Mayor Bloomberg: English - FAIL History - FAIL Geography - FAIL Reading - FAIL Math - FAIL

According to the City University community college system and the City University of New York (CUNY), 80 percent of New York high school graduates need to re-learn basic and remedial skills before entering college. Those skills include reading, math, and other basics.

NEW YORK, NY (Catholic Online) - The astounding statistic demonstrates how much of a persistent failure the Bloomberg administration is when it comes to education. Any educational system which requires a remediation rate of 80 percent is a fundamental failure.

Why this is the case is subject to discussion, however it suggests that Bloomberg needs to readjust his focus. There is nothing more fundamental to the well-being of a society than education. Education is the most fundamental form of infrastructure, equally as important as serviceable roads, potable water, and reliable electricity. Without education, everything else is difficult to maintain.

Instead of declaring an emergency in the schools and taking aggressive action to empower teachers and schools to better serve students, Bloomberg is much more interested in selling smaller cups of sugary drinks to full-grown adults and banning earbuds.

Yes, earbuds are the mayor's latest crusade.

In a city of millions where 80- percent of the children are not getting the mental nourishment they require, Mayor Bloomberg is interested in how loud the music is.

It's difficult to argue with Mayor Bloomberg's sincerity, but only a morally bankrupt administration places a higher premium on headphones over education. Indeed, with proper education, citizens can be left alone to make their own intelligent, informed decisions about soda size and music volume.

What is the city of New York producing then, if 80 percent of  its graduates require remediation of reading, writing, and math? It is producing an uneducated strata of people who will struggle mightily to break away from poverty, crime, and dependency. This is a most fundamental failure, for if Bloomberg cannot empower the city's youth, then what's he really doing with his tenure?

Understand the children of the city are the workers and servants of the next generation and stewards of the former. How can these people provide for their children and care for their elderly if they cannot master basic educational skills? What work will they be able to do and what earnings will they enjoy in one of the world's most expensive cities?

It's time for the people of New York to call out Mayor Bloomberg for what he is. Bloomberg is a savior of none. Instead, he is a morally bankrupt political opportunist, a professional billionaire, and a complete failure as a public servant.

Then again, he could just be a genius. With an increasingly uneducated electorate, he can expect a very long and lucrative career as soda-jerk-in-chief.

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