A good follow up: Obama and Our Schools.

Well, I would just get my dragon to address the growing divide.  For like my dragon, the growing divide is a myth.  As is poverty in America.  But they do make good campaign speeches and sound bites, but little else.

But education?  Perhaps we should take a radical and new approach.  The first step is to admit that not all children are headed to, eligible for, or want to go to college.  And that many of the jobs out there do not require a college education.  There is no shame in being a good auto mechanic.  In some ways I respect mine far more than I do my doctor (and I dont say lawyer cause I have no respect for them).  My plumber is another example.  An honest man that can fix my issues with ease - something that I am not capable of.

There are many trades that are decent paying (unless you run your own business, you will not be a go-zillionaire), that need to be done, that do not require college.  So once we admit that college is not for everyone, lets start a real (not second thought) effort to bring those trades into our education system.  And stop forcing "Algebra II" on those who are never going to look at a balance sheet in their life.

Once we do that, we can then devote resources to those who want to go to college (again due to the education system, these students are really given short shrift), and prepare them for it.  It would cut down on College drop outs, while allowing resources to be targeted for what matters for the students, instead of treating everyon one like they were the next Arnold Einstein, or Martin Buffet.

This is not the whole answer, just a point to begin the discussion with.

I don't think anyone does, but some people accept it, some people chose to stay that way and some are comfortable being poor. I have met people who would rather keep their current pay than move up in the company and have met some who are happy with what they have.

While I mostly agree with DrGuy's post, I also believe people need to learn what is necessary and what is not. Does one really need a 27" palsma as oppose to a 27 " regualr TV? A dvd will look almost as good on the regular TV and unless you plan on paying for HDTV satellite or cable or plan on buying an expensive blueray player and buy expensive blueray movies, I don't understand the point. The same goes with expensive cell-phones as oppose to the basic or just above basic cell-phones. Why the need to be able to look at youtube.com while out in the street on such a small screen? I am always facinated by people who think 13 inch TV's or 15 inch computer monitors are too small to see movies and home videos or youtube.com yet they don't seem to have a problem looking at movies, home videos and youtube.com on a 2 inch screen on their phones.

I d say lets look back in history and look to George Washington Caver's Tuskgee aproach, which is basicly what you said Dr Guy. 

They are also making college educations a requirement for jobs that most likely don't need it.  My grand father is an old steam pipefitter foreman with an eight grade education, a job he can do today if he wants to, yet to get the job today you need a four year degree.

First let me agree with everyone that has posted so far. Now I'll add a political twist (feel free to put on an unpleasant face or roll eyes if you so desire). IMO the left controls education, therefore leftist values are being absorbed by many children over the course of their 12 year indoctrination period (even more if they go to college). The leftist ideas depend on issues such as entitlement and minimum responsibility to perpetuate and expand their base.

I'm not saying this to be mean, it's very effective, many on the left might not even realize it is happening or at least having this effect. Just think about it for a moment, if everyone is prosperous, social programs would be irrelevant. Who could you blame for your misfortune if you are well off? From the rights perspective, if everyone is wealthy they will pay less taxes, because everyone is paying something. Who could you blame if the government is not in the way of your success?

So yes poverty is taught, inherited, and reinforced into a poor persons mind starting at an early age. After that laziness or indefference takes over.It takes a strong person to break this cycle. I also believe there are people that don't think of themselves as poor. They have all they need and are happy. These people are poor because they are told that they are poor or don't live within the set standards (through education). I think the mountain people of W.Virginia fall into this group, I'm sure there are other examples too.

I agree that there is a certain sense of shame applied to professions that don't require a college degree - suprisingly tech support can be one of those. My only concern would be someone going down a certain track then deciding to change to another track - like someone considering autorepair takes an EMT class and wants to a be nurse or doctor.

There has to be some mobility in the system. I think the challenge inherent to the pre-college education system is preparing people for that mobility. Personally, I think that the most important math might be statistics, and that a large portion of classes dealing with literature can be replaced by economics and some sort of writing analysis class.

Imagine a citizenry armed with even basic understanding of American law, economics, and statistics? That would make politicians likely quiver in their boots...

Nitro Cruiser - I agree that there needs to be more results oriented education. Getting kids to love Shakespeare and music seems to be at best a secondary concern when China and India have more honor students than the US has students. Now we've managed to "brain drain" other countries of engineers and such for some time, but more and more international students seem to like the idea of returning to their homelands and working there.

Time will tell, but I fear the deficit of the scientifically minded American child will only curb the US's power. And I think liberal or conservative, it's important to realize that while the US is an imperfect world policeman, we are a far far better one than India or China would be.