"Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army." Edward Everett
The American people's ignorance, stupidity, and disinterest in the governance of this nation have allowed an oligopoly of politicians, bankers, and powerful corporations to seize control of the country and loot its riches for their personal gain. By failing to educate themselves, millions of ignorant Americans have lost all of their power and are now dictated to by the few with knowledge. The elite who dictate the path of our country do not want the masses to become educated. Their power would be in jeopardy. The American public school system insures the retention of their power and wealth.
"Anyway, no drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we're looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn't test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power."
P.J. O'Rourke
The Ugly Numbers
Educational attainment is the single biggest determinant of lifetime income. As of 2008, 14% of Americans over 18 years old haven't graduated high school, 31% have achieved a high school degree, 27% have earned a bachelor's degree, and only 9% have earned an advanced degree. The median household income in the U.S. is $46,326. The median household income of Asian households is 24% higher at $57,518. The median household income of Black households is 35% lower at $30,134. Asian households have a fantastic educational achievement, with 49% of Asians achieving a bachelor's degree or higher. Black households have a higher percentage with no high school degree (18%) than they do with a bachelor's degree or higher (17%). Hispanic households have even more dreadful levels of educational attainment with only 12% achieving a bachelor's degree or higher, while a full 37% of Hispanics have not graduated high school. Even though 69 million Americans have attained a high school degree, many are functionally illiterate as our public school system has just matriculated them through the system.
If you make the effort and earn a bachelor's degree or master's degree, the likelihood of making it into the top 10% to 20% of earners goes up dramatically. Drop out of high school and you guarantee that you will remain in the bottom 25% of earners, making less than $22,500 per year. There are approximately 111 million households in the United States. Only 5.6 million households earn more than $167,000. On the other end of the scale, there are 36.6 million households making less than $30,000. The middle is occupied by another 36.6 million households making less than $62,500. The bottom is occupied by high school graduates or dropouts. The top is occupied solely by college graduates. Those with knowledge and money are able to use their power to generate more money and consolidate that power by manipulating the ignorant poor masses. The U.S. public school system insures a continuous flow of ignorant masses.
Liberal Waste of Money
"In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards." Mark Twain
The United States takes in excess of $500 billion per year from its citizens through income taxes, real estate taxes, and school taxes to educate our young people in the public school system. The local and state bureaucrats along with the thousands of government officials responsible for the U.S. public education system believe that a half a trillion dollars is not nearly enough. There are 50 million students enrolled in 97,000 public schools in this country. The U.S. Department of Education spends $59 billion of your tax dollars and employs over 5,000 bureaucrats to guide our top notch world class educational system. There is no country on earth that spends close to the amount spent by the U.S. With this level of spending, we must have the smartest, best educated, most motivated students on the face of the earth.
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Source: Perot Charts
Somehow, despite the billions "invested" in our children, millions graduate and can't add or subtract. Cashiers in most retail stores would not know how to give you change from a dollar if the cash register didn't tell them. Even then, it is often times a struggle. The Mathematics literacy of our 15 year olds is well below the world average and 10% to 15% below the leading Asian countries. We did beat Russia, Italy and Mexico. Any cost benefit analysis of what we spend versus what we get would conclude that our educational system is a complete disaster. It should be clear even to a high school dropout that our government bureaucrats haven't spent our tax money efficiently or effectively. Our public schools are either not teaching the right things or not using the right techniques.
Source: Perot Charts
The liberals who are clamoring for more money and more government control of education have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that their methods have failed. According to the U.S. Dept. of Education the per pupil spending in 2005 was $9,266, up 128% since 1971. This means that from the time a child enters 1st grade until he/she graduates from high school (if they graduate), it costs taxpayers $111,000. You would think that with that investment, more than 33% of high school graduates would go to college. A study of public school students from 1991 to 2002 by the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research generated disturbing results:
- The national high school graduation rate for all public school students remained flat over the last decade, going from 72% in 1991 to 71% in 2002.
- Nationally, the percentage of all students who left high school with the skills and qualifications necessary to attend college was 34% in 2002.
- The states with the lowest graduation rate in the nation were South Carolina (53%), followed by Georgia (56%), Tennessee (57%), and Alabama (58%).
- In the class of 2002, about 78% of white students graduated from high school with a regular diploma, compared to 56% of African-American students and 52% of Hispanic students.
- About 40% of white students, 23% of African-American students, and 20% of Hispanic students who started public high school graduated college-ready in 2002.
