Stephan: The Republican Party beginning with Reagan realized that the dumber the American population the easier it would be to manipulate them, particularly with fear. culminating in the education disaster of Betsy DeVos, Trump's Secretary of Education. The citizens of the United States, on the basis of hard data, are amongst the most poorly educated in the developed world. Am I exaggerating or making this up? Here are the facts, like something pulled out of the toilet:
Nationwide, only 79% of U.S. adults are literate in 2022.
21% of adults in the US are illiterate in 2022.
54% of adults have a literacy below 6th grade level.
Low levels of literacy costs the US up to 2.2 trillion per year.
34% of adults who lack proficiency in literacy were born outside the US.
Massachusetts was the state with the highest rate of child literacy.
New Mexico was the state with the lowest child literacy rate.
The state with the highest percentage of adults who were considered literate was New Hampshire.
The state with the lowest adult literacy rate was California.
On average, nationwide, 66% of 4th grade children in the U.S. could not read at the level they should in 2013.
The average pay for a public school teacher in 2020 was $63,645, but when you compare Red states with Blue states, not surprisingly given the Republican attempt to transform or end public education, in the Red states it is far lower -- Mississippi $45,192, Florida $48,800. Arkansas $49,882, being Red state examples.
On top of that, as this report lays out, the gestalt of the job has become unattractive. As every culture from the Greek's on has learned education and democracy are closely intertwined. This is a major crisis.
An empty classroom in Massachusetts. Credit: Adam Glanzman/Bloomberg News
Rural school districts in Texas are switching to four-day weeks this fall due to lack of staff. Florida is asking veterans with no teaching background to enter classrooms. Arizona is allowing college students to step in and instruct children.
The teacher shortage in America has hit crisis levels — and school officials everywhere are scrambling to ensure that, as students return to classrooms, someone will be there to educate them.
“I have never seen it this bad,” Dan Domenech, executive director of the School Superintendents Association, said of the teacher shortage. “Right now it’s number one on the list of issues that are concerning school districts … necessity is the mother of invention, and hard-pressed districts are going to have to come up with some solutions.”
It is hard to know exactly how many U.S. classrooms are short of teachers for the 2022-2023 school year; no national database precisely tracks the issue. But state- and district-level reports have emerged […]
I am on Social Security and only make $12,540 per year., even though I worked on projects such as the Tantalum capacitors which were put into my step-father’s pacemaker and gave him ten more years of life.These capacitors were also instrumental in making the Space-shuttles run. I never made more than $40,000 per year on those important jobs. I can’t fathom how a teacher cannot survive on $45,000 per year, although the price of everything is more now. It is no wonder why I have such a hard time balancing my books on the amount the Social Security system gives me, especially since my wife died and I now have almost the same bills to pay without my wife’s income. I may not survive.
I am on Social Security and only make $12,540 per year., even though I worked on projects such as the Tantalum capacitors which were put into my step-father’s pacemaker and gave him ten more years of life.These capacitors were also instrumental in making the Space-shuttles run. I never made more than $40,000 per year on those important jobs. I can’t fathom how a teacher cannot survive on $45,000 per year, although the price of everything is more now. It is no wonder why I have such a hard time balancing my books on the amount the Social Security system gives me, especially since my wife died and I now have almost the same bills to pay without my wife’s income. I may not survive.