What is the connection between texting and unemployment rate in the U.S.?

I think everyone is familiar with BB which is not Big Brother in 1984, but a mobile e-mail and smart-phone device. Since I have never had one, I have no idea why people especially children are texting all the time. The behavior of texting and unemployment rate seems to be irrelevant topic to me. However, I think Friedman did a pretty good job to show a connection between those two topics in his article “U.S.G. and P.T.A.”

In his article, Friedman expresses his worry about texting behavior of American kid these days. In his opinion, this behavior has something to do with unemployment in the U.S. as well as other factors that he points out. First of all, the international competition is more intense. It is now harder for American applicants to get into their most elite college such as Harvard and Yale, since the progression of education systems of China, India, Singapore, Poland, and Vietnam, the best of these international students has become their strong competitors. Next, globalization and technology has eaten away lower-skilled service and factory jobs; on the other hand, it has generated the requirement for more better-educated and high-skilled workers. Education Secretary Arne Duncan indicated that, nowadays, American adolescents will suffer from financial hardship and social failure, when they drop out. Finally, while the value of higher education has been promoted, the U.S.’s high school graduation rates, college graduation and global test scores in math and critical thinking has dropped behind its peer. From his point of view, the solution incorporates the reinforcement from the top down by the U.S. government (U.S.G) and the bottom up by the Parent Teacher Associations (P.T.A). That is, America requires more dedicated teacher with better performance and devoted parents supporting their children’s higher education studies. On top of that, they need better kids who are ready to learn, not to text. In order to do that, there must be the support “from the White House to the classroom to the living room … to nurture a culture of achievement and excellence”, said Friedman (¶ 8).

I think we should be really worried about the education development in Thailand. Nowadays, the education system of Vietnam, China, and Malaysia has improved a lot more than ours. Tomorrow, Lao and Cambodia applicants may become our challenger. How are we going to keep up with our peers, since our primary and secondary education are still poor? Texting is a problem, but there are others more serious. Apart from a more encouraging intelligence curriculum, we are so desperate for good teachers. The problem is that teacher salaries are extremely low. My friend teaching at a public high school got his first salary around 6,500 Baht. He cannot survive in BKK without support from his parents. That rate is a lot less than those of Malaysia teacher, from I have heard, which is nearly 20,000 Baht or above. Today, Malaysia spends money on education more than military. Actually, Malaysia education expenditure percentage of GDP ranks number 10 since 2002, while that of Thailand ranks number 49 (“Education Statistic,” n.d.). That is not bad, but our education quality are not going to change as fast as our neighbors. I wonder when we are going to have a good education in our society. How many smart and well-educated people are willing to be a teacher receiving a little money? The answer is not many.

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References

Education Statistic. (n.d.). NationMaster.Com. Retrieved November 26, 2010 from http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/edu_edu_spe-education-spending-of-gdp

Friedman, T. L. (2010, November 23). U.S.G. and P.T.A. The New York Times. Retrieved November 26, 2010. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/24/opinion/24friedman.html?src=me&ref=general