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It's No Wonder...
By justobserving in It's No Wonder
April 4, 2011

My husband and I stopped at a local drive-in to get dinner Sunday night when neither of us felt like cooking after spending the afternoon at the airfield gazing at the history brought to life before our eyes.

We (actually my husband) pushed the button in anticipation of placing our order. When the young man came on the speaker we knew we were going to be challenged. We weren't quite sure if the young man was listening to our order or not with all the noise and the fact that a young lady was attempting to deliver a drink to us while we were still ordering. When all was said and done we waited for our order to be delivered.

Shortly thereafter, a timid looking ( which we suspect was still in high school) young lady presented herself at our car window. She informed my husband of the price of our food after she haphazardly handed us our order, which in itself a whole other story. No, I have to share that also. She stood in front of us briefly staring at the tray holding our food. She actually looked bumfuzzled to be honest. All of a sudden her head pops up and she says, "I really can't read these things yet, they haven't taught me yet.", as she began shoving bags at my husband. The drink didn't have the lid on properly and was way over-filled, so my husband and I got an unwanted tea bath.

Now comes the embarrassing part for us all ( and I'm talking about US as a city). The young lady tells my husband the price, which by the way was $10.14, and I handed him a 20 dollar bill and 15 cents. Once again the young lady looked down at the tray with that same bumfuzzled look and then ask my husband, " Do you have a pen?" I felt like I was slapped in the face. Once I regained my faculties I told the young lady, " You owe me ten dollars and a penny." She repeated it to my husband and me, more questioning than stating and handed my husband exactly what I said. As she walked away I told my husband, "I could have told her anything and she would've give it to me", we both shook our heads and drove home.

I just couldn't imagine that rudimentary math was no longer taught, and then had the dawning realization that this carhop was a manifestation of my tax dollars. I am ashamed of our children, teachers and parents. It's no wonder we are years behind the rest of the world in education.

Thankfully, my 22 and 18 year old sons knew the correct answer.