It’s no secret to anyone except Trump supporters that the educational system of the United States is failing the vast majority of its students. Although literacy rates have increased, reading levels have been falling since the 1970s. The US is now ranked 125th in world literacy, behind, among many others, Latvia, Armenia, Barbados, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Mongolia, and Botswana. “Fake countries!” yell Trump supporters. “Hillary and Obama made those countries up to make us feel bad! Start a criminal investigation now!”
LBL will now take a deep breath and continue. More than 30 million adults in the United States cannot read, write, or do basic math above a third-grade level.
In the population at large, general knowledge is rapidly being reduced to “I read it on Facebook.” Most people have no idea where the nearest ocean is (The closest they can guess in some parts of the country is “Far.” Others merely ask “Ocean?”)
And, then, there is Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, multi-million dollar Republican doner, whose combination financial largesse and firm belief in private education made her uniquely qualified to become the guiding force of 50 million public school students in the US.
There is, however one bright spot on this uninformed, clueless, and generally not caring horizon: prison.
Last month, inmates from the Eastern New York Correctional Facility defeated the Harvard debate team (ENYCF). Before Trump supporters charge “Fake News!” or attribute this to the general Deep State (not to be confused with Florida’s future moniker, thanks to climate change) that is swallowing us whole, let Life in the Boomer Lane explain.
The ENYCF debate team has a track record. They have already vanquished some mighty fine universities in past years. Supported by Bard College, this program rocks. Loyal Readers may still be skeptical. To address your concerns, LBL has interviewed the head of the ENYCF team. She hereby shares the following nuggets with you:
So hey, what’s up with you guys, bro and all that? How come the big win? (LBL can communicate with all types)
ENYCF: Our posture is that students in traditional university settings have been largely raised by well-intentioned but basically over-indulgent parents whose child-rearing practices are mostly a combination of benign neglect, coupled with an inordinate fear of their children being harmed in some way by any number of external factors that can’t be avoided by throwing money at them. In other words, they are confronted by forces beyond their control. This has resulted in avoiding, at all cost, instilling in their fragile but highly gifted offspring the basic values that create independence, personal responsibility and a resilience to deal with failure.
Huh?
ENCYF: They have been over-protected.
LBL: Oh, OK. Anything else, homey?
ENYCF: Unless you are from E 34th St and Sutherland Ave in Indianapolis, I doubt that you and I are homeys. Yes, there is another reason. The university environment affords students easy access to any number of situations that serve to distract them from the very reasons they are in college in the first place. These situations preclude the necessary attention it takes to devote oneself to an atmosphere of learning and contemplation, which must go hand-in-hand for any true mastery to occur.
Huh?
ENYCF: Women. Alcohol. Various mind-altering substances. Parties. Money. Other diversions. These are all distractions to intellectual development and the expression of one’s innate intellectual potential. We, on the other hand, have been affored the unique opportunity to be able to focus on our studies without such frivolities and distractions.
Oh, right. Well, Ok. So there. So what’s next for you guys? A visit to the White House? Disney World?
ENYCF: Neither. Our incarceration precludes visiting areas beyond those mandated by the state of New York. And we would all agree that visits to either the White House or Disney World would, most likely, do nothing to further our intellectual development.
This has been an amazing interview. Thanks so much for taking the time to speak with me.
ENYCF: Ah, time. Yes, time is what we have in abundance, here. Then again, quantum physics has finally proven that all time is occurring at all times. So, in effect, we all have time.
Uh, right. And you, personally?
ENYCF: Ah, me. Personally, I’m buyin’ the building of every door that ever closed on me.
Life in the Boomer Lane 
Widdershins
October 29, 2019
Good for them! 😀
Life in the Boomer Lane
October 30, 2019
Agreed.
just a Buffalo gal out tonight
October 30, 2019
Ya gotta be careful, you may be encouraging folks to commit crimes, just to be able to get a better Education inside a Prison’s confines. And many people have gotten advanced degrees by studying for the education and libraries that are in some prisons. But not all prisons have exceptional Educational opportunities or Libraries. Just like schools and university’s – not all are created equal. Prisons are not the ideal – learning sites, by any stretch of the imagination. But if you are incarcerated in just the right one, you might indeed have an opportunity to learn better than in an Ivy League college or even a private High School etc.
But if a person who is incarcerated starts out unable to read or write, they still have a ways to go to learn in Prison and it all depends on how motivated they are, and what is available to them while in Prison. Some inmates are not in the least motivated to Learn and or the prison they are in, doesn’t support a good learning environment and opportunities .
Does the Educational System of the USA have to get better, Absolutely. Is Betsy another disaster for running any government agency – Absolutely. Will our Educational system improve while she or any Trump official is in charge of it, NO!! Will anything help our US Educational System, doubtful. We as you point out, have been doing worse in many areas for years. Other countries are surpassing us, we unfortunately don’t pay attention to what “they” are doing right, and what we are doing wrong and Correct it on our end.
And just like countries who have better health care systems etc. – we don’t learn from them either, we just continue on our own merry way, screwing things up and making things more complicated and expensive for our citizens.
Even if we are blessed to have the man in office defeated in 2020 (and its looking more doubtful all the time – as no one in the Democratic field has enough support from all of the folks opposed to mr orange) – it still will take the right people, money and *time* to overhaul the Educational System we currently have in place in the USA. Nobody seems to be wanting to take the time.
I was just thinking, how much is Manafort or Cohen learning in Prison, and if they might consider being on a prison Debate teams playing against a team from the current white house staffers. And, oh, the guy who has the wonderful brain who knows “Everything” – more than anyone else – he can be the entire Debate team himself 😉 That would be a debate I’d love to see. And would love to see them all dressed in orange suits. Or Maybe mr orange one, can get on the debate team from that very fine college he attended in Pennsylvania and they can play the ENYCF debate team. Lock them UP!! Lock them UP!!
Life in the Boomer Lane
October 31, 2019
Wow, many, many thanks for these comments. Any significant issue (education/criminal justice system/climate change/the Trump phenomenon) is the accumulation of many years of build up of various forces and events. Hitler didn’t magically turn Germany into a Nazi state. He simply capitalized on the fallout of the German post-war depression and a centuries-long antisemitism. Will any issues improve during a Trump presidency? Of course not. We have a president who is singularly self-focused, at the expense of the country he purports to love. The only issue he cares about is himself.
aginggracefullymyass
October 30, 2019
Thanks for the bit of good news! And I hope he does by all those buildings…
Life in the Boomer Lane
October 31, 2019
Smiling.