The Leaders In not so many years these two birds will be graduating from high school. They will have learned less than their parents did by the time they reached the same grade level. This is happening because our American system of tax supported public schools is quietly slipping away. There are many reasons for the decline. Just to mention a few, our public schools are the victims of:

• continual tinkering,
• political correctness,
• affirmative action,
• unwise federal and state regulations,
• and a changing society.

Compared to 50 years ago there are lower requirements for matriculation. The schools have been "dumbed down". We are told that compared to the rest of the world, American students have been falling behind for many years.

Meanwhile, America is changing from a producer to a consumer.

The age of industrialization is over and we are now on the cusp of something different. A person can't help but notice that certain businesses are disappearing. Companies that MAKE things lead the parade out of town.

• Machinists are replaced with robots,
• engineers are no longer in demand,
• shoe makers are gone, and
• most clothing is sewn off shore.

This list is growing as you read this. We need to be concerned about what this change is doing to our country. We should also be concerned about the impact on our public schools.

The work environment continues to reduce the demands of industry for graduates prepared for the manufacturing sector. One thing follows another. The decline of these jobs has been caused, at least in part, by competition from underdeveloped countries. Step back and look around. Be aware that entire industries are no longer making things in America. They are in China, India, Brazil or Malaysia, etc. The iron and steel business left many years ago, and the consumer electronics industry more recently. Now, just a few days ago it was announced that both of our remaining car manufacturers, Ford and General Motors, are near bankruptcy. Will the automobile industry be next?

The young men in the picture above will be entering high school with the handicap of a less than competitive education. They will not well prepared for more advanced work. When they do graduate from high school, they and many others will enter colleges and universities without the prerequisite knowledge needed to learn more. Even today the largest classes at our colleges and universities are remedial classes. They are intended to teach subjects that should have been mastered in high school. This fact alone makes it clear that our public school systems are not working very well.

So the transition from high school to colleges and universities is less than perfect.

American colleges and universities are not doing so well either. They are graduating students prepared for jobs that are no longer in demand. Our two young students are expected to have a vocational destination in mind as they progress through school. They are going to need a job someday and must learn the drill for their coming vocation. If manufacturing has gone off-shore they must prepare for something else.

Schools must re-direct their curriculum accordingly.

We already sell enough pizza and hot dogs to one another. We import, distribute and sell all kinds of products manufactured off-shore, and we hire a lot of lawyers. There are a limited number of service jobs available, and there are a number of unemployed workers on the street. The courts are jammed and the jails are full. Medicines are made only for the rich. Greed is becoming more important than integrity. Smart graduates are heading for government jobs where outstanding retirement and benefit programs are guaranteed. Starting a new business requires inflating a financial house of cards. The complaints go on and on. America is on the road to socialism and we know that, ultimately, socialism does not work. Our capitalistic system with it's requirment for individual responsibility is a much superior economic system. However, socialism is coming if we do not reverse direction and return to more freedom and less government. We need to let the free market do it's thing, and educate our young people that there really is no free lunch. The government can't employ everybody, and if it did it couldn't collect enough taxes to pay everybody's salary. It just won't work. Freedom, inventiveness, competitive markets, self reliance, ambition and hard work are still the way to resist socialism. The competitive excellence of our educational systems must provide our society the means to improve.

Let's give these two birds in the picture a fighting chance.