Education

The reason our education system is broken is that Americans get what they want, always, and what they want is partially hydrogenated corn syrup, with a 1,584 hours of television a year and a 6 MPG SUV. They don't seem to want a strong public education system. Despite years of trying, I don't think our elected leaders will be able to change this. In fact, as is witnessed by the current government's treatment of the taxpayer as an infinite piggy bank for themselves and their friends, it is distinctly in their interest to keep the public fat and dumb, or certainly to avoid taking any active steps to remedy the situation. The taxpayer and the voter have no one but themselves to blame for our decline. If we had spent $400 billion dollars researching renewable energy instead of giving it to Haliburton and the Carlyle group, it would be a very different century. It seems that the problem for 21st century America and its competitive prospects in the global marketplace extends beyond our educational system.

Conversely, creativity is not something you can teach, and innovative solutions are not something you can learn. Chinese culture is not going to change over night, Maoist decree or not. Neither will Americans change over night. If we wanted decent public schools, we would demand them. Instead, we are complacent as politicians spend our money on this abominable war with no end, while the worst president in our nation's history still sits in office despite his numerous lies and his illegal seizure of powers, while people who should be tried for war crimes are heralded as great citizens. Our country is going the way of Rome, and the only way to save it is if its citizens find a reason to care before it's too late.

Americans will always be creative. There is a constant influx of immigrants seeking refuge from oppression, like the German and Jewish scientists who invented the atomic bomb. Our unfair legal system that favors the rich and refuses to acknowledge the twin legacies of genocide (towards native Americans) and slavery creates a climate of oppression the breeds the creativity found in the great African-American and Jewish cultural artifacts of the 20th century: Jazz, Hollywood Cinema, rock n' roll, and hip-hop. Frankly, I don't think lack of creativity is the problem. The problem is the complacency of the majority of the down-trodden classes, and the blinding self-serving behavior of the elites.

How can we create a public education system that creates citizens who wish to contribute to the world, to take care of one another and the earth they inhabit, to demand accountability from elected officials? If elected officials take it as their obligation to remedy the situation, it is very obvious what must be done: mandatory civil service. Many countries require their young men and women to serve their country, whether in the military or in some other way. Mandatory civil service can build a strong civic culture where citizens are engaged with the issues that affect their country, where citizens are aware of the diversity of their fellow countrymen, and where citizens understand the value of self-sacrifice. I think that if citizens were required to serve, and some of them served in the military, our leaders would have to think long and hard before launching a war of choice.