Do read this excellent article from the New York times which emphasizes what I've been saying for long..... The criterion for a country to succeed int his century is education, not war, nor natural resources.
Excerpt: "Add it all up and the numbers say that if you really want to know how a country is going to do in the 21st century, dont count its oil reserves or gold mines, count its highly effective teachers, involved parents and committed students."
Link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/opini ... e-oil.html
And tell me what you thin about all this.
Marseil.
While I don't disagree with anything in the original article, he says nothing about getting from point A to point B. There are certainly plenty of people in this country who believe in education, that's for sure. Yet at the same time, education seems to be in the middle, taking it from both sides.
There seem to be those in the United States who believe, apparently, that eductation is a privelege, though none would admit it, of course. Even more seem to want government (especially the federal government) to get out of eductation. Believe me, that won't leave much if that happened. But maybe we're going about it the wrong way to begin with. For example, the biggest reason to take math in school is so you can take even more math in school.
What's missing, I believe, in education (beyond the primary level) in the United States is the potential employer. Supposedly, if what I read in the papers is so, there is a shortage of skilled workers here. Where is the input from those industries the see that our education system is providing people with shop floor skills that can do the sorts of things they are looking for? Surely such jobs would be better than working at McDonald's.
I suppose the difference is in our unplanned capitalist economy. There is absolutely no form of planning that goes beyond a year in this country, or so it seems. Any form of higher management is shouted down as socialism. The country is being driven with very loose reins, in a manner of speaking. The horses are running things, not the driver. We might at least do better if we had mules, who have more horse sense than horses.
However, I also realize any form of career management, to include apprenticeships, is contrary to the American dream (and those from abroad who aspire to the American dream). But it only sounds like it.