Education

"Education ... has produced a vast population able to read but unable to distinguish what is worth reading." --G. M. Trevelyan

I put an extremely high premium on education. Unfortunatley, I am one of the few. Americans have taken their FREE education for granted. Teacherts have become selfish and care more about their own benefits than they do about their own students. It has become a battle to educate our children. Which is insane. There needs to be a complete overhaul of the educational system in this country. Sure we have a higher literacy rate than most countries in the world. But, like G. M. Trevelyan said, it is one thing to KNOW how to read, but another to know what to read. I am appalled at how many ignorant people there are who can't even be bothered to pick up a newpaper to know what is happening in the world around them. In stead it is all about them and what it easy. I am sick of it. This country was founded upon the principle that everyone has the right to think freely and everyone has the right to an education. We still do, however we don't utilize this amazing privilege.
I am over it. I am over it all. The quest for knowlede has been trumped by greed and sloth. This country is literally deteriorating because we are too fucking lazy to do anything about it or lack the correct amount of knowledge to even know what to do. It is pathetic. It is time for a change, a revolution. The entire way this country handles educations needs to change.
Starting with the teacher union. It is extremely enervating to even think about. The point of being a teacher is NOT to get more benfits and NOt to get paid more. it is to TEACH. It is to teach children and plant the seeds of knowledge so they can sprout and become upstanding members of our community. It all begins with teachers at a very early age. If pre-schoolers and kindergarteners are not taught from the second they enter the classroom how important it is to learn, they will NOt succeed in life. Shitty teachers, get the hell out of the school systems. I am tired of sitting through classes where the teachers just don't give a shit if their students are actually learning, just as long as they get their benfits then it is all ok. FALSE! We need to reform the whole thing. We need to have ways to test the effectiveness of EVERY teacher. It is not fair to let the selfishness of these adults take advantage of their students. There is a difference between self-interest and selfishness. Self-interest means you want yourself to survive which is admirable and of course, necessary. Selfishness is haveing no regards for those around you as long as you get what you want. It is carelessness. There is no room for carelessness in the educational system. i dont care how much money a school has or doesn't have. THese teachers need to be teaching because they know that they are doing something great. Every kid starts with the same amount of potential to learn. How can this country survive if a bunch of illiterate bumpkins are running this country. This country was created for WE THE PEOPLE. Act like the decent citizens you should, teachers. It's like, we give you an inch, so you have to take a fucking mile. Now, don't get me wrong I do think teachers need somekind of financial protection, because they can't always be successful with every student. But they just don't even have an incentive to TRY. Because they are basically set for life. I am SO lucky that I was given the teachers I had. I have only had a few bad teachers, but most people aren't that lucky... It is time for a change. I am all for minimal government, but if itcomes down to it, I will put a fucking video camera in every damn classroom to make sure the teachers are doing what they are supposed to be doing. I mean, if your were an accountant, and you don't try and consistently make errors which cost your company money, what is going to happen to you? You will get fired. SImple. and no one would even question it. However, it doesn't work like that with teachers, a teacher can be horrible. For years, which costs this country more than just money... We loose well educated citizens who vote, who are involved, who are have steady jobs and pay their bills. How can anyone possibly do that if, when they are in 2nd grade are given the tools to learn how to be successful farther in life. Each year is a building block upon which we learn more and are able to apply it more and more to the real world, until eventually you are in the real world. Either you have a stable and solid structure with which you eneter in to the real world. Or you are missing those essential building blocks, and eventually you and risk a total collapse. And its all because in Second grade you had a teachert who didn't care. Well, I'm done with it. I don't care how popular it is or what anyone says. It is time we put our public school teachers under some scrutiny. It is time we turned the pressure on. All these strikes are BULLSHIT. How dare you take away from a child's education because you didn't every cent you think you deserve. How can you stand to look at yourself in the mirror? How is it in anyway fair to the children? Didn't think abouyt that did you? No, because you are so busy thinking about yourself. Selfishness and ignorance go hand-in-hand.
However, all the blame can't and shouldn't be put on the teachers, because fortunately there are many teachers out there who care so much about the success of every child they teach. A lot of the blame must be put on the parents. To a young child, parents are god. They are the ultimate authority. If the parents don't instill how important education is into their children from the day they are born, then all the efforts these teachers put in are meaningless. It is sad how many parents out there couldn't give a rat's ass about their children and their education. They barely work and sit around waiting for their welfare check. While the children are not learning how to break the cycle, but merely learning how the government will take care of them. Ultimately saying, whats the point of school? Who cares? The government will take care of me. FLASE. It is horrible whatr so many of these parents are doing today. Rich and poor. The richest parents are just as guilty. Trust fund babies can have the same lack of responsibility or urgency to learn as a kid on welfare. It all stems from the parents. If they are not involved in their children's education, it all goes to shit. Parents need to become more informed about how important it is for their kids to be educated. Obviously, not everyone can go to college, but at least fucking finish high school. Americans have become SO DAMN LAZY. The everage American school is in session for 180 days out of the year. In Japan, the kids are in school for somewhere around 220. It's like we really can't be bothered to go to school a little bit more? It makes me SO angry to think about how many kids just dont give a shit about school because their parents don't. It is sad and it is deteriorating our country.
It is time we taught the next generation how important it is to have a basic understanding of how the world works. People need to know how our government works, they need to know how to read and write at a high level. We need to be able to know what happens in the world around us. What I am asking isn't even that hard to do. All it takes is a campaign for education from the very beginning. Every child deserves to make something out of their life, that is th beauty of this country, but if they aren't given the tools with which they can flourish, how can we possibly expect them to be successful?