What's Been and What's Ben

America has become too much of a country that aims for the middle and the lowest common denominator. It will destroy our society. Reading Rainbow, the third longest running PBS children’s program, has been cancelled. PBS claims that it does not teach basic reading skills, instead focusing on inspiring children to want to read. Television is not a place to teach basic skills. I see this as one in a series of actions taken in recent years to ensure  that we aim low in education.

We can all agree that having everybody be literate is a good thing. No Child Left Behind is a good idea for some. But it means that smart kids sit in place and spin their wheels. The bar is lowered so that everybody passes while providing no higher standard for those capable. This will erode us into the society of Idiocracy where as long as you can jump (or just not trip) over a low standard of education you can move along. History and science is abandoned in an effort to ensure overly simplistic goals in reading and math are met. Music programs are thrown away. The gifted/talented programs that made me who I am are cut below the low levels that already existed. The capabilities of a generation are wasted. I will repeat a concept I mentioned a week ago: no society has ever been harmed by an increase in educational spending. The GI bill created the post WWII boom that created the society we enjoy today.

I believe it is just as unfair to not teach reading to an illiterate child than to not teach advanced studies to gifted students. Why must these children wait until college to have their abilities flourish where they will then be behind in their studies from what they could be. We need a pragmatic approach to education where we do not try to shove poetry down the throats of kids who will hate education because of it and probably skill class anyway. A more German system is needed with trade schools that teach real-world skills to students who are not college bound. A diverse exposure is still needed, but when it comes to preparing our children for the world we need to allow self-interest to drive where their skill training takes place. Human potential is a horrible thing to waste.