Dopey or merely grumpy?

In the commentary linked above, Bob Herbert makes a great case that Americans face a crisis in education in a globalized world that is going to demand much more from our children.

As he notes at the end of the commentary, it's not just our kids who are suffering from a lack of fundamentals. Who did we fight in WWII? The English? No kidding.

You would think that in a country facing an economic crisis and competition from countries like China we'd want to give our kids the tools they need to be players. But apparently some of us are oblivious to the fact that there is a great need for tools.

We may have gotten to the point where blissful ignorance isn't an option. Or perhaps it won't be blissful anymore. Jobs are disappearing, the climate is changing, and we also face a global shortage of food-sooner or later, we will all have to grapple with problems as individuals as well as a nation.

In the meantime, I suspect that even the clueless among us are feeling a little grumpy when they have to pay for gas or buy groceries. Whether they will stop being dopey is a very good question.