As the snow continues to fall across America, more and more students are being forced to take the day off of school to protest the lack of education in America's public schools. To talk about all of this and much more, I bring on Nicholas Giordano, host of the PAS Report podcast, to talk about the situation.
00:07:34.720They never locked into their computers, never did remote learning or anything like that.
00:07:38.840And we just simply cycle students through.
00:07:40.680That's what our education system has become.
00:07:42.740I was arguing with someone from Massachusetts.
00:07:45.200They were saying how wonderful Massachusetts schools are and how they perform very well.
00:07:49.720And I explained to them, well, Massachusetts does better than most of the country.
00:07:54.040I mean, it is in the top when it comes to education.
00:07:57.180But your proficiency levels are still at 50 percent.
00:08:01.140Like that's nothing to I'm not going to brag that, oh, student body is only 50 percent proficient.
00:08:07.480If you're at 80 percent, that's something to brag about, not 50 percent.
00:08:10.940But when we look at it, it's terrifying.
00:08:14.420UNC, UC San Diego, I mean, over in California, they had to introduce another remedial math course.
00:08:21.000So most colleges have remedial math for mathematics that you should have learned in high school, algebra, geometry, those sorts of subjects.
00:08:29.360They just introduced a remedial math program for middle school math.
00:08:35.920People entering college that have had 13 years of education behind them are now going to have to take a remedial college course that teaches them middle school math.
00:08:47.340So when we look at the failure of academia, it starts at the bottom.
00:08:51.300It's K through 12 and the higher education system.
00:08:53.600The whole thing has completely collapsed.
00:08:55.740Now, I wouldn't advise people not send their kids to college.
00:08:58.440It really all depends what your kids want to do, what people want to do.
00:09:01.940If you want to be a doctor, an engineer, a lawyer, you have to go to college.
00:09:04.820But the trades are looking very promising when people are going into trades.
00:09:10.260Entrepreneurs, starting your own business.
00:09:14.080The American people were sold the myth that the only way to succeed in life is to spend thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of dollars to get a college education.
00:10:08.520These are the future policymakers and business leaders.
00:10:12.060But if they don't have the capability to think critically, if they can't read or write, if they can't do mathematics, we're kind of screwed.
00:11:45.280It was only when parents realized what their kids were learning that they started to get more involved.
00:11:50.380And I think that it was because parents, you know, in this day and age, both parents working and they felt that the schools were operating in good faith,
00:11:59.200that they basically made the schools a daycare center, a babysitter club rather than a place of education.
00:12:05.580And even when you have good teachers that, let's say, are strict, that actually do have standards, that actually make sure that the students are being responsible and doing the work they're supposed to.
00:13:27.420No pun intended, but we've got the Super Bowl on Sunday.
00:13:30.320This is the equivalent of kicking from the 50-yard line a field goal, but moving the goalpost, I don't know, maybe like the 20-yard line, the 30-yard line, to make it a little bit easier.
00:13:39.800But we'll still count it as a 65-yard field goal.
00:13:44.720I mean, it's so sad to think, but you shed a light on it, that it really truly is everyone.
00:14:01.140It really does fall a lot on the parents.
00:14:03.120And I think we do have – this has been an ongoing thing in America, but we've got a really bad system in America with parenting and parents not caring about their kids in school.
00:14:12.620And it's not everyone, but it's a good portion.
00:14:14.900And you look at some of the numbers on how kids are performing who come from fatherless households and things of that sort.
00:14:21.340And the parenting model is – Lou and I used to talk about this a lot – is a big problem in America for kids because you are, you know, what you're brought up.
00:14:30.520If you're brought up in a broken household, you know, you're starting out at a very big disadvantage.
00:14:35.900It's why I laugh when you hear these people who race bait and try to say, well, blacks are disproportionate when they grow up because they're not brought up.
00:14:44.780Well, yes, but so are, like, an overwhelming majority of American kids who grow up in dangerously poor households in bad situations with no father figure in their life.
00:14:57.140And, you know, and they try to paint it as a thing.
00:19:31.740You know, he has always worked for somebody, worked in financial institutions.
00:19:35.620And he was always of the mindset, you know, you've got to go to college, you've got to go to college, you've got to go to college or you're an idiot.
00:19:41.020And it's so funny to see him because he doesn't change his mind.
00:19:53.180He's an old man who wants to be stuck in his old man ways.
