The state of edumication

I read the newspaper every morning, starting with the front page, local news, business, sports, and then the lifestyle section. I like to save the humor for last to set a good tone for the day. Unfortunately today's section set an entirely different tone, the type of tone that makes you inhale deeply, purse your lips, shake your head, and let loose a forlorn sigh of defeat. The bitter taste in my mouth wasn't from my room-temperature coffee.

"Hitler's instrumentality of terror was the Gespacho."

"More than two decades later it is hard to imagine the Revolutionary War coming out any other way."

One of these quotes is a student's test answer. The other is a direct quote from our President.

Every once in a while the paper will feature these humorous gaffes as submitted by teachers, but more often than not, these are grade-school students. In today's edition, the test answer came from a college student.

Look at the two quotes again. Can you tell which belongs to which? Or shall I re-phrase that to say: which quote belongs to the current President and which belongs to a future President.

If this glaring example of sheer stupidity is an indicator of the current state of education in this country then history will look back and hail George W Bush as model of smarterness and elloquental vocalating. The 2000 election should be example enough: confusion about how to read the ballot card and failing to follow the directions as given on the ballot lead to mis-cast votes and the election of "The Decider."

There are many books, calendars, t-shirts, etc., of "Bushisms." The mere fact that there is enough of these to fill an entire book is a slap in the face to the nation's education system and the public at large. Leaders are ones who are supposed to set examples, be standards of excellence. Instead we have the leader of the free world, the most powerful man on the planet, laud remarks by His Supreme Holiness, the Pope, by saying "Thank you, Your Holiness; awesome speech."

Surfers, gamers, stoners, Valley Girls, kids on playgrounds, Chris Farley, astronomers, reality tv show contestants, Rolling Stone magazine, hippies, Ultimate Fighting Champions, sk8ers, and Ty Pennington would be expected to use the word "awesome" to describe the Pope's words, but the President of the United States? Dude....

We have a President who called his closest advisor "Turd Blossom."

Edumacation has never polled in the top 5 issues important to Americans in this election. And judging by the answers on these college level tests, our future leaders won't be pushing it to the fore-front either. Even when Barack Obama gets elected, it'll be just like college all over again: Congress won't study for the tests Professor President will give it, give plenty of excuses for not completing assigned work, and hap-hazzardly rush through everything to make it to recess.

There is an entire book of "funny" test answers, from whence came today's quotes in the paper. But knowing that our future lies in the hands of these same students isn't funny at all. George W Bush is a shining example of our laissez-faire attitude towards education. (Go find a dictionary and look it up.... or don't....)

Even though Bush was recently gave an address to the Israeli Knesset and his remarks referred to the errors of appeasement, the quote about Hitler was not his. That was a test answer. The leader of the United States was the genius who compressed our own history into twenty short years. I guess he has the right, after all, he is the Decider.