Bang for Your Buck

Grab your wallet, take out your cash, and flush it down the commode. Do this every day for the next four years, maybe longer. Take your savings out of the bank and flush those funds down the commode as well. You laugh, but many of you are already doing that every day.

You’ve worked hard for this. You’ve made smart choices. You want the very best for your children. You invested in them and their education, spending long hours to make sure they completed their assignments and stayed on task at school. You stayed on top of their grades. Then the day comes.

A letter arrives in the mailbox, the acceptance letter from a prestigious university, informing you that you will now be in debt up to your eyeballs for at least the next four years.

You have done it! You have successfully navigated the waters of parenting and ensured your child will have a bright future. Your child has worked hard to attend the university of their choice, and here is the proof. Too bad, your child is as dumb as a box of rocks. I see this day in and day out. College kids who know nothing.

The acceptance letter should read, "Thank you for choosing our institution of higher learning for your child to waste the next four years.” “Mr. and Mrs. So and So, we value your money very much and hope you are prepared to spend tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of dollars for your lovely child to be educated in the art of getting drunk and blowing your money.”

You think this is because the kids drink their education away? Nope. It’s because the word education is the wrong term for the four years of babysitting you are about to pay for. It’s because the school system has sent your cherub unprepared into the world, a costly venture for you. Your child is ignorant and as dumb as a beanpole.

Yesterday morning, as I trolled the news and shared coffee with my husband, I was shown yet another series of videos featuring young college students in Q&A sessions. What I saw was funny at first. I laughed with my husband for several minutes. Then it sank in.

The questions were about everyday events, and the answers were a testament to the educational system, from grade school on up.

The simple question concerned a current situation that many, if not most, are familiar with. At least I hope so.

The interviewer asked a group of students at a couple of universities, “Do you think we should be helping the gays of Hormuz, if we are helping the Straits of Hormuz?” It’s an inane question, designed to gauge the level of knowledge a young person has attained.

I wish I could say this happened at a community college, but it didn’t. It happened at a very prestigious university. I won’t name them because they don’t deserve the publicity, even if it’s negative. I have seen this stupidity from Ivy League students as well.

The student’s answer was telling. She said that, of course, we should help them. Why would we help only the straights?

The interviewer asked why she believes that, and she went on to give a speech on the oppression of gay people in the United States. She has been well taught, just not in world affairs, geography, or politics.

Yes, I agree that the disenfranchised LGBTQ members of society have been ostracized for their sexuality. I disagree with any discrimination against any part of humanity. I also don’t understand why we make such a big deal about who individuals choose to sleep with. We don’t point out who heterosexuals sleep with on a daily basis. I wish we could just let people live their lives without worrying about who they want to be with. They should focus on themselves and their issues, because I assure you, they all have many.

Anyway, back to regular programming.

One student after another answered the simple question in a similar way. That made me angry.

We pay taxes. High taxes that fund public education. My family pays those taxes even though we chose private school for our son. We wanted a good education for our son. We also made sure he was always exposed to news, politics, society, and world affairs because we knew the educational system in our country was failing our kids and us.

Here was the proof, on camera for posterity. The evidence.

I sometimes wonder if these college kids can hear themselves speak. I wonder if they even care. Maybe they are too busy to care and learn. After all, there’s a frat party this weekend, and they need to be well-versed in whether to drink liquor before beer or beer before liquor.

Parents, congratulations. You are throwing good money after bad, bringing humiliation to our nation, witnessed by everyone on the planet with a cellphone. That’s worth $150,000, isn't it?

We waste so much time on nonsensical issues in our country, and here we are, teaching our adolescents to value shock clips on TikTok or the solicitation of body parts on OnlyFans. When did we become okay with ineptitude and mediocrity? When did attention-seeking become more important than education-seeking? Oh, I remember! When social media was created.

This is a big enough issue to discuss, but our education system and teaching are the main focus. We continue to demand nothing of teachers. We continue to give them a pass because they scream the loudest. We continue to give raises and tenure for failure. Is that how your employer handles you? If you continually fail to perform, do you get a raise or lose your job? Exactly.

There is no sector of the workforce that rewards failure. None of them continually increases pay without results. You want higher wages or a big promotion; you have to work for it and show proof of consistent results. Yet we still give teaching a pass. Why?

What makes them infallible? What makes them so special that we can’t even broach the subject of their continual failures? Why is there no litmus test for their merit? I am disgusted.

I keep seeing examples of failure. The world is watching as well. Other nations are surpassing us in just about every field. In fields like literature, science, mathematics, economics, and technology, our graduates are no longer excelling. Nations like China, South Korea, and India have surpassed us. They dominate even at the grade school level. Their students dominate these fields with doctoral degrees. Even women in STEM fields in our country are being passed over by countries like Lithuania and Iceland. In research and development, China and Germany lead the world. Where are we?

Oh, yes, that’s right. Our college kids know all the current hype about the Kardashians, Michele Morrone's whereabouts, and Taylor Swift's concert schedule. They can type a hundred words a minute on their cell phones and know all the shortcuts for spoken language. They know how to make reels of themselves, take selfies, and how little clothing it takes to get a million likes. You, parents, must be so proud. And all that for the price of a house. Congratulations.

I have no clue when we wake up. I have no clue what happens when we are no longer considered viable in the fields that matter, to the point that we are no longer seen as leaders in those fields. It seems no one cares, as long as the kids are occupied and low-maintenance.

This is a culture of parental laziness. We don’t care. We don’t want hassle or hard work. We don’t want anyone to get mad at us for demanding excellence. We don’t demand it of our kids, our educators, our corporations, our politicians, or our presidents. The evidence is all around us.

While we worry about AI moderation or which social platform has just put us in social media jail for a month, the rest of the world is churning out excellence. They value top-notch education and the diligent work of their children in attaining a high standard of intelligence. We are following the lead of a bitter social media creator, catfighting with others over any views that don’t align with ours. We should be proud.

Teachers, you are failing the kids. You are failing the taxpayers. You are failing the country. You are not educating leaders or innovators. You are babysitting and putting them in front of the television so you don’t have to work. You don’t get a pass on that. You shouldn’t.

Political leaders, you are failing us and our future. You know this system needs revamping, yet you do nothing. You listen to the lobbies, not the people. You close your eyes to our failing schools and our failing nation, and instead, you worry about your bank accounts and your power. Why don’t you wield that power for us, not against us? Why don't you stop warmongering and start worrying about our nation? The others can take care of themselves.

This is such a tragedy. We have such wealth and such freedoms, yet we use them for no good. We know we can change anything we want. We have a voice. Many other countries don’t afford their people even that freedom, and we don’t use it. We keep our heads in the sand.

There is nothing to be proud of in that. None. Shame on us.

First published on Medium

#life #education #failure #parents #STEM #neededchange