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Global Decline in Math and Science by
Peary Perry | |
I
feel certain there are thousands of people out here in our country much smarter
than I am. In fact I'm convinced of it. You may be one of those people I'm talking
about.
If you are, could you please take a moment to explain to me how
it takes our government so long to figure out what most of us know already? Now,
all things considered I would classify myself as more Republican rather than Democrat,
simply because I've always worked for myself and owned my own businesses. But
as far as I can see, neither political party seems to care much for those of us
down in the trenches working to keep people working.
Take
last weeks state of the union message given by President Bush. Did it really take
this long for someone to decide that the US is 'hooked' on oil? I seem to remember
long lines and high prices back in the 70's during the OPEC boycott or whatever
they called it. I don't recall what percentage of foreign oil we were buying at
that time, but I'm certain we are purchasing much more of it today than we were
thirty some odd years ago.
We have an economy that is held hostage to
a handful of nations in the world who, at any time can turn off the spigot, and
we crash and burn in a matter of days. Here we are, the virtual inventors of the
modern day automobile and our gas guzzling vehicles get less mileage per gallon
on the average than did Henry Ford's Model 'T'.
Some progress…I may not
be a Rhodes scholar, but it would seem to me that a prudent thing for us to have
done is to try and increase the fuel efficiency of all of our vehicles decade
by decade, if year-by-year isn't possible. With the financial conditions of both
Ford and GM on our minds, we must look as to the reasons why we have abandoned
our global competitive opportunities over the past several years. It seems as
though both political parties have been operating with blinders on their collective
heads.
The
second item I was disturbed about was the revelation that we need 100,000 teachers
in our schools to prop up our sagging global decline in math and science.
Hello?
Is it just me or is the government just now beginning to realize that the decades
old philosophy of teaching our children that it's ok to believe that 2 plus 2
equals 5, if it makes you feel good won't get anything sold in China or India?
I realize it hasn't been politically correct these past few years to injury someone's
self esteem by allowing our students to graduate from high school and even some
colleges thinking Kat is the proper spelling for a four legged feline. We must
not insist on forcing our children to learn to compete as it might traumatize
them and make them think badly about themselves.
Well, let me tell you
something, Bunkie, you might not want to hear this, but in spite of what your
teachers tell you, the real world is going to knock you on your rear when you
show up for some high paying job and you can't spell or add correctly. Regardless
of your injured self esteem, which the rest of the world could care less about,
you might want to practice saying phrases such as "Do you want fries with that?"
since that's about all that is going to be available to you. But hey, you'll still
have your self-esteem and you showed those nasty old teachers who tried to get
you to study and learn something.
We interview a lot of people in our
company and I must say I am ashamed at the information that comes across my desk
each day from someone looking for a job. First off they can't read since a lot
of them fail to read the instructions on the application. Secondly, they can't
write, since their resumes and applications have many spelling errors. In today's
computer world, aren't the centers of education even trying to show our children
how to use something as simple as 'spell check'?
While I applaud our government
for announcing steps in the right direction, how can we teach math and science
to kids who are about to graduate? Shouldn't we start trying to interest them
a little bit earlier, like in first grade?
It's a sad day when you realize
that unless we change direction and get some push into regaining the competitive
edge we enjoyed for years, we may become only a service economy and subject to
the whims and desires of other nations and individuals who are in control.
We need to regain the position of ordering from the drivers seat, not the other
way around. Otherwise, we will all find ourselves in the position of asking the
next question…"Will that be a small, medium or large, sir?"
©
Peary Perry
Letters From North
America
- February 8, 2006 column
Syndicated weekly in 80 newspapers
Comments go
to pperry@austin.rr.com | | |
