obviously i'll have something to say about this...

chicken little: "the sky is falling! the sky is falling!"

to say our public schools are failing - broad brush - is a rather sweeping, alarmist and unsubstantiated claim.

 

As is the majority representation in the NBA and NFL.

Ability decides these things.

No matter how much you might bleat to the contrary.

 

Late April?

Who was going to run the ball?

 

Unsubstantiated?
Here are the results of 2002 study done by the UN...


WORLD EDUCATION RANKINGS
UNICEF rankings of educational systems in the world's richest countries, indicating the percentage of 14 and 15 year olds scoring below a minimum level in literacy, math and science.
1. South Korea 1.4 percent
2. Japan 2.2
3. Finland 4.4
4. Canada 5
5. Australia 6.2
6. Austria 8.2
7. Britain 9.4
8. Ireland 10.2
9. Sweden 10.8
10. Czech Republic 12.2
- (tie) New Zealand 12.2
12. France 12.6
13. Switzerland 13
14. Belgium 14
- (tie) Iceland 14
16. Hungary 14.2
- (tie) Norway 14.2
18. United States 16.2
19. Germany 17
- (tie) Denmark 17
21. Spain 18.6
22. Italy 20.2
23. Greece 23.2
24. Portugal 23.6

 

The world needs ditch diggers, too!

 

And in Sept. 2005....

(AP) The United States is losing ground in education, as peers across the globe zoom by with bigger gains in student achievement and school graduations, a study shows.

Among adults age 25 to 34, the U.S. is ninth among industrialized nations in the share of its population that has at least a high school degree. In the same age group, the United States ranks seventh, with Belgium, in the share of people who hold a college degree.

By both measures, the United States was first in the world as recently as 20 years ago, said Barry McGaw, director of education for the Paris-based Organization for Cooperation and Development. The 30-nation organization develops the yearly rankings as a way for countries to evaluate their education systems and determine whether to change their policies.

McGaw said that the United States remains atop the "knowledge economy," one that uses information to produce economic benefits. But, he said, "education's contribution to that economy is weakening, and you ought to be worrying."

The report bases its conclusions about achievement mainly on international test scores released last December. They show that compared with their peers in Europe, Asia and elsewhere, 15-year-olds in the United States are below average in applying math skills to real-life tasks.

Top performers included Finland, Korea, the Netherlands, Japan, Canada and Belgium.

Given what the United States spends on education, its relatively low student achievement through high school shows its school system is "clearly inefficient," McGaw said.

 

I blame Bush.

 

You're being sarcastic, but in terms of W being a horrendous example . . . you'd be justified.

 

How did a panel discussion that included Screamin' A. Smith, C. Vivian Stringer and Jim Brown -- among others -- end in less than ten hours? Those three are three of the biggest wind bags on the planet and all three seem to talk simply to hear their own voices.

 

How, given what's happened elsewhere, is this idiocy not locked down yet?

 

Well, we're having another Dyepack situation, where a couple of folks are being allowed to run roughshod.