I know I need to stop with the education thing, but this is just too good. In the February 2006 edition of National Geographic, there is an article called "Heartbreak on the Serengeti." The main point of the article is the increases in poaching inside and immediately adjacent to the parks and preserves. However, page 17 has a picture of a new public school in the village of Iharara in Tanzania. The last sentence of the caption reads, "Adult literacy stands at a relatively high 78 percent in Tanzania, where education ends for most after primary school." Contrast this with the sub-50% literacy rate in Detroit after twice the schooling. Our politicians tell us that the Detroit schools suck ass because the district lacks funds and the families are poor. I'm just pulling this out of my ass, but I think I'm on pretty solid ground when I say the average Tanzanian would view a "poor" Detroit family as unimaginably wealthy. And I doubt the teacher in that photo has credentials from one of our esteemed teaching universities. In fact, I am fairly sure that he wouldn't be qualified to even substitute teach in a Detroit school. And you call that a classroom? Several students are sitting on the floor! There are no desks; just backless benches and tables that look like an ergonomic nightmare! No PC's, no air conditioning, not even electric lights! And yet they learn to read at a rate 50% higher than Detroit can manage.

Tell me again how all our educational woes are the result of a lack of money.