John Lounsbury

Rising Rates: Modern Day Version of Sisyphus

JC - - -

Excellent summary.

Lies, and damned lies; ebworthen - - -

You both are highlighting a major problem. Our educational system has become a mass production system. The philosophy has been most recently represented by rhe "No Child Left Behind" slogan. (I can't really call it a program.) My paraphrase of the "program" or slogan was "No Child Gets Ahead".

We have been beguiled into the feel good posture of believing that evry child should reach the same objective. That is a false objective. If 99% of all children can walk a mile in 30 minutes does that mean we should never ask any children to try to walk that mile in 15 minutes? We have created a nation of slow walkers.

An effort to challenge the below average to strive for average should not allow the above average to settle for average, yet that is what has happened over the last few decades. Most metrics I have seen now rank the quality and effectiveness of our educational system (K-12) way down the world list (in the 20's?).

The fact that our universities still rank very high in the world is tha result of two factors: (1) Some of the best and the brightest from abroad still come here to study; and (2) The natural intelligence of our brightest overcome the mediocre K-12 experience and manage to flourish when eventually challanged at the university level. Unfortunately, many more who could accomplish great entellectual development in our universities have been diverted from that path to mediocrity.

Until we get back to challenging the brightest children in our public schools to reach beyond the average, we will fail to be the again the promising country we once were.