Greenspan's big worry - "We aren't educating our kids"

[Erika]

so they will be competitive in the world markets. If they can't be competive, neither can the U.S. C-Span Congressional hearings.

[stevebreeze]

1. hell soon the only options will be rich banker or fry cook

oh I guess the rich will need a few domestic help too. How much education do you need to be a chambermaid?

[iconoclastic cat]

6. Or a handmaid...

[Burma Jones]

2. Teaching Science Makes Baby Jesus Cry,,,,,,,,,,,,

How the hell are we going to be technological leaders if we're being ruled by religious nuts?

[fujiyama]

15. Basic concepts like evolution

are STILL being challenged in many states.

That along with the administration's opposition to stem cell research has really made this country look stupid.

At the same time, India and China are starting to see benefits of putting great emphasis on math and science.

[yorkiemommie1]

3. ' is our children learning ?'

what w/ the attacks on science, on class size, on 'liberalism' in colleges and universities, what with attacks on public television and radio , what does he expect? he needs look no farther than the agenda of his cronies in the GOP for the answer.

[ClarkUSA]

4. Where was he when his buddy Bush was passing the unfunded NCLB?

Oh right, he was saying that the Clinton surpluses were BAD for the economy.

:nuke:

[NMDemDist2]

5. Ok this is a pet peeve of mine. I hire part time employees to run a

basic cash register selling sodas and snacks. They are mostly 17-19 year olds, seniors in High School or new "graduates"

I have had to train EVERY ONE of the last 5 how to count back change for a freaking dollar! and what gets me is it a completely foreign concept to them. No quick down and dirty 30 minute training, it's a long process.

My newest gal, the register tells her the change is $0.40, she gives them FOUR DIMES!!!

:argh:

[stevebreeze]

23. you are not the only one with this peeve....

it's just not something that is taught.

[getmeouttahere]

7. You couldn't make this sh** up!

Not a day goes by where I don't write/utter these words!

This deserves a collective DUH! from everyone of us on DU!

[Erika]

8. A Dem Congresswoman brought up unfunded NCLB Act

and many other areas. She says the NCLB is underfunded by 9 billion, our classrooms are over crowded and Bush has cut Head Start funds. She also brought up that college tuitions have skyrocketed since Bush took office making it impossible for many Americans being able to afford a higher education.

[FloridaPat]

9. Just heard that the NEA is suing the Feds for the mess in Florida.

Schools are loosing their federal no-child-left-behind funds and are being fined. The state is looking into changing the requirements so more schools can pass the federal tests. I've heard a lot of complaints that all they're teaching now is how to pass the tests. I guess * is uniting the country into the stupid category. Problem is, this will be an entire generation of people who are not educated.

[kcass1954]

11. At open house night last fall,

my son's 3rd grade teacher told us that she would be teaching a "straight FCAT cirriculum". He's not learning the things that he needs to know to have a well-rounded education and become a productive member of society. My biggest fear is that when he gets out of school, all he'll be qualified to do is take tests.

on edit - I'm in Florida, and my kids go to probably the best schools in Broward County.

[Blue Belle]

14. Taking tests are all they are teaching kids to do now...

The sad part is Paris Hilton has more critical thinking skills than most kids who graduate high school anymore.

[BeFree]

12. Edumacation, as bxxh calls it.

Well, we may not be educating our kids very well, but the kids in Iraq and neighboring countries are sure getting an edumacation, eh?

[kodi]

10. the nation with the best scientists wins

and we are losing ground so fast it is astonishing.

[Erika]

19. Yes, many of our best are moving to foreign countries

where they actually fund stem cell research (all kinds) and the scientists have the freedom and respect to do so. Very sad.

[Spectral]

13. Actually, a LACK of education will make us competitive since it will drive

down the salary rates and make it profitable for big corporations to relocate in the US---especially in red states where no one will learn any science.

That is why the US is being deliberately dumbed down--to make cheap labor pools for global corporations. And Greenspan is a part of this global thinking.

[Erika]

20. GOP red staters will thank the Godly Bush for providing

these jobs to them. Heck, they don't need no education, just jobs.

[Spectral]

21. But it will apply to all of us. Our standard of living is already falling

It will continue to fall.

[Erika]

22. Yes. We can't compete internationally without educated kids

So, maybe Bush is willing to make us a third world country with a cheap labor pool. He certainly isn't doing anything to turn back illegal immigrants that strain our resources and who are willing to work cheap.

[TheFarseer]

16. All this testing is bad for learning

I saw a segment on a news show that said a third grade class took 90 tests in one year. Can we take a break from the testing to TEACH the kids something? To me, it is far better to teach a kid new information and apply it in a way they will remember rather than make them memorize something for a test they will forget in a week. I think calculators and spell check are making us dumber also. I admit it, I have to think too hard to add 2-digit numbers together. On the news show, they said the teacher announced they were going to have yet another test and some of the kids started crying. It's just too much. and it's a waste of valuable class time. Then they probably want to take away another period for bible study. But then again, it's probably Britney Spears' belly button making kids stupid not a dreadful approach to education.

[Spectral]

18. I remember that too much testing causes a decline in motivation

There was some study in Britain about this. I think it was in the Guardian but I can't remember.

[jmcon007]

17. we're too damn busy educating the electorate

[DuaneBidoux]

24. Indian engineers and scientists will always work for less...

I don't understand how this solves the fundamental problem of slave wages from educated people in third world countries.

I'm sick of Greenspan blaming educators for this. Someone asks the guy about the gap between the richest and poorest and his fucking excuse is education? So thirty years ago when an average CEO only made 30 times more than an average worker he was 30 times as educated but now he's 470 times more educated?

This is total bullshit! Major tax policy changes have fucked over the working man good, and there has not been any mechanism for getting the wages back down from the stockholders who benefit when all this work gets outsourced.

[autorank]

25. Adults need better education: Spot "political hacks" like Greenspan

...and his crew. If anybody really knew how this country worked, they'd demand chagnes in the Fed and certainly demand that this most incompetent of men was dismissed.

[Nikki Stone 1]

26. Hey, Alan, YOU need a better MATH education!

Can you say, "Unsustainable deficit"?