Despite having one of the strongest economies in the world, the United States ranks behind Canada, the United Kingdom and Switzerland in regard to education, yet our politicians remain silent when it comes to talking about improving our faltering system. As is often the case, there are a number of reason education continues to get the cold shoulder.
The scope of the problem is so enormous that dealing with it is deferred to later generations. Politicians are hesitant to tackle a problem where meaningful improvement will take time, and prefer to spend their energy working on an issue where quick results occur, which they can brag about. Whenever the topic of education comes up, there is a lot of talk about the need for improvement but very little action. In many cases the real priority is graduating mores students regardless of the quality of their education, building bigger stadiums and keeping star athletes eligible. When graduates start looking for a job they find out that being functionally illiterate will usually keep you unemployed.
It is obvious that Trump's motto about making American First didn't include education. It may be that his handlers worry that any such discussion would include the need for additional funding for education, yet their position is to actually cut its funding and divert the reduction to the defense budget so the big manufacturers that produce our planes and ships could make bigger profits. Another reason education is overlooked is because undereducated citizens have to work for low wages, which is fine with big business since they love cheap labor and it is to their advantage to let the erosion of the our educational system continue, and they are good at it.
History tells us a country that fails to properly educate its students is looking for trouble.
As the quality of education goes down, crime goes up as evidenced by an increase in lawlessness in the United States. Today in many families both parents have to work, which leaves little time to monitor their children's behavior, making sure homework is completed, and their children have a good attendance record. People that are well educated usually find and hold good jobs, while many others are left out. They see the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer, and realize their chances of getting ahead are quite slim. Is it any wonder many turn to crime. If our leaders think the present crime wave will subside without dealing with improving our educational system, they are refusing to recognize reality.
Trump's election is a perfect example of how important it is for voters to be sufficiently educated so they can spot a con man when they see one, and since his election the United States is paying a heavy price for his ability to deceive so many voters with his dishonest sales pitch.
Bass Trumbo
Fayetteville
Commentary on 04/14/2017