In his recent speech on the state of the US education, President Obama made up statistics and trends in order to create the impression that our teachers have been doing such a terrible job lately that we need merit pay and charter school, among other changes.
But today we learn
the following from the independent Factcheck.org website:
The President told us that the drop-out rate in our high schools has tripled during the last 30 years. But...
Factcheck.org (March 18, 2009): The high school dropout rate hasn't "tripled in the past 30 years," as Obama claimed. According to the Department of Education, it has actually declined by a third.
Now to the lie on trends: Mr. Obama told us that our 8th grade kids have fallen to 9th place in math. Come again?
Factcheck.org (March 18, 2009): Eighth-grade math scores haven't "fallen" to ninth place compared with other countries. U.S. scores have climbed to that ranking from as low as 28th place in 1995.
This is not the first time Obama's awful fabrications and spins during the speech in question have been pointed out. The Huffington Post carried an
expert's opinion asserting that Obama blew it, and Bob Somerby at the Daily Howler likewise
corrected him.
On a
related note, David Brooks loved Obama's speech and his educational agenda.
Mr. President: If you want to sell your shiny new proposals, base your arguments on reality, not bullshit.
