Education in America... the greatest letdown yet.

I have the heaviest heart when I read these blogs about abortion and gay marriage, and an even heavier one when I hear politicians talk about the same issues. Why, you ask?? They shouldn't be political issues! I firmly believe personal choice is the focus here. Screw Bush's family values. Above and beyond that, the REAL issues are being pushed out of the spotlight. I think the focus should be on things such as poverty, taxes, reforming social programs, and most importantly: education. Education is the basis of our entire society. We all went to school, and it was the place where we learned the basic social and academic skills needed to blossom into our individual beings. Even those who were homeschooled learned and grew into the people they are today in school. And many of us are still in the education system. So why, I ask, is everyone sitting around bickering about sexual orientation and young mothers while the education system is slowly dumbing our entire country?? Perhaps if education was improved, and the curriculum fit our current society, and standards were raised, we wouldn't have teenage mothers! Education is the key to pulling Americans out of poverty. Our school systems bitch about lack of funding, and that may be well and true, but the point of the matter is that our teachers expect nothing of our children anymore, and the curriculum is highly outdated and scattered. There is no common standard. 


I got the worst news last week: my little sister is an honors student. This may sound strange, but my younger sister has a learning disability. She tries, dont get me wrong, but rather than putting her in special education classes, my parents kept her in regular elementary and now middle-school classes. At her elementary school, she got D's. Getting a C was like winning the lottery. But she worked hard. She kept at it. Now she's in middle school and her first report showed A's and B's. Why?? Because they expect nothing of thier students. I'm wondering how challenging the curriculum is to the students without disabilities! My mother talked to a couple of the teachers, and the assignments are nothing more than copying a sentence or two off of a overhead projector and open-book tests! How do we expect our children to learn anything if they dont have to? 


"approximately 41% of America's student population has a grade point average over 3.5"


This is a quote I got from forbes.com. To read some of the things they say about the business of college education, go here: http://www.forbes.com/careers/2006/09/13/cx_college06_collegeland.html 


If 41% of the student population has a GPA over 3.5, it's not a matter of American schoolchildren getting smarter. Last time I checked, a C was average. Parents expect more than that from their children, yes, but the teachers dont. To make it worse, GPA requirements for High School sports are usually in the 2.0 range. There is no encouragement for children to succeed and learn! If you read in the article linked above, colleges dont even bother to consider valedictorians as a prime reason to accept an applicant. The GPA system has lost all validity over the years. America needs to rethink its curriculum. 


A few other good things to point out: Colombus did NOT discover America, the pilgrims and indians did NOT sit and have a jovial dinner together when the Americans did arrive, and there have been more students bringing guns to school in the last few years than in the total of American history... what does that say about our school systems??