In this installment on the STOTU we turn to education issues. [Click this link for the Prepared Remarks.]
" Maintaining our leadership in research and technology is crucial to America’s success. But if we want to win the future – if we want innovation to produce jobs in America and not overseas – then we also have to win the race to educate our kids."
Race? Who are we competing against in a speed contest to educate our kids? Are the Chinese, Russians and Arabs racing to educate our kids? Has technological innovation created jobs or eliminated them? Where are cell phones manufactured? Is the rest of the world educating their children in ten years instead of twelve?
" Think about it. Over the next ten years, nearly half of all new jobs will require education that goes beyond a high school degree. And yet, as many as a quarter of our students aren’t even finishing high school. The quality of our math and science education lags behind many other nations. America has fallen to 9th in the proportion of young people with a college degree. And so the question is whether all of us – as citizens, and as parents – are willing to do what’s necessary to give every child a chance to succeed."
Where did that statistic about the educational requirement of new jobs come from? Is there any truth in it? How does President Obama know what the new jobs are going to be or what level of education they will require?
About those drop outs: are they among the best & brightest or are they from the ranks of the less endowed intellectually? Why did they drop out? Frustration with inability to learn, boredom, harassment, and bullying & violence in the schools are a few of the possible causes. Or are the drop outs lured away by such attractions as music, drugs, street gangs, hustling and just 'hanging out' with their buddies?
How do you propose to solve that problem? Will you retain the disinterested with a full curriculum of movies, cartoons, concerts and video games and present them with a meaningless, worthless diploma they won't be able to read? Or will you pay them a salary while they stay in school?
" That responsibility begins not in our classrooms, but in our homes and communities. It’s family that first instills the love of learning in a child. Only parents can make sure the TV is turned off and homework gets done. We need to teach our kids that it’s not just the winner of the Super Bowl who deserves to be celebrated, but the winner of the science fair; that success is not a function of fame or PR, but of hard work and discipline."
The best masters of propaganda mix a little truth in with the manure. Obama fits that pattern. Nurturing curiosity and directing it into deep rather than shallow, short term channels begins at home. What does he expect from illiterate welfare queens raising large mixed parentage families in the squalor of our inner cities? They will yield a few gems and a great deal of gravel.
" If we take these steps – if we raise expectations for every child, and give them the best possible chance at an education, from the day they’re born until the last job they take – we will reach the goal I set two years ago: by the end of the decade, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world."
When Sputnik went up, the school board raised the standards but we did not learn more, we just got lower grades. If you want more college graduates, you should look for ways to make post secondary education affordable. $2500. per year in tax credits does not scratch the surface, it is an idiotic symbolic gesture.
How much do our universities spend on HVAC & illumination? What impact will government policies that skyrocket utility costs have on those expenditures? Cap & trade won't make higher education more affordable. Using corn to make motor fuel will increase the cost of meals in the cafeteria.
" One last point about education. Today, there are hundreds of thousands of students excelling in our schools who are not American citizens. Some are the children of undocumented workers, who had nothing to do with the actions of their parents. They grew up as Americans and pledge allegiance to our flag, and yet live every day with the threat of deportation. Others come here from abroad to study in our colleges and universities. But as soon as they obtain advanced degrees, we send them back home to compete against us. It makes no sense."
Case in point: Barack Obama Sr. came to America to study and returned to Kenya. Barack Jr.'s mother went to Indonesia to work. Had Obama stayed here, he would have been part of the 'brain drain'. Had he stayed in Kenya, we would probably be far better off today.
Several of the 'Magnificent Nineteen' obtained training in America as part of their mission of murder. Perhaps that should give Obama pause for reflection. We are training enemies, not just competitors.
Consider the impact of those illegal immigrants on our schools. How much money would we save if they were not here? Why are they here? Why have we left our southern border wide open for so long?
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