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I almost had to laugh when I read this story. It's so pathetic. The genuises who have dummied down our education are soooooooo short sighted.
I bet they never even thought about or consulted with the department of defense when they decided to dummy everything down. I wonder if these kids even know how to spell A-R-M-Y.
I'm just glad they're weeding them out. We'd be in trouble if they didn't.
I'm just glad they're weeding them out. We'd be in trouble if they didn't.
I think it's reached a crisis stage. That article said..."The report by The Education Trust found that 23 percent of recent high school graduates don't get the minimum score needed on the enlistment test to join any branch of the military. Questions are often basic, such as: "If 2 plus x equals 4, what is the value of x?"
They don't even know 2+x = 4. What's x??!? Can't your dog do that one? Unbelievable. I think the yahoo comments section is almost more valuable now than your local paper. Because it shows whats really going on. Some people think a 12th grade education in 2010 has been reduced down to 8th grade.
They released an article years ago (5-8, I'm not sure) that measured the average mathematical intelligence of adults and released the results by race. I won't say which races got which, but it ranged from 8th grade to 10 grade for the average adult of each race. This was averaged with college graduates so imagine how the population averaged minus people with degrees. I teach 6th grade and there are plenty of parents that have problems helping their children with the homework. I can imagine there are plenty of people that could not pass an 8th or 9th grade math test.
My point is that maybe we should look at ourselves before we start blaming anyone else. If we parents haven't fostered education at home and modeled learning ourselves as parents then how are teachers going to change a culture that has already been set at home. Most of a child's personality is already set by 1st grade. I have seen students try to get inspired by learning but pressured by a home culture that didn't give a care. I imagine adults would score just as poorly as these new high school graduates taking these tests.
This raises a whole nother question in my mind, apart from the education aspect. If a quarter of all HS graduates can't even be expected to perform basic military functions, why do we expect our employers to pay them a living wage to perform in the private sector? What can they produce of value, working within our economy, if they can't even do the most basic tasks at a military base or follow the orders of their officers?
An then, one third of all private sector jobs are being done by people even lower down the intellectual ladder, who didn't even finish HS. Half of all jobs in this country are being done by workers who are incapable of the lowest level of function in a military environment.
This raises a whole nother question in my mind, apart from the education aspect. If a quarter of all HS graduates can't even be expected to perform basic military functions, why do we expect our employers to pay them a living wage to perform in the private sector? What can they produce of value, working within our economy, if they can't even do the most basic tasks at a military base or follow the orders of their officers?
An then, one third of all private sector jobs are being done by people even lower down the intellectual ladder, who didn't even finish HS. Half of all jobs in this country are being done by workers who are incapable of the lowest level of function in a military environment.
While they are no Einsteins, they are still humans and deserve to work for a reasonable wage that can support them.
I think a living wage is analogous to giving someone a lift raft in the middle of the water. You don't really "need it". You can cling to a log that's rolling by. Or you can cling to a tree branch as you're going down stream. But it'd be nice to have a raft and some "comfort".
Why did we outlaw child labor. Why aren't 13 year olds working in coal mines anymore? The same reason people want a "living wage of $12 or $13 an hour vs $6 or $7". I think it comes down to a sense of decency and fairness. But are these kids even smart enough to understand a living wage?
I think this test explains a lot of phenomena in America in the last 15 years. Who'd be dumb enough to pay 30% interest on a credit card. There use to be usury laws that protected against that. But there's this new portion of america that doesn't understand 2 + x = 4, find x, so how in the world are they going to understand credit.
While they are no Einsteins, they are still humans and deserve to work for a reasonable wage that can support them.
Then why don't people with comparable skills "deserve" to be in the armed forces?
You don't trust them participate in the defense of the country, but you trust them to install the brakes on your wife's car, or to explain your billing to you on an 800-number, or drive your kids' school bus.
Then why don't people with comparable skills "deserve" to be in the armed forces?
You don't trust them participate in the defense of the country, but you trust them to install the brakes on your wife's car, or to explain your billing to you on an 800-number, or drive your kids' school bus.
They still have to pass tests or classes to do most of those jobs.
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