You hear it all the time - our schools just need more money and they could do a better job. And then they say the reason that kids are dumb is because the parents aren't involved enough. It's like taking your car to a car wash, and when you complain that it's still dirty they say "hey - you are the one that made it dirty!". Union logic. Anyhoo - forget the rhetoric and let's talk about results. We spend more money per student than just about any place in the world. Our teachers tell us that they are worked to the bone providing the best education for the little darlings.
The results are indeed satisfying. (Insert the word "Not" here.)
A study conducted by none other than Common Core shows just how far we’ve fallen at America’s pedagogic institutions:
- 40% of students could not identify the name of the ocean on the eastern side of the United States.
- Nearly 60% of students could not identify the two major political parties.
- When asked who is in charge of the Executive Branch of the United States, 70% of high school students got the wrong answer.
- Only 60% of students knew that WWI was fought between 1900 and 1950 — they only had to guess the half century!
- One in four high schoolers think Columbus discovered the New World after 1750.
- On the multiple choice test, less than half of high schoolers knew when the Civil War was fought. They didn’t even need to know exact dates, just that it was sometime between 1850 and 1900.
- Fully 75% of high school students failed to identify the First President of the United States.
Enough complaining. I'm doing something about it. I'm learning to speak Chinese. Trust, me it is going to come in very, very handy!
Nín xiǎng liǎojiě gèng duō de ròuzhī zài nǐ de shǔ tiáo xiānshēng?
(Would you like more gravy on your fries sir?)
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