--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It's fairly obvious that American…" description: "\"It's fairly obvious that American education is a cultural flop. Americans are not a well-educated people culturally, and their vocational education oft..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cae/raymond-chandler-629_america_it-s-fairly-obvious-that-american-educat_1995555.jpg" --- # It's fairly obvious that American education is a cultural… ![“It's fairly obvious that American education is a cultural flop. Americans are not a well-educated people culturally, and their vocational education often has to be learned all over again after they leave school and college. On the other hand, they have open quick minds and if their education has…” quote by Raymond Chandler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cae/raymond-chandler-629_america_it-s-fairly-obvious-that-american-educat_1995555.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cae/raymond-chandler-629_america_it-s-fairly-obvious-that-american-educat_1995555.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cae/raymond-chandler-629_america_it-s-fairly-obvious-that-american-educat_1995555.jpg) > “It's fairly obvious that American education is a cultural flop. Americans are not a well-educated people culturally, and their vocational education often has to be learned all over again after they leave school and college. On the other hand, they have open quick minds and if their education has little sharp positive value, it has not the stultifying effects of a more rigid training.” [Raymond Chandler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-chandler/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. He critiques American education as culturally shallow but flexible, lacking depth yet avoiding rigidity. **In simple terms:** American education lacks cultural depth but stays flexible. Key Takeaway Seek deeper cultural learning alongside practical skills. Themes education culture flexibility vocational training Mood critical inquisitive Type analytical philosophical When to use this quote - school curriculum reform - career training - personal development Key Concepts cultural literacy skill development rigidity vs openness Questions to Reflect On - How can education balance cultural depth and practical skills? - What reforms improve cultural literacy? A Different Perspective Overemphasis on flexibility may neglect critical thinking. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [America](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/america/) [American education](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-education/) [College](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/college/) [Educated people](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/educated-people/) [Education](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/education/) [Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mind/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [School](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/school/) [Training](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/training/) [Values](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/values/) ## Related quotes > [The education, the cultural awareness, is different in Europe, especially in France, from that in the United States. So I think the public will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herb-ritts/the-education-the-cultural-awareness-is-different-in-europe/) [Herb Ritts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herb-ritts/) > [The United Nations has long recognised that the imagination, ideals and energies of young men and women are vital for the continuing development of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kofi-annan/the-united-nations-has-long-recognised-that-the-imagination-ideals/) [Kofi Annan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kofi-annan/) > [Nihilism is but the other side of conventionalism; its creed consists of negations of the current so-called positive values, to which it remains bound.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/nihilism-is-but-the-other-side-of-conventionalism-its-creed-consists/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [Our world is in profound danger. Mankind must establish a set of positive values with which to secure its own survival. This quest for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-matheson/our-world-is-in-profound-danger-mankind-must-establish-a-set-of/) [Richard Matheson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-matheson/) > [Vocational education programs have made a real difference in the lives of countless young people nationwide; they build self-confidence and leadership skills by allowing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/conrad-burns/vocational-education-programs-have-made-a-real-difference-in-the/) [Conrad Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/conrad-burns/) > [Hillary Clinton said we need to bring back vocational education in high school. We need to support community colleges. We need to make sure…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-packer/hillary-clinton-said-we-need-to-bring-back-vocational-education-in/) [George Packer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-packer/) > [Keep your values positive, because your values become your destiny.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/keep-your-values-positive-because-your-values-become-your-destiny/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Problems in human engineering will receive during the coming years the same genius and attention which the nineteenth century gave to the more material…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-a-edison/problems-in-human-engineering-will-receive-during-the-coming-years/) [Thomas A. Edison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-a-edison/) > [Keep my word positive. Words become my behaviors. Keep my behaviors positive. Behaviors become my habits. Keep my habits positive. Habits become my values.