I would not be the first to suggest that a major problem in our society right now is the quick fix syndrome. Everything has to have an instant (and usually simple) resolution. Regardless of how complicated, it has to be a "sound bite" solution.
The easiest way to reduce a problem to a simple solution is to make the problem simple. Don't like your medical report, must be a bad doctor. Don't like the education results, must be a bad teacher. Simple solution for a complicated problem. In the first example, it may be the lifestyle of the patient, the unwillingness of the patient to follow instructions or even possibly a whole series of life adjustments need to be made just to start. But that is too complicated to fit into a two inch newspaper column or a 60 second TV news story. So we move to a simple solution that may or may not have anything to do with resolution of the issues. Yes, there are bad doctors and yes, some need to be removed. Does increasing the number of years a doctor spend in school address the issue of unhealthy lifestyles?
In the second example ..... Well. I guess I don't need to repeat all the same sentences. Blame the teacher is an easy out - complicated issue, simple problem. Yes, there are bad teachers (and plumbers and lawyers and politicians, etc) but is fixing the teacher going to fix the unhealthy lifestyle. Will fixing the teacher empower parents and families to prepare their children for education?
Politicians and perhaps we voters don't ask the question of "so what?" If you pass this law or that one, will it fix the problem? If I follow your logic will the problem go away?
Until we address the issues of health, employment, housing and early childhood readiness, I suggest there will continue to be 16 year olds who drop out of school and can't read. Until we "fix" lifestyles and patterns of failure, no quick fix is going to produce the results we claim to want.
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