated.

[entire-name]

Let me rephrase. One attribute the education system should provide students is the ability to think critically. By being able to think critically, a person should be able to have the capacity to see and understand the arguments on both sides. From there, a healthy debate can commence on which policy is better.

Keep in mind my previous comment is in response to the original post, which talks about people on both sides having the "extreme mindset", i.e.:

> It's amazing. My friends on the left think the only reason for voting trump is racism, and friends on the right think the only reason for voting biden is socialism.

Indeed, maybe I was wrong in suggesting that the poor education system is what caused this issue. But regardless, the ability to think critically is an important attribute, and I do believe extremisms are caused, in part, by the lack of it.

[platyp]

"Critical thinking" is not a generic, universally transferable skill. It is highly domain-specific. One can possess "critical thinking skills" when it comes to solving software design problems but be absolutely clueless about public policy.

It might be more accurate to say that Americans need a better standard of education for history and civics.

[ehsankia]

It's not about them agreeing, but when people can't understand basic statistics or when people no longer even believe science, scientists and the scientific method, then yes it is the education system. Do you think it's a coincidence that there's a significant gap between how educated people are and which party they vote for?