Future of our Nation

I watched an hour long online town hall meeting about the importance of math and science in our education systems hosted by former Vice President Al Gore. The town hall emphasis tried to further articulate what everyone in educational reform is trying to accomplish, how to change our school systems to have higher graduation rates and keeping students interested and passionate about the topics they are learning in school. I kept thinking how much has changed within students' study habits and teachers' methods of teaching even since the time I was in middle and high school. Technology and social media combined are playing a significant role in shaping our society today, and I could even confidently say that a majority of people are dependent on facebook, twitter, etc. to know what is happening within society. Due to the dependency of these sources, many students have other "bigger concerns" i.e. what's going on in Hollywood.

Americans are competitive and strive to be on top, as we have been doing for the past 100 years or so as the international hegemon. However, we are losing our luster and making other minute topics in life more important. I personally believe that media is at fault with swaying the interest of Americans; within any hourly news, all the stories are dramatic 15 minutes of fame type stories. The stories are usually dedicated to - Did you hear about that big accident? Did you know that the Hollywood "it" couple got a divorce? How many times has Lindsey Lohan gone to rehab?. REALLY?!  During the town hall, people got to see a very short version of John F. Kennedy's going to the moon speech, and I posted a video of clips of his speech at Rice University on del's inspiration. His speech is motivational and full of inspiration, letting Americans know that anything is possible in the future. Americans need to believe in JFK's message of great optimism and hope, and apply it to today's scenarios of overcoming the economic recession, faulty education system, and other debatable issues. We need to know our priorities.

"The goal of education is the advancement of knowledge and the dissemination of truth." - John F. Kennedy