Teen USA Quiz - A Sad Commentary on Government Schools

Teen USA Quiz - A Sad Commentary on Government Schools

Lauren Caitlin Upton of Lexington, S.C. shown in this undated modeling photo.
The 18-year-old has become a national sensation after her gramatically challenged response to a question at the Miss Teen USA pageant in Pasadena, Calif., Aug. 24, 2007 (photo courtesy Locke Management) Lauren Caitlin Upton the Teen USA contestant who botched the quiz question about the inability of government school educated students to find the U.S.A. on a map is herself a product of government schools. She graduated with honors and a 3.5 GPA finishing near the top of her class. How is it that she could so utterly not understand a simple question about geography? It’s not due to a lack of maps or problems in South Africa or Iraq as mentioned by Ms. Upton.

No, it’s a crisis in the government schools. Don’t think that geography is being taught in Montgomery County Schools, its not. Not the way we baby boomers learned geography. Why? Because you can test geography, and Jerry Dean Weast and the current Board of Education hate tests. Especially tests that score knowledge. They prefer to show children “how to learn.” But under this paradigm, children don’t actually learn anything. SAT testing has been dumbed down and our students still fall behind the rest of the world. Each year our students attend government schools they fall farther behind their counterparts in the rest of the world on knowledge tests..

Until competition is injected into the system our tax money will continue to be wasted by Jerry Dean Weast, Nancy Navarro and the rest of the school board. Giving the school board more money is the same as throwing money out the window. It will do no good. Only a voucher system such as in Europe with true competition will cause a change in our education system.For example, Catholic schools in MoCo cost less than half the government school cost but do as good if not better job. With vouchers, parents who want their kids indoctrinated in the latest social fads can send their kids to the Shirley Brandman school of sex and recycling, while other parents can send their kids to schools that teach math, history and geography. Some schools will thrive and others will fold. It’s the American way. There will be no need for lawsuits as children and parents will have choice. Wake up friends, its only going to get worse, it’s your money and more importantly, it’s our future.