Did you see this? What do you think?

[DAR4989]

"WASHINGTON -- A "perfect storm" of falling literacy, the changing structure of the economy and rapid immigration threatens to sharply cut US competitiveness and lower living standards, according to a report released Wednesday."Unless we do something about it, this society could be swamped," said Kurt Landgraf, Educational Testing Service president."He cited lower school successes, globalization increasing the divide between the educated and not educated, and mass immigration of poor, uneducated people.What do you think?http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/news/view_article.php?article_id=48304"The report predicts that over the next quarter-century, the average level of literacy and math ability will fall five percent across the country, due to the arrival of largely uneducated immigrants and the departure from the labor force of the post-World War II baby-boomer generation."Over the next 25 years or so, as better-educated individuals leave the workforce they will be replaced by those who, on average, have lower levels of education and skill," the report said.One result, it said, would be a shrinking middle class, and expansion of the economic divide between the upper and lower classes.The report highlighted shortfalls in the US education system, which has a high school graduation rate of only 70 percent, ranking the United States 16th out of 21 countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, according to a recent OECD report.patois - who said anything about a race?

[MisterIllegalAlien]

Good, thats what whites deserve, for oppressing other cultures in America since its inception as a nation.

[cincywahine]

That report right there is why I am paying $5000 a year to send my son to a private school.Sad that our public educational system has reach this low level.

[MinuteWoman]

I think they all need birth control

[pickme_american]

Why do issues always have to get to the point of a senseless war because some have to be greedy,so many lifes lost for no reason because we wait for someone else to fix the problems, Americans trust leaders we shouldnt have,for obviouse reasons.Our government does not seem concerned.While our kids are in Iraq,why? Americans are waking up to these problems,what will it cost to fix it? I have written my congress,like many others,some politicians care about the illegal issue, and brinnging troops home,I plan to vote for them in 2008.

[MichaelE]

I think immigration has nothing to do with the education in this country. If we watched better metrics that the graduation percentage, kids might actually get out of school knowing something. We could have 100% graduation rate if and when they finally just do away with grading, period. We'll have a bunch of kids so stupid they'll need velcro shoes and digital watches, but we'll be number one on that stupid list.Set the standards high early, fail the kids who can't pass. Stop tying teacher pay to pass/fail ratios, and test teachers for competence. How freaking hard is that??

[abyssinia_7]

well, there is an opportunity cost to capitalism. These days, the kids are obsessed with being rich and a functionally illiterate person can go into real estate and become a millionaire! All I can say is that the more ed. slips, the more the USA has to be violent to maintain global power. It's going to be interesting to see!

[MHCitizensProtectingRights]

Fact is, it doesn't take a college degree to work retail, work in restaurants, or in many service industries. Most jobs that have any meaning are being outsourced to other countries so that the need for quality education isn't there and it promotes the ability of other countries to "OWN" the United States. Follow the money. The answers are always in the MONEY. There is no morals in government, no morality in our corporations, no loyalty to our U.S. Citizens and no real desire to change the status quo. Until and unless American Citizens stop allowing themselves to be treated as slaves to illegal immigration and corporations, our country will continue to go down hill. Leaders know that smart people won't stand for government or corporations screwing them. So, it is to their collective advantage to keep us stupid or, at the least, dumb us down so they can maintain control. Unless we vote, unless we stand up and unless we rebel against this attitude, we will continue to lose our status.Think about it. In 1986, three million illegal aliens were given amnesty by our government. In 2006, we have shown a 400% increase in illegal alien population. In 2001, 19 illegal aliens attacked our country successfully and caused law-abiding citizens to pay the price for it while reaping the rewards for themselves. From 1986 to 2006 How many children were born to the illegal alien population? How many of those children have loyalties to the USA? How many of them have loyalties to their illegal alien parents' home country? How many of them have acted on that? How many Hispanic gang members do we have today? How many of those children, born on U.S. soil, and now considered citizens will be voting in our elections and voting in their own, disloyal cohorts?

[AmyV]

Sounds like a pretty accurate assessment. Should we change it is a better question since we have operated with a laissez-faire attitude in most aspects of education, economics and immigration. Should we change it or allow the next generation to learn its own lesson?

[AllStars]

When I was growing up in Corpus Christi, Tx back in the 60s. There were no illegals(Mexicans) or none that I noticed. Corpus was over 50% Mexican-American. Portland which is a town close to Corpus wanted their kids to go to a nearby college but not in Corpus The only one nearby was in Corpus. Portland then asked the city to build a branch in Portland. The answer was no.Back then Portland was mostly white Americans. Do not give me that bullshi t of why white Americans are sending their kids to private schools.CRK, back in the 60s would you like to tell me in detail what my people were doing wrong to get discriminated.White professors were getting pissed off because we were graduating from the college.