Education, the Arts, and the Presidential Race
It certainly seems as though we're living through a significant period in time. Though we're making amazing strides in fields such as science, technology and medicine, the misfortunes taking place around the world appear to be outweighing our triumphs.
- Financial markets are crashing
- wars are being fought and innocent people are dieing,
- people are starving,
- pollution is ruining our planet,
- the gap between rich and poor in the US is the highest ever recorded the list goes on and on, and everyone is kinda thinking, 'somebody has to change the direction we're going.' Conveniently, we now have two opposing groups of people debating these issues issues that affect our country and the world; as we witness this presidential race unfold before us. What's awkward is that at this important time, the one thing I personally want to see out of the candidates more than anything else is honesty and truth, and at times it seems we're getting the opposite and I don't understand why.
The United States is obviously severely strained economically and I think both candidates understand they cannot accomplish a lot of the things they claim they will. They're knowingly setting unrealistic expectations. Would it really be political suicide to be realistic, and perhaps more importantly, focus on more feasible goals?
For example, I'm disappointed that education as a topic of discussion has barely surfaced during this presidential race. Allow me to explain
I was recently passed an article from a former professor of mine that included some of the following statistics:
- nearly one in three public high school students in the US won't graduate
- the dropout rate is worse for Latinos and African Americans, around 50%
- the learning gap between the United States and its competitors in Europe and Asia is widening (with the US ranking in the bottom half in reading/math among 41 countries tested)
- yet, the United States was at the TOP in per capita education expenditure, also cited as having the poorest outcomes per dollar SPENT on education.
So it would appear education is one area where we could actually make great strides over the next several years after all, we don't necessarily need $$ to make progress (given countries spending less are passing us by) but rather, a better process/framework for our educational system.
The professor that passed me this article works in the music department at CMU and what's interesting about it is that it examines two countries ranking at the top in science and reading (New Zealand and Finland) both of which:
-- 'regard arts and music as crucial for the neurological development of children.'
-- And Finland actually requires all students to take 7 years of music coursework.
As we all know music/art education in the US is not taken seriously.... to continue reading please visit http://runcosweeklymusic.blogspot.com/2008/10/rwm-and-upcoming-presidential-e...
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