I sinceerly hope I'm wrong, but sometimes I get the impression that the United States is an extremely backward nation. Sure, we get high marks as a world leader. We have a high standard of living. Our economy works very well. We do great research and develop all kinds of things to make the world better. But then I read the papers and watch TV and I see that we have a huge segment of our population that can't measure using the metric system. Some of them can't understand ounces and inches. We have people who can't read the instructions on a ballot, and many who don't know how to count the votes. We have people who think New Mexico and Hawaii are foreign countries and that the North Pole is in Alaska. They picture penguins at the North Pole. (I sent some students to the library once to find out if polar bears eat penguins. But that's another story.)We have adults who can't name a dozen states and others that don't know the difference between states and cities. Most Americans have to stop and think before they can name their Senators and some of them can't do it. We have people who can't name two oceans, can't figure out why things cost more if you buy them on credit, don't know how many zeros are in a million, don't know if the year 2000 is part of the 20th or 21st century, can't read a road map, can't drive a manual transmission, don't know the difference between an electron and a proton, think that presidents make laws and grant tax cuts, couldn't pick their governor out of a line-up, and can't dail 911 because they can't remember the number. They might know which way is up, but north, south, east, and west are a complete mystery. Then there are those of us who can't spell. Some can't write a sentence or turn on a computer. They couldn't catch a cyber butterfly in an internet. If you want to see real confusion, show one of our citizens some figures written by a European who uses a comma for a decimal point. Most people have no idea what the word stop means when displayed on a red sign. Last and worst are the people who don't understand why we need to spend more money to improve education in this great country of ours.
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