I posted this on another blog and thought I would re-post it here.
I'm an angry American. I'm can't stand the Democrats and I'm really pissed at the Republicans.
The problem in our country is political grid-lock and Football
Stadiums. Now I love football, I live for football season. Football
is the greatest sport of all time. At 6'4, 265, I've played my share
of football. But WTF are we doing building stadiums with tax payer
money when our education system in this country is at the bottom rung
of developed nations.
I attended the Minnesota High Tech Association's spring event in
Minneapolis a couple of weeks ago and heard some news about education
in our country that should bring a chill to your spine.
We suck.
Last year we graduated about 60,000 engineers and scientists (many
of them of foreign origin). China graduated 350,000 last year.
Furthermore, they're in year 3 of a plan to do 350k/year for the next
15 years. The socialists in the EU graduated 120,000. Isn't it fun to
make jokes about the education system in your state compared to
Mississippi or Louisiana? New flash, we are Mississippi. By
removing competition, we've put ourselves right in the heart of Dixie
(no offense to those who live there, just trying to make a point).
To add insult to injury, we're digging into the taxpayers pockets to
build not one, but three new stadiums (Vikings, Gophers, Twins) in
Minnesota. Look how far our priorities have fallen. Now I know
education isn't black and white; we do spend close to $7k/student on
education in our state, but are we spending it in the right areas? Why
don't we pay teachers six figures to teach our children; wouldn't that
attract the best? Just because you live in a great zip code doesn't
mean your children are getting the right education. Parental apathy is
at an all time high. You're doing nothing about your legislature
spending your tax dollars to build a new stadium while our kids fall
further and further behind. SHAME ON YOU US ALL.
The final nail in the coffin comes form our elected politicians who ADMIT
we have a problem. All we get from those guys is "We're coming up with
a comprehensive plan, blah blah blah..." If it's a problem, DO SOMETHING NEXT SCHOOL YEAR, NOT NEXT GENERATION!!!
China and India aren't waiting around for our gridlocked politicians to "come up with a plan", they're acting. Isn't it time we
actually acted?