If one was to ask the average American what would be the most precious natural resource that America has, a significant amount of people would mention that it is oil, which is lifeblood of our energy needs, of which America is self-sufficient in; as well as there would be those that would answer that it is the great hi-technology companies that America has, in addition to those that would state various other miscellaneous things in which America is a known industry leader. But though each of these answers may be a reasonable answer, and justifiable to some degree, the real most precious resource that America has, is actually its children.
The bottom line is that each generation of Americans, must pass the baton onto the next generation and onto the next, and so and so forth. So that, of those that founded this great nation, there is not a single one of these great visionaries and courageous characters that still lives today, though their ideas and ideals, contained within our Declaration of Independence, and our Constitution live on; but these only live on based upon the foundations that America still maintains, in which, should those foundations be corrupted or circumvented, so then does this nation and its people thereof, suffer for that.
This does mean that it is critical to bring up all of the children in America in a manner in which they are prepared to take hold of the mantles of leadership, innovation, morality, respect, and diligence in seeing that America continues to be the best hope of mankind, as well as that bright beacon of freedom, liberty, and happiness. Yet, when it comes to the education of those of our youngest generation, America is falling further and further behind other nations, in its overall educational achievements in aggregate, despite the fact that America is the richest nation that the world has ever known.
This lack of general educational achievements is not for the lack of spending money on that education, for no country that is a member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) spends more; but the end result is a gross and disturbing disparity between high achievers as opposed to a multitude of persistent low achievers, of which these low achievers are in so many ways, often functionally illiterate. While America has the strongest university and collegiate system in the world that thereupon recruits in the best students throughout the world for that first class higher education; it is disturbing to note that the mass of students domestically are so ill-educated that it has been estimated by americanprogress.org, that "40 percent to 60 percent of first-year college students require remediation in English, math, or both."
While pundits can point to the fact that our high school graduation rates are trending higher and higher, and that those that are attending collegiate institutions are also utilizing a higher and higher percentage of eligible students, both young and old, the bottom line is that it is the results that matter, in which, far too often primary and secondary educational learning for far too many students is abysmal, and that far too many "colleges" that students attend aren't really successfully educating those students for relevant gainful employment, but are merely playing a shell game with federal student loan guarantees to exploit those students.
This most precious natural resource, our children, must be nurtured from day one, and must be inclusive of all Americans, in which, continual failure to see that all are soundly educated as well as being knowledgeable of what it means to be a true American, and thereby becoming a productive and meaningful member of this society, will invariably lead to the state of disunion from life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.