Posted on 04/30/2003 6:37:27 AM PDT by yankeedame
Survey Says
A National Geographic study released [in November] found that only about one in seven Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 could find Iraq [on a map]. Although 58% knew that the Taliban and al Qaeda were based in Afghanistan, only 17% could find that country.
The survey asked 56 geographic and current events questions of young people in nine countries.
Americans got an average of 23 correct answers. Mexico ranked last with an average score of 21. Topping the scoring was Sweden, with an average of 40, followed by Germany and Italy, each with 38.
Other findings: When asked to find 10 specific states on a map of the U.S., only California and Texas could be located by a large majority. Only 51% could find New York.
On a world map, Americans could find on average only 7 of 16 countries in the quiz. Only 89% of the Americans surveyed could find their own country.
Only 71% of the surveyed Americans could locate the Pacific Ocean.
--Paul Recer, Associated Press
(And, while we're on the subject this from USA Today/Forbes)
"No idea in politics has hurt children more than the false and misleading idea that the quality of education is determined by how much we spend.
"More than 35 years after Congress passed the first Elementary and Secondary Education Act, public school spending per pupil has more than doubled--even when adjusted for inflation--from $3,331 in 1965-1966 to $8,194 in 2000-2001.
" In fact, the federal government has spent more than $321 billion on education programs since 1965. Every year, spending on K-12 education by all levels of government exceeds $400 billion.
"Yet, citizens must ask, what have we gotten for all this? Fewer than a third of fourth-graders can read proficiently.
"No, the problem isn't--and never has been--money alone. This is just the most tired of all excuses. If there is no account-ability, or schools use unproven fads for instruction, it doesn't matter how much money is thrown at a problem; it will be wasted."
--Rod Paige, Secretary of Education
They all pay over 70 thousand per year for teachers, and all have budgets which allow more than 16,000 per student per year.
The NEA rules up here, especially since the junior Senator from NY moved into the neighborhood. Unfortunately they don't make a habit of posting their budget's online so I can't link to them, but if you read between the lines in the local paper, they occasionally run stores about how the brave superintendant of schools is managing to face another year with only an 11% tax increase for the voters...etc.
In Putnam Valley, even the groundskeeper for the high school makes nearly 80,000 per year.
I find that actually very interesting ---it would be interesting to study this because it seems there are different kinds of knowledge and different ways of looking at the world. Many of those Mexicans have never stepped foot in a school and if they have it was to the 3rd grade of a terrible school system but they easily can find their way to Chicago even if they can't pick it out on a map. I think map-reading is an important skill but there seems to be ways around it.
No it is not really funny . . . . it hurts!
Every noise emitted by every creature on Earth is a mapping effort. Here I am. Where are you? Friend or Foe? Smoker or non smoker? Heaven's Gate Nikeacide or Jimmy J's Kool-Aid Jungle Love? Male, female or British journalist?
Any adult native-born American who can't locate the Pacific Ocean on a map should be given a first hand introduction to it's offshore nature from a 5000 foot drop. People who don't care about where they are in a location context don't care about their lives.
It really doesn't amaze me as much as it annoys me. These people are parasites, they're not going to pitch in. "Why do I care where Canada ... or the public toilet ... is. I'm here and I'm gonna stay here. Don't you look at my leg or the puddle."
No living creature on this Earth is sensory dead to its surroundings and status. Amoebas and paramecium feel warmth and tactile movement. Plants open for sun and bloom for pollination. Every creature, no matter how simple, brainless and insentinent has some situational sense. All life, that is, excepting American Public High School Graduates.
Boy, I'd like to ... Why I oughtta ... When I get a chance ... What is your name ... Who is your daddy ... is he "making a living" like me?
Keeping one ear on the MN Legislature the last few days has really offended me. These DFL tapeworms want to violate me in horrible and hellish ways. No dinner, candles, flowers or Spice Channel warmups, either.
Yeah I find that figure seems to be a little on the low side, after all we are talking 38 years. But then again I don't really keep up with that.
Sure I'll give you a tip. Learn how to run a cash register.
You think this is funny?
Only 71% of the surveyed Americans could locate the Pacific Ocean.
This kind of ignorance is no joke. It's your future.
Kids on respirators should NOT be in public school. Kids who can't speak English well enough to learn with his/her age peers should NOT be in that public school peer classroom. Kids who are criminals and emotionally disturbed need to be yanked.
Enough of the "Elanor Clift has two Female Escorts" and "Scott Ritter Has Burger King Coupons" socializing and indoctrinating. Math. Science. Reading. Writing. History. Geography. Social Science. Foreign Language. No Earth Day bullshit, no field trips to a Andrea Dworkin mass diharrea bombing, no trips to Mall of America or to ValleyFair or to the MADD seminar.
We're getting lousy service for our big bucks.
I, for one, think it's pretty much a hopeless case, and that the only hope for our kids is to get as many as possible into private or home schools ASAP.
The "education" system starts at birth. It is the first and foremost duty of any parent(s) to commit themselves to their child's education. That means reading to them, that means talking to them, that means giving them challenges and preparing their child so that they can exploit and maximize their learning opportunities.
That's where its rotting. We have a lot of parents who are unfit for duty. They're ABUSING their children by neglecting their growth and development. Their are 5 year olds who show up in Kindergarden who have no idea how a book should be opened. They've never done it before.
That's child abuse IMO. We don't HAVE to accept that, this kid is more important than her selfish mom or dad. This child should have been removed from that home earlier, any of our children who are being neglected and denied THEIR community granted right to a full and fruitful education need to be rescued.
If parents aren't reading to their children and managing their intellectual growth, that's just as bad as not feeding them IMO. That takes no money, no privilege ... only time and care. If the parent is unwilling to make that commitment, I don't want that child in that home.
There are too many young children living in homes that are diseased and doomed. Enough is enough, forget the PC "cultural" considerations ... we don't provide welfare to single parents if they don't prepare their children like a loving, responsible human. That child deserves better.
The school problem is that the kids come in woefully inadequate to keep up with their peer groups. The Educurats choose to keep the kid with his friends to guard his esteem, and he'll get extra work and the class will be slowed down just a bit, and he's helpless but nobody wants to take him away from a setting that is dysfunctional for the slower kid, his teacher AND the 35 other kids who need to be engaged and challenged.
So these kids turn 10, then 14, then 18 and they are always innundated by the self-awareness that they are a fraud and uneducated. Everybody just pretends that the fulfillment he gets from being with his peers will somehow transform him into an educated young man. He still can't read. If you can't read, you can't learn math, science or anything else. Everybody else is 18 months behind becuase they've been carrying this poor underserved kid along for 12 years.
This is reality in 2003 public education. It stinks.
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