Our Lagging Education System

[ThomWV]

I just heard on Lou Dobbs that 2/3 of the advanced degrees in the sciences bestowed in this country go to foreigners. Are you suprised, do you care? I don't.

Here's why. We don't need more advanced graduates, we're getting all we need right now, in fact we can't find jobs for the ones we are graduating. It only makes sense that the children of foreign countrys are the ones graduating and it only makes sense that they are doing it in our schools. It is India and China that have economic growth and need the graduates to fuel their growth, we don't have any growth, all we need graduates for is to keep up with natural attrition. Let's face it, little Billy and Jane won't be needing knowledge of physics and chemistry to flip burgers (neo-manufacturing jobs) in a country that is being wrecked economically. Its Lai Sing and Venkat Ghate that need the educations to take back to their growing economys at home. Actually we should be thankful that they come here. It helps hold down the overhead to give at least a hint of affordability for the education of the very few kids we actually need to run through the system.

Giving our kids educations does not increase the demand for educated kids. To think that is about the same as thinking that giving a carpenter a keg of nails increases the demand for housing.

[JailForBush]

1. American students are being screwed with an intensity that few people

are aware of and almost no one will admit. I've been debating education issues here at DU for the last couple days, and it's utterly amazing how many people think our education system is actually improving, or was improving until George Bush fell out of the sky.

I beg to differ. I worked in public education from about 1984 to 2002. It was an absolute shit hole from day. During the first ten years, I didn't really notice any major changes, but my research suggests that it was quietly deteriorating. In fact, it appears that Seattle's schools had become frighteningly corrupt by 1970, taking another major fall about the time I started.

The Seattle Chamber of Commerce recruited a retired general named John Stanford to spearhead a corporate takeover of Seattle's public schools about 1995 - and that was when things got absolutely bizarre. And it wasn't just in Seattle. Many similar stunts were being played out across America.

And it's still getting worse every year. Here in Washington State, Bill Gates is campaigning for charter schools and teachers are on the verge of losing their right to strike, while the NEA politely looks the other way.

What a waste.