While enjoying an ice cream cone …
It has been rather cold in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul in Minnesota during the past week or so. Rumors have it that summer might already be over before it started. A few evenings ago my wife and I (with our min pin) had the urge to enjoy a Dairy Queen soft cone dipped in chocolate. We live in the city of Apple Valley. We have two relatively close choices, one in Eagan and the other in Rosemount, MN. We decided to go to the one in Rosemount.
Apparently we were not the only ones with the same cravings. The line at the drive through averaged five cars. We ordered, paid and received our cones. We then drove to the end of the lot and parked facing east. ‘Jaws’ (the min pin) got some Trader Joe’s treats. He prefers them to traditional brands (e.g., Milk Bone).
Across the street from the Dairy Queen’s lot is one of the lots for school busses for Independent School District 196. I asked my wife if she had an idea of how much a school bus driver makes. I also estimated the number of the yellow busses parked in the lot (at least a hundred), the amount of fuel spent every day taking and bringing back kids to school. The facility also has administrative offices and a repair garage. We estimated that this particular facility costs taxpayers millions of dollars a year. The big question is, what are we as Naïve American tax payers getting back in return?
Very few countries in the world spend tax money transporting kids to and from school. In most countries it is up to parents to take care of the educational needs of their kids. For some reason in the USA we have this unique believe that we deserve and can afford such luxury. Is providing transportation in any way shape or form affects the performance and achievements of students? Everyone knows this is not the case. Our K-12 education system ranks 14th worldwide. Whatever we are doing is just not working.
Before starting this blog entry, I tried getting the ranking of the school systems in the USA compared to other countries. Not a simple task. Apparently Naïve Americans do not want to see the issue. I call it the ‘Ostrich Syndrome’ because when the animal is threatened it tends to stick its head in a hole in order not to see the eminent danger while leaving exposed the rest of its huge body.
I did find a web site (http://www.realonlinedegrees.com/education-rankings-by-country/) that had some numbers of Math and Science that are the most reliable and probably best indicators for education. One should note that the data is collected every four years and reflects eight graders. When the eight graders get to twelve grade their scores plummet even further. This is how the USA ranks 14th not 10th.
Yesterday evening while watching the local news a commercial for the Teachers Union came up. For some reason the union does not want some changes that may jeopardize the interests and cushy well being of their 70,000 members. Yes, they threaten career politicians. The union better get what they want or will vote for someone other career politician that will bow to their demands. It is interesting to watch this set of events unfold in front of Naïve Americans who are not able to pause for a second and reflect how corrupt our society is. The USA is just in a downwards spiral is so many fronts and very few people are able to realize the threat and think about how to correct the situation.
