“Smoking is Stupider”

When I first found out that I was moving to Mississippi, I heard the stereotypes: People from Mississippi are drunks, homophobes, trailer trash and uneducated; Mississippi has the worst education system; it is a state of gators and cotton and racism.

And here I was, moving to this state for my education.

I looked past the stereotypes. I told myself that there was no way all of these stereotypes were true (after all, I grew up in Pennsylvania and I am certainly not Amish) and came down here with an open mind, and have honestly fallen in love with the South.

But sometimes I can see where stereotypes come from.

I am out in the public schools at least twice every week, and when I’m not, I hear from others that are. And I hate to say, that the public schools down here are suffering. I had a fourth grade teacher tell the third grade teachers: “Don’t worry about the kids not being able to add or subtract, just make sure that they know how to round. There is a lot more rounding than adding or subtracting on the state tests.”

You can just imagine the shock I was in. First of all, I grew up learning how to add and subtract before the third grade. I think by third grade, we were onto multiplication and I know we talked about division by fourth grade. For those students that couldn’t add or subtract, they received extra help and while they may have never fully caught up, our school knew that adding and subtracting is a crucial skill for individuals to have.

And this is only one example.

The other day, I was watching television while studying, and a commercial caught my eye:

I loved that it was encouraging people to not smoke. I loved the lesson. What I didn’t love so much? The last line… “Smoking is Stupider.”

Hello inner grammar police. The only time stupider is allowed to be said is in the following:

So yes, sometimes I make the cracks on Mississippi Public Schools, and sometimes even Mississippi in general. But when we have teachers teaching only to state tests, and commercials calling anything “stupider,” I think it is allowed.