An American Lion

I want to draw your attention to two things that struck me as being symptomatic of where America is headed as far as education is concerned—straight off of a cliff.

In Kansas City, they want to close half of the public schools. As shocking as that might sound, the combined effects of mismanagement and declining enrollment should have already brought about that eventuality:

Kansas City was held up as a national example of bold thinking when it tried to integrate its schools by making them better than the suburban districts where many kids were moving. The result was one school with an Olympic-sized swimming pool and another with recording studios.

Now it’s on the brink of bankruptcy and considering another bold move: closing nearly half its schools to stay afloat.

Schools officials say the cuts are necessary to keep the district from plowing through what little is left of the $2 billion it received as part of a groundbreaking desegregation case.

Buffeted for years by declining enrollment, political squabbling and a revolving door of leadership, the district’s fortunes are so bleak that Superintendent John Covington has said diplomas given to many graduates “aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on.”

At one point, the Kansas City school district had 75,000 students; today it has barely 35,000. In other words, people voted with their feet.

In Detroit, people are not only voting with their feet, they are cringing when they read their E-mail:

As if Detroit doesn’t have enough problems these days, the president of the city’s school board offered the shocking admission that he can’t pen a coherent sentence.

Otis Mathis, who oversees the academic future of 90,000 public school students, told the Detroit News that he’s a “horrible writer” after reports surfaced that he sent a Feb. 29 e-mail to the financial manager of Detroit Public Schools that was rife with spelling, punctuation and usage errors.

“If you saw Sunday’s Free Press that shown Robert Bobb the emergency financial manager for Detroit Public Schools, move Mark Twain to Boynton which have three times the number seats then students and was one of the reason’s he gave for closing school to many empty seats,” the e-mail read, according to the paper.

Mathis, 56, of Detroit, has had difficulties with language as early as fourth grade, when he was placed in special education classes. His college degree was also held up for more than a decade due to repeatedly failing English proficiency exams required for graduation from Wayne State University, the paper reported.

If you’re going to run things and educate kids, shouldn’t you be able to do math (declining enrollment means you need fewer schools) and write a sentence (huh? what the hell is that about?) or am I simply being ridiculous?

Lowering our standards does not mean everyone gets to feel better about themselves. All it does is institutionalize marginal incompetence and stupidity. We don’t need that in a great nation. We need tougher standards, better schools, and people who can actually function as adults.