If you were thinking China, you may
be right, but China has been surpassing us for years and nothing has
changed. Our nations capital is still
spending more overseas than it is at home.
It may frighten you to hear this, but Al-Qaida has won. It’s sole objective was not invade America,
it was to bankrupt it. Spending hundreds
of billions a year on foreign investments and military defense, borrowing
trillions from China to fight a war on credit, this nation has stopped
investing in itself and instead gambling on other lucrative ventures
abroad. Waiting for the government to
shift focus from drones to homes is not going to happen anytime soon. A grass roots movement from the people is the
only way tomorrow’s course will be altered.
It is the private sector that has
been taking the lead on this so far.
Programs like the EXXON
Mobil STEM Educational Initiative have been the face of STEM and the lead
in awakening our culture to the importance for our nation to stay competitive. It is the teachers who discuss the vast
potential and opportunities with their children that these fields hold. It is the companies like Apple and Google who
invite students to their studios to engage them in the tech world. It is the parents who give them an iPad to
explore their curiosities and not just play games.
Rebuilding America starts with
rebuilding our youth and investing in the infrastructure of our schools that in
turn defines us as a nation. The importance
of teachers focusing on STEM education is widely important because it gives our
next generation the greatest opportunity for potential success. Taiwan has no oil, natural resources, and is nothing but barren rock, but
because they have invested in themselves and their infrastructure they now have the worlds 4th largest monetary reserve (Friedman, 2010).
As other countries surpass us, America needs to wake up and prepare our
future leaders for the 21st century world.
Once the nations people have taken wind of rebuilding our infrastructure, they will pressure our leaders to bring our troops home. More importantly, that pressure should continue to invest in all of our troops to re-acclimate them to society and become leaders in the job sector. It starts with scaling down our military and focusing more on our own nation, than on those abroad. History has shown that societies are not built from foreign entanglements. That money spent abroad can not be focused on what makes this country great, our children, our troops, and our ingenuity.
Once the nations people have taken wind of rebuilding our infrastructure, they will pressure our leaders to bring our troops home. More importantly, that pressure should continue to invest in all of our troops to re-acclimate them to society and become leaders in the job sector. It starts with scaling down our military and focusing more on our own nation, than on those abroad. History has shown that societies are not built from foreign entanglements. That money spent abroad can not be focused on what makes this country great, our children, our troops, and our ingenuity.
References:
Aarons, D. I. (2008). New skills seen essential for
global competition. Education
Week, 28(4)
Friedman, T. L. (2010, January 17). What’s our Sputnik?
[Op-Ed]. The New York
Times [Late
Edition (East Coast)]
It is no time like the present to begin resolving some our biggest conflicts in this country. As Friedman, T.L. states, "we need to start investing into ourselves for continual growth instead of everyone else." Educators need to be properly trained on making the appraoch successful, while administration should assume the ability to positively assist our Teachers during the process. Parents will play a key role in building this foundation and establishing the effort in our students for future success.
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