A Call for Education

Friedman (2010) says we should be on the way out of Afghanistan and not in. There are no simple answers to the current predicament America finds itself in. America is over fifteen trillion dollars in debt and rising (U.S. National Debt Clock: Real Time U.S., 2010). Friedman (2010) says we can save $100 billion dollars out of the Pentagon budget by pulling out of Afghanistan. I know in my household we are trimming the fat out of the many privileges that we have normally grown accustomed to spending money on. I agree with Friedman, in that America needs to start trimming its fat. America needs to start rescuing its own starving people, and put a stop to it’s over spending. Americans have been raised on the idea that it is better to give than receive, but what America does not realize is that it owes more than it can give. Friedman (2010) says we could take the $100 billion and use it to make America independent of oil. Personally I have felt that America has needed to start shifting its foreign aid to America for some time now. Reading this article has given me support on my way of thinking, and I applaud Friedman for his insight in writing it.

            Friedman (2010) offers China and Taiwan as an example of two feuding countries that have worked out their own problems. China is currently number one and Taiwan has amassed the number four in currency reserves. Friedman (2010) says Taiwan has not oil or natural resources and is number four. America has to take a stand and make itself independent of oil. However, this is easier said than done, since we are currently in a huge deficit financially. STEM has been offered as a means to an end. We educate our student’s minds in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math to rebuild our nation. Unfortunately, money and time are not on America’s side, and money is time.

            America is fortunate enough to be where it is at because of the National call made by President John F. Kennedy to put a man on the moon fifty years ago (Aburke, 2011). Can we advance the American education in the same direction as our former president launched a generation of technological advancements? The competition and urgency I feel is stiffer than fifty years ago. As an educator, I have kept up with the advancement of technology because of strong basic backgrounds in reading and math. It is true that there are some teachers that have not been able to make the transition to current technology but that is for the administration to work out. Our competition is television, technology and the advances made to the gaming and internet world. As educators we are fighting a losing battle against X-Box, PlayStation, Wii, Facebook, YouTube, Moco Space, Dating Sites, and reality TV shows like Jersey shore. The country is distracted from the reality of the struggles we are facing as a nation. America is arrogant and soft as a nation. America has been lead to believe that it is number one in the world, when in actuality it has never been number one (Dwyer, 2011). Demski (2009) says free online video games of Off-Road Racing can teach Algebra. It is endeavors like these by teachers that can help save our education system, but it is not profitable. There are gaming sites and programmers out there that are more advanced at making better educational games than the ones created by educators. But the profit for these educational games is not there. Also, teaching the two basic subjects or reading and math, might not be attainable through gaming. The patience required to perform long and drawn out Algebraic problems and to read a long novel, may not be duplicated in a fast pace game. Patience is something our American culture has grown short of, and in a now-generation, it is one I fear that will be hard to change. Only time will tell the demise of the United States and with the ever impending doom of 2012 lurking around the corners, it is one that America might not be prepared for.

                                                                    References

Aburke. (2011, May 25). 50 years ago JFK said 'lets put a man on the moon.' Now it’s time we begin a new era of industrial innovation. Retrieved from http://americanmanufacturing.org/blog/50-years-ago-jfk-said-lets-put-man-moon-now-its-time-we-begin-new-era-industrial-innovation.

Demski, J. (2009). STEM picks up speed. T.H.E. Journal, 36(1), 22–26.
Retrieved from the Walden University Library using the Education Research Complete database.

Dwyer, Liz. (2011, February 10). Debunking Education Myths: America's Never Been Number One in Math. Retrieved from http://www.good.is/post/debunking-education-myths-america-s-never-been-number-one-in-math/.

Friedman, T. L. (2010, January 17). What’s our Sputnik? [Op-Ed]. The New York Times [Late Edition (East Coast)], p. WK.8.  Retrieved from the Walden University Library using the ProQuest Central database.

U.S. National Debt Clock: Real Time U.S. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.usdebtclock.org/.