Kansas - Rushing headlong into the 18th century
Well, the school board in Kansas has voted 6:4 to re-word the curiculum for teaching evolution (via BBC here).
First up - who cares? The US is sliding in the international tables for research as it moves global. China and India produce 10x the volume of PhD's (each, i think) than the US does and since 9/11 the restriction on H1B visas has forced their graduate slave labour to Europe and elsewhere.
Unfortunately, I care.
Kansas has just consigned a generation of children to be illiterates. The 21st century is not going to be about digging holes in the ground and waiting for stuff to grow, those jobs are low-skill and best done by others that are glad of the opportunity (to earn a living and not get shot at...). Kansas is a test bed with other states hanging on by their fingernails, this could well tip the balance.
What would the world feel like if the world's hyper-power started to slide into a theocracy? We know what happens to theocracies, they turn into basket-case poor countries that root around in the dirt dreaming of past glories and getting pissed off at everyone. Is this what we want for a militarised ultra-'patriotic' country? No checks and balances, let God tell the president what to do and institutions that demand ignorance for the populus and 'consensus' on stupid bits of dogma?
Make no mistake Uncle Sam, the rest of the world is laughing at you. And when we're not laughing we're just a little bit disturbed. Thankfully OneGoodMove lets a little of the 'other' america out so i haven't lost hope completely.
First up - who cares? The US is sliding in the international tables for research as it moves global. China and India produce 10x the volume of PhD's (each, i think) than the US does and since 9/11 the restriction on H1B visas has forced their graduate slave labour to Europe and elsewhere.
Unfortunately, I care.
Kansas has just consigned a generation of children to be illiterates. The 21st century is not going to be about digging holes in the ground and waiting for stuff to grow, those jobs are low-skill and best done by others that are glad of the opportunity (to earn a living and not get shot at...). Kansas is a test bed with other states hanging on by their fingernails, this could well tip the balance.
What would the world feel like if the world's hyper-power started to slide into a theocracy? We know what happens to theocracies, they turn into basket-case poor countries that root around in the dirt dreaming of past glories and getting pissed off at everyone. Is this what we want for a militarised ultra-'patriotic' country? No checks and balances, let God tell the president what to do and institutions that demand ignorance for the populus and 'consensus' on stupid bits of dogma?
Make no mistake Uncle Sam, the rest of the world is laughing at you. And when we're not laughing we're just a little bit disturbed. Thankfully OneGoodMove lets a little of the 'other' america out so i haven't lost hope completely.
posted by Joe at 3:47 PM
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