The United States is in obvious decline by almost any metric. There are a number of reasons for this. I think the #1 reason is our education, The evidence of bad education is everywhere. In k-12. In higher ed. in law school. In med school. In schools of education. In business school. We are obsessed with social ills that have little or nothing to do with a particular academic or professional discipline, yet these social problems have become an important of the curriculum of each.
The one area that seemingly has resisted the onslaught of bad education is STEM. It’s a wonder to me how we can produce the expertise to create the Webb telescope, or land a booster rocket on a barge over a 100 times without fail, but we produce public officials who don’t understand simple economics and a congress who doesn’t understand our system if government.
Weve had many threads about why our educational product is so bad. There are a number of moving parts and all of it needs examination and overhaul. I do know this though. Any profession that chooses people like Randi Weingarten as the face of the profession deserves all the criticism it gets.
Mostly personal. My stoker taught Jr. High for more than twenty years, back in the day when teachers were more professional, took their subject matter seriously, dressed like a professional instead of like a student, and they still received their share of criticism. Now, she is as critical of the teaching profession (as shown on TV and social media) as anybody. For teachers to be respected as the professionals they are, they need to play the part. Most do. But enough don’t and they taint the whole shebang.
