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WSRL.ORG/EDU-1 - 12/16/06 & 1/21/07 Update - The "The New Commission" just released on December 14, 2006, a report on the U.S. education system entitled "Tough Choices or Tough Times". The book and full report can be purchased from Amazon or you can download an executive summary from this location. It's now January 21, 2007 and the above report has been circulating for several weeks. A different view on the report, generated by a school district in Colorado Springs, can be read here. I would submit that one of the major reasons the U.S. education is failing so badly is because of the environment instructors are forced to work in. As has been the case in the past, I'm not at all certain that throwing more money at the problem, as has been suggested, will solve anything.
November 2006 - Quite a few people in the U.S. consider the education system to be in crisis mode as reflected by unacceptable dropout rates and low test scores. This page renders no judgment on these issues but rather attempts to put the viewer in touch with appropriate data sources regarding these topics. You are more than capable of making up your own mind regarding the state of U.S. education. Because local educational expenses are paid from taxpayer monies, I'm quite sure that everyone is in favor of getting the most educational bang for the taxpayer buck. In rural areas especially, school expenses are on the rise driven by such factors as higher fuel costs and costs of materials.
Local Schools - This page also attempts to put the visitor in touch with the local Information Technology infrastructure that both supports and is used by educators and staffers in the area. If I read the State spreadsheet correctly, it currently costs approximately $6000.00 per pupil per year for schooling. For a total of 12 years, and in constant dollars, this amounts to approximately $70,000.00 per pupil for schooling. Compared to many if not all under developed countries, this represents a golden educational opportunity that should not be wasted.
Internet Technology - Access to the Internet as an educational requirement is a given today. Unfortunately and for various reasons, neither Qwest nor TDS (local telephone companies) have been either willing or able to supply an appropriate Internet feed (circuit) to Delta area schools. This has resulted in the rather strange situation of Delta Montrose Electric stringing fiber optic cable between the VoTec center and an interface point with TDS west of the Delta hospital. This configuration has apparently provided adequate connectivity to the schools but I'm not sure what many rural students do for Internet connectivity at home after hours.
Continuing Education - Funding for vocational level training has always been a challenge. College level training promises to become ever more expensive and hard to acquire. There are reported stories of tutors being paid upwards of $30,000.00 to guide students in creating college entrance essays to prestigious universities. I'm sure distance learning (E-learning) will prove to be ever more helpful as a solution but will never be a total solution. There is currently a world of free seminars (Webinars), lectures and on-line tutorials available on the Internet but such programs typically require Internet connections faster than what is currently available to large areas of Delta County.
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December 2006
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