I found it interesting in last night's debate that Kerry sighted that around 50% of Black and Hispanic males drop out of high school inferring that as a failure of the Bush Administration.
While, "among more than 25 industrialized nations, no country spends more public and private money to educate each student than the United States, according to an annual review by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
But American 15-year-olds scored in the middle of the pack in math, reading and science in 2000, and the nation's high-school graduation rate was below the world average in 2001."
Here is another study…
"In 2000, the United States and Korea spent the highest percentage of their GDP on total education expenditures (6.6 percent) among the OECD countries. Looking at education expenditures by level, the United States spent 3.9 percent of its GDP on elementary/secondary education, while the average for all OECD countries reporting data was 3.6 percent. At the postsecondary level, 2.7 percent of the U.S. GDP was spent on education expenditures, while the corresponding OECD average was 1.3 percent."
I think the problem with education in this country is not about how much money is being spent, but the problem with education is a much deeper social problem. It is a failure of families. Education flourishes in some of the Asian minorities in the US while education fails miserably in the Black and Hispanic minorities. Why?
I believe family values, encouragement and expectations are at the root. Families need to not only encourage their children to put down the boom boxes and study, but demand it.
Lower income overall is a direct result of low skill sets, which are a direct result of kids pissing away their public education opportunity. If you have no skill sets, one can not get a good paying job. It is just that simple. More and more Americans are going to see their standard of living continue to decline, because they chose to not invest their time in their own education. The opportunity to learn is there, but like the old saying goes, “you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.”
If students piss away their public education, I for one am tired of paying for post public school education programs. And I don't think the government should be in the baby sitting business funding after school programs. The kids should be home studying and their parents should be seeing to it that they are.
In the end, it is up to the parents to expect their children to learn and it is up to the kids to learn. No amount of money is going to make a difference until parents expect and demand that their kids get their priorities straight and learning becomes the top priority for kids while attending public school.
LG |
