Why are people so stupid?

Before you say anything, yes, this is an honest question? Why are people so stupid? I ask this for a couple of reasons. The first is that I have finished marking my mock GCSE papers. All 150 of them. I listened as colleagues complained that they had 30 (or perhaps, horrors of horrors maybe 60) papers and said not a word. There's no point. It's the nature of the subject. We have 300 students between the two of us - as well as the Year 7s, 8s, 9s and 10s. Reports and exams take on a whole new meaning if you teach approximately half the school - something that covers about 800 students. I feel rather pleased with myself when I remember names - you try remembering so many names when you only see the owners about once every ten days! Anyway, back to stupidity. Firstly, as I said, the exams. Many students regard it as being distinctly uncool to get a good (make that reasonable) grade in the subject. Thus, they don't revise. This is the only answer one can come up with for some of the answers. We have been studying the Christian and Muslim view of medical ethics, crime and punishment, politics and the environment. I have had answers that cover Jedi and science (as a religion). I have also discovered that Jews are vegetarian, no Christian approves of capital punishment (or that they all do), Christians can vote Lib Dem or Conservative (lets Labour out), abortion is a treatment for infertility, the Muslim (or Islamist) view of creation is that a little girl got lost in a garden and then God created the world (just the same as the Christian God, but it took longer), Protestants are a separate religion from Christianity and that Muslims kill then eat animals (to do with animal rights under religion, incase you are wondering). Considering Christianity is a key component, it is scary that Jesus was mentioned (at all, let alone by name) 4 times in 300 papers and Muhammad only by the Muslim students. In fact, generally, the Muslim students got the best grades. Not just because they already have knowledge of their own religion, but because they usually have a healthy respect for the ideas of others. It is, after all, one of their precepts that they learn about the beliefs of others. Mind you, I'm still trying to work out how one of my boys can claim that he is a Christian but doesn't believe in the existence of God. I would have thought such belief was rather a necessary requirement!! Shows what I know. Other stupidity is evidenced by my brother. In 2003 he wrote a letter to the Court supporting my ex-husband's desire to have sole control over our daughter, stating he had known him for 20 years and had always found him to be the soul of integrity, a loving, kind and devoted husband and father who had supported both our daughter and I for years. Between 1989 and 2003 he saw him (us) for two hours (apart from my grandmother and father's funerals). I wrote to him a couple of weeks ago, giving him the chance to write a letter for me. He wrote back saying he stood by what he had written, admitted he had not known Simon for very long and stated (I loved this) that his reason for not writing a letter for me was because he did not want to take sides. Excuse me? My big brother writes a letter, supporting my abusive ex-husband, giving the impression he has had contact with him for two decades and then tells me that not only has he seen very little of him but he doesn't want to take sides???? Is that thick or what? Mark thinks he's lacking in common sense. I know better. He's being incredibly disingenuous. Mark didn't intend to show me the letter. Instead he wrote back to Patrick and told him that if he insisted on this stance he would lose a sister. However, my questioning whether we would ever hear from my brother finally prompted him to come clean. Mark dislikes lying as much as I do. I'm hurt, but I'm not surprised. I lost my brother in 2003 when I found out about the letter. It was particularly hurtful since I thought he was kindly disposed towards me and he had written to me saying he knew how it felt to be trapped in a loveless marriage. My brother, you see, has phases. He had a vegetarian phase, a no-salt phase and, most influential, a Roman Catholic phase. The latter was when he was younger, and by the time he decided God was a load of tosh he had a devout Roman Catholic wife. Problem. It was commented on 25 years ago that he spends most of his time hiding in his room when not at home - difficult since he is retiring within the year. Gosh, sounds like sour grapes and, to some extent it is. I do feel bitter. There he was, telling me how ghastly marriage is, how it should be outlawed, how one never knows the person one has married and yet he supports my ex simply because he is male and wears a piece of white plastic around his throat for a couple of hours each week. Is that insane or what?? Mark is incredulous, believing all the claptrap of blood being thicker than water. My family has never been like that. He doesn't understand. My brother isn't going against family loyalty simply because there IS no loyalty in my family. He went for gender loyalty. That's what he believes in. Me? I believe I have only one sibling. My sister. My brother doesn't exist. Makes the Christmas card list easier.