Education, anyone?

With the U.S. election looming ever closer, I’d like any candidate to please consider laying out a plan on how to implement education reform.  Because, the last time I checked, our country is full of a bunch of dumbed-down minimalists who only want to score high on a test – and that high score is giving our kids a chance to squander student loans, grants, itty bitty scholarships, and his or her parents life savings into a free-for-all party at the dorm.  We have basic math being taught at at UNIVERSITY level?  WTF?

This is an alarming symptom of what our children are walking in – and it’s a pile of muck and shit that has increasingly grown from the ankles and up to our necks.  We are wallowing in the realization that one generation is going to  be less educated than it’s parent generation.  While we still have some well-established programs at our universities, more and more we see young adults from foreign lands enjoy higher education and less and less of our own American students making par with the pre-requisites for such programs.  As it stands, we are not investing wisely in our education of our future leaders, and it’s starting to look pretty grim at the moment.

So, for now, I’m hearing some talk of putting more money into an outdated and failed system, or it’s vouchers here and competition there, or it’s the rise of homeschooling by not only religious families but secular families as well.  My pointed question is, what are we doing NOW that will help to ensure that this generation of kids is not being fucked over any longer.  Because, essentially, that’s what we continue to do – we are not giving our kids the opportunity to receive a competitive education. 

Let’s look into how children can actually learn academics rather than learning how to be sheep and mindless worker bees.  For now, I will give this thought a rest, but I certainly wish that the candidates would lay out a serious plan – no matter what the state of the economy.  Lead the country out of this fiscal crisis, yes Mr. President-to-be, but please lead the country out of this education crisis as well.

Thank you.