Cometh the Hour, Punteth the Man ... Mark Steyn

The Corner ^ | 13 Apr 2011 | Mark Steyn

[Rummyfan]

There’s something sad about a man so carelessly revealing himself as entirely inadequate to the moment. Government spending is an existential threat to the United States. Whether or not anyone at the White House knows this, the viziers decided to shove the sultan out on stage with a pitifully unserious speech retreating to all his lamest tropes – the usual whiny, petty and unpresidential partisan snippiness, and the ponderous demolition of straw men even he barely bothered to pretend he believed in:

Politicians are often eager to feed the impression that solving the problem is just a matter of eliminating waste and abuse –that tackling the deficit issue won’t require tough choices.

Yeah, right. Why don’t we start by eliminating whatever dope got paid to write that sentence?

This speech failed Rich’s “What’s yours?” test. In fact, it more or less declared to the world that this Administration has no plan, and has no plan to plan on getting a plan anytime soon. But America is not Greece. There is no Germany to bail us out. Only we can do it. And the President just signaled to the world that that’s not going to happen. Here’s one example of his and his speechwriters’ hideous laziness:

If there are bright young Americans who have the drive and the will but not the money to go to college, we can’t afford to send them… South Korean children are outpacing our kids in math and science.

That last bit is true – but it’s nothing to do with money. According to the most recent OECD figures (2007), the Koreans spent $5,437 per primary-school pupil; we spent $10,229. For education as a whole, the Koreans spent $7,325 per pupil; we spent $14,269. They not only “outpace our kids in math and science”; they do it by only spending half as much.

That’s the problem, and whichever hack speechwriter put those ridiculous words in the President’s mouth surely knew it. As did the President. We spend more than anyone but the Swiss on education, and by any rational measure at least half of it is entirely wasted: That model is why this country is dying, and the President just went on TV and bragged to the world he has no plans to change it.

The whole speech was like that, a litany of brain-dead slapdash rhetorical questions that for sentient beings are no longer rhetorical: My fellow Americans, do we want an America where our most lethargic and mediocre youth are denied a leisurely half-decade acquiring a fraudulent six-figure credential in some worthless pseudo-discipline simply because we can’t afford it?

Well, it’d be a start.

[bert]

———We spend more than anyone but the Swiss on education———

No, we don’t. We don’t spend federal money on education, we spend federal money on educators.

[Eagle of Liberty]

I wish I could compress that sentiment to a tagline.

Posted this on the Rush Thread yesterday during the speech (which I am still amazed my ears lasted as long as they did):

Summary of Obama's speech so far (about 20 min in):

"A big shout out to all you in the crowd!! America Sucks!! Thank you very much and good night!!"

[Buckeye McFrog]

I love Mark Steyn just for creating the word Punteth

[Eagle of Liberty]

No, we don’t. We don’t spend federal money on education, we spend federal money on educators.

Worse yet, we spend even more on "School Administrators".

[Bigg Red]

The usual Steyn brilliance....

[Hacklehead]

For the little it’s worth, I heard a usually left-leaning morning radio show host bashing Obama on his raise-taxes on the rich proposal. He and his crew agreed the bloom was off the rose.

[EternalVigilance]

I wish I could compress that sentiment to a tagline.

The best I could come up with while I'm drinking my coffee this morning...

[EternalVigilance]

No, we don’t. We don’t spend federal money on education, we spend federal money on educators.

Sadly, we spend most of it on more bureaucrats.

[wintertime]

we spent $14,269.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

In my state there are NO private day schools that have a tuition that high. Even the **most** exclusive private schools with all the country clubs amenities do no charge that much.

When looking at the budget, on every level, ( federal, state, and local), we must find new ways of educating our young people.

1) Get the federal government completely out of the education business in every manner from kindergarten to providing research grants on the graduate school level.

2) Allow any child of any age to take the GED or similar private exam. If he passes give him an official diploma from his local high school. This opens up opportunities for him in the military and for scholarships in post high school education. The fewer children in school, the fewer teachers and buildings that are needed.

3) Charles Murray is right! We needed competency exams to prove mastery of specific subjects. We do NOT necessarily need kids in college! The information and lectures could be available on-line. The on-line lectures and material could be **free** if it included advertising. Even in the professions such as medicine, dentistry, law, nursing, etc., a great deal of the information could be provided **free** on-line.

4) Competency exams could even been used from first grade onward. If a child masters a subject, as proven by a competency exam, he should be promoted to the next level in that specific subject. Again, much of the material and lectures could be on-line for free. The sooner a child finishes , the sooner he can get on with his career and life, and fewer teachers, and buildings would be needed.

[notomarx]

This man has a wonderful way with words. Thanks for the posting.

[Christian4Bush]

bump

[nina0113]

When we tested at Sylvan learning center, it became apparent that my child’s teacher skipped fractions in 4th grade, decimals, too.

But that's all there IS to 4th-grade math. What did she teach if not those?

[Gritty]

Every year the Education Establishment announces our education system had "bad weather" and has failed to meet it's assigned quotas.

Next year will be different, Comrade, if we just throw more money at it!

[ScottinVA]

(BTW, have you ever seen the muck undernerath a barrel?)

Why, yes I have!

In addition to the muddy muck, we find:

Slugs,

Sow bugs,

Ants,

Centipedes,

Earthworms,

Spiders,

and far more vile creatures, such as...

This.

[ScottinVA]

But that's all there IS to 4th-grade math. What did she teach if not those?

"Multicultural Math: 1+1=Two mommies."

[SoFloFreeper]

[B.O. said]:If there are bright young Americans who have the drive and the will but not the money to go to college, we can’t afford to send them… South Korean children are outpacing our kids in math and science.

[Steyn responded:]That last bit is true – but it’s nothing to do with money. According to the most recent OECD figures (2007), the Koreans spent $5,437 per primary-school pupil; we spent $10,229. For education as a whole, the Koreans spent $7,325 per pupil; we spent $14,269. They not only “outpace our kids in math and science”; they do it by only spending half as much.

WHAT A TESTIMONY TO THE JOKE OF TODAY'S LAMESTREAM MEDIA! NO ONE CAUGHT ONTO THIS EXCEPT STEYN?? OR DID NO ONE ELSE BOTHER TO FACT CHECK BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA?

Today, the networks are too busy hugging Obama, becoming spokespersons for the regime (see Linda Douglass and Jay Carney), and drooling over Michelle Obama's friendliness with Beyonce....

[mojito]

King 0 and his know-nothing party have declared that there will be no attempt to reform the welfare state, even though it's no longer affordable, even if it bankrupts the country. They would rather destroy the fabric of the nation, than attempt to mend it, because they are ideologically wedded to the notion that big government is a kind of metaphysical good and their defense of it a proof of their goodness. And this despite all the evidence pointing to the misery they will cause.

There can be no reasoning with these people. There can only be defeating them.

[neverdem]

bump & a Steyn ping

Those costs per pupil are probably true. NYC was paying $10k per pupil over a decade ago. I saw it in the supposed “paper of record.” The NYC public schools were getting $11 billion for 1.1 million students.