Let’s start with a subject near and dear to our hearts. That is the education of our young people. It seems that the American youth have fallen far behind the rest of the world in education. This is a sorry state of affairs from the greatest, richest most powerful country of the world. While children in Europe can speak at the very least two languages, American youth have trouble reading and writing English. Instead of setting high standards of education to insure that we produce the next generation of world leaders, we have dumbed-down our educational standards.
So just where does Mr. Obama stand on education. His website states “Barack Obama puts children first investing in early childhood education, making sure our schools are adequately funded and led by high-quality teachers, and reforming No Child Left Behind.” In the web site they write about the Zero to Five plan, starting education in infancy and moving toward a voluntary universal pre-school. They also speak of addressing the drop out crisis by obtaining more funding for the school districts to start personal academic plans and teaching teams. There is also vague talk of improving teachers through a system of education, and rewards.
Sounds great, but let’s take a reality check. On 11/18/08 Mrs. Obama enrolled the girls in a prestigious private school in the DC area. The Obama girls will not be taking advantage of the public education offered by the DC school district. That kind of school is OK for the people, but not for the Obama’s. Now we understand that security logistics might be challenging, so we may be forced to concede on this one if it were not for a statement printed in the New York Sun of Feb. 25, 2008. On the subject of school vouchers the Obama campaign released statement which stated, “Senator Obama has always been a critic of vouchers. Throughout his career, he has voted against voucher proposals and voiced concern for siphoning off resources from our public schools.”
So it would appear that Mr. Obama wants to try to put Band-Aids on a sinking ship called American education-just don’t aspire to send your kids to school with his girls, unless, of course you can afford it. Now I do not know where your little corner of the world is going with education, but down here in sunny Florida things is not looking real good. Manatee County is considering cutting ANOTHER $6.3M from the school operating budget, with more to come, and that is on top of the $21.4M that was cut even before the school year started. That looks pretty dismal for our kids. A litter further north in Pinellas county the school district is cutting $21M this year and another $40M next year. They will be closing 5 elementary schools and shifting the students to other neighborhood schools.Mr. Obama… I think you need a bigger band-aide.
Come on America, wake up-our children are our future, we need to educate them. Call Washington, write to your leaders, and let them know that this state of affairs is unacceptable. We need to take action now. We need to be aware of where the government is spending OUR MONEY. Remember, it is our money. Remember the war that started over “TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION”. It is time for us all to speak up.
Theo
By: Peter Theophilopoulos
Posts Tagged ‘Reality Check’
Reality Check – Education in the US
March 4th, 2010
An online teacher poll of the week asked the following question: Do you feel appreciated by your students? Yes 60.0% No 40.0% Out of a total of 435 votes, only 60 percent of the teachers believed they are appreciated by their students. This is really sad.
The most recent U.S. Census Bureau says that about 33 percent of women in the United States that are of the ages between aged 25 to 29 had a bachelor’s degree or more education in 2007. This was compared with 26 percent of their male counterparts.
In a report called the Educational Attainment in the United States: 2007, among adults 25 and older, the stats said that men remained slightly more likely than women to hold a bachelor’s degree at 30 percent which is compared to 28 percent. The percentage for women rose between 2006 and 2007 up from 27 percent, but for men, it remained statistically unchanged.
It would appear from research that more education continues to pay off as adults with advanced degrees typically earn four times more than those with less than a high school diploma.
The report also shows that in 2007, 86 percent of all adults who were 25 years and older said that they had completed at least high school; 29 percent had bachelor’s degree. About 52 percent of Asians, more than half, who were 25 and older had a bachelor’s degree, compared with 32 percent of non-Hispanic whites, 13 percent of Hispanics and 19 percent of blacks.
The proportion of the foreign-born population with a bachelor’s degree or more was 28 percent, compared with 29 percent of the native population. But the proportion of naturalized citizens with a college degree was about 34 percent.
Workers 18 and older with a bachelor’s degree earned an average of $56,788 in 2006, while those with a high school diploma earned $31,071.
Among those whose highest level of education was a high school diploma or equivalent, non-Hispanic white workers had the highest average earnings at $32,931, followed by Asians at $29,426 and blacks who made $26,268. Average earnings of Hispanic workers in the same group was $27,508.
Asians made $88,408 among workers with advanced degrees, while non-Hispanic whites made $83,785, which is higher average earnings than Hispanics at $70,432 and $64, 834 for blacks.
Statistics also prove that as outside groups gets involved in a child’s life, assisting with their schoolwork, or family issues, there is a much greater appreciation for school, education and teachers as well.
SOURCE: Data is from the 2007 Current Population Survey’s Annual Social and Economic Supplement.
By: Kristin DeAnn Gabriel
