How in the hell do eleven (11) Million people in the US attain adulthood with the inability to read? I've heard lots of discussion about the failure of schools and teachers and parents and...who or what the hell ever, but that statistic actually surprises me. That number means that all of those 11 million people were allowed to move through however many grades and not one teacher noticed, or gave a fat rats ass whether they learned to read or no. The school or schools that they attended took tax money and absolutely, positively and catastrophically failed them. The rest of us, the tax payers, allowed that to happen. We obviously do not demand that schools actually educate their charges. We don't demand that our money be spent wisely and judiciosly.
What do we do about that problem? How do we go about making sure that we get our money's worth from the system? Who is it that must be held accountable for such things as sending finished product into the world with an obvious defect?
It occurs to me that a taxpayers union might be one idea. Have people actually watching schools and holding them accountable to obvious, basic metrics. Such as, the ability to read, write a sentence, and how to do basic math. Seems simple enough on it's face, but obviously it is much more difficult. Because 11 million adults can't accomplish those tasks.
Perhaps if we spent more time working on that issue, rather than whether someone is saying Merry Christmas we might get a better outcome. Or, maybe if we took the money that is being poked down the warhole that is Iraq and put it to use paying teachers what the job is worth. Perhaps hire enough of them to accomplish the task and provide the materials necessary. We might come up with a system that can teach everyone who enters their doors to read. Seems like a worthwhile project to me.
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