I went to lunch the other day with two twenty year old university students.
They are bright, articulate and hard working.
Both went to high school here in El Paso.
I was surprised to learn that neither was aware that we had a state legislature. I had to explain that their are state senators and national senators. The title “congressman” was confusing to them. They did not know the difference between a senator and a representative.
Our education system failed here.
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
My many postings about public school teachers failing at their jobs remain unnoticed.
Children today get politically indoctrinated at public expense.
I bet those two thought there were 63 genders.
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It’s not just kids. Look at all the full-grown adults claiming Hillary Clinton won the “popular vote” and only lost because of the electoral college. Elizabeth Warren and most of the other Democrats running for President want to abolish the electoral college.
“If you can’t win just change the rules” – Democrats Everywhere
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I bet that if you asked 10 random senior citizens who are mooching off the welfare troff at the Polly Harris, or Wellington Chew Senior centers who the Lt. Guv of Texas is, 8 wouldn’t know, or who the Mayor Pro-Tem of El Paso, or the County Judge, or name 6 justices on the Supreme Court…It isn’t just the public schools.
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Old folks—there is a huge difference between not being able to name names and not understanding that we have a state legislature or understanding the difference between federal and state representation. Those college folks are old enough to vote and obviously don’t have a clue about what they are actually voting on.
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If you want to talk to people on welfare, go downtown and talk to the wealthy, well educated people whose businesses are being subsidized by taxpayers.
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This is more and more prevalent with every passing year. It’s sad that we, as parents and taxpayers, have allowed our school systems to become so lax in teaching civics and government.
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Why is it SAD, the public has been being told that the Social Studies taught in the 8th-grade end up with less than 70% of them scoring at grade level.
NOBODY had done anything about it! ZIP NADA ZERO but you now have a Superintendent making over $410,000 plus regular benefits. I say regular benefits because he is paid in cash, $30,000 for incidental benefits which I have never been able to figure out what they are because he gets all other benefits, including 35 vacation days, 20 sick days plus 10 more from the state.
The EPISD Public School system is Public in name only, it is really a Charter School district.
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And let’s not forget that there’s no shortage of foolish, lazy parents who seem to not want to utilize this wonderful invention called a ‘dinner table.’ l guess everyone is too busy staring at their phones. lt seems that the longer one stares at a “smartphone” the dumber that they become. Although l am grateful that the texting craze (craze – how apropos) isn’t going away anytime soon. Now l don’t have to listen to people having an idiot conversation about how Star Wars pt. 37 was totally “bitchin” when l’m trying to concentrate at the Banana Republic on whether l should get the large or the XL lime green khakis.
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Great point, anonymous. I grew up at a dinner table where we talked geopolitics and domestic politics. My dad did two tours in Vietnam and was one of the first guys into China after President Nixon opened relations as part of a military exchange program. We discussed differences in political systems and on a domestic level differences in candidates. The first time I voted I researched everything. My husband’s parents were first generation Americans. As a kid, they took him to Washington to meet his Congressional Representative and tour Washington DC. His brother when to Annapolis and all three of their kids served in the military. They didn’t all vote the same way, but again they understood the system and voted based on researching the issues. We shouldn’t just blame the school systems. Btw, neither of my husband’s parents finished high school. They dropped out to go to work to support their families because there was no welfare back then. But they were two of most educated folks I’ve known because they did their best to grow their knowledge as adults.
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In other news…
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squirrel! squirrel!
stay on topic or go back to watching Fox News
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Somebody is obsessed with Fox News. Put away your antifa mask, people are legally allowed to look at websites you don’t approve of. maybe venezuela is a better fit for you, they like to censor information there, you should enjoy it better there
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“Johnny, Suzie, Juanita, Jose”, graduate in El Paso and still cannot READ, WRITE, do MATH or know anything about HISTORY, CIVICS, Western Civilization. And yet in El Paso, Citizens, WORKERS, taxpayers are FORCED to shovel MILLIONS, BILLIONS$$$??) into the “Education system”, whatever that is. GIVE a Superintendent a HALF-MILLIONS$$$ in “Pay, benefits” for whatever it is that he and his bench warmers do.
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If these young people are 20 and have bothered to vote or even consider all the things they get to vote on, how can they be totally unaware of the state legislature? If they are attending UTEP or a state university, they are clueless if they are not aware that funding for their university (and maybe even their scholarships) is approved by the state legislature. Have they ever in 20 years bothered to pick up a newspaper or even wonder about the question of who represents them and El Paso in Austin (assuming they even know that Austin is the state capitol).
You can’t blame every person’s blind spots on teachers or the educational system. Believe it or not, some students do not pay attention in class, especially subjects in which they have no interest. The hard truth is that some people both young and old just don’t give a damn about some subjects, including the workings of government. Some people keep their heads stuck in their computer or their smartphone or sports or mindless entertainment or whatever else their one-dimensional minds care about.
To say that our education system failed these young people entitles them to see themselves victims. Sooner or later people have to take some personal responsibility for their own knowledge of the world in which they live.
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Teachers are completely blameless for the lack of education level of current students/graduates. The education system worked perfectly, the students are flawed, all 62% of them who are doing poorly.
Signed, A Teacher
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Trying to cast my mind back to the 1960s when I started public Jr. High in south Florida our State Senator came to our school and spoke to us. I think that was the first I remember of a contact with an elected official. Later a friend invited me to attend a political rally for some individual and volunteer. I remember that I just didn’t “get” what was going on. Then I graduated and when to college. The Vietnam War focused my attention on the Presidential candidates. That was the start of my being hyper aware of how our elected officials at every level are critically important to our lives and my involvement in citizen activism. Sometimes it is simply of matter of a young person’s developmental stage. It helps to realize how people holding office affect our personal lives. I remember in High School we had a civics class but we were taught about the mayor of New York City. Not terribly relevant to kids in Florida. Yes the schools need to improve but in part it’s a matter of an individual’s personal life. If you have a relative in the military in a dangerous part of the world you “get it” much more directly than if you don’t.
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If schools aren’t accountable then they shouldn’t get so much money, and they need to stop talking about how important education is if all they are going to do is blame the students for poor results.
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If you are doing woodworking you can select your wood and reject low-quality material. The military gets to reject unacceptable applicants. Teachers at public schools are not allowed to pick and choose students.
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But with all their education and professionable certification, teachers most certainly have options as to how they respond/act on teaching those non-reject-able rejects.
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We were discussing the Supreme Court and one of the younger folks in the group said, “Oh. Like Judge Judy?”
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