Rich Tehrani, a business associate and the publisher of TMC publications, has a very interesting discussion on his personal blog about the sad state of education in our country. He relates how, in a visit to his family's homeland, Iran, he noticed that his cousins had 4-5 hours of homework a night, contrasted to his 1-2 hours. I am a bit older than Rich and remember when I had 4-5 of homework every night also. My children rarely had any.
This is a sad state of affairs, and I think children today are being robbed of a full education by a system that seems intent more on its own needs than educational needs of our youth. The powerful NEA lobby and association has doggedly fought every attempt to improve education. As a result, we are in a heck of a mess. There is more priority given to rewarding effort and not achievement, and the amount of actual education that happens is greatly reduced.
Are you aware that World War II history is not taught in most schools today? In one California school system, there is more time spent on Iran Contra than on World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam, combined. Who could argue that the impact of major 20th Century wars are many times more important than a silly scandal? Remember what George Santayana said,
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
This is a long term problem with a complex solution, but nothing will happen until parents begin to demand change.
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