American Education's Failures Will Define Our Future

In the world, we currently rank 35th in Math, and 29th in Science. This in itself is a tragedy, not only for the generation young people we are unleashing into the American electorate, but for the Nation as a whole. I will come to how I think this has happened in a moment, but I would first like to address the subject near and dear to my heart, Social Studies.

I am Certified Social Studies Teacher in the State of New Jersey. I hail from a long line of past, present, and future, public school elementary, and secondary school teachers, and administrators. The recent study known as the Nation's Report card, an assessment of students knowledge of the historical development of democracy, culture, technology, and America's role in world affairs. In this study less than a quarter are scoring at or above the proficient level, according to a report released on Tuesday. The results of the 2010 National Assessment of Educational Progress showed just 20 percent of fourth graders, 17 percent of eighth graders, and 12 percent of twelfth graders were performing at or above the proficient level.

As products of the Oklahoma State Public School system, I am sorry to say that my own daughters have trouble with basic historical facts, current events, or the basic workings of our government. This makes me absolutely mental, and to make matters worse they resist any efforts to change this. The life altering skill of rapid texting, coupled with the useless distraction of social media have replaced our children's interest in any subject, let alone History. Telling eight friends what you had for lunch has become more important than finding the United States on a map. Furthermore take this to the bank, of the 12% of High School Seniors listed above, only 9% could identify a picture of Abraham Lincoln.

We are raising a generation of morons, that increasingly struggle to adapt to college life. They are disengaged from the political process, don't have the faintest clue whats on the news, in a paper or magazine. They watch bulldogs on skateboards on YouTube and think it's cute, but have no idea we are involved in 3 conflicts overseas, and don't care. Politicians love ignorant constituencies because they can feed people lies, and the people don't know the difference. Does this outline what you would consider a danger for our Country? I hope so.

Finally, why is this happening? Despite all the rhetoric by both parties about the importance of education, when the slightest monetary struggle comes down the pipe, the first place to get funding cuts is education. No one teaches to get rich. People teach because they love what they do, and hope that what they teach helps their students to grow and develop into something better than they started with. We reward this with poor pay, by attacking their unions, by not giving them the resources they need to do their jobs. Ask any teacher worth their salt, and they will tell you they spend a lot of their own money trying to make their classrooms better. Medicare and Social Security are entitlements given to those who have helped shape our past. Shouldn't Education be the entitlement we give our children to shape the future? I think so.