I don't know what "No Child Left Behind" is supposed to mean, but higher education costs and less government help have left many otherwise capable young men and women far behind.
A respectable education is not only healthy for individuals but also for the world as a whole. America has become a divided nation, yet it is in control of so much more than itself. The people who govern our democracy decide each and every day where to spend sums of money most of us will never possess in our entire lifetimes. Whether it will help the poverty stricken in Africa, assist Iraqis in rebuilding their nation or fund the education of our own fellow Americans, these decisions decide people's fates.
We have spent more than $250 billion sending nearly 200,000 American kids - raised on G.I. Joes, Nerf guns and video games - to invade a poor Middle East country and fight an indiscernible enemy. We have armed them with virtually unlimited artillery and ordered them to keep peace despite a millennia-old religious conflict, which revolves around a book that most of our society doesn't even accept as valid. This is ignorant.
How many of these young Americans could we have sent to college for that amount of money? The answer is a lot more than 200,000.
But never mind higher education, we are having enough trouble keeping kids in high school. According to the April 17 issue of Time magazine, a number of researchers agree that the national graduation rate falls between 64 percent and 71 percent, and it approaches 50 percent for Latinos and African Americans. Nearly half of these dropouts are between the ages of 16 and 24 and are unemployed - that's a lot of soldiers to recruit.
According to the Global Campaign for Education, more than 100 million children around the world are not in school - almost 60 million of these children being girls. They are asking Americans to participate in the 2006 "Send My Friend to School Week," which will be held from Monday to April 30. Students who are interested can find out how to get involved by visiting the Web site of the Global Campaign for Education's United States chapter.
The cause of social and political unrest in developing nations comes down to a lack of educated people to lead those countries. Basically, their ignorance stems from their poverty. America, on the other hand, has all the funding and resources available to cure the country's ignorance - we just choose to focus our money and efforts elsewhere.
What would have happened if we had sent 200,000 teachers to Iraq instead of 200,000 soldiers? Would Iraqis be on the brink of a civil war? If one Iraqi had put down a gun and picked up a book, would it not be a better situation than the mess we are dealing with now? Violence is the product of hatred, and hatred is the product of ignorance. The only cure for ignorance is education - period.
The recent elimination of funding for valuable education programs has most likely led to the current rise in ethnic and social ignorance in America. For those of you at Ball State University who haven't noticed this rise in ignorance, you might find a 50-foot example of it hanging from the roof of Bracken Library - or you might just be ignoring it.
But seriously folks ... get your priorities straight.
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