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What Happened to Education?

Sun, 08/10/2008 - 20:51 | Education
Why isn't education a bigger political issue in the presidential campaign?
 

Comments

Each one, teach one. If it

Submitted by Doris (not verified) on Fri, 09/12/2008 - 15:51.

Each one, teach one. If it does not make sense it can't make dollars and dollars come from sense. Education of our youth today is pimped by the educated from yesteryear. Old school now teaches our youth "I got mine. Don't worry about it baby".

There are truly no other alternatives to education. One must learn to read and be taught arithmetic, trained in science and business. We the people can restore our great nation by educating our children. Some of the world's best teachers were not ever paid a salary for what they taught, some were not college degreed and some did not have a ninth grade education but, yet and still taught their children and grandchildren the importance of a good education. We cannot teach someone to be human. The cost not to educate our youth is too high. The price placed upon a learning experience is too high. Stimulating a mind through new learning and productive educational experiences is priceless. The poorest in the world can teach the richest in the world to budget their finances. New creations and inventions have always come because of a need. We need to put America back to work and back to school and move this nation forward again. Right now we are stalling.

People don't care. I don't

Submitted by Martin (not verified) on Thu, 08/28/2008 - 21:38.

People don't care. I don't know if it's just apathy or ignorance. They either are interested in a Democrat winning or a Republican. For some they are interested in a black winning or not. But really, poor to moderate income folk, typically have poor education which is what makes up a larger part of the democratic base and somewhat sizable part of the republican base. For blacks in particular, a poor education is ruinous to their future. Given the limited good employment opportunities that they have, it means the end of the road. To make the point, I have never read of parents of poor performing school protest the quality of education their kids were receiving. Whites with poor education still have employment options, due to whites' own most viable business in communities across America. Research shows that a black person with two years college makes about what a white who does not have a high school diploma. Politicians only talk about what the people require. Blacks are afraid to talk about anything they need for fear it may hurt Obama, which is very sick. However, it will be they that will continue to be hurt because of poor education. Sad to say, but politics don't work for black folk. All they will get is symbolism. 51% of all black households make less than $31,000 a year. Colleges cost about $20,000 a year. If you can't go to college then you are done. If you can't afford to pay for college and have to borrow then you go into debt for life and are done. Tavis, what a sad, sad state of affairs.

Why isn’t education a bigger

Submitted by Marcel K. (not verified) on Wed, 08/20/2008 - 06:36.

Why isn’t education a bigger political issue in the presidential campaign you ask? Depends on what you’re talking about? If you’re talking quality of education, whites are more likely to be college ready/qualified than minorities, coupled with the fact that from 2000-2006 whites had an average 92% high school graduation rate compared to 85% for blacks and 68% for Latinos, it’s no surprise. Also if you look at the fact that close to 70% of white high school grads go to college compared to 57% for blacks and 42% for Latinos, I think the picture is getting clearer. Then if you look at the percentages of bachelor’s degrees awarded during this same time period, over 70% of those awarded are to whites compared to 9% for blacks and 8% for Latinos. If you want to look at the percentages of Masters degrees, you’re looking at the same percentages, with Latinos dropping to 6%. Currently over 30% of all whites have at least a bachelors degree compared to 17% for blacks and 11% for Latinos.

If you break down the numbers, you can see clearly why white households make a disproportionately greater amount of money and have better educations. Even those minorities that do excel and obtain higher education get paid significantly lower amount of money. In 2006, whites with a bachelors degree averaged close to $54k a year compared to $42k for blacks and $41k for Latinos.

Which brings us back to the question why isn’t education a bigger political issue in the presidential campaign? My answer is simple. To white people education is not a problem; as for all the minorities that are affected, most aren’t educated enough to try to make a difference and question why as for the rest they aren’t concerned. It is easy to complain about the ills of our community but, if instead of promoting change, we embrace ignorance which keeps us from making important issues significant in the eyes of white people.

Someone once said never give

Submitted by Ronnie H (not verified) on Mon, 08/18/2008 - 19:44.

Someone once said never give up, keep reaching for the sky. Maybe you know that person; for me it was a single parent, who worked two jobs just to see her kids not fail. It was that inspiration that forced me never to give up in anything that I do or did. That same advice was passed along to my kids (a Teacher, a Marine and 3 others still remaining to impact the world). We do not need to think that the candidates are the only hope; they can aid, but when it is all said and done, it starts at home.

It does mean challenging our kids to pick themselves up if they fall. It means having them to channel their anger to produce positive results and express those results in school. It means reading books to them, when they are young and having them read them back to you when they are old enough, so you know that they know how to read.

A teacher is but one part of the education process, the parent or parents and the student are the other key parts. We have to challenge and be challenged to help our kids to succeed no matter what.

Our young men are in jail; it is not always their fault; no child should be left behind is as much of an at-home process, before it is kiosk school process. I am quite certain that our Lord did not put us here to watch our kids fail. Learning is an important part of our success and survival not just for the parent or parents, but for the kids that will become parents one day.

Tavis, I am so glad that you

Submitted by Monica Diggs (not verified) on Fri, 08/15/2008 - 21:32.

Tavis, I am so glad that you brought this issue up. I have been wondering the same thing for months. As a middle school teacher, I am witnessing first hand the mass destruction of our education system, most of which is due to "No Child Left Behind," the biggest joke since those famous weapons of mass destruction. In fact, No Child Left Behind is a weapon of mass destruction. Since it's implementation, our students have fallen far behind students in other countries. We now rank 21st on the list when it comes to who has the smartest kids in the world. The political candidates need to really need take a look at education and come up with a reform, because if we think our economic system is bad now, wait until it is time for this generation to take over. We are going to be in trouble. Drop out rates are increasing, test scores continue to remain low, curriculums are being dummied down, and our kids are losing interest. Good teachers are leaving education, because right now there is a huge sense of hopelessness and because of the stipulations that are placed on teachers every day; many are choosing to walk away rather than watch the system fail the kids. We spend the majority of the school year attempting to teach the kids how to pass the state assessments, and then in the end, they still don't do well. Our kids are tested to the point where they don't care if they do well or not and when they don't do well then the blame falls on the teachers.

I think education scare folk.

Submitted by Cathy Wolfe (not verified) on Fri, 08/15/2008 - 11:17.

I think education scare folk. The system is so broken until no one wants to talk about what really needs to happen with the education process. Yes teacher pay must be raised and the course curriculum needs to be fixed especially in middle and high school. You see these things take money and you know there is never any money for education. Let me stop because I am getting very angry.

I have to agree with your

Submitted by Kimberly (not verified) on Mon, 08/11/2008 - 10:20.

I have to agree with your comments Ms. Lisa, and I think you should become an advocate or a teacher. Think about it!

One of the reasons I feel

Submitted by Lisa (not verified) on Mon, 08/11/2008 - 05:52.

One of the reasons I feel education is not at the top of this campaign conversations is that America is facing so many other challenges in retrospect, we don’t know where to start. So I think after many surveys on what’s important to America in this campaign, the economy has taken first position. Months ago before the high gas prices slander us, the war was front and center. So who knows where we will be before November election. I think it’s fair and equal to say economy and the reason why is simple, without money, who can pay for education. We must prioritize our issues so that what’s affecting us front and center will be addressed.

Senator Obama has spoken on numerous occasions about education and how he plans to address it. But one thing that needs to be discussed is the poor wages a teacher receives. We advocate around many things, but never have I witnessed a march, a picket line; on how poorly we treat and value our most precious forerunners. Our teachers should be the most important individuals we fight for. Look at how much value we place on teachers vs. any other profession. It’s downright insensitive, yet we allow it.

Over the years, so much monies has been given to the war without any intervention, no explanation, not even a hallow cry of “why”. When you actually think about the monies the Government receives from tax-payers, we should not have in the Great United States, hunger, homeless people, uneducated people, health-careless people, or any other plague that prohibits a person/families from achieving the American dream.

I think what has happened over the years, which has come back to haunt us is outsourcing mania/greed. No need to deepen the elaboration, but we all know what’s behind our downfall, well at least the majority knows.

But to be fair to the candidates, it's not like they have ignored the issue of education, but bigger fish have taken prevalence due to the wobbling economy. I think we need to start a campaign with the slogan “What does education really mean to America?”

And one more thing, if we want to stay focused on important issues, we most definitely have to stay focused and tune in less to the media. Media will take you for a roller coaster ride, juggling everything but accomplishing nothing. The media can be helpful in many ways but also dangerous if we over exert ourselves in their world. Like the old wise man once said “Too much of anything is not good for you”.

Truth to power…

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