-By Vince Johnson
I’m currently in the process of moving from the Coast to Aumsville, Oregon and short on time for writing a REALITY FACTOR. Therefore, this issue is an opportunity to relay some startling information prepared by an Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota. He is Director of the UCEA Center for Advanced Study Technological Leadership in Education. The following information was obtained from his web page:
- If you are 1 in a million in China, there are 1,300 people just like you!
- The 25% of the Chinese Population with the highest IQ’s is greater than the total population of North America. Translation for teachers: They have more honors kids than we have kids!
- Did you know that China will soon become the number one English speaking country in the world?
- If you took every single job in America and shipped it to China, it would still have a labor surplus!
- During the time it takes you to read this column, 60 babies will be born in the USA, 244 babies will be born in China, and 351 babies will be born in India.
- The top ten jobs that will be in demand in 2010 didn’t even exist in 2004!
- We are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist using technologies that haven’t yet been invented in order to solve problems we don’t know are problems yet.
- Name this country: Richest in the world. Largest military. Center of world business and finance. Strongest educational system. World center of innovation and invention. Currency the world standard for value. Highest standard of living.
- Answer: ENGLAND! In 1900!
- Did you know the U.S. is 20th in broadband internet connections? (Luxembourg just passed us!)
- Nintendo invested $140 million in research and development in 2002 alone. The U.S. Federal Government spent less than half as much on research and innovation in education.
- To repeat: We spend less than half as much on research and innovation in our educational system as Nintendo invests in research and development of video games!
- There are about 450,000 words in the English language, about 5 times the number in Shakespeare’s time.
- More than 3,000 new books are published. . . . . daily!
- It is estimated that 1.5 exabytes (1.5 x 10 to the 18th power) of unique new information will be generated world wide this year. That’s estimated to be more than in the previous 5,000 years!
- The amount of new technical information is doubling every two years. For students starting a 4 year technical or college degree, this means that half of what they learn in their first year of study will be outdated by their third year of study.
Some observations of my own:
History will record that our news media placed a higher priority upon keeping us informed of the most minute details regarding the life and death of Anna Nicole Smith than it did to keep us even slightly informed about the truly critical issues facing America today.
History will also record that American politicians are reluctant to explain to students attending public schools in the USA why the territorial integrity of the Iraq/Iran border is more important than the territorial integrity of the USA/Mexican border.
If we are to do a good job preparing our children to have a good life, our news media and politicians had better get out of their dream world and start dealing with reality.
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Vince Johnson welcomes comments. Please send them to,Vince Johnson(vjadtrak@centurytel.net)
See Vince in the new book Americans on Politics. Policy, and Pop-Culture.