There was an article today in the Houston Chronicle concerning the launch of space shuttle Endeavour.The story gave the pros and cons of a Wednesday launch and as usual, sparked various comments on the story.
A poster, JewelryArnold, wrote the following comment on the article.
And without NASA America slips into 3rd world status where it is teetering on already. Wake up people, America will soon if it has not been passed up by smart brains in China and India. The way I see it, America is finished! All this bickering of where to spend money. Technology is the name of the game for the upcoming century and if you are not on board then you are left in the ashes. Children in countries such as China and India want to succeed and make something good out of their lives, in America all they can think to be is a Rap star or a basketball player, a far cry from a technical mind which they need to put them back on top of the world as far as education goes. All you people do is blame either the democrats or the republicans, how stupid!! Do you remember when America first went to the moon, America was looked up to, well not any more. Now America is looked to for starting wars it is a war mongering nation only and that is where all your tax dollars are being spent. WAKE UP STUPID AMERICANS!!
I found myself both agreeing and disagreeing with JewelryArnold. However he did made one point that I did completely agree with. It was "Wake up people, America will soon if it has not been passed up by smart brains in China and India. The way I see it, America is finished! All this bickering of where to spend money. Technology is the name of the game for the upcoming century and if you are not on board then you are left in the ashes."
I posted the following response:
JewelryArnold: I must agree with one of your points. America is INDEED slipping into third world status. Technology IS the name of the game for the current (21st) and upcoming (22nd) centuries. Education in this country is being dumbed down to allow everyone to succeed and in doing so, lowers the achievement level of everyone. People NEED to fail if they cannot cut the mustard. I am in education and see it every day. The level at which I am forced to teach today is so much lower than 30 years ago. We are forced to think about the students' "feelings" more than educating them. China and India have passed us in the level of success when it comes to education. This may offend some (and I really don't care if it does), but the culture of many of our students is driven by the ME...ME...ME attitude. What is in it for me? How is this going to profit me? How hard is this going to be on me? When these students' parents and families do not value education, they why should they? They expect that have a property right to everything, and in order to appease them, politicians from both parties are more than happy to provide all their needs in order to secure their support and insure their desire to remain in power. I could go on for hours on this topic, but for now I will close with a quote from the movie "Caddyshack." To quote Judge Smails, "The world needs ditch diggers, too." IMHO, if people are too stupid, too lazy, or by any other personal choice are unwilling to make something of their lives, then they can dig those ditches, shovel crap, flip burgers, or do whatever menial tasks they can find to survive. I really do not care. If they do not care about their lives, then why should the self motivated, educated people of the world care? I worked hard to get what I have and they can do the same or they can starve.
I think my response says it all. Please let me know what YOU think about it. I post on the Houston Chronicle boards as "texasquestion."
2 comments:
LOL!!
NASA might be the end of parts of Houston as it drives a major portion of all parts of the economy of that city.
I think that there is already a backlash against the administration taking place. Fear not, brother. Technology will again be an American edge.
TT,
I remember back in the day, the big threat was that you would end up pumping gas. We all know that doesn't happen anymore. My big threat is that somebody has to pick up dog poop in the park and that is a real job. As teachers our only defense to make our students work in classes. Small number, but it's what we can do. Maybe we can educate the leaders to come. We can dream.
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