My perspective on the American education system drastically changed after I saw the movie “waiting for Superman” a couple of months ago. Prior to the experience, I was more concerned with my own education: finishing high school successfully, going on to college, finishing college successfully, a career, money, a family. The film did well to elucidate the crucial problems that the United States’ education system—specifically the inner city education system—faces. Drop out rates are as high as they’ve ever been. Children that attend inner city schools are bullied for rising above their environment and succeeding academically. The film followed several stories about families desperately hoping that their child will be selected in a lottery for a charter school so that they have a chance to be a success.
The political cartoon I found deals with the concept of America’s education system going down the drain. The bus is “driving” towards success, but the viewer sees that students are “leaving through the back door” in the opposite direction of success. The cartoon was found on townhall.com, which, after some quick views at the other political cartoons they have, I deemed to be a very conservative website. The other cartoons deal with making fun of President Obama and supporting the recent Tea Party movement. Conservative or not, the education crisis the country faces is pressing. Asian countries such as China and India rank higher in math scores than the United States does; for decades the United States has been used to leading the world economically, with military strength, and technology, but this could change. With the high drop out rate and widespread illiteracy across the nation, how could the country lead a world that is advancing just as much as we are regressing?
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