Lines Blur as Texas Gives Industries a Bonanza

[mookiemookie]

Originally Posted by Takeda Shingen

It is because we, as a nation, do not value education as they do in Europe (particularly Scandinavia) and the Asian nations of Pacific Rim. Our politicians and community 'interest groups' have politicized schools, labeling them as indocrtrination centers and creating enough distrust that problems are bound to occur. And when they do, they sit back and tell you "see, I told you so!". Parents further encourage their children in the belief that they are not answerable for their effort and behavior, and when the children are problematic in the classroom, the teacher is blamed for not being an effective educator and classroom manager. All of this is reinforced by the media which works very hard to promote the idea of the shiftless, lazy teacher sitting back making $80,000 per year and being answerable to no one. And when the result of all this subterfuge and meddling is a system that fails the student, they take it as evidence that they were right after all, despite the fact that the failure was the deliberate product of their own engineering.

There also seems to be, in some segments of society, a distrust and dismissal of science and education in favor of "homespun common sense." Intellectuals are ridiculed and people like Sarah Palin are put on a pedestal. "Elitist" is used as a smear.

Well, I want the intellectually elite in charge of things. I want the smart people running the show.