The Dumbing Down Of America

Perhaps you have heard Jay Leno (on TV) or Sean Hannity (on radio) interviewing passers by, asking questions about politics and current news events. Questions like, "Who is the Vice President of the United States?" or "Who is John Roberts?". The vast majority of the people interviewed cannot answer either of those questions.

Okay, so you may shrug that one off - until election day! I heard one college student say she would not support President Bush because he lied. Never mind that he did not lie. This person did not even know who was Vice President.

Researchers tell us that politicians use negative TV advertising because it works. Now it is clear why it works. Most people learn all they know about politics from political ads.

That news is alarming enough, but there is more bad news. Statistics show that American students have little interest in studying science. At least, after the fourth grade. Younger children are fascinated by science, but after about the fourth grade they lose interest.

Not so with students in China, Japan and India. They love science, are willing to work hard to learn it, and they excel in all subjects scientific.

The result is that America is falling behind in technology... the very field that has driven our economy and led us to global superiority.

Why is this happening? I think there are several reasons. One is that it is not cool to be a "nerd" or a "geek", as kids with a scientific bent are labeled. And, it takes a lot more work to learn the language of electronics, chemistry, computers... all engineering and scientific fields. There are so many fun things for American students to do, who wants to spend your evenings poring over a text book?

Hollywood has not helped. Movies long ago vilified people in business. Remember "Beverly Hillbillies?" The banker on that program was a money-hungry idiot. Then they progressed to movies about "nerds". The campus they projected is now a reality. The athletes are the heroes.
The kid carrying a high grade point average in chemistry or electrical engineering is invisible.

And, our elementary education system is way out of whack. In my state, kids no longer get and "A" or a "B" on their report card, and certainly no child will ever get an "F"... that could destroy their self-esteem. Instead, they are graded as "Proficient", at the top of the scale and "Emerging" at the bottom. How are they going to learn chemistries periodic tables or the natural laws that define electronics when they cannot even read?

How can we reverse this trend? Maybe we should publicize the employment opportunities in various fields. While I believe that a liberal arts education is a valuable thing, that degree will not get you a job.

Maybe we should de-emphasize sports... just a little?

Can we glorify scientific achievement? Or even recognize that it is important to stay abreast of current events?

All I can say is that we had better do something, and do it now.

Nikita Kruschev once said the Soviet Union would bury America economically. Communism could not do that, but knowledge can. We cannot afford to let our nation get any dumber.

Border Deterioration

I have been very much opposed to all the talk about closing our southern border. As someone who lives within forty miles of Mexico, and a frequent visitor to Mexico, I am more familiar with the border than most. Our southern border was drawn through farms and communities (and Indian reservations), separating people from friends and relatives. For the most part, people lived with this separation, shopping, visiting, even marrying across the border.

There really are jobs on the U.S. side of the border that no Americans want to take. But there are plenty of Mexicans who will do these jobs. It works for everyone.

However, things have changed. The news media has publicized widely the fact that it is easy to cross the border. Consequently, hordes of criminals saw border crossing (into the U.S.) as a way to commit crimes - mostly burglaries - and slip back across the border, out of reach of local U.S. law enforcement agencies. How sad.

It is true that some essentially honest Mexicans seeking work in the U.S., have stolen food and clothing to keep them alive until they reached the work they were seeking. But now thieves are breaking into U.S. homes, stealing electronics and other valuables. Some are armed - in spite of the fact that private ownership of guns is strictly prohibited in Mexico. Many are not Mexican citizens. They come from all over the hemisphere.

Now the porous border has changed. Not only does it impact those farmers and ranchers whose homes are being ransacked, if impacts honest people who cross the border for honest purposes. A Mexican who works or attends a university in the U.S. can obtain legal status to cross the border. For them, going to work or to school is always a case of sitting in their car for forty minutes waiting for their turn to pass the inspection station. Would you tolerate that kind of delay every morning on your way to work?

And so, thanks to the news media letting the world know about the thin border security, it really is a threat - as the alarmists have been shouting. It is not, however, a problem of terrorists as the news pundits have screamed. It is a problem of petty criminals who have, perhaps, less disincentive for shooting someone than would a home-grown crook.

Now we do need to close the border. And, we need protection from 24-7 news reporting.

Lots of Company!

I claim to be an opinionated old man who rants on about subjects I know little about. I am not alone.

I live in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The name of the city is Spanish, but the translation to English is not precise. There is no problem with "Las", that is the article used to precede nouns of feminine gender, and clearly translates to "the". "Cruces is another matter. It can be the plural of "cruz", which means "Cross", or it can be the plural of "cruce" which means "crossroad". So, Las Cruces, can mean either The Crosses or The Crossroads.

No one knows how the city originally got its name, since it probably came from the Spaniards who traveled north through this area some four hundred years ago.

Geographically, it could have meant crossroads. One can travel east or west, as well as north and south (along the Rio Grande). This is possible because of a break in the mountains to the west, and Baylor Canyon, a pass through the San Andres/Organ mountains to the east.

There is a legend that a group of Spaniard travelers were ambushed and killed by Apaches at this location. The next group that passed through, buried these victims and erected crosses over their graves. This, of course, is the more intriguing story and the one most people believe. Accepting this theory, the city government designed a logo showing three crosses, much like the popular depiction of the crosses of calvary.

Now a group is suing the city, claiming the logo is a Christian symbol.

I am not a Christian, but I could care less about the logo. What bothers me is that many, many Christian citizens are insisting that the crosses represent the ancient graveyards for which the city was named, and are not a Christian symbol.

Well, in the first place, no one really knows why the place was named "Las Cruces". In the second place, if a cross is not a Christian symbol, why would the Spaniards have erected crosses above the graves?

Many people expressing opinions when they have no idea what they are talking about.

I am enjoying the company!