Pot, Meet Kettle

Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina dissed the public school system of Washington, D.C. yesterday with the comment that D.C. public school students are more likely to end up in a gang than graduating.  DeMint did not take note of the fact that 70% of D.C. students graduate while only 56% of South Carolina students graduate.   I think that puts South Carolina at 47 among 50.  This is only a guess, but I bet Louisiana and Mississippi are 48 and 49, or maybe even 49 and 50.  Is it any surprise that those states have Republican governors?  ( Think Progress )

UPDATE:  I was surfing the Internet and came across a blog that said the staff of Sen. DeMint wanted to clarify that Sen. DeMint was merely quoting the mother of a child (or children) in the D.C. school system, and that the quote was taken out of context.  [Please also note:  no one in Sen. DeMint's office has contacted me personally (nor are they expected to).  If they had contacted me personally, I would have asked him why he thought his state was #47.  Why is your state so indifferent to its failure to educate its children, Sen. DeMint?]  One of the commenters at the site linked above said it was because of all of those Black women having children without fathers.  I kid you not.  That was what one commenter had as an explanation as to why the state rated so low.  Said comentator went on to say that if you took the Blacks out of the equation, South Carolina would go from #47 to about #5 or #6.]

Good Lord Jesus.

Now, I know I'm a bit dramatic.  It's just my nature.  I think that humanity, that includes you and me, is on the brink.  There is no guarantee that everything will work out just fine.  Global warming could conceivably cause life as we know it to dramatically change in less than a generation.  We need all hands on deck.  Our interest in survival should motivate us to seek out all bright minds and to encourage those same minds to be the best and most that they can be because we will never know which of these bright spirits is the author of our salvation.

As a society, we cannot afford any drop-outs.  I'm not  sure what the solution is, but I'm pretty sure ignoring the problem in your own neighborhood while dissing someone else's neighborhood, is not going to solve anything.  Despite your parochialism, Senator DeMint, we are all in this together. 

Comments

[Brenda]

Arkansas is probably not so far behind. We do have a Democratic governor but he sure has Republican tendencies.

[Houston]

I didn't say "Arkansas" on purpose. I have dear friends who live in Arkansas, and I will never say negative things about Arkansas gratuituously.

[maggie]

Yep! I would say we are 50th! :P