I believe that the greatest resource our country has is its people. The ingenuity, innovation, and positive, "can do" spirit of the American people is unrivaled by any other country. Yet in the last 20 to 30 years, the people of the USA have been undersold to ourselves and to the rest of the world by those who are supposed to be representing us and leading us . We have been told that we are falling behind in education, particularly in the areas of math and science; we have been told that we are incapable of making good products; we have been told a host of other negative messages designed to make us feel like losers.
Most of our leaders in government and business have said that students in other countries, especially those in China and India, are doing better than their American counterparts, and are years ahead of us in math and science. This is supposedly the primary reason behind the movement to reform US education. In the meantime, the majority of advancements in science, medicine, and technology, from the transistor to the microwave to fiber optics to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to the internet to space travel have originated in the United States. And in the meantime, there is an ever-increasing influx of foreign students that come to study in US graduate schools, primarily in the areas of math and science. If US schools are so far behind, why are most new ideas coming from the US, and why do students from so-called "superior" countries want to study here?
What's wrong with this picture? Are Americans being sold a bill of goods and undersold to themselves and the rest of the world as an excuse for taking American ideas and manufacturing them more cheaply overseas? As we honor and remember those who have put their lives on the line to protect and serve all that makes this country great, what do you think?*******************
This week's recommended product:
Sources:
http://www.literacynet.org/icans/chapter02/tests.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/05/business/05scene.html
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