The Failure of Public Schools

John Stossel who is one of the hosts on ABC's 20/20 recently hosted a TV special called "Stupid in America". In this show he pointed out several facts and statistics that highlight the failure of our nation's public school system to educate our children. He writes about the fallout he has experienced since the showed aired here. Here are some highlights:

Teachers unions are mad at me. The New York State United Teachers demands I apologize for my "gutter level" journalism, "an irresponsible assault on public school students and teachers." This is because I hosted an ABC News TV special titled "Stupid in America," which pointed out:

-- American fourth graders do well on international tests, but by high school, Americans have fallen behind kids in most other countries.

-- The constant refrain that "public schools need more money" is nonsense. Many countries that spend significantly less on education do better than we do...

-- Most American parents give their kids' schools an A or B grade, but that's only because, without market competition, they don't know what they might have had...

-- There is little K-12 education competition in America because public schools are a government monopoly...

All that angered the unions. But when they criticize my "bias and ignorance," I don't hear them refute the points listed above. They don't refute them because they can't. It's just a fact that rules that insist an energetic, hard-working teacher who makes learning fun must be paid exactly the same as a lazy, incompetent teacher are rules that promote mediocrity...

Instead, teachers' unions announced that Wednesday (3/8), they will hold demonstrations against me and ABC in New York City, Chicago, Atlanta, Detroit, and elsewhere. One police permit suggests the crowd outside my office will number 750-1,000 people. It should be interesting...

Here once again is a prime example of the liberal establishment refusing to see things for how they are and making the choice instead to live in fantasy land. At the expense of our children I might add. Look no one argues that there are many fine people working as teachers and administrators in our public school system. But if America is to keep her innovative edge in the global economy then we must at least be willing to admit that the current education system is not working and throwing more money at it is not the answer. What we're getting instead is the teacher's union putting their interests above the education of our children because they don't want to disrupt the status quo.

Iran Threatens "Harm and Pain"

In the latest exchange of words over the threat of a nuclear Iran, Iran has threatened to bring harm and pain to us for our role in bringing Iran before the U.N. Security Council over their so called "peaceful" quest for nuclear energy. Personally I think we should skip the U.N. entirely and if necessary go unilaterally to take out Iran. Recent evidence has shown that Iran is manufacturing and smuggling improvised explosive devices (IED) into Iraq. The latest generation of these IED's being manufactured in Iran is able to penetrate the strongest armor we have deployed in the field and they are killing Americans. As far as I'm concerned they have already declared war on us. But in the interest of diplomacy, we have chosen the world view on this issue for the time being and are giving the U.N. yet another opportunity to take action. It is very unlikely that the U.N. will do anything to prevent Iran from joining the "nuclear club" and becoming a very destabilizing force in the Middle East. More than likely it will come down to another U.S. lead effort to oust a radical regime. So that brings me to the title of my post. What harm and pain can Iran bring to the U.S.? Certainly they are a major exporter of terrorism and some sort of terrorist attack is a possibility. I tend to think the harm and pain they're referring to is more subtle than a terrorist attack. Iran is the second largest producer of oil in the Middle East. They have recently forged very strong financial ties with Russia, China, Japan and India by setting up exclusive oil contracts with these countries and nuclear technology sharing from Russia in particular. Oil has become a global commodity and the price of oil is set not by OPEC or the U.S. but by oil traders. This puts us in a very vulnerable position. The U.S. has had trade sanctions imposed against Iran since 1979. This does not mean that oil produced in Iran does not make it to our shores. Any disruption or rumor of disruption of the flow of oil into the global market causes spikes in the price of oil. We have already seen this occur several times since Hurricane Katrina. There has also been a move afoot over the past few years by the oil producing countries in the Middle East to shift to the gold Dinar as the currency with which to buy and sell oil. Currently the U.S. dollar is the currency used in buying and selling oil. President Nixon took us off the gold standard back in 1971 and today the U.S. dollar, no longer backed by gold is traded as another commodity on the open market. As the value of the dollar rises and falls against other currencies, money is made and lost in oil transactions. Let's say we pay someone for tanker full of oil at $60 a barrel today. Tomorrow the value of the dollar drops so that the $60 barrel of oil we paid for yesterday is now worth $58 a barrel. The seller of that oil just lost a ton of money. Unlike the U.S. dollar, the Dinar is gold and is therefore not subject to same fluctuations in value as the U.S. dollar. Saddam Hussein saw the logic of moving to the gold Dinar and realized that doing so could cause damage to the U.S. economy. He made several attempts while he was still in power to make this move. I believe that Iran will use the only weapon it really has against the U.S. right now and this is oil, to bring us harm and pain. By disrupting or threatening to disrupt the flow of oil, they hope to bring America to its knees at the gas pump. If they're able to couple this with influencing other oil producing countries to move to the gold Dinar, it could cause us some problems. We've already seen how Americans react to a disruption in gasoline supplies. Nothing short of sheer panic. Many of our parents and their parents suffered through the great depression and had to make great sacrifices at home so that "our greatest generation" of fighting men and women could go overseas to defeat Germany and Japan. Thousands and thousands of volunteers willing to sacrifice their lives if necessary to preserve this country for us to enjoy today. I look around and wonder; would Americans today with their apathetic view of the world beyond their backyard and their narrow focus of chatting on cell phones and downloading MP3's to their iPods be willing to make the same sacrifices Americans before us have had to make? I want to believe that we would but I can't say it with certainty as I watch the moral fabric of our nation unravel before my eyes