the scene of the crime

 

The intersection of Camino Verde and Valencia is less than a mile from our house. For some reason, it has had an unusually large number of accidents – and another one happened yesterday.

Here’s what I saw shortly after it happened:

 

 

There were numerous comments about the accident on Next Door this morning, but two of them really got my attention:

1)    The young male driver has been seen a number of times driving recklessly, it was inevitable that he was going to total his Mustang

2)   Driver’s training is not required in Arizona to get a driver’s license

 

Thomas Jefferson (the founder of the University of Virginia) is credited with this bit of wisdom:

 "An educated citizenry is a vital requisite for our survival as a free people."

 

Here is how that wisdom applies to today:

DRIVER’S EDUCATION

There are currently 37 states where driver's education classes are mandatory depending on your age. Since accident rates are the highest for new drivers, it's smart to take one. Arizona is not one of those states.

The link below shows the requirements for all 50 states.

https://leg.wa.gov/JTC/Documents/Studies/Driver%20Education_Beth/SummaryStateTable.pdf

 

The table below shows auto accident rates per 100,000 of population:

https://www.iihs.org/topics/fatality-statistics/detail/state-by-state

 

The worst state, by far, is Mississippi. The state does not require driver’s education to get a license, and people as young as 14 are allowed to drive if accompanied by an adult. If you have the patience to compare accident rates to which states require driver’s education, you’ll notice that states that require driver’s training have lower accident rates. My home state of Minnesota is one of the best states – and driver’s education is required to get a license.

 

SEXUAL EDUCATION

• Thirty states and the District of Columbia require public schools teach sex education, 28 of which mandate both sex education and HIV education.
• Thirty-nine states and the District of Columbia require students receive instruction about HIV.
• Twenty-two states require that if provided, sex and/or HIV education must be medically, factually or technically accurate. State definitions of “medically accurate" vary, from requiring that the department of health review curriculum for accuracy, to mandating that curriculum be based on information from “published authorities upon which medical professionals rely.” (See table on medically accuracy laws.)

Mississippi has no requirement at all.

https://www.ncsl.org/health/state-policies-on-sex-education-in-schools

Not surprisingly, the states that no requirement for sexual education have the highest teen birth rates:

https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/teen-pregnancy-rates-by-state

Mississippi is the worst state. If you count Arizona as a “purple” rather than a red state, the worst 25 states for teen pregnancy are all “red” states.

 

GUN SAFETY

32 states let people carry guns without requiring them to know how to shoot one. The color codes chart in the link below shows which states that so not require a permit (or training) to own a gun. There are also states that require a permit, but no training The final group is the states that require training in order to get a permit. Arizona required both training and permits when we moved here in 2011, but both requirements went away about a year later.

 

https://www.thetrace.org/2022/01/which-states-require-firearm-safety-course-concealed-carry/

You know what’s coming next.

The link below will show you which states have the highest rates of gun deaths:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firearm_death_rates_in_the_United_States_by_state

Alaska has the highest death rate per 100,000 people – but Mississippi is a very close second.

If you have the patience to compare death rates to the charts that show training requirements, you’ll notice that states that have the loosest gun laws also have the highest death rates, and states like Texas and Florida are intent on making them even looser.

 

CRITICAL RACE THEORY.

 

Critical Race theory is NOT taught in K-12 schools in America. Despite that fact, Arkansas governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a bill earlier this year that outlawed its teaching, and Glenn Youngkin got elected as governor in Virginia because he promised to outlaw in that state as well. Florida’s fuehrer, Ron DeSantis, signed a bill in June of 2021 to do the same there.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/10/us/critical-race-theory-florida-ban-trnd/index.html

His attempt to “dumb down” Florida has recently led to book bans, the cancellation of an AP class in African American studies, and a bill to prevent a discussion of sexual orientation in public schools, the infamous “don’t say gay” bill that started a feud with the Disney Corporation, one of the largest employers in the state.

By the way, if you are not sure what critical race theory is, the quiz below will help:

https://tohell-andback.blogspot.com/2022/11/critical-race-theory-quiz.html

 

Thomas Jefferson and the other Founding Fathers that a democracy needs educated citizens in order to be successful. If you are wondering how idiots like Paul Gosar, Jim Jordan, Louis Gohmert, and Marjorie Taylor Greene keep getting elected, bear in mind that NONE of them represent districts that are highly educated.

Besides the fact that educated citizens make the country run better, there is also an economic reason for it. I’ve put together a spreadsheet that analyzes on all 50 states on a variety of criteria. The states that spend the most on education have the highest per capita income – and Arizona is one of the worst. Per capita income in Arizona is roughly $15,000 less than my home state of Minnesota, which has some of the highest education funding in the country.

Which state has the worst per-capita income?

Mississippi, which also happens to be the most obese, has the highest poverty rate, and the highest rate of teen pregnancy. The only positive rating it gets is in religion, since it is the most religious state in the country- and that is NOT something to be proud of.

 

If you haven’t guessed by now, a large portion of my income comes from teaching, and it’s one of the most important careers in the country. As I mentioned o few years ago, I’m one of those “loser” teachers – and I’m proud of that fact.

 

https://tohell-andback.blogspot.com/2019/02/