America and Education

We spend more and more each year on Education and get less and less results. Americans graduating from college, when tested, are often unable to find their own state on a map. display a woeful lack of knowledge of history, and can scarcely make change without the aid of a calculator. A basic lack of understanding of the basic concepts of science is common. Many can scarcely read, lack any background in the basic ideas of Western culture, little understanding of art and literature, and, as you might have noticed on the internet, cannot write simple English sentences.

My parents and their siblings were high school graduates, that's all. Yet, they all could read well, write proper sentences and do basic math with nothing but a pencil and paper. They knew the basics of World and American history, had at least been exposed to classic American and English literature, knew geography, and had a sufficient understanding of science. They were also all required to take at least 2 years of some foreign language, which certainly came in handy when Cuban refugees started showing up in South Florida. ( all of them could at least make themselves understood on Spanish).

I worked for a while in a private high school kitchen. We catered many luncheons for different organizations, parents, donors, etc. and would deliver to various spots on campus. As a result, I saw how the kids were taught. To my shock, a good deal of the instruction in history and the sciences consisted of kids sitting at a computer reading Wikipedia pages, Much of their time was spent preparing for Standardized testing required by the government. This is not learning; this is just preparing to regurgitate answers.

Study after study show that Americans now are far behind in Math and Science. Even in Colleges, more and more, the old required Liberal Arts studies, those required courses we had to take as Freshmen and Sophomores, has been dropped. I guess we just want to turn out robots, prepared to fill a gap in some corporation. Job training, while important, is not education.

Of course, anyone can educate themselves. Go to a library. Find books on various subjects, and read. But, when you are taught from the time that you were young, that all that matters are tests and jobs, it is easy to loose the urge to learn. Oh well, have fun playing Pokémon.