Where, when, how and why did this~~bucolic America of our youth vanish~~

Consider, my dears, the decline of public schools in America~~all over America~~ schools which are~~or, at least~~were~~the only true escape hatch from poverty.

I am amazed parents don’t revolt~~literally~~over that decline ~as these parents  pay the taxes for the schools and get~~a terrible product in return.

I both counsel kids and write papers for kids of family and friends to help get those kids into colleges.

Many of these kids appear, on general blush, intelligent enough as far as that goes today~~and~~shockingly~~to me~~they have generally high marks~~yet they have been past through to senior year in American high schools in very tony neighborhoods with those good grades and without a basic idea how to put a thought on paper.

That horrific state of affairs is the fault of the schools not the kids or the parents.

If I were one of these kids~~or, more so~~his over-taxed parents~~I would riot over that~~

Today we thank Mr. John Morgan and The Council on Foreign Relations for a tangible peek at what the decline in public education will mean to the collective America~~~never mind for now what that decline has already meant~~and certainly later will mean~~for individual Americans~~

We commence to quote Mr. Morgan and The Council until noted by us ceased quoting~~

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Report: Unequal Education Spending Threatens US Global Competitiveness

Friday, 21 Jun 2013 07:53 AM

By John Morgan

The U.S. education system is slipping behind other nations, and the widening achievement gap between rich and poor students is threatening the country’s global competitiveness, according to a new report from the Council on Foreign Relations.

The report, titled “Renewing America Progress Report and Scorecard,” lays blame at the fact school spending is distributed unequally in the United States.

While the U.S. funds its schools from property taxes on the local community — which often means more money goes to schools in high-income areas where homes are worth the most — most other developed nations divide school funding centrally by enrollment, i.e. the money is allocated evenly on a per-head basis.

“The real scourge of the U.S. education system — and its greatest competitive weakness — is the deep and growing achievement gap between socioeconomic groups that begins early and lasts through a student’s academic career,” said Rebecca Strauss, one of the report’s authors.

According to the Council on Foreign Relations, the United States has slipped 10 spots in both high-school and college education rates during the past three decades compared with other nations.

That slippage has come despite the fact that the United States is fourth in the world on per-student primary and secondary education spending, and spends far more than any nation on college education.

The Fiscal Times reported the United States is the only developed country in which the generation entering today’s labor market is less educated than the one leaving it.

“Smarter workers are more productive and innovative,” Strauss wrote. “It is an economist’s rule that an increase of one year in a country’s average schooling level corresponds to an increase of 3 to 4 percent in long-term economic growth. Most of the value added in the modern global economy is now knowledge based.”

Kevin Welner, director of the National Education Policy Center at the University of Colorado Boulder, told the Times he agrees with the report’s conclusion that the United States should spend more on community colleges, which serve a higher proportion of lower-income students, and on early childhood education.

About 75 percent of U.S. 4 year olds currently attend pre-K programs, with half of them in free or subsidized programs.

“Students learn when they have opportunities to learn,” Welner said. “When we cut back on those opportunities or we inequitably distribute them, achievement shortfalls and achievement gaps are the logical outcome.”

According to the report, low-income students are more concentrated at colleges and universities where per-pupil spending and graduation levels lag behind other schools.

In 2011, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, those in the 30-34 age bracket who had only a high school diploma earned $638 per week, and their peers with bachelor’s degrees earned $1,053.

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We now cease to quote Mr. Morgan and The Council and thank them both for a job well done~~

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My dears~~Consider~~How high the price of a bad education~~Ask~~If the Americans seem inclined to riot over something~ let’s encourage them to riot over the destruction of the American free public education system~

Demand answers~~demand an accounting!!

These kids seem vibrant enough~~but~~What are they learning??~~~

Literally every other American societal problem can be turned around~~if the Americans were to smarten up~~but~~break the link of a good public education for most Americans for two generations and there is no way out for a permanent poor class~~a really nasty business that~~

• 

  John Begg It is remarkable to us that parents don’t riot over this–they go crazy about their streets not being plowed in snow storms and go on the tele~vision and scream about their rights as taxpayers to have snow plowed immediately–but they witness the slow death of their children’s schools and appear not concerned.~~

Demand answers~~demand an accounting!!

~~Κύριε ἐλέησον~~

Rejoice and Glad!!

Amen~~

EX LIBRIS

John Daniel Begg

At

Washington, District of Columbia

United States

Sunday, 23rd Juin, Anno Domini Nostri Iesu Christi, 2013

What is she learning??~~~