Yet more disturbing information about literacy in the U.S. This article describes an incredible situation. Students who can read, but cannot understand the meaning behind the text. They are the victims of fad-based education. Victims of teachers who believe that tests and high standards serve only to hurt the self-esteem of kids. I have news for those teachers. They're morons.

Don't we all know by now that competition is what drives people in this world? The economy does not run on self-esteem. People are not motivated by platitudes. They are motivated by competition: the challenge to be better than yourself, better than others, better than everyone. People don't try to improve themselves when they're told they're great the way they are, or they should be satisfied with themselves whether they can read or not...

So am I saying that people shouldn't be happy with themselves? In a way, yes. People should always be striving to improve themselves and everything around them, because only in striving can humans be truly happy. Complacency and laziness may sometimes seem to fulfill our desires, but this is only temporary. The longer you lay on the couch, the stiffer you get, and the less interesting the TV becomes. People need to have struggles, because they give our lives meaning.

This is why competition is the key to everything in society... not because we're selfish, but because striving is living. Isn't it the height of irony that this nation, the leader of the capitalist world, doesn't apply this principle to its education system?