Why has education become so hard these days?

 

 

"With education, failure can never be an option..."

I sometimes feel like an old curmudgeon. People get tired of me talking about the "good old days". Every time I catch myself doing that, the thought that goes through my mind is "I have become my grandparents!" They use to talk about the "good old days" quite often. However, with regards to education, I am sticking with the good old days. It seems that education today has become very to do and much harder to figure out.

I won't go into the abysmal statistics - I have done that enough in prior postings. In business a term often used is ROI - return on investment. If we used that metric with state and federal education, people would be fired. The amount we spend keeps going up, and the results keep going down. The fix according to the ruling class in Minnesota? Spend more money. Because the kids are not learning and the tests are showing it, we will scrap the tests. Come up with a easy pleasey, good time rock and roll test. "Is that what you want the answer to be? Do you feel okay with it? Okay, it could be right". Give me a break!

As of late, Education Minnesota has been running PCA ads on the radio. Topic? You guessed it, bullying. Not, what can we do to make our kids brighter, but bullying. What I would like to hear from this very "progressive" organization is this - "We are iconoclasts. We will swim against the tide. We demand tougher curriculum and much harder tests. We demand parent involvement in their kids education - just like "the old days" in the PTA. Give us that, and we will show real results." 

It will never happen. Education Minnesota has turned into nothing more than a political action committee. We continue with graduation rates in Minneapolis falling below 50% in some high schools. Kids are dropping out and getting left behind at alarming rates. Trying to fix this with more money is like trying to put out an electrical fire with water - it will do more harm than good. We are screwing our kids into the ground, and nobody in power seems to care. We are creating a permanent underclass by using kids who deserve so much more.

The next time you run into on of our pointy headed legislatures who support wasting money this way, do not give that person a pass. If you are sick of the results we have been getting, say so. It you are tired of our tax money being dumped down a rat hole, say so. Silence is not golden on this issue. Our kids, our future is way too important.