Posted on 04/22/2014 7:32:32 AM PDT by Academiadotorg
With literacy rates among high school graduates ever more of a mystery, educators are worried about…defense spending on education.
Never mind that the Department of Defense is one of the few federal agencies experiencing funding cutbacks, anti-military teachers are worried about what is left of the Pentagon’s budget. “In 2010, the most recent year for which data are available, the Department of Defense (DoD) was administering more than a dozen different programs and spending close to $50 million on K-12 outreach targeting the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering, and math,” Seth Kershner writes in Rethinking Schools, “a nonprofit publisher and advocacy organization dedicated to sustaining public education through social justice teaching and education activism.”
DF-ST-87-06962That is a big number, until you realize that total spending on K-12 education comes to about a half a trillion dollars, according to the U. S. Department of Education. Moreover, the Pentagon’s budget is about that same amount, according to the White House. Nevertheless, it should be noted that, even within the federal budget, defense spending makes up 18 percent of the total, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
“One of the DoD’s largest K-12 programs is the Army Educational Outreach Program (AEOP), which consists of at least nine distinct STEM educational programs,” Kershner reports. “During the 2011-12 academic year, the AEOP reached nearly 53,000 students.” Also a large number, until you realize that, according to the U. S. Census, 77 million children are enrolled in K-12 in the United States.
Yet, in a way, Kershner has a point: the troops sure could use that money.
Malcolm A. Kline is the Executive Director of Accuracy in Academia.
If you would like to comment on this article, e-mail mal.kline@academia.org.
(Excerpt) Read more at academia.org ...
Not clicking through to the blog, but based on the excerpt...
The Nation needs Scientists and Engineers more than it needs welfare vermin...it is a well known fact that public schools are dens of deceit, fraud and waste.
The money is considered “well spent” by the Pentagon if it produces qualified and capable scientists and engineers who serve in the Armed Forces or in some capacity for national defense.
Not so sure that I trust the pentagon to spend any money ‘better’ than any other governmental entity.
Remember that Major Nidal Hasan is an example of the schooled by the military.
I agree we need more engineers and scientists. I also know that in many cases they are being fed the same socialist crap wrapped in diff eq. That leads to people like James Hansen. We can do with a lot less of that
These are probably the same idiot teachers that were afraid of science projects recently.
Throw a bake sale. Or does Moochelle allow that anymore?
True, however my premise was only based on the excerpt...not sure what the “author’s” conclusions are.
Hassan may have been schooled by the military, but IMO, he’s a product of PC run amok within the US military.
Engaging in risky actions by allowing active moslems who show a prediliction for violence against Americans and Westerners in general to be members of the US military.
He was pretty open about his “beliefs” and those were ignored by the Army for fear of the PC backlash.
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