Summary Of Idiot Nation By Michael Moore

In the essay written by Michael Moore called “Idiot Nation” he discusses what he thinks is the problem with America’s educational system and what he feels is the reason it is getting worse. He writes about a few different reasons why the education system is failing due to politicians, teachers not qualified to teach and large corporations. In his writing, he worries about our nation’s illiteracy, our politician’s questionable education decisions, and our underachieving students. From this, Moore hopes to inspire his audience to take action and fight against our nation of “ignorant” Americans by giving personal anecdotes, historical data and education statistics in his writings. Moore’s use of his own credibility as a source, sarcasm

An important component of an effective argument is

ensuring that the author keeps in mind the audience’s emotions and not solely his/her own.

Moore fails to do this by being insensitive to the readers’ emotions and by continuously insulting

politicians throughout the essay. Moore goes on to add to his argument and dislike for Bush by

noting that “in his first budget he proposed cutting federal spending on libraries by $39 million,

down to $168 million--a nearly 19 percent reduction,” (130). This fact again provokes his

audience’s logos and pathos because without libraries, how is our nation, and more importantly

our children, expected to learn, grow and succeed? Moore realizes this problem and explains that

“kids deprived of access to good libraries are also being kept form developing the information

skills they need to keep up in workplaces that are increasingly dependent on rapidly changing

information,” (131).

Another important claim that Moore argues is that even the students in our top

universities fall short in knowing the basics of American history. He claims that 556 seniors

in America’s most prestigious universities were polled and “a whopping 40 percent of

The fact that he was able to impact the world so profoundly

without a college education is a pretty remarkable accomplishment.

Moore also uses sarcasm when he is introducing the topic of how some groups are

making a difference in our schools rather than just complaining about the state of the educational

system. Moore says “Yes, it’s Corporate America, whose generosity to our nation’s schools is

just one more example of their continuing patriotic service” (133). At first it appears as if Moore

is praising corporations for their help, but as the reader continues on, it is apparent that Moore is

in fact being sarcastic.

Michael Moore’s writings in “Idiot Nation” are an interesting acknowledgement of the problems we face with our education system. Through his personal anecdotes, historical facts and astounding statistics, Moore is able to inform his audience of our nation’s troubles with educating our children and ourselves. He uses writing styles that appeal to his audience’s logos, ethos and pathos in order to get a reaction out of them and hopefully inspire them to act towards a change. Because who wants to live in an idiot nation after