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/keep-my-word-positive-words-become-my-behaviors-keep-my-behaviors/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [Thinking in mythological terms helps to put you in accord with the inevitables of this vale of tears. You learn to recognize the positive…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/thinking-in-mythological-terms-helps-to-put-you-in-accord-with-the/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [I do regard spinning and weaving as a necessary part of any national system of education.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/i-do-regard-spinning-and-weaving-as-a-necessary-part-of-any-national/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [From a young age I had a real sense of the world of work. This is what vocational education gives you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steph-mcgovern/from-a-young-age-i-had-a-real-sense-of-the-world-of-work-this-is-what/) [Steph McGovern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steph-mcgovern/) > [With nearly all students leaving public high school having taken some vocational education, this bill continues to provide communities with the funding necessary to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-m-mchugh/with-nearly-all-students-leaving-public-high-school-having-taken-some/) [John M. McHugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-m-mchugh/) > [If we want boys to succeed, we need to bring them back to education by making education relevant to them and bring in more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-gurian/if-we-want-boys-to-succeed-we-need-to-bring-them-back-to-education-by/) [Michael Gurian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-gurian/) > [I really feel that design has the capacity to communicate, and I really have concentrated on the communication of positive values.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-wanders/i-really-feel-that-design-has-the-capacity-to-communicate-and-i/) [Marcel Wanders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-wanders/) ## More by Raymond Chandler > [Television's perfect. You turn a few knobs, a few of those mechanical adjustments at which the higher apes are so proficient, and lean back…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-chandler/television-s-perfect-you-turn-a-few-knobs-a-few-of-those-mechanical/) [Raymond Chandler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-chandler/) > [There is no trap so deadly as the trap you set for yourself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-chandler/there-is-no-trap-so-deadly-as-the-trap-you-set-for-yourself/) [Raymond Chandler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-chandler/) > [Common sense is the guy who tells you that you ought to have had your brakes relined last week before you smashed a front…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-chandler/common-sense-is-the-guy-who-tells-you-that-you-ought-to-have-had-your/) [Raymond Chandler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-chandler/) > [ “Hammett was the ace performer... He is said to have lacked heart; yet the story he himself thought the most of \[The Glass Key\]… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-chandler/hammett-was-the-ace-performer-he-is-said-to-have-lacked-heart-yet-the/) [Raymond Chandler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-chandler/) > [She jerked away from me like a startled fawn might, if I had a startled fawn and it jerked away from me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-chandler/she-jerked-away-from-me-like-a-startled-fawn-might-if-i-had-a/) [Raymond Chandler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-chandler/) > [A good story cannot be devised; it has to be distilled.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-chandler/a-good-story-cannot-be-devised-it-has-to-be-distilled/) [Raymond Chandler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-chandler/) > [Dashiell Hammett took murder out of theVenetian vase and dropped it into the alley.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-chandler/dashiell-hammett-took-murder-out-of-thevenetian-vase-and-dropped-it/) [Raymond Chandler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-chandler/) > [ “He \[James Cain\] is every kind of writer I detest...a Proust in greasy overalls, a dirty little boy with a piece of chalk and… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-chandler/he-james-cain-is-every-kind-of-writer-i-detest-a-proust-in-greasy/) [Raymond Chandler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-chandler/) > [It was a blonde. A blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained-glass window.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-chandler/it-was-a-blonde-a-blonde-to-make-a-bishop-kick-a-hole-in-a-stained/) [Raymond Chandler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-chandler/) > [“I had been stalking the bluebottle fly for five minutes, waiting for him to sit down. He didn't want to sit down. He just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-chandler/i-had-been-stalking-the-bluebottle-fly-for-five-minutes-waiting-for/) [Raymond Chandler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-chandler/) > [“A three-piece Mexican band was making the kind of music a Mexican band always makes. Whatever they play, it all sounds the same. They…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-chandler/a-three-piece-mexican-band-was-making-the-kind-of-music-a-mexican/) [Raymond Chandler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-chandler/) > [Mostly I just kill time," he said, "and it dies hard.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-chandler/mostly-i-just-kill-time-he-said-and-it-dies-hard/) [Raymond Chandler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-chandler/) > [“The book was not new. Dates were stamped on the front endpaper, in and out dates. A rent book. A lending library of elaborate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-chandler/the-book-was-not-new-dates-were-stamped-on-the-front-endpaper-in-and/) [Raymond Chandler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-chandler/) > [Without magic, there is no art. Without art, there is no idealism. Without idealism, there is no integrity. Without integrity, there is nothing but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-chandler/without-magic-there-is-no-art-without-art-there-is-no-idealism/) [Raymond Chandler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-chandler/) > [“The homicide skipper that year was a Captain Gregorius, a type of copper that is getting rarer but by no means extinct, the kind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-chandler/the-homicide-skipper-that-year-was-a-captain-gregorius-a-type-of/) [Raymond Chandler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-chandler/) [Explore all 430 Raymond Chandler quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-chandler/) ## More America quotes > [The costs of the Bush-Obama wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are now estimated to run as high as $4.4 trillion - a major victory…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/the-costs-of-the-bush-obama-wars-in-iraq-and-afghanistan-are-now/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [Young men, especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend “a course of reading.” Distrust a course of reading! People who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-lang/young-men-especially-in-america-write-to-me-and-ask-me-to-recommend-a/) [Andrew Lang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-lang/) > [Well, The Day the Earth Caught Fire was a story... I don't if anybody knows what it is but it was about... in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/val-guest/well-the-day-the-earth-caught-fire-was-a-story-i-don-t-if-anybody/) [Val Guest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/val-guest/) > [So here's what I want you to know, and here's what I want all our men and women in uniform to know: Because of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barack-obama/so-here-s-what-i-want-you-to-know-and-here-s-what-i-want-all-our-men/) [Barack Obama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barack-obama/) > [Today, the world looks to America for leadership. And America looks to its Corps of Marines.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ronald-reagan/today-the-world-looks-to-america-for-leadership-and-america-looks-to/) [Ronald Reagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ronald-reagan/) > [The image of blacks usually is one of people who are suffering from hunger, unemployment, and poverty. The idea of them as agents and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-lee-boggs/the-image-of-blacks-usually-is-one-of-people-who-are-suffering-from/) [Grace Lee Boggs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-lee-boggs/) > [ I'll smoke, I'll cough, I'll get the tumors, I'll die, deal? Thank you America. \[salutes\] ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-hicks/i-ll-smoke-i-ll-cough-i-ll-get-the-tumors-i-ll-die-deal-thank-you/) [Bill Hicks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-hicks/) > [America is a democracy and has no Hitler, but I am afraid for her future; there are hard times ahead for the American people,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/america-is-a-democracy-and-has-no-hitler-but-i-am-afraid-for-her/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [I'm gonna bring America together.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-trump/i-m-gonna-bring-america-together/) [Donald Trump](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-trump/) > [In the nineteenth century some parts of the world were unexplored, but there was almost no restriction on travel.:; Up to 1914 you did…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/in-the-nineteenth-century-some-parts-of-the-world-were-unexplored-but/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [We need a system that serves our needs, not the needs of others. Remember, under a Trump administration it's called America first. Remember that.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-trump/we-need-a-system-that-serves-our-needs-not-the-needs-of-others/) [Donald Trump](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-trump/) > [America, you're sending girls a mixed message. On one hand, you're saying to have positive body image and love who we are; on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adora-svitak/america-you-re-sending-girls-a-mixed-message-on-one-hand-you-re/) [Adora Svitak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adora-svitak/) > [You live overseas, you see these exotic places and you want to know about them. But, weirdly, it also made me homesick for all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-jennings/you-live-overseas-you-see-these-exotic-places-and-you-want-to-know/) [Ken Jennings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-jennings/) > [Freedom in every sense but primarily political sense, a rise in repression that stems from a repression of sexuality. 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