[quote=flu][quote=eavesdropper]Thanks so much for posting this article, flu. I would have definitely missed it on my own.[/quote]
It’s just really sad to read about this. I’m not dissying being a nurse (which is what she has to be). It just infurriates me that when our government budgets gets cut, education is the first thing to go. Only third world countries do this.[/quote]
It may be because a large, very vocal contingent in this country insists that the United States is #1 in everything. Unfortunately, this is pure opinion, and not based on fact or data.
What’s worse is that anyone who ventures forth with proof of the opposite is immediately branded “unpatriotic”. Unfortunately, no problem can be addressed if it cannot first be acknowledged.
The sad fact is we are now several generations removed from the United States’ elevation to world power, and many of our citizenry are unaware that this is a status that is achieved, not conferred. And their belief that we will continue to remain in this position because of the might of our military forces is, shall we say, interesting given that the U.S. ascended to that level, in part, due to the use of weapon technology that renders the size of a military irrelevant.
The generation that fought WWII came of age during the Great Depression, and experienced or witnessed severe deprivation and disease firsthand. Most were offspring of parents who had very little or no education, and who had been forced to work in dangerous, extremely low-paying jobs instead. Thanks to the establishment of G.I. Bill, many WWII vets were able to achieve levels of education heretofore unheard of in their socioeconomic class. They used this education to build an economy unrelated to war, and to create an atmosphere that fostered scientific exploration, resulting in rapid technological advancement and achievement.
U.S. unchallenged superiority in technology had pretty much come to an end by the early 1970s, and not much of a fight was put up to retain it. Is it a coincidence that the generation that was responsible for maintaining the momentum of technological research and development was also the first generation for whom 12 years of government-paid education was a right (as opposed to a privilege), and for whom a college education was within reach? For what it’s worth, I don’t think so.
We don’t value education in this country. Elementary and secondary schools are seen as state-sponsored daycare, a welcome respite for “parents” who can rid themselves of their uncontrollable offspring for eight hours a day. Instead of making sure that their kids actually do the small amount of homework and assignments they are given, moms and dads issue fake excuse notes while wondering aloud why schools continue to teach subject matter that students will never use in “real life”. Even those students who voluntarily choose to attend school when they reach college age seem to be, for the most part, concerned with the paycheck that they believe a particular course of study will guarantee than they are with a genuine desire to learn. The upshot of this is that they learn only the factoids that will result in a passing grade (or, often, just the plagiarism skills).
Until we recognize that we are behind other nations in terms of technological advancement (and losing more and more ground rapidly), and that our piss-poor attitude about education is the cause, things will only get worse. We need to place education at a much higher place in our list of national priorities. That means
(1) directing more government funding toward education;
(2) changing our national attitude: seeing education as essential to our survival as a nation and our place as an international competitor; and
(3) focusing our attention on more effective ways of teaching: We have more technology available to us now that can be adapted for teaching that will enable students to learn, to retain, and to use knowledge far more effectively than ever before. We are well into the 21st century, yet we are still trying to force students to learn utilizing 19th century methods (i.e., read-memorize-test).
