Education Not a Priority With Bushites
Regular American youth and their education or lack thereof is the subject of Bob Herbert's column in the NYTimes today. It should give all Americans pause.
As Herbert writes:
"The nation’s future may depend on how well we educate the current and future generations, but (like the renovation of the nation’s infrastructure, or a serious search for better sources of energy) that can wait. At the moment, no one seems to have the will to engage any of the most serious challenges facing the U.S.
"An American kid drops out of high school every 26 seconds. That’s more than a million every year, a sign of big trouble for these largely clueless youngsters in an era in which a college education is crucial to maintaining a middle-class quality of life — and for the country as a whole in a world that is becoming more hotly competitive every day.
"Ignorance in the United States is not just bliss, it’s widespread. A recent survey of teenagers by the education advocacy group Common Core found that a quarter could not identify Adolf Hitler, a third did not know that the Bill of Rights guaranteed freedom of speech and religion, and fewer than half knew that the Civil War took place between 1850 and 1900.
“ 'We have one of the highest dropout rates in the industrialized world,' said Allan Golston, the president of U.S. programs for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
“ 'In math and science, for example, our fourth graders are among the top students globally. By roughly eighth grade, they’re in the middle of the pack. And by the 12th grade, U.S. students are scoring generally near the bottom of all industrialized countries.'
"While we’re effectively standing in place, other nations are catching up and passing us when it comes to educational achievement. You have to be pretty dopey not to see the implications of that.
"In the Common Core survey, nearly 20 percent of respondents did not know who the U.S. fought in World War II. Eleven percent thought that Dwight Eisenhower was the president forced from office by the Watergate scandal. Another 11 percent thought it was Harry Truman.
Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
Literacy, math, history, science, etc. are the tools that teach us to think logically. They are the foundation that helps us to learn to reason.
Some Americans lack this basic foundation since they voted for Bush and Cheney and obviously lacked the ability to think and reason. Corporations and the super wealthy had their own selfish motives.
Meanwhile, as this terrrible Bush administration (with its failed, unreasoned, ill advised No Child Left Behind program) waves the flag while plunging the United States deeper into trillions of dollars in debt to pay for its Iraq debacle sinkhole including the crimes of its crony war profiteers and creating an economic nightmare, this country falls far behind other industrialized nations in health care, technology like the Internet, cell phone, etc., and also, unfortunately, the education of our youth.
Absolutely unacceptable and tragic. As Herbert concludes, "We've got work to do." Especially after enduring the crimes and scandals of the worst administration ever. Time for a 21st century New Deal.
As Herbert writes:
"The nation’s future may depend on how well we educate the current and future generations, but (like the renovation of the nation’s infrastructure, or a serious search for better sources of energy) that can wait. At the moment, no one seems to have the will to engage any of the most serious challenges facing the U.S.
"An American kid drops out of high school every 26 seconds. That’s more than a million every year, a sign of big trouble for these largely clueless youngsters in an era in which a college education is crucial to maintaining a middle-class quality of life — and for the country as a whole in a world that is becoming more hotly competitive every day.
"Ignorance in the United States is not just bliss, it’s widespread. A recent survey of teenagers by the education advocacy group Common Core found that a quarter could not identify Adolf Hitler, a third did not know that the Bill of Rights guaranteed freedom of speech and religion, and fewer than half knew that the Civil War took place between 1850 and 1900.
“ 'We have one of the highest dropout rates in the industrialized world,' said Allan Golston, the president of U.S. programs for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
“ 'In math and science, for example, our fourth graders are among the top students globally. By roughly eighth grade, they’re in the middle of the pack. And by the 12th grade, U.S. students are scoring generally near the bottom of all industrialized countries.'
"While we’re effectively standing in place, other nations are catching up and passing us when it comes to educational achievement. You have to be pretty dopey not to see the implications of that.
"In the Common Core survey, nearly 20 percent of respondents did not know who the U.S. fought in World War II. Eleven percent thought that Dwight Eisenhower was the president forced from office by the Watergate scandal. Another 11 percent thought it was Harry Truman.
Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
Literacy, math, history, science, etc. are the tools that teach us to think logically. They are the foundation that helps us to learn to reason.
Some Americans lack this basic foundation since they voted for Bush and Cheney and obviously lacked the ability to think and reason. Corporations and the super wealthy had their own selfish motives.
Meanwhile, as this terrrible Bush administration (with its failed, unreasoned, ill advised No Child Left Behind program) waves the flag while plunging the United States deeper into trillions of dollars in debt to pay for its Iraq debacle sinkhole including the crimes of its crony war profiteers and creating an economic nightmare, this country falls far behind other industrialized nations in health care, technology like the Internet, cell phone, etc., and also, unfortunately, the education of our youth.
Absolutely unacceptable and tragic. As Herbert concludes, "We've got work to do." Especially after enduring the crimes and scandals of the worst administration ever. Time for a 21st century New Deal.
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