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I hope a lot of you who read Karl's blog will read this...

A lot of what has been said starts with education. Big surprise that I would talk about this, eh? When we talk about discrimination of minorities in this country we are discussing the "status quo." It has a lot to do with the system perpetuating itself and continuing to produce citizens with great disparities. If you live in a low socioeconomic status neighborhood there is a good chance that you will have a lower quality education and therefore receive a lower quality job.

Take a look at standardized testing, there are statistics that show white males score consistently better overall on standardized tests. Why is that? The tests are written by white males. Standardized testing also does not evaluate a whole person, if I studied long and hard enough I could have probably done considerably better on my ACTs, but it doesn't prove anything. It shows I can regurgitate skills that have been drilled into me through 12 years of schooling. But do I really know how to think for myself? Did I learn problem solving? Critical thinking? How to teach myself? That's what education needs to focus on, not these standards, tests, and three ring circus we put kids through.

What does this have to do with anything? Well, standardized tests now tell the government who is "succeeding" and therefore who gets the funding. While telling other schools they need to come up to their standards in order to get the money. Wait... You may be asking "Isn't that backwards?" Why yes, but NCLB does exactly the opposite by not assisting its problem schools and rewarding its "golden" children. Once again back to the "status quo" those in power wish to keep power and perpetuate the cycle. Any of us who are future educators need to recognize that every single child deserves an equal education. From richest, most beautiful community to the most run down, poorest school district in the country. We disservice this country by not offering equal opportunity to our children. What for? There is no good reason. Do some research on what socioeconomic status has to do with success in school. You'll find that minorities and whites of a low SES will have more in common in education than comparing just race.

In our democracy we preach equality, but do not practice it. Instead we let uninformed "decision makers" in Washington decide how things are supposed to run. Browse through NCLB and then take a look through any modern education publications and you'll see polar opposites. Success isn't measured in test scores and awards. It's measured in the type of person produced from our education system. A few words to think about when talking education: trust, leadership, community (including family.)

I argue in terms of education because it is what I know and if you take the time you'll find that it plays a big part in a lot of what's wrong with our country.