How Well Can You Climb a Tree?

Our educational system has been dumbed down. There was a time when American schools equipped some of the finest scholars in the world and our country was ranked at the top of academic excellence. Today, we are far below our once-lofty standing. Yester-year's middle school student had a far superior education to today's college graduate.

Part of the reason is that political correctness has replaced academic substance in our textbooks. The reason behind that unfortunate turn of events is the proclivity for impoverished school systems to be bought by wealthy entities that fund school districts' purchases when control over the content of new textbooks is extended to them.

Another factor is the inability of our testing system to recognize true ability. Testing documents are often skewed to avoid revealing differing ability levels among students. In bowing to political correctness, much of the student population is placed on the same track rather than being channeled to the course in which excellence could be attained.

Everyone is not a future lawyer or physician; some would be fine technicians and craftsmen whose abilities could be honed in technical schools but they are presumed to be college material and their frustration causes them to drop out.

This has been proven by men like Einstein and Thomas Alva Edison whose genius went unrecognized by their teachers. Their relegation to the bottom of the academic heap did not prevent their realizing their extraordinary potential, but how many students accept the dictates of the educators who fail to see their potential and therefore fail to realize their potential?

May today's teachers and parents, those who care about the future of our young people and about the contribution they have the potential to make to the future of our nation, overcome the deceptive textbooks and the politically correct assessment of students so each child will have the ability to be judged by his true potential, not by his ability to climb a tree.