Last week tonight with John Oliver has had a terrific season thus far, fully supported by the incredulous events transpiring around the globe. In this episode, Oliver focuses his magnifying glass of shame on Ryan Locke, Charter school and yes, Donald Trump.
The key to Locke’s story
The Olympics recently concluded after offering the world yet another spectacle of physical dominance by various athletes.
No global event goes on without a hitch, and the Olympics is not an exception to the rule. Oliver has already focused on the issue of doping during a previous episode, but this week’s opening segment was reserved solely for Ryan Locke and his shameful deeds.
The star athlete from America has been a home favorite for some time now, but he managed to let everyone down not through his performance during the games, but by faking a personal disaster. Not only was the robbery Locke claimed he was a victim of in a massive fib, but the swimmer was actually caught breaking the door of a gas station, and urinating around the premises.
In order to bid adieu to the memory of the Olympian in our minds, Oliver created an epic montage of Locke fails caught on tape thus far, proving once and for all that the excessive chlorine in the water can be damaging to your brain.
Are Charter schools overrated?
The main segment this week focused on charter schools and their merit in American education. Charter schools are simply public schools that are run privately, and most of the politicians in America – Democrats and Republicans, seem to for the idea of having more of them. Oliver looked to examine if the 6700 plus charter schools running in America are actually beneficial to students.
Oliver went on to show us a series of news clips featuring charter schools that have suddenly shut down mid-year, leaving their students high and dry in the middle of a school year.
Apparently a large number of charter school in America do not even make it through their first year of operation, a truly disconcerting sign for parents relying on them to educate their children.
Another major problem that is causing the closure of these schools is the lack of facilities and infrastructure required to be considered an educational establishment. Florida’s Ivy academy shut down in just seven weeks because they didn’t even have a permanent building to keep their students. They had to shuttle their students to churches and public halls before being shut down for obvious reasons.
Oliver also pointed out that a lot of charter schools resorted to breaking several rules and bending other laws in order to make a profit.
One school doubled up its campus as a night club post school hours, while another fudged the numbers on attendance just to meet the bare minimum requirement. Oliver’s point through all of this was simple – You cannot mess around with the education of children. It is possibly the most important facet of our society, and playing around with kid’s lives for the sake of profit is simply unacceptable.
Trump the savior
Last week tonight will be off the air for a month due to a scheduled break, which is why Oliver thought it was necessary to address Trump one last time before leaving the air for a considerable period. He didn’t provide us funny facts or videos about the Presidential candidate, but instead chose to address Trump directly.
Oliver managed to prove that from this point, even if Trump managed to win or lose the election, things would not go well for him. Losing would be shameful, and winning would mean he would have to actually work and run the country, a job that is terrifying and demanding. Oliver gave him a way out by asking him to drop out of the race and claim that he ran for President only to prove a point to America. Trump would become a legend around the world if he only admits that all of this was just a giant joke, aimed at holding up an ugly mirror at America’s political system.
Frankly, that is a genius idea, and Trump should take this brilliant suggestion.