The Dumbing Down of America
In terms of the percentage of young people with college degrees, the U.S. has dropped from number 1 to number 12 among 36 developed nations. We decry the dwindling of the middle class, but ignore the fact that today, education is the foundation of the middle class.
I read recently that in the U.S. a child drops out of high school every 26 seconds. Moreover, a report from the College Board indicates that today’s younger generation will not be as well educated as their parents.
Hard-won excellence is no longer a term being used by younger generations, so I guess it should be no surprise that our cultural heroes of the day are people like Lady Gaga and Snooki.
As the older generations retire and head into the sunset, we have to rely on the younger generations to take over and raise our country’s standing in the world. Of course we have some exceptionally talented young people in America, but they are far too few in number…and becoming the exception instead of the rule.
Unfortunately, we are becoming so inured by an ever-growing army of jobless workers; two exorbitantly expensive wars; a broken public education system; decadent economic inequality; big-money control of government; the deficit; etc.—that our nation is more concerned with the antics of Lindsey Lohan, Tiger Woods, et.al. than we are with the future of our country.
Our society seems to be holding intellectual capabilities in contempt, and is more interested in hip-hop and reality shows than in educating our children.
The U.S. ranks behind Canada, South Korea, Russia, Japan, New Zealand, Iceland, Norway, Israel, France, Belgium, and Australia in the percentage of 25 to 35 year-olds with a college degree. If this trend continues, America will become a lesser and lesser player in the fraternity of industrialized nations.
If the U.S. does not get our educational system fixed, and fixed soon, future generations will be living off the handouts from more advanced countries—which will be almost everyone else.
Washington—are you listening?
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