00:19:56.040And this is one thing, Nick, where he's really tailored his mind around coming around to college isn't the best idea.
00:20:03.500Now, maybe it's because he paid for my little sister to go to Boston College, which was like 100 grand a year, 90 grand a year, which is just a total waste of money.
00:20:11.320Well, it's a return on investment, right?
00:20:24.580And I'm like, it's the agenda studies.
00:20:26.380Where do you how do you justify being $600,000 a year living in not that $80,000 isn't a lot of money, but how do you justify spending five or $600,000 in debt and student loans?
00:20:37.400That's not including full undergrad and making $80,000 a year.
00:20:51.860Why aren't we teaching ninth and 10th grade students about savings, investing and compound interest when they're first starting to get their part time job?
00:21:00.420Learn to live off 70 percent of your paycheck, invest 30 percent, things of that nature.
00:21:04.740Why in 10th and 11th grade aren't they taking courses about how to select the college and how to select the major?
00:21:12.120If you want to be a police officer, well, you only need 60 college credits in a lot of jurisdictions in Suffolk County, Nassau County, New York City.
00:21:19.720So you don't need to go and spend $80,000 a year to get a degree in criminal justice to be a cop.
00:21:26.320Go to a community college, get your 60 credits.
00:21:28.800If you want to advance after that, that's different.
00:21:30.820If you want to be a teacher, the salary doesn't justify taking out one hundred twenty five thousand dollars in student loans, people.
00:21:38.480And so there's a responsibility on the education system.
00:21:42.080There's a responsibility on the faculty advisors and the counselings.
00:21:45.760There is a responsibility on the student themselves.
00:21:48.460I mean, I'm sorry if you're 18, 19 years old and you're making the decision.
00:21:52.040Well, I am going to, you know, go to this college that costs $80,000 a year and I'm going to major in gender studies or theater.
00:21:59.320That's on you. That shouldn't be on the taxpayers.
00:22:01.900And, you know, obviously, the Biden administration wanted to do the student loan forgiveness.
00:22:06.220Why do I have to pay off someone else's college degree?
00:22:08.440Because they decided to major in something.
00:22:12.900I had to work and it was difficult and it was annoying.
00:22:15.080But I also got scholarships because I ended up getting good grades in the long run and it worked out well.
00:22:21.860But again, you have to evaluate where you are in life.
00:22:24.880And when we look at the United States, we don't have any real priorities.
00:22:28.680And I think that's part of the problem.
00:22:30.180Like we look at the concept of liberty.
00:22:32.660Well, if you don't know the Constitution, if you don't know our founding, our history and what liberty is, how can you defend what you don't know?
00:22:39.700Why do you think there are so many people in the United States that have a negative opinion of the United States?
00:22:45.140It's because they're ignorant of them.
00:22:47.060And it's not to say that we're perfect.
00:22:48.440I believe in teaching the totality of American history, both the good and the bad.
00:22:52.020When we look at parenting today, a lot of parents would rather be their kids friends as opposed to being their parent and advising them and guiding them and being hard on them when they need when you need to be hard on them.
00:25:31.920You're like, would you rather have street smarts or book smarts?
00:25:34.700And I'm like, man, don't worry about all that book smart stuff.
00:25:37.700Give me street smarts all day long because we'll always figure it out.
00:25:41.120And I know you're the same exact way I am, but it's so funny just the two dynamics on how smart you can be in the books, but how dumb you can be common sense wise and how street smart you can be to teach yourself what you need to learn and being, you know, survival of the fittest.
00:26:48.180I mean, you look at some of the work today and just walk into any store, just look at the moldings and you could see the imperfections there.
00:28:03.080It was people you could work with, you could negotiate with.
00:28:05.800Like, I would guarantee you that if I gave the same citizenship exam to my students, to members of Congress, I will guarantee you at least 60 to 70 percent of members of Congress would fail.
00:28:59.400I just think that everyone should pay attention to what's going on.
00:29:03.380And if you're a parent out there, if you're an uncle, an aunt, whatever it may be, you got to start teaching next generation about America and our founding.
00:29:11.480You got to teach them what liberty really means.
00:29:13.480Teach them the Constitution, because if they're not getting it in school, we are seeing the biggest threat.
00:29:18.340This anti-American sentiment that is being pushed on our children is absolutely shameful.