Saturday, August 25, 2012
A Tale of Two Countries
One is China, a rising superpower seeking to harness the power of its huge population. The other is the United States, currently in the thrall of a resurgent Know-Nothing Party that revels in the ignorance of its members. Charles Blow looks at the recent report from the Center for American Progress and the Center for the Next Generation comparing investments in the futures of the two countries.
The findings were breathtaking:Having shipped our industrial base over to China, the 1%, along with their mindless Teabagger minions, want to guarantee it stays there.
• Half of U.S. children get no early childhood education, and we have no national strategy to increase enrollment.
• More than a quarter of U.S. children have a chronic health condition, such as obesity or asthma, threatening their capacity to learn.
• More than 22 percent of U.S. children lived in poverty in 2010, up from about 17 percent in 2007.
• More than half of U.S. postsecondary students drop out without receiving a degree.
Now compare that with the report’s findings on China. It estimates that “by 2030, China will have 200 million college graduates — more than the entire U.S. work force,” and points out that by 2020 China plans to:
• Enroll 40 million children in preschool, a 50 percent increase from today.
• Provide 70 percent of children in China with three years of preschool.
• Graduate 95 percent of Chinese youths through nine years of compulsory education (that’s 165 million students, more than the U.S. labor force).
• Ensure that no child drops out of school for financial reasons.
• More than double enrollment in higher education.
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