Our children are deprived of fair, informative, and unbiased education. Teachers struggle to be little more than baby sitter’s and go home broken-hearted because the government doesn’t give them the latitude and support they need to be effective in their jobs. Teachers and parents bring lawyers to conferences to clarify their sides in the event of any future news coverage. Autism and asthma have skyrocketed in recent years. We feed our children prescriptions that render them more easily manageable at the cost of their childhood. Our trade agreements accept tainted toys that damage our children and tainted food that kills our children’s pets. Every year the school system subtracts more from the daily curriculum and replaces it with standardized test preparation. The religious right contests Science, in our schools. Our teachers are afraid to touch our children for fear of harsh consequences. The history that we teach is more similar to the tales of Chris Kringle or that of the Easter Bunny. A quick investigation of the history books we provide to our children, clearly shows that those books not only empower a positive view of America’s future but also deny any trace of the negatives in our past. How can we learn from our past if we do not know it exists? We are currently raising the next generation of leaders. Shouldn’t we offer them more?
The American public is deceived with sound bites and biased distribution of information. Quotas and bad press dictate our police force and our police don’t like that fact anymore than we do. Our children learn test answers instead of substantive knowledge. The media dictates which information the public considers important based on entertainment standards. Our responsibilities have been marginalized. We are now assembly workers–each one of us focusing on our tiny part, assuming that protections protect us, rarely questioning the intent or source that delivers demands. Our abilities to think for ourselves and make decisions within context are eroding. Knowledge is invaluable. Let us not forget that strong minds make for a strong country.
