Education in America

Something that has always bugged me about the U.S. is the relatively low standard of education across the board. Coupled with the dramatically rising cost of a secondary education tied into the recession woes, people just can't afford a college degree.

In recent years I have joked on various forums that most American students can hardly read and write their native language upon graduation, much less point out any relevant places on the map. The "no child left behind" policy has really hampered the intelligence level of kids graduating high school. The old saying "there is no such thing as a bad student; only bad teachers" is somewhat true, and in a system where education is undervalued and students graduate "simply because", is bogus.

On top of all that is the ridiculously low wages teachers have been paid. I really liked Obama's recent discussion (found here) on extra pay for top teachers. There should be some incentive for teachers who go above and beyond. Furthermore, I fully support the idea of students going to school for an additional month. The most relevant part of the clip was the quote at the end, when Obama says, "In a 21st century world where jobs can be shipped wherever there's an Internet connection, where a child born in Dallas is competing with children in Delhi ... education is no longer just a pathway to opportunity and success, it is a prerequisite."

People need to understand that the world is no longer as small as the borders of your country. With the advent of the Internet, anyone from any place on the globe can easily fill a position with a company as long as they have the relevant education. If someone in India has a better set of skills for the job than an American who lives in the town where the company is hiring, it would be in the company's best interests to hire the person with the better set of skills. And the only thing holding Americans back right now is the lackadaisical education system. There is a reason over half the population has only graduated from high-school, and half of the people who go to college end up dropping out. It isn't simply the high cost of school. It's that the course work is simply "too hard" because they were never taught the appropriate course work while they were kids.