For months now, I’ve been saying to close friends that the irrational rhetoric concerning vaccine hesitancy and wearing masks is because our poor educational system has finally caught up with us. Many people in this country simply cannot comprehend the information that scientists are telling us, or they would behave differently for their own survival.
I started looking up online how educational systems are rated. This is online “research,” so clearly these are not peer-reviewed, proper scientific research studies. That said, the 10 lowest-rated educational systems in the country by state are over-represented by states with an extremely high infection rate (which corresponds to their extremely low vaccination rate).
This could, of course, be coincidence. Or maybe my idea has some merit.
We have long neglected the educational system in this country. Everyone talks about it, we lament how bad it is, we criticize our politicians for it, but we seem to be unable to prioritize it.
Other online “articles” rated the 10 best educational systems in this country by state. Not surprisingly, most of them are in states with a high vaccination rate and a low COVID rate.
I believe the average reading level of an American is seventh grade. I don’t know if that means their comprehension level is also at a seventh grade level, but how can a seventh-grader possibly understand and disseminate the mounds of information regarding COVID that have been flooding us for the past 18 months? Or how can a poorly educated adult value science when they have not properly studied what science is?
So, shame on us. I stand by my belief that our neglect of the education of our children, all our children, has finally caught up with us. So if we think we can continue to neglect our children’s education, and neglect providing the nutrition that feeds their brains that allows them to be able to learn, think again.
I believe there is enough evidence to suggest that our poor educational systems around this country are now making everyone sick.
Paula Angelone, Ph.D.
Southampton Village
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