Where do we go from here? The US education system. Iggy Rodriguez

From our founding The Great Compromise Oliver Ellsworth and Robert Sherman US House and Senate Missouri (Maine) Compromise

Recent compromises? Affordable care act? What are the issues? Budget 4 years until December 2013 Immigration reform? What are the issues? What is each sides stance? Why can’t they agree?

Polarizing our political system Through stupidity…

Why do politicians do this? We allow ourselves to be polarized We do not actually look into the issues Whose fault is it? Politicians? Ours?

Who are our politicians? Law degree: Medical: 3-17 (One DVM and one DDS) PhD 0-23

Who are our people? 33.5 percent (age 25-29) have bachelors degrees 85 percent (age 25+) have at least a GED

Who makes our policies? Experts or politicians?

Some examples Medicine NovaLung Backboarding Advanced Cardiac Life Support Education Scientific theory Scientific fact

Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great -John D. Rockefeller

The teachers Its well known that teachers in the US are not well paid at all, even though it is commonly agreed that they do one of the most important jobs we have. Let’s look at teachers in other countries and how those countries are doing.

Comparing teacher pay RankCountryAverage salary for all levels after 15 years (after taxes) Average Salary (after taxes) 1Luxembourg$97,808$35,635 2Switzerland$68,849$30,754 3Germany$64,289$30,721 4Netherlands$59,894$29,697 5Canada$56,422$23,938 12USA$47,165$39,531 Quality of life Health care Pollution (all at least 10 spots higher than USA) Safety

What does the US spend its money on? (FY2015) PercentageProposed discretionary spending item 55%Military 10%Social Security and Medicare 6%Government 6%Veteran’s Benefits 6%Education 5%Housing 3%Science 3%Energy & Environment 3%International Affairs 2%Transportation 1%Food Joint Strike Fighter F-35 - $400 b Federal Education spending- $141 b

Examples President Obama- Electric vehicles “clean” Sen. Marco Rubio- Climate change doesn’t exist Rep. Peter King- “Mosque at ground zero” State Dept.- Honduras “coup” 2009

What’s the answer? Geniocracy? Nope…

Education?

But what’s wrong with our education system? What skills do students need? Math Reading Science Leadership Creativity Teamwork Perseverance Are we teaching those skills?

Then what? If we agree that at least the attempt is made to teach students these skills, then could there be a reason that they are not learning the lessons? Americans were innovators in the 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s, we still are. And we haven’t had TAKS and all those other measurement tools and imposed standards that we have today. What has changed?

We face new challenges Student poverty- in 17 states, more than half of students live under the poverty line Most of the South and West English as a second language We now have more students than ever before coming to the US and having to learn English Oklahoma and Texas at the forefront? Medical problems Poor children get seriously sick, miss school, can’t catcch up

Bottom line We now educate more of our people than ever before. Education is not a privilege, it is a right, but we haven’t given everyone the necessary foundation to make the best of it.

How do we fix this? Health care Welfare Immigration reform English lessons Teaching the parents

How do we make education more attractive? Increase salaries More attractive environments Opportunities for advancement

Sources not-passed-budget-more-/ not-passed-budget-more-/ degrees.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 degrees.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 countries countries public-education/ public-education/