But is it Education?

Some time ago ago Bill Gates gave a televised interview in which, understandably enough, he extolled the advantages of math and science, and of course computers, to the future education of young people. Soon after, the Kentucky legislature passed a bill that lets school districts raise the dropout age from 16 to 18, with Gov. Bashear sweetening the pie with a proposal to give $10,000 to each school district that successfully met the higher educational bar. One Man’s Opinion

I respect Bill Gates; more often than not I approve of the General Assembly; and I hold Steve Beshear in high regard. In this instance, however, Gates, the Assembly, and the Governor were all wrong, though for different and equally wrong reasons They mistook the popularly identified symptoms of substandard academic performance for the root cause.