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We Can't get there From Here

Got this, this AM.

By Dr. Clayson, Professor At University Of NorthernIowa, Cedar Falls

When I mention in class that there are certain elementary logic problems American students can't seem to solve,the foreign students smirk because they can do these problems easily.

Our public schools are a disaster. Everyone knows it except for some educators who have encased themselves inside a Professional bubble so tight that even oxygen can't get in.

But can we fix it? No. We can't get there from here.

We tie each other in knots and spend billions of unnecessary dollars because we can't change an unreasonable and unjust tort system. So we stand on our heads, and restrict every conceivable freedom because we may be sued, but we do nothing about it because we can't get there from here.

Our parents built a space program and did it in an historical blink of an eye. Want to go to the moon? All right, we can be here in nine years.

Our parents went away and left us with toys that we don't seem to know how to fix. Much like the train systems left in colonial nations when the European powers departed, they simply keep using the same old train until it is worn out.

The space shuttle was designed 40 years ago; the first one flew 30 years ago. The one that fell apart four years ago has not been replaced. We are paying $3 for a gallon of gasoline, but we can't build a refinery. We can't develop an oil field. We can't build a nuclear plant.


We would like to build wind turbines, but golly, they are sort of complicated and expensive and sometimes they kill birds andwell...

We can build a few here and there; just enough to make us think we aredoing something, but never enough to solve the problem. It's really hard to get there from here.

A can't-do nation can not remain rich. We are getting poorer. We hide this from ourselves, but it is true nevertheless. The value of the dollar has dropped like a rock. It used to be worth more than a Euro. This morning it took $1.36 to buy one Euro. It is very expensive to go to Europe. That is simply another way of saying that we are poorer. The pound has increased in value. Even the Canadian dollar has increased in value. It costs more to go to London and to Vancouver. We are poorer. An American dollar used to come in the form of a coin that was 90 percent silver. This summer, that silver was worth $10. In other words, the present American dollar is worth about ten cents in constant value. The government recognizes this. The new dollar coin is a cheap looking little copper thing with such poor workmanship that it is difficult to tell the difference between Washington and Adams on its face.

We hide the impact of this loss by paying each other more dollars, but this doesn't quite work. Look at the older houses and public buildings. They were built with stone and wood and intricate artwork. We build with materials so thin that our houses look and feel like movie sets. Builders and buyers look at the older buildings and shake their head. "We can't afford that kind of stuff," they say.

In the old can-do nation they could do it, but now we can't gettherefrom here.

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Comments (6) Add comment
Americansouth 09/25/07 - 08:16 am
Sad, but true. The only

Sad, but true. The only thing the author missed; we used to be able to protect our borders and win wars.
"He was a wise man who invented beer."

peachblossom 09/25/07 - 02:10 pm
I don't know why

I don't know why you always have to share such depressing stuff, Wiley. I got my Diet Coke, I got my tv, I got my microwave, and I can still buy gas and ammo. What's the prob? This is America. We're #1.


MadHatter 09/25/07 - 02:29 pm
USA!!! USA!!!

I dunno Wiley, I think almost every one of those concerns are debatable. Not saying we can't do better, but the whole foreign students smirking at us dumb Americans... while they are attending classes here in the good ole' USA, seems a tad bit overdone if you ask me.

The Unrepentant Hatter

heron55 09/25/07 - 03:37 pm

If foreign students get so much better education, why are they here in our USA schools? Besides, many of those foreign students are selected and are some of their best. If we are to compare, why not compare them to our best students instead of the typical college kid. We also send some of our best students to foreign countries for enrichment. Wonder how they do there?

That being said, the foreign students will probably be working for some of those dumb American kids. Better be careful who they smirk at.

WileyCoyote 09/25/07 - 08:07 pm
Why, to Offset the fluff, PB!

Besides, I like to hear people deny this stuff - and their reasons for doing it.

I get at least five of these a day... Conspiracy Theory stuff, Chicken Little stuff, from all sorts of places - the ACLU, a Ph.D in Aiken, a nuclear physicist in Tega Cay, the RNC - each with their own unusual take on whom is after us, or whose fault everything is, this week.

Kimburrkay 09/25/07 - 09:33 pm

There is fluff here (TIC)

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