It seems to me when people say something like, "School never taught me what life has," they're usually the kids who never paid attention.
There are so many reasons education In the US isn't prized as it ought to be. One is that kids are young; it's hard to grasp the connections and application of learning to all aspects of life when you've only been around a decade and a half. Learning is a lot like packing for a trip. You need all the right items, but you can't really get your mind off the fun.
There's also our culture. There's a pervasive adolescent attitude in this country that we know everything already and don't need to be told anything. We are based on capitalism; most kids grow up planning their income potential. Fewer seek fulfilling, challenging work in progressive sectors. We're lazy; in our culture, vast numbers of grown men spend their free time playing video games or texting. We've pushed off the average age of marriage, of having kids, of retirement. We'll do anything - anything - in this country to hold onto youth. And for as much as we bitch and moan about oversees jobs and "made in America," few people are willing to stand along conveyor belts or assembly lines. We complain, but we'll take cheap, foreign goods over hard work most of the time.
And the educational systems is sick. It's bloated, concentrated on the wrong things and it's failing kids. When I was in school, we had time for P.E., civics, language, library study, cursive writing, music and all the regular subjects...and still went home at 3pm. Kids in too many states spend whole semesters robotically prepping from standardized test. That is not learning.
The best - the BEST - gift you can give yourself is an education. With the ability to actively learn, observe and assess, anything is possible.
