In a recent column about education I stated my thoughts on improving education in America that relied on parents being more involved with their child’s education and improving competition between schools by having a school voucher that follows the child wherever the parents of the child desire to have their child educated.

Although I can’t say I agree with it, some countries, even in democracies, fine citizens if they don’t vote. Massachusetts now fines its citizens who don’t get health insurance and by 2014 – unless it’s repealed – all Americans will have to have health insurance. Will it be necessary to fine parents who aren’t making sure that their child is learning? I would hate to think what that would cost to enforce but it’s something to think about.

After researching for a lengthy period of time online about education in America, I have come to the conclusion we are falling behind other nations but to decide exactly who is at fault depends upon what side of the blame game one wants to be on. Some say the children are at fault by using the theory that some just can’t learn or even don’t desire to learn because they are lazy. This doesn’t make much sense to me but then again these could be the same people suing McDonald’s because Happy Meals made their kids fat. Who bought those meals in the first place?

I think that the largest group being blamed for our declining status in education is the teachers themselves. This is unfortunate because we all know that there are excellent teachers, good teachers and then those teachers who shouldn’t be teaching anything to anybody. If our present system of educating children allows bad teachers to continue teaching without improving themselves, then it is more of a system problem than a people problem, which is why I believe there should not be any government unions at all. More on that in a future column.

I read a study that asked school psychologists to define what is wrong with our education system. To keep it simple here are five reasons from that study: The curriculum, the teacher, the school administration, the parents and the children themselves. What do you think this study concluded who was at fault? The psychologists concluded that there was nothing wrong with the curriculum, teacher or school administration. About 20 percent stated the parents were at fault for not being involved with their child’s education and 100 percent stated the children are at fault for our failing education system. How can this be? I believe that it is the school system that is broken in our nation and it is the first place that parents should be examining closely. After all, are school employees going to complain about what’s wrong at their school? To answer that question, please take a close look at the teachers’ union.

The impact of a failing education system in our country is already being felt by our very own military. When I was first drafted in 1968 one had to have a very serious mental or physical problem in order to not be drafted. It’s hard to believe but there were 100,000 men drafted called “McNamara’s 100,000” who could not pass the military’s mental tests.

By today’s standards, 75 out of 100 people from the age of 17 to 24 are unfit to even qualify to take the military’s entrance exam because they are not physically fit, have a criminal record or did not graduate from high school. That leaves only 25 percent to enter the military but here’s another big problem. Twenty-three percent of those taking the mental tests will fail. So out of 100 people less than 20 qualify to be in the military. What does that mean for the future of our children and our nation?

Even more importantly, who’s going to do anything about it?

Lane Hiltunen of Windham can be contacted at lhiltunen@roadrunner.com.

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