"Our kids are our seed corn. We are sacrificing many of them on the altar of the teacher unions and politicians. They deserve better. We deserve better. Our country deserves better."
I never cease to be amazed at the folly of our state representatives when it comes to funding education. It is the most perfect example of throwing good money after bad that I have ever seen. When we spend this much, why can't many of our kids learn? Ever hear that expression, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink"?
Our inner-city schools are failure factories. A friend of mine, who many years ago taught science in a inner-city middle school, was so fed up with kids who did not want to be there, he came up with a strategy. "For those who want to learn, sit in front. For those who don't care, sit in the back." He was amazed at how many kids gravitated to the back of the classroom.
Many of our kids are failing today. Failing to learn, failing to attend. The excusers are saying it is pandemic related. Our kids never recovered from the "Zoom" days at home. I disagree. Kids who want to learn, who have a hungry mind, are living in a time of utopia. We are in an explosion of knowledge, the likes of which we have never witnessed before. Be it a computer, a tablet, a smart phone, or YouTube on a TV - anyone is seconds away from learning tons of information about just about anything.
Did you know there are over a billion websites on the internet? Many are garbage, but also many are not. Finding the right websites, with good information and knowledge on them, is really not that hard. I have said this before - when I was in school, and you needed some information, you went to the library and used the dewy decimal system to find what you were looking for. It was a long and laborious process. Today? I delight in finding out information "at the speed of light", using only my fingertips.
Education is a bottomless pit today. We shovel in tons of money, only to get spotty results. Our system of educating our young, sucks. It really does. We need a reclama -a total do over. Why? Here is the irony. Our kids are not stupid - only unmotivated. If our kids want to learn, they can learn like crazy. However, if they shut down - it is game over. So, our school system, the politicians, the educators - need to change. Not just a little bit, but they need to "burn the ships".
Want some immutable facts on what I am saying? Do some research on the Chicago school system. Thought by many to be the worst in the nation. It is a failure factory on steroids. Even though the per student spending is up to almost $30,000/student, the results are horrible. How so? Not too long ago, 75% of elementary and 95% of high school students failed to meet state standards. The solution? Throw more money down the bottomless pit? Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, trying to get different results. DUH!
Our kids are our seed corn. We are sacrificing many of them on the altar of the teacher unions and politicians. They deserve better. We deserve better. Our country deserves better.
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