I Got Beef

I got beef with our educational system.  What sort of place do we live in where students at a city college, that is, students that have been allowed to graduate high school, can’t read without stuttering and certainly can’t be asked to write a single coherent sentence?

I know, you’re probably thinking helloooo, City college.  Yes, most students at a city college are sub-par.  Yes, most students didn’t have the ambition, grades, or money to afford something better, but that doesn’t mean they’re stupid (or so I thought). 

Rudimentary reading and writing skills shouldn’t be a classification for stupid or smart.  They are rudimentary for a reason.  They are a part of the basic skill set we need to survive in this society.  I can make exceptions, some people aren’t great at English, some aren’t native English speakers.  But for criminy’s sake, I’m asking for a comma here, a period there, a sentence that actually makes sense.

And my beef, this time around, is why in God’s name can’t these students compose a clear sentence?  How come they’re unaware of when to throw in a period or when to use “was” instead of “were”?  I think it’s unacceptable that kids are allowed to graduate.

I mean, what’s the point of going to school if a majority of the kids are going to be glossed over?  We’re pretty much holding them hostage for 8 hours a day and then releasing them into the wild, unprepared and ill-suited for the real world. 

We’re supposed to be this great and powerful country that all other countries should covet.  Yes, we’re supposed to be amazing, yet we are breeding and perpetuating the common idiot.  Is it “the man’s” way of keeping us down?  Is it a conspiracy to make the rich richer and the poor poorer?

Probably not, but it’s definitely a sad, fucked up state of affairs when people 18 and up probably spell worse than my 5 year old niece.

And why are we catering to the Spanish-speaking community???  My niece goes to school and the children that speak only Spanish aren’t being integrated into the English language, but being taught in Spanish.  How will that help them?  In the long run, they’re in the United States, and as much as some people don’t want to admit it, speaking English is imperative. 

Not only that, if we’re going to cater to Spanish speakers, why are other foreign tongues not treated the same way?  You go anywhere public, you’re likely to see signs and hear notifications that are said in English then in Spanish.  Where are the announcements for the Chinese?  For the many other people that don’t speak English as a first language?   

 If you ask me, THAT’S a conspiracy to keep the poor man down.