Much of the blame for this rests with George W. Bush.
Let me explain. The urban high school where I taught had a robust trades program. And our carpentry program was probably the best in the state (no exaggeration).
Then Bush signed the ‘No Child Left Behind’ act. NCLB rewarded schools that did well on the math and English tests. Schools that did poorly were punished.
NCLB put zero emphasis on the trades. So what did principals across the country do? They dropped their trades programs and shoved everyone into advanced math and English classes.
Our trades classrooms are now empty, and have been for a decade. The kids who should have been in those classes - kids who like to work with their hands and build things - are now forced to study quadratic equations and English poetry.
Bush II wrecked a lot of things. This was just one of them. He can go to...
Sorry for the rant. But it’s a damn shame.
Our Communist governor is mandating that everyone who goes shopping in the few stores that remain open don a mask. Nobody sells masks. We bought our from one of my wife's church lady friends who can barely keep up with demand. We sent a neighbor who wanted masks like ours over to see her just yesterday.
You do realize that Bush gave total control of the “No Child Left Behind” policy to Ted Kennedy. Ted and the Board of Education were responsible for implementing his vision. Bush felt is was not right to simply automatically push minority students to the next grade before they mastered the subject matter taught in their class. It was a noble idea that was bastardized by Kennedy and the rats. Obama’s policies were even worse. They killed charter schools for minorities and pushed them all to public prison camps.