Where did all of the smart people go?

Smart people used to be everywhere. I would hear conversations that intrigued me and made me want to be as smart as the people having them.

Heaven forbid that you were involved in casual conversation at work or at a gathering and weren’t able to at least throw in a few comments about a topic or a current event.

Now, not so much.

Think I’m wrong? Turn to the person next to you and ask them to name the secretary of state. Ask them to name five U.S. presidents. Ask them to explain the Electoral College.

Now, ask them to name the Kardashians or this year’s Dancing With The Stars lineup.

Folks, I’m worried.

Know where our education system ranks now? We rank 17th.

Finland, South Korea, Hong Kong, Japan, the U.K., the Netherlands, New Zealand, Switzerland, Canada, Australia, Poland, Germany, Belgium, Hungary, Slovakia and Russia cleaned our clocks.

That’s right, Russia beat us.

How many of those countries can you find on a globe?

People claim we don’t spend enough on education, but America spends billions on education. What we don’t spend is time with our kids.

Most kids take the path of least resistance. If a kid doesn’t have to do his homework or learn, he won’t. He’d much rather play video games. Heck, most adults I know would now rather play a video game. We’ve gone from Candyland to Candy Crush.

Monkey see, monkey do is still true. If kids see us reading books and having intelligent conversations, then they will too.

America is smarter than this. When it comes to our kids, we need less Facebook and more face time.

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