Sermons from Second: "Why are people so stupid?"

Time for a new feature here for my ones of fans!  :-)

Obviously my Thoughts from Third deal with thoughts on various news items I get from my RSS Feeds.

Sermons from Second will be my rants or thoughts (really...I'm a squiggle...that means I go on tangents...) on different issues.  However, this one starts with an RSS feed also.

I sent a friend and the wife a fully image from The Art of Trolling.  For reference:



Now, I'll start by saying I don't know if that was a troll posting or a real person.  You never know.

The wife's response: why are people so stupid??

So I was about to respond to her.  Then I decided I would respond...but instead of to her, to everyone.  (And by that, of course, I mean the...4 people who read this???)

Anyway...

I live in Ohio.  Talawanda High School has a building that is amazingly out of date.  Yet every election until the 2008 for what, if I remember right, was at least 10 years a levy to build a new school was shot down.  In this election, I believe maybe ONE school levy passed and every other one was shot down.  (I know I could check that...but let's be realistic...I get my news from RSS feeds.  I'm too lazy to go look.)

Why are people so stupid?  Our education system is failing miserably because of a combination of apathy, political maneuvering, finances, religion (the old favorite...), etc.

Let's just take the example given above. We're going to, for the point of this argument, go with it NOT being a troll.  How could someone NOT know?  I would place that one of religion and politics...which too often are in bed together in the land of "separation of church and state."  The prevailing feeling is that we can't teach kids about sex, much less SAFE sex.  We have to protect the kids from the EVILS of sex...it is just for procreation, and SURELY they will learn when they are married.  However, violence....by all means teach it, make it better, show it anyway on TV, and glorify it.  Organized religion glorifies violence (after all how many ways/acts of violence have religion as their basis) and vilifies sex.

If I ever have children, I would seriously consider home schooling them.  The ONLY reason not to is the socialization component.  I could teach English and the History family.  Jennifer has math more than covered.  As far as science...we both have a base in science.  Also, our university Lecture Series is PROVING we don't have science teachers anyway.  See...we are bringing Bill Nye (The Science Guy) for our Lecture Series in January.  I think it is going to be amazing, and upon talking to the box office we have eight to eighty scrambling to get the tickets in January.  The reason for most of them is the same.  That is where they learned science...and often where they learned science in classes.  The teacher would have Bill Nye teach their students.  Simple. Easy.  More time to....do whatever they did at their desk.  I could do that.  Anyone could.

I want to finish by saying I know some AMAZING teachers.  I wanted to be a teacher in high school, and now teach a course at a college.  I'm NOT (despite how it may sound) laying the blame on them.  I will say in my life I have had some terrific teachers and some rather dreadful teachers.  A lot of the dreadful ones I've seen that they once had it...and the system knocked them down.  I LOVE watching movies about teachers who find a way to fight the system and educate their students.  Lean on Me.  Stand and Deliver.  Dangerous Minds.  Mr. Holland's Opus.  Dead Poet's Society.  Renaissance Man.  Freedom Writers.  The Ron Clark Story.  Just to name a few.  I love them.  I believe in teachers.  I have a lot of students who I think can be these types of teachers, and when I see some of the education majors, I think we have a bright future.

However, what does pretty much every one of those movies have in common?  First, most are true stories, which I LOVE.  Second, however, is that they have to fight a failing educational system to reach the students. They often have to take resources out of their own (and their families) pockets to teach.  The school system isn't out there helping.  It actually hinders...whether it is against teaching philosophies, policies, material taught, or (most often) funding, our educational system doesn't help.  Why SHOULD teachers have to provide these things out of pocket?  Our resources in this country go to the wrong place.  In 2008 we gave a multi-BILLION dollar bailout to many businesses.  We have spent TRILLIONS of dollars on war, not just in my life time but in the past DECADE.  If we put HALF of that money to a unilateral improvement of our education system, America would not be in the state of decline it is.  If we prepared people better...if we taught English, math, social studies, science, the arts, phys ed, INTEGRITY, etc. in our schools in a more quality way, the problems we see wouldn't be how they are.

Why are people so stupid?  Because the American education system is failing them.

Now...to end on a high note, as I said...there ARE amazing teachers.  This is not only one of those teachers, it is also ABOUT those teachers and improves my